The bark from prehistory – an osteological analysis on dog bones from the Stone Age settlements of Hemmor and Gullrum at Gotland and a theoretic study of the secular and sacred roles of the dog during the Neolithic. Dog bones from two Pitted Ware Culture (around 2500 BC) settlements, Hemmor in När parish and Gullrum in Näs parish/Havdhem parish, at southern Gotland, Sweden are analyzed. The analysis contains a study of age, withers height and size estimation as well as skeletal changes and pathologies. The attempt of the analysis is to highlight the secular and sacred role of the dog during the Neolithic at Gotland. The dog bones were collected during excavations in the years 1890 and 1903 and were found across the entire surfaces of the settlements. Although there were no specific dog breeds during the Stone Age, the dogs at Hemmor and Gullrum show a wide range of size (withers height spans from 39,74 cm to 56,47 cm) and may therefore have been used for different purposes depending on their size. The dogs were not eaten, but evidence of skinning is found. The results are compared with other analysis made on dog bones from similar settlements. The analysis is complemented with a theoretic study of the functions of dogs in other parts of the world. Ethnologic studies of traditional societies show the importance and wide range of functions in which the dogs are used and can give us an idea of the corresponding functions at a Neolithic Gotland. The functions vary from pet and guardian of the settlement to fishing, hunting and ritual purposes.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Linköping : Univ., 2001. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Stockholms universitet, 2008. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

This essay is a study of the dental health and cranial pathologies of five individuals buried in Domkyrkoplan cemetery, Uppsala, in the 17th and 18th century. Domkyrkoplan was the only cemetery in Uppsala city during the 200-year time period. The cemetery was placed in the immediate surroundings of Uppsala cathedral. The 17th century is a breaking point between the late medieval society and the early modern era in Sweden as well as in Europe, and this was a period of change for the inhabitants of Uppsala city. The purpose of this paper is to provide a deeper insight into the inhabitants’ health and life, as well as an overview of the town’s development over the course of the time period. The theoretical framework used in this essay is microarchaeology, and the results from the analysis apply only to the analyzed individuals. Although no attempt will be made to draw conclusions about the entire population of Uppsala during the early modern times, the results will be placed in a historical context. The historical context provided in this essay is the result of a literary analysis with three major focal points: demography and city planning, Uppsala cathedral and the cemetery, diet and health. The results of the osteological analysis have shown that the five individuals all suffered from malnutrition and/or iron deficiency at some point during their childhood. The individuals are believed to have belonged to the middle class in the early modern society, however, they seem to have lived through some sort of hardship which caused the malnutrition. The literary analysis concludes that Uppsala was subjected to a starvation catastrophe during the last years of the 17th century, as well as the plague shortly thereafter, in 1710. The osteological material analyzed in this essay is part of an ongoing archaeological investigation, which means that the dating and results used or concluded in this essay is preliminary and may differ from the final archaeological report, which will be released in 2021.

This paper will focus on marine archaeology as a discipline, mainly from the perspective of shipwrecks that have been discovered with human remains. The analysis and interpretation will be based primarily on three specific shipwrecks within Swedish marine archaeology: Vasaskeppet, Kronan and Mars Makalös, all of which have and or are containing human skeletal remains. The ships have primarily been chosen for their provenience in archaeology and the fact that they have been subject to revisions and further discussions both in earlier decades as in the case with Vasa and ongoing modern projects such as in the case with Mars Makalös. The ships will be compared with each other in several ways but mainly concentrate on how their human remains have been handled.  Further topics will also involve how underwater cultural heritage are protected and what ups and downs follows the different methodologies, this will be relevant since shipwrecks containing human remains often face challenges on how they should be protected. Historical value and how this may affect the search and resources granted to expeditions will also be briefly discussed.      Source material will consist of texts in the form of field reports from the ships in question as well as general texts regarding marine archaeology and shipwrecks to get a brief overview of the subject and it´s development. Texts concerning ethical dilemmas surrounding human remains within shipwrecks will also be selected with both a perspective from Swedish archaeology and a more global perspective to provide relevant ground for further discussion. Email contact with people relevant to these ships or the theme in general will also form the ground for discussion and analysis.

Studien undersöker hur arkeologiskt djurbensmaterial från Västergarn, Gotland har påverkats av tafonomiska processer på Västergarn. Syftet med uppsatsen är att framföra vikten av tafonomi inom arkeologi och osteologi, vinklat mot om de tafonomiska processerna skulle kunna påverka den osteologiska analysen och isåfall hur? En stor del ben frystes även för att få bukt på den aktiva mögelprocessen, hur har det påverkat benen? Kan samband ses mellan en viss fragmenteringsgrad, vissa frakturtyper och specifika tafonomiska processer från Västergarn? Detta diskuteras i samband med jordbeskrivningarna av de kontext som benen hittats i och undersöker vilken potentiell process som kan ha skapat förändringen på benet. Slutligen framför uppsatsen vikten av tafonomisk kunskap, då samtliga ben som undersöktes påvisar flera tafonomiska processer som kan påverka den osteologiska analysen. Vissa av processerna som identifierades var: rotavtryck, rotinvasion, erosion och frostsprängningar. / This study investigates how archaeological animal bones from Västergarn, Gotland has been affected by taphonomic processes on Västergarn. The purpose of the essay is to present the importance of taphonomic knowledge in archeology and osteology, angled towards whether the taphonomic processes could affect the osteological analysis and if so how? A large number of bones were also frozen to overcome the ongoing mold process, how has that affected the bones? Can relations be found between a certain degree of fragmentation, certain fracture types and specific taphonomic processes from Västergarn? This is discussed in connection with the soil descriptions of the contexts in which the bones were found and examines what potential process may have created the change on the bone. Finally, the essay presents the importance of taphonomic knowledge, as all the bones that were examined demonstrate several taphonomic processes that can affect the osteological analysis. Some of the processes identified were: root etching, root invasion, erosion and frost fracturing.

Ancient Egyptian human remains, mummified and skeletal, have been studied for centuries by archaeologists and egyptologists, who have focused on mummification techniques, palaeopathology and signs of activity. However, some of these studies have been lacking in taphonomic and osteological knowledge. This dissertation considers if some of the interpretations of osteoarchaeological data in these studies can be better explained by taphonomic processes, a more in-depth knowledge of paleopathology and osteological identification techniques. As a result, the interpretations of terrible working and life conditions at Tell el Amarna, the capital city founded by Akhenaten were created by interpreting common pathologies as indications of forced labor and poor diet, and by ignoring facts about the context.  The identifications of KV55 and KV60-A individuals cannot be considered valid. No reliable radiologic methods exist that can age an individual between the ages of 35-45. A damaged vertebra and a femur were incorrectly said to contain osteophytes. The damages described in the cranium and teeth of this individual may even be of peri-mortem origin. The tooth used to identify KV60-A with Hatshepsut does not have the wear expected for the age group of the individual, while the cranial morphology shows a high indication of masculine traits.  Unknown man E, Unknown woman A and the Greek-roman mummy seemed to have been affected by common taphonomic and archaeothanatological processes. The healing process of the mandibula and maxilla makes it unlikely that the so called “bridges” were used during life. In conclusion, a much deeper knowledge of taphonomy, paleopathology and general osteological knowledge in these studies would have been necessary to avoid misinterpretations.

It is decidedly rare to come across evidence of primary or secondary malignant tumours in the archaeological record, both in the excavatory stage as well as the laboratory stage. However, the statistical absence of cancer in the archaeological record may not be representative of actual prevalence, geographical distribution, or severity. Despite the scarcity, there are some documented cases of suspected and hypothesised malignant skeletal neoplasms, of varying severity and disease progression. Some of these cases have been examined and put through a posthumous or presumptive diagnostic process, in which macroscopic analysis is followed by close microscopic examination, as well as the consideration and exclusion of differential diagnoses. This bachelor’s thesis will investigate 5 cases of such examination, with the help of three palaeopathological and paleo-oncological case studies. With an interdisciplinary approach encompassing contemporary medical science as well as palaeopathological osteoarchaeology, this thesis project will consider the clinical manifestations presented by the case studies in relation to their final hypothesised diagnosis. The results indicate that these individuals may have suffered from metastatic carcinoma with a soft tissue origin, a result which is significant to both contemporary medicine as well as osteoarchaeology. / Det är avgjort sällsynt att stöta på tecken på primära eller sekundära maligna tumörer i det arkeologiska förflutna, både i utgrävningsstadiet såväl som i laboratoriestadiet. Den statistiska frånvaron av cancer i det arkeologiska förflutna kanske inte är representativt för faktisk prevalens, geografisk spridning eller svårighetsgrad. Trots bristen finns det några dokumenterade fall av misstänkta och hypotetiska maligna skelettneoplasmer, av varierande svårighetsgrad och sjukdomsprogression. En del av dessa fall har undersökts och genomgått en postum eller presumtiv diagnostisk process, där makroskopisk analys följs av noggrann mikroskopisk undersökning, samt beaktande och uteslutning av differentialdiagnoser. Denna kandidatuppsats kommer att undersöka 5 fall av sådan undersökning, med hjälp av tre paleopatologiska och paleo-onkologiska fallstudier. Med ett tvärvetenskapligt tillvägagångssätt som omfattar samtida medicinsk vetenskap såväl som paleopatologisk osteoarkeologi kommer detta examensarbete att överväga de kliniska manifestationerna av fallstudierna i relation till deras slutgiltiga preliminära diagnos. Resultaten tyder på att dessa individer kan ha lidit av metastaserande karcinom med ursprung i mjukvävnad, ett resultat som är signifikant för såväl modern medicin som osteoarkeologi.

This thesis has illustrated the importance of the identification of tooth marks between humans and carnivores within an archaeological context and has provided further potential for advancement to future research. Stone Age sites from Europe have acted as case studies where the bones from both experimental and archaeological research have been analysed and discussed through an is taphonomic theoretical perspective. For the osteological analysis analysed experimental bones with a microscope to see identifications of tooth marks. In a comparative analysis, the experimental bones have been compared to archaeological assemblages from the Stone Age and one site from the Bronze Age.  The result shows that the experimental material contained every tooth mark in the human-chewed material, whilst the dog-chewed material only contained the back teeth. The bones showed that the human chewing had mainly been processed with the incisors, canine and premolar. In contrast, the dog bones showed that dog chewing had mainly been processed with the premolars and molars. / Denna uppsats har illustrerat vikten av identifiering av tandmärken mellan människor och köttätare i ett arkeologiskt sammanhang och har gett ytterligare potential för avancemang till framtida forskning. Stenåldersplatser från Europa har fungerat som fallstudier där benen från både experimentell och arkeologisk forskning har analyserats och diskuterats genom ett tafonomiskt teoretiskt perspektiv. För osteologisk analys analyserade experimentella ben med ett mikroskop för att se identifieringar av tandmärken. I en jämförande analys har de experimentella benen jämförts med arkeologiska samlingar från stenåldern och en plats från bronsåldern. Resultatet visar att det experimentella materialet innehöll varje tandmärke i det mänskliga tuggade materialet, medan det hundtuggade materialet endast innehöll de bakre tänderna. Benen visade att det mänskliga tuggandet huvudsakligen hade bearbetats med framtänder, hörntand och premolar. Däremot visade hundbenen att hundtuggandet huvudsakligen hade bearbetats med premolarerna och molarerna.

This essay include the osteological analysis of ten cremation burials from the burial ground of Vindförberg in Ore parish, Dalarna. The burial ground on Vindförberg was used between the years 100 and 550 AD. during the Iron age. Vindförberg is a hunting burial ground which is one of two burial practices that existed during this age in Dalarna. The hunting ground graves are located far from settlements and their origin is under debate. Theories about these graves say that they are either settlers from the south or hunting-gatherer groups from the north and west. The questions this essay is if it is possible to see the structure of the community the people behind the burial ground at Vindförberg had. This will be achieved with the help of age and sex determinations to study the relationship between the different graves at Vindförberg. In excess of previous question, it was also of interest to compare the result from Vindförberg with four other contemporary burial grounds to inquire similarities and differences. Of the 43 graves on the burial ground, ten were analyzed in this essay. A total weight and volume of nine kilograms and twelve liters was analyzed. Human, dog, bear, elk, beaver, and fish were the identified species from Vindförberg. Because of the very fragmented material, the determinations of age and sex proved difficult to estimate. This led to the discussion being more about the ancient people’s conception of the world and rituals as well to social structure.