Analysis of Human Remains

1. Analysis of Human Remains Legal and Ethical Issues Types of Burials Identification Analysis Interpretation

2. Legal and Ethical Issues • Legal • State laws • CA-stop on private of state land if burial discovered, county coroner notified (Health and Safety code). • Coroner notifies Native American Heritage association, who notifies “most likely descendant” • Federal laws • NAGPRA • Ethical • Remains of a person’s ancestor. • Burial artifacts • Isolated human teeth and bones.

3. Types of Burials • Inhumations • bodies that are interred unburned • Primary-located in place where originally interred. • Secondary-interred, decomposed then re-interred. • sometimes in groups • Sometimes not articulated

4. Primary Inhumation Actun Tunichil Muchnal, Belize

5. Secondary 'Burial Platform (Apsaroke)'Edward Curtis, 1908 http://www.deathonline.net/disposal/exposure/index.cfm

6. Types of Burials • Cremations • bodies that have been burned. • Primary • buried in pit in which it was burned. • Secondary • buried in a place other that where it was burned.

7. Roman Cremation

8. Isolated and Multiple interments • Isolated-single burials or cremations • Multiple-many individuals • accidental-burial intersecting another • purposeful-charnal houses, ossuaries.

9. Interments: Multiple Moche burial: Man and Child http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0103/feature3/zoom6.html

10. Body Position & Orientations • Tightly flexed-knees touching chest and arms around legs. • Flexed-knees drawn loosely to body. • Extended-stretched out. • Prone-lying flat on stomach • Supine-lying flat on back

11. Body Positions Loosely Flexed Tightly Flexed Mummy from Chacalluta , near Arica, Chile http://www.deathonline.net/disposal/preservation/andean.cfm

12. Identification Terminology • Element-bone • Side of the body • Left • Right • Non-sided element • Part of bone • Proximal (top) • distal (bottom) • Medial (middle)

13. Initial Analysis http://web.utk.edu/~herrmann/Logan/LOGANS.htm

14. Bone Classification • Skull • cranium-skull minus mandible • calvarium-skull minus facial bones • dentition-permanent and deciduous (32 perm) • Postcranial • long bones-limb bones • short bones-hands and feet, clavicle • Flat bones-pelvis, scapula • Irregular-vertebra, wrist and ankle. • http://medstat.med.utah.edu/kw/osteo/osteology/

15. Analysis • Initial sorting • general categories • bone element • fragments • Metric analysis • measurement of various bones • stature, cranial index (measure of shape of skull) • e.g. Cranial index=maximum cranial breadth X 100/maximum cranial length, average skull has a CI of 75 to 80.

16. Other analyses • Xrays-traumas, bone density, unerupted teeth. • Microsopic-disease, pathology, cut marks • Chemistry-isotope ratios for diet, • DNA • Nonmetric variations-variations in number of teeth, degree of ossification

17. Dental Microwear Pits and grooves can often help identify diet.

18. Estimations of Age, Sex, Stature and Race • Age • categories-infant (up to 2 years), juvenile (2-10), subadult (10-21), adult (21 +) • estimation-epiphyses (fusion of bones-up to 21), closure of cranial sutures (up to 40), dental eruption (deciduous 1-3, permanent 5-12), tooth wear (adults). • Sex • Sexual dimorphism-differences in between males and females not due to sexual organs. • Pelvis-size of passage through pelvis, width of sciatic notch, subpubic angle. • Stature • long bones measurement applied to a table. • Race • skull • Caucasoid (European), Negroid (Africa), Mongoloids (Asian and Native American) • Incisors of Mongoloids often shovel shaped.

19. Pathologies • Degeneration • Trauma • Stress • Disease & Nutritional • Dental pathologies • Other-genetic abnormalities, developmental problems. • Timing of pathology • Antemortem-prior to death • Postmortem-after death • Perimortem-during or around time of death.

20. Degeneration • Osteoporosis-deossification of bone. • Arthritis-destruction of cartilage and formation of adjacent bone.

21. Arthritis

22. Trauma • disruption to bone, such as fractures, trephination, amputation, cranial deformation. • Survival of trauma usually has bone regrowth.

23. Trauma

24. Disease & Nutritional • Disease • lesions or growths-tuberculosis, tumors, infections. • Nutritional • scurvy (vitamin C deficit) results in bone thinning and fractures. • Rickets (vitamin D deficit) results in bent or distorted bones.

25. Scurvy

26. Stress • Harris lines • bone growth interrupted during starvations. • Occupational/work load related.

27. Harris Lines Individual had experienced several stress episodes during childhood http://web.utk.edu/~herrmann/Logan/Loganleh.htm

28. Dental pathologies • cavities • purposeful modification • periodontal disease, infection of tissue around tooth (from cavity), abcess, loss of tooth, resorption. • Teeth as tools-grooves, etc

29. Dental Pathology

30. Purposeful Modification • Teeth • Filed • Inserts • Cranial Deformation

31. Modified Tooth from Cueva de las Arañas A Brief Comment on Functional Use of Intentionally Filed Teeth Nicholas P. Herrmann, Derek C. Benedix, Ann M. Scott, Valerie A. Haskins http://archaeology.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=archaeology&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.utk.edu%2F%7Eherrmann%2FAranas%2Faranpap.htm

32. Cranial Deformation Chinook Flathead http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Andes/4354/defcrania.html

33. Cranial Deformation: Australia http://www-personal.une.edu.au/~pbrown3/ausindex.html

34. Interpretation of Prehistoric Populations • Overall Health • bone condition • pathologies • Diet and Nutrition • direct data to individual diet and nutrition • chemical and stable isotope • Paleodemography • study of numbers and distributions of ancient populations. • Life span, gender ratio, population stress. • Social Inferences • social status • religion

35. Misuse of Human Data • Populations vary widely in appearance and yet are similar genetically. • People have tried to equate appearance with intelligence, but there are no differences in either the intelligence or capacity of intelligence between the so-called “races”.