The Elephant Man: Old Curiosity and New Medical Research
The Elephant Man was an object of terror, curiosity and sympathy throughout his life. He was studied by Victorian medical specialists, and was an object of wonder for the general […]
Category Archives: Methods
Bioarchaeology of a Royal Burial from Palenque
Palenque is perhaps one of the most famous and most studied archaeological sites of the Maya. It was actually one of the first places that led me to become more […]
Forensics Techniques to Examine Iron Age House Fire Fatalities
When examining arson or domestic fire deaths, forensics specialists have a careful job to do in determining manner of death, and the relationship between death and the fire. There are […]
Mercury Poisoning And The Day Before Death
As archaeologists, we are usually pretty happy to have any evidence of death such as a clear sign of cranial trauma or a obvious disease like advanced tuberculosis. However, most […]
New Morbid Terminology: Quicklime
If you’re a fan of murder-mystery novels, you’ve probably run across quicklime before. It’s commonly cited in detective and mob stories as a method for quick and anonymous disposal of […]
Taphonomic Analysis of Neolithic Seated Burials
Taphonomy is the study of how organisms decay and become altered following their death. Understanding how this process manifests in human burials during the excavation is extremely important, and can […]
Plague of Justinian: The Older Brother of the Black Death
The Black Death, or Bubonic Plague, was one of the most devastating pandemics to sweep through Europe. In only four years, this single disease wiped out half the population and […]
Can you determine activity from human remains?
If you watch the tv show Bones, you know that every once in a while Brennan will determine some activity that the deceased did based purely on their skeletal remains. For […]
Taphonomy: What Happens To Bones After Burial?
Last week I discussed a way of preserving bodies almost indefinitely in some cases: embalming. On the other side of this is decay, the process of bodily decline and biological […]
Digitally Mapping Graveyards
Over the past few weeks I have been working on mapping a cemetery in a Geographic Information System (GIS) as both part of a class and part of my own […]
Bones Don't Lie 