The Gristhorpe coffin and its contents

In July 1834 excavation of a barrow at Gristhorpe, near Scarborough, Yorkshire, recovered an intact, waterlogged, hollowed-out oak coffin containing a perfectly preserved Bronze Age skeleton that had been wrapped in an animal skin and buried with worked flints, a bronze dagger with a whalebone pommel, and a bark vessel apparently containing food residue. Gristhorpe Man became the centrepiece of the Scarborough Philosophical Society’s museum display. In 2004, planned refurbishment of the renamed Rotunda Museum provided the opportunity for a scientific re-examination of the burial and grave goods in order to eluciate the life and death of this extraordinary survival of the British Early Bronze Age. Tree-trunk coffin burials are relatively rare and Gristhorpe Man, with his range of grave goods was likely to have held a special role in society. Analysis of the skeleton included an examination of its skeletal morphology and palaeopathological conditions combined with isotopic analyses of the bones and teeth in order to investigate mobility, diet, and status of the individual whose unusual large stature, dentition, and novel methods of conservation were of particular interest. These analyses, combined with examination of the surviving coffin lid, including the unique ‘face’ carved onto one end of it, the grave goods, and radiocarbon and dendrochronological dating, reveal fascinating insights into the social position, inter-regional contacts and the burial rite associated with this enigmatic mature man who probably saw active combat and who suffered from a benign brain tumour that may have seriously altered his personality in his later years

Gristhorpe Man: an Early Bronze Age log-coffin burial scientifically defined

© 2010 Antiquity PublicationsA log-coffin excavated in the early nineteenth century proved to be well enough preserved in the early twenty-first century for the fill armoury of modern scientific investigation to give its occupants and contents new identity, new origins and a new date. In many ways the interpretation is much the same as before: a local big man buried looking out to sea. Modern analytical techniques can create a person more real, more human and more securely anchored in history. This research team shows how.The project has been funded by grants from the British Academy, British Association for the Advancement of Science, Natural Environment Research Council, Royal Archaeological Institute and Scarborough Museums Trust. CJK’s participation in this project was funded by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship (RF/6/RFG/2008/0253)

Environmental conditions and bodily decomposition: Implications for long term management of war fatalities and the identification of the dead during the ongoing Ukrainian conflict

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in what they referred to as a ‘special military operation’. Since then, both Russia and Ukraine have incurred heavy losses, though there remains great discrepancy between the deaths reported by both nations. In recent joint international interventions following mass casualty incidents, the majority of operations have been situated within countries in the global south; particularly within nations which do not have the appropriate medico-legal surviving infrastructures to provide the relief required in an emergency situation where high levels of deaths have been incurred. Two examples of this are the Asian Tsunami of 2004 and Haitian earthquake of 2010. The Asian Tsunami of 2004 had an epicentre 200 km west of Sumatra, with the resulting Tsunami impacting on coastal areas of Sri Lanka, Maldives, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and India. It is estimated 227,000 deaths. The Haitian Earthquake 2010 of 7.0 magnitude resulted in death toll of 220,00, while the larger magnitude (7.2) earthquake of 2021 resulted in fewer fatalities of 2000. Both mass fatalities of 2004 and 2010 had considerable, multinational responses, which were challenged by scale, extent, and conditions, and resulted in operational protocols being reviewed. In Ukraine, there are robust forensic infrastructures at local and national levels, with well educated, trained and experienced staff. These infrastructures are connected to international structures such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). Despite strong facilities and established procedures in Ukraine at the outset of the conflict, the intensity and nature of the fighting within densely populated areas has resulted in considerable civilian and military fatalities, inevitably this has led to temporary burials conducted during or during a lull in fighting. In areas retaken by Ukraine forces there has been considerable local effort to exhume bodies from temporary graves and to identify the remains using primarily DNA. However, the scale of this activity is disproportionate to the scale of the casualties. In this paper, the authors provide an overview of the deaths incurred during the early weeks of the war and will attempt to illustrate the range of variables which will inform the practical response to recover and identify those killed, before they receive their final burial. It will introduce some of the organisations which have provided forensic support and will also identify emerging ethical considerations which should be monitored for the remainder of the conflict

Effects of hydrated lime and quicklime on the decay of buried human remains using pig cadavers as human body analogues

Recent casework in Belgium involving the search for human remains buried with lime, demonstrated the need for more detailed understanding of the effect of different types of lime on cadaver decomposition and its micro-environment. Six pigs (Sus scrofa) were used as body analogues in field experiments. They were buried without lime, with hydrated lime (Ca(OH)(2)) and with quicklime (CaO) in shallow graves in sandy loam soil in Belgium and recovered after 6 months of burial. Observations from these field recoveries informed additional laboratory experiments that were undertaken at the University of Bradford, UK. The combined results of these studies demonstrate that despite conflicting evidence in the literature, hydrated lime and quicklime both delay the decay of the carcass during the first 6 months. This study has implications for the investigation of clandestine burials and for a better understanding of archaeological plaster burials. Knowledge of the effects of lime on decomposition processes also has bearing on practices involving burial of animal carcasses and potentially the management of mass graves and mass disasters by humanitarian organisations and DVI teams.N

Exceptional preservation of a prehistoric human brain from Heslington, Yorkshire, UK

NoArchaeological work in advance of construction at a site on the edge of York, UK, yielded human remains of prehistoric to Romano-British date. Amongst these was a mandible and cranium, the intra-cranial space of which contained shrunken but macroscopically recognizable remains of a brain. Although the distinctive surface morphology of the organ is preserved, little recognizable brain histology survives. Though rare, the survival of brain tissue in otherwise skeletalised human remains from wet burial environments is not unique. A survey of the literature shows that similar brain masses have been previously reported in diverse circumstances. We argue for a greater awareness of these brain masses and for more attention to be paid to their detection and identification in order to improve the reporting rate and to allow a more comprehensive study of this rare archaeological survival