The lost photos: archaeothanatology applied to photo documentation from the 1960s reveals new data about Mesolithic burials, Sado valley, Portugal

The Mesolithic shell middens in Portugal aggregate some of the largest and earliest burial grounds known, around 8000 years old, arranged and maintained by populations with an exclusive hunting, fishing, and foraging lifestyle. The archaeological material is housed in museums and consists of artefacts, field documentation (written, graphic) and more than 300 human skeletons. This archaeological assemblage is exceptional due to its quality and antiquity, but its early excavation introduces several challenges to the modern research. Here we present an analysis of the burials in the shell middens of Arapouco and Poças de S. Bento in the Sado valley, Portugal following the principles of archaeothanatology to reconstruct past ritual practices as responses to death. Our analysis was based on unpublished photographs from the 1960s and our aims were 1) to identify the nature of the deposits (primary, secondary); 2) to describe the space of decomposition of the cadaver (filled, empty, mixed); 3) to reconstruct the initial position of the cadaver in the feature; 4) to reconstruct the grave features, such as size and shape; 5) to detect the initial presence of perishable materials deposited along with the cadaver, such as structures behind the bodies, or wrappings of the body at the time of disposal; 6) to clearly define the deposits containing more than one individual; 7) to identify post-depositional manipulations of the cadaver. The method, which emerged in the context of field archaeology lays great emphasis on the field situation and it has been argued that assessment of the material may not be possible if key observations are not documented in situ. Despite the limitations, we demonstrate with this case study that archaeothanatology is a robust and reliable method to assess, study, and retrieve new data from the extensive archaeological assemblages of human remains available in museums.N/

A future for archaeology : in defense of an intellectually engaged, collaborative and confident archaeology

Through a critical review of inter- and transdisciplinarity in archaeology, this paper examines the power relationships within archaeology with regards to collaborators within and beyond the academy. By making a case for an archaeology that openly collaborates across disciplines and knowledge sys- tems, but also more firmly articulates itself and its value, the paper makes a case for an engaged and problematising archaeology for the future

Building Bridges Between Burial Archaeology and the Archaeology of Death : Where is the Archaeological Study of the Dead Going?

Invited key note article with comments and reply.</p

What is Remembered

A few weeks ago, I was standing next to what is arguably one of the more contested monuments in Europe today: the Equestrian Statue of Leopold II (1835-1909), at la Place du Trône in Brussels. The bronze statue is banal in its familiar form, yet masterfully sculpted by Thomas Vinçotte in 1914. The king holds his head high, his gaze is directed forward and up to the left, and he sits with both commanding and relaxed posture on a muscular horse that bends its neck elegantly, signaling submission to its rider. This is power and control embodied. When the sculpture was erected in 1926, the king had been dead for 17 years, and the country had emerged from the horrors of World War I with the iconic Western Front trenches cutting across its territories. The German occupation forced many Belgians to become refugees, while others were conscripted into forced labor, or killed for suspected resistance and sabotage or simply as the outcome of collective punishment. Germany viewed the Flemish as an oppressed people and made efforts to support their cause, which risked undermining the cohesion of the young nation. The project to raise the statue had been in the making since the death of the king in 1909, and even included a successful public fundraising effort, but had been put on hold during the war. When it finally was erected in 1926 it commemorated the king as builder and colonizer, but probably also as a national hero and a unifying symbol of a Belgian past – happy, prosperous, and united.Skall krediteras CONCURRENCES som forskargrupp på LNU - dvs taggas som sökbar för Concurrences</p

Between objects of science and lived lives. The legal liminality of old human remains in museums and research

Collections of old human remains in museums are currently under increased scrutiny and pressure. On the one hand they are problematised from a post-colonial and human rights point of view as the material remains of historic and ongoing structural violence connected to scientific knowledge production. On the other, new methods in archaeological science have led to increasing demand for destructive sampling. Without guidance and support by laws and formal standardised professional guidelines, museums may find themselves squeezed from two opposing sides. Based on an analysis of laws and professional guidelines, and a large-scale survey of the practical handling of old human remains in Swedish museums, this article argues that the lack of a shared professional process that recognises the complexity of old human remains as both objects of science and lived lives, risks undermining the role of museums in their relationship to both the public and the research community.Ethical Entanglements. The care for human remains in museums and research