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Using human remains in teaching archaeology: the postgraduate experience

Using human remains in teaching archaeology: the postgraduate experience. Emily J Marlow, BSc MSc | PhD Researcher HEA Workshop, 6 th March 2013. MY EXPERIENCE. Undergraduate experience. Medical science with an emphasis on human anatomy Gross and regional anatomy

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Using human remains in teaching archaeology: the postgraduate experience

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  1. Using human remains in teaching archaeology: the postgraduate experience Emily J Marlow, BSc MSc | PhD Researcher HEA Workshop, 6th March 2013

  2. MY EXPERIENCE

  3. Undergraduate experience • Medical science with an emphasis on human anatomy • Gross and regional anatomy • Whole cadavers and prosections • Human dissection • Clinical anatomy topics Image from: http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/10/2012/doctors-dissection-and-resurrection-men-exhibition-opens-at-the-museum-of-london. Accessed March 2013.

  4. Postgraduate experience – MSc • Forensic anthropology • Detailed modules on musculo-skeletal anatomy and analysis of skeletal remains • Access to excellent collection of archaeological skeletons • Production of skeletal reports Image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human-Skeleton.jpg. Accessed March 2013.

  5. Postgraduate experience – PhD • Biomedical Egyptology • Project requires access to ancient Egyptian skeletons held at museums/institutions abroad and in the UK • Peabody Museum, Boston • Natural History Museum, Vienna • Duckworth Laboratory, Cambridge University • Gaining access has been relatively straightforward • Some collections limited because remains were reburied or never removed from burial context

  6. Field school experience • Opportunity to excavate human remains from burial context invaluable • For example, Chapel House Wood dig • Human remains – adult and foetal/neonatal • Animal remains • Distinguishing from human and identifying species • Bones look very different when they are covered in mud/dirt than when they are clean and dry!

  7. Teaching experience • Lecture to archaeology undergraduates • Included examination of and demonstration with bones (real and plastic) • Study day for the general public • Practical exercises using skeletal remains from the KNH Centre tissue bank • Demonstrated how to determine the sex and age at death of human skeletons • In my experience, the audiences were fascinated by the bones and keen to handle them

  8. Conclusions • No better way to learn gross and skeletal anatomy than by studying human remains first-hand • Relies heavily on access to such remains • Ethical considerations should be addressed and handled appropriately • My own and other research in the areas of physical and forensic anthropology would not be possible if appropriate skeletal collections were not available • Field schools allowing the excavation of human remains are invaluable

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