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This master's thesis is intended as a foundation for further development of methods for digital marine osteoarchaeology. The main purpose of this thesis was to examine and problematise the process of locating, documenting, and analyzing skeletal remains in marine archaeological, and other hard to reach sites. Three forms of osteological analysis' was performed and assessed: one based on analysis of physical skeletal remains, another based on 2D documented skeletal remains, and a third on analysis on 3D reconstructed skeletal remains. The secondary purpose of this thesis was to problematise the taphonomic effects on bodies, body parts, and bones in marine environments, necessary for the evaluation of the different methods. The analysis' has been conducted on source material provided by the research projects for the naval ships Mars and Gribshunden, the National Maritime Museum of Sweden, the Sandby Borg project, and the Çatalhöyük project. In addition, a test was carried out, with eight volunteer osteology students at Campus Gotland, Uppsala University, during a seminar exercise. The results collected through the osteological analysis' performed on the three different formats and the students osteology exercise could be used in order to highlight a variation of data available in the different formats. The results was then used in order to create a basis for future digital documentation methods that may be applied in the field. The secondary aim of this thesis was addressed through the use of the naval ships Mars and Gribshunden as case examples in order to address the limited amount of skeletal remains located so far at the marine archaeological sites. / Denna master uppsats är ämnad som grund för vidare utveckling av metoder för digital marinosteoarkeologi. Det huvudsakliga syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka och problematisera problemen kring at lokalisera, dokumentera, och analysera skeletala kvarlevor vid marinarkeologiska, och andra svåråtkomliga lokaler. Tre olika slags osteologiska analyser utfördes: en baserad på analyser av skeletala kvarlevor, en annan baserad analyser av 2D dokumenterade skeletala kvarlevor, och en tredje baserat på analyser av 3D rekonstruerade skeletala kvarlevor. Det sekundära syftet uppsatsen var att problematisera den tafonomiska påverkan på kroppar, kroppsdelar, och ben i marina miljöer, nödvändiga för utvärderingen för de olika metoderna. Analyserna har utförts på källmaterial som tillgängliggjorts genom forskningsprojekten för skeppen Mars och Gribshunden, Statens Maritima Museer i Sverige, Sandby borg projektet, och Catalhöyük projektet. Utöver detta har även en studie utförts tillsammans med åtta frivilliga osteologistudenter vid Campus Gotland, Uppsala Universitet, under en seminarieövning. Resultaten som samlades in genom de osteologiska analyserna av de tre olika källmaterialen och student studien användes för att kunna understryka den datavariation som fanns tillgänglig för de olika källmaterialen. Resultaten användes för att skapa en grund för framtida digitala dokumentationsmetoder som kan appliceras i fält. Det sekundära syftet med studien besvarades genom att använda skeppen Mars och Gribshunden som exempel för att kunna diskutera den begränsade mängden skeletala kvarlevor som hittills hittats vid de marinarkeologiska lokalerna.

Tracing the treatment of the body before, during and after cremation, this thesis aims to reconstruct and theorise the mortuary rituals associated with urned cremation burial in Bronze Age Scotland. It is an attempt to bridge the gap between theoretical perspectives from funerary archaeology and up-to-date methods for understanding heat-related changes to bone from osteoarchaeology and forensic anthropology. As with other types of mortuary treatment, the physical aspects of cremation detected by osteological analysis are interconnected with the meaning and symbolism of the ritual. The research involved the osteological analysis of a sample of urned cremation burials from the collections of The National Museums of Scotland. The analysis aimed to estimate not only the age at death and sex of the remains, but also to investigate factors such as the number of individuals in an urn, the effectiveness of the cremation process, whether the bodies had been cremated as fresh corpses or dry bones, the position of the body on the pyre, the range of pyre goods and the selection of remains included in the urns. In total, 75 urned cremation burials from 50 sites were analysed, a significant addition to the corpus of osteologically analysed Bronze Age urned burials from the Scottish Mainland. The results suggested a significant discrepancy between how fleshed bodies and bodies which had been through the pyre were perceived. Whereas fresh corpses were not modified, the burnt remains could be extensively manipulated until their final deposition within the urn.

Osteological evidence for violence has only in recent times been thoroughly investigated. Several kinds of traumas indicative of violence have been identified in human skeletal remains worldwide. Such traumas include scalping, embedded and/or associated projectile points, cranial fractures, parry fractures and defensive injuries, decapitation and dismemberment, and evidence of cannibalism. Analysis of traumas at Dust Cave (1LU496) and the O?Neal site (1LU61), two sites in northwestern Alabama with Middle and Late Archaic occupations, was undertaken. Violence-related traumas were observed at both sites. A highly significant difference exists in trauma patterns between the sites. Results were compared to research done on other populations in an attempt to gain a better understanding of violence in prehistory and to place these sites in a wider regional context.

Gotska Sandön is the Baltic ocean’s most isolated island, located approximately 40 kilometres north from the closest civilisation. Today the island serves as a national park and a tourist attraction. The remoteness has made the island a difficult place to reach both in the past and today. Yet, excavations on the island show that human activity existed long before tourists arrived.                     The study observes Gotska Sandön through a long-term perspective by examining the osteological and archaeological findings from the island. The study is part of a larger project conducted by Uppsala university and Södertörns högskola. The purpose of the study is to examine the historic human activity on the island to determine the island’s importance for humans in the past. Therefore, this paper examines all ages where human activity can be traced, resulting in a perspective from the stone age to present-time.         Results indicate human activity through different eras where the island has worked as a hunting ground as well as a place for rituals such as funeral sites. Conclusions that can be drawn from the study is that the island has had different meanings through different times, ritual such as functional. The study finds a strong connection between human activity and seal hunting throughout the ages and indicates the impact seal hunting has had for human survival.

This bachelor thesis covers two executional sites on the island of Gotland with focus on the palaepathology among the executed individuals. The aim is to see which pathological changes that occured most often and if they have any correlation between these and these individuals socioeconomic status. To achieve this the author has examined the bones from Galgberget to identify apparent pathological changes on long bones, vertebrates, maxillaries and mandibles. I have also compared the bones from Galgberget with previous analyses from the other executional site in Grötlingbo parish. The most common pathological change that became identified were osteophytes, arthritis and a couple of oral pathologies like calculus and cavities. Osteophytes and arthritis do share a comparability since they both are derived from osteoarthritis which is a denegerative joint disease. Calculus and cavities also share smiliarities, due to the fact that cavities is the first stage before it becomes calculus. No other pathological similarities were found among the two sites. Although the appearances of Schmorl’s nodes were significantly large among the bone assembly from Galgberget. Schmorl’s nodes is a vertebral lesion that may occur in all ages and have different causes. Other common pathological changes identified from Galgberget were skeletal anomalies and enthesopathies. Smiliar to Schmorls nodes, enthesopathy have different causes and often show in a relation to heavy physical work. It can be concluded that the presence of Schmorl’s nodes, skeletal anomalies, enthesopathy and osteophytes do share an equivalence with each other, when you think about how you get these pathological changes in life. With further studies regarding the material from Galgberget, the view of the people who were executed there may have a real potential to change.

yes / Context: Adult age-at-death is presented in a number of different ways by anthropologists. Ordinal categories predominate in osteoarchaeology, but do not reflect individual variation in ageing, with too many adults being classified as ‘middle adults’. In addition, mean ages (derived from reference samples) are overly-relied upon when developing and testing methods. In both cases, ‘age mimicry’ is not adequately accounted for. Objectives: To highlight the many inherent biases created when developing, testing and applying age-estimation methods without fully considering the impact of ‘age mimicry’ and individual variation. Methods: The paper draws on previously published research (Web of Science, Pub Med, Google Scholar) on age estimation methods and their use in anthropology. Results and Conclusions: There is a lack of consistency in the methods used to estimate age, and for the mode of combining them. Ordinal categories are frequently used in osteoarchaeology, whereas forensic anthropologists are more likely to produce case-specific age ranges. Mean ages reflect the age structure of reference samples, and should not be used to estimate age for individuals from populations with a different age-at-death structure. Individual-specific age ranges and/or probability densities should be used to report individual age. Further research should be undertaken on how to create unbiased, combined method age estimates.

yes / Assessing and interpreting dental and skeletal age-related changes in both the living and the dead is of interest to a wide range of disciplines (e.g. see Bittles and Collins 1986) including human biology, paediatrics, public health, palaeodemography, archaeology, palaeontology, human evolution, forensic anthropology and legal medicine. ... This special issue of Annals of Human Biology arises from the 55th annual symposium of the Society for the Study of Human Biology in association with the British Association for Biological Anthropological and Osteoarchaeology held in Oxford, UK, from 9–11 December 2014. Only a selection of the presentations are included here which encompass some of the major recent advances in age estimation from the dentition and skeleton.

yes / You Are What You Ate was a British public engagement project funded by the Wellcome Trust between 2010 and 2014. It was a collaboration between the University of Leeds, the University of Bradford and Wakefield Council, especially its museums, schools and libraries, which aimed to use medieval food as a way to encourage reflection about modern food and lifestyle. The innovative project ran three exhibitions in Wakefield and Pontefract, a mobile exhibition, numerous schools and youth workshops, and a series of market stalls and osteology workshops for adults and children in the Yorkshire region. This article provides an overview of the project’s aims, activities, outcomes, including an analysis of how to evaluate them, and its legacy.

Yes / The skeletal remains of infants and children are a poignant reminder of the perilous nature of childhood in the past, yet they offer valuable insight into the life histories of individuals and into the health of populations. Many osteoarchaeological and bioarchaeological analyses are dependent on two vital pieces of information: the age-at-death and sex of the individual(s) under study. This chapter will outline how age-at-death and sex can be estimated from the skeletal remains and dental development of non-adults, and how these are easier or more difficult to determine than for adults, and will discuss the complexities and controversies surrounding different methods.