Archaeoosteology: Osteological Analysis Methods

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Materials Chosen
Osteological Analysis Methods
Assessment
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

The history of the mankind is not only the achievements of technological progress, historical monuments, and scholarly works dedicated to the critical events and milestone dates in the history. According to Larsen (2000, p. ix), archaeology and osteology are sciences that help people get the more specific impression of history through the knowledge of what the lives of human beings was several centuries or thousands of years ago; what the illnesses and other health problems of those people were; what those people ate and how they developed through their lifecycles. Although osteology deals with the analysis of both human and non-human bone remnants, this paper considers the major methodologies for the osteological analysis of human bones and focuses on the pros and cons of the chosen methodologies in the context of the bone materials selected.

Materials Chosen

Materials’ Nature

The materials chosen for the analysis consist of the numerous elements that together comprise skeletons of two human beings found on the site of Ardsallagh 1 (A008/035). These are two skeletons, whose sex is impossible to find out according to the structure of the human skeleton and its sex-related peculiarities because the skeletons are considerably defragmented and damaged by cremation. The skeletons were found at the site that had previously provided archeologists with rich material for analysis and conclusions about the history of the area. The fact that the nature of the material and the characteristics of the precise location where these materials were found are clear to archeologists and osteologists makes the analysis of these pieces of material easier and more focused. So does the detailed examination of the materials’ conditions.

Overview and Conditions

The first step in the osteological analysis is the overview of the materials’ conditions (Brothwell, 1981, p. 14). Accordingly, the skeletons under analysis display the traces of cremation. The skeletons chosen for the analysis are typical of the period of the Late Bronze Age, or earlier periods, during which there was a tradition to bury people through the procedure of cremation. As the result of numerous wounds, seemingly suffered in military operations, and after the cremation the skeletons are characterized by the considerable defragmentation. In more detail, the skeletons consist of 539 minor elements, whose identification and attribution to the respective parts of the human body is one of the tasks set for the osteological analysis process. The elements of the analyzed skeletons range in size from 15 to 30mm and are also characterized by the variety of colors, some of which testify that the skeletons actually were cremated at the temperatures ranging from 500 to 600^oC. According to the above stipulated data, the major tasks for the osteological analysis of the selected human bones include the identification of the cause of death (if at all possible on the basis of bone remains after cremation), finding out the age and health state of the persons at the time of cremation, and the age of the very skeleton elements.

Materials’ Maintenance

For the purposes of the proper analysis, the materials were taken up from the site of Ardsallagh 1 (A008/035) and placed into the laboratory, in which all the necessary preparatory procedures were taken. The very procedure of taking the bones up started with excavation and packing which, according to Brothwell (1981), should be carried out with the help of special shafts and wood cylinder placed under the bones (p. 13). In the analyzed case, the bones were urned, and their excavation only careful manual work and packing in the bones filled up with sand for prevention of any damage to the urn or the bone elements in it while in transit to the laboratory. After the excavation, the bone elements were photographed in the field, labeled, and numbered to provide more clarity for the further analysis (Brothwell, 1981, pp. 12 – 13). Finally, the bones were delivered to the laboratory where they were cleaned and sorted according to the size and color. The identification of the bone elements’ belonging to the specific part of bodies was the task of the next step, i. e. osteological analysis as such.

Osteological Analysis Methods

Overview

It is a proven fact that different samples of bone materials demand different analysis methods to be implied. In the analysis of the cremated bone samples from the site of Ardsallagh 1 (A008/035) the two most effective methods were selected among the variety of existing techniques, and it was decided to examine the bone elements through the X-ray analysis of the teeth samples (Brothwell, 1981, p. 55) and to carry out the biochemical analysis of the rest of the bone elements (Larsen, 2000, p. 78). The results of the two methods’ analysis allowed speaking about the two skeletons’ belonging to the adult persons and about the absence of any health pathologies of their teeth. As well, the biochemical analysis allowed finding out that the death of the two persons was the result of poisoning. Finally, the biochemical analysis provided the information about the skeletons’ actual belonging to the Late Bronze Age as it was presupposed during the remains’ excavation on the basis of the background knowledge of the site history and the historical burial preferences of the Bronze Age.

Assessment

Advantages

After the analysis is carried out and the results are obtained, it is possible to assess the effectiveness and applicability of the chosen methods for the work with the samples of cremated and considerably defragmented human bones. Accordingly, the major advantages of the X-ray and biochemical analyses include the opportunity to retrieve specific data concerning the history of the bone samples and the chance top provide guidelines for further research of the bones origin and particular characteristics like sex of the skeletons, their lifetime pathologies, and the causes of the latter. Moreover, Brothwell (1981) argues that X-ray analysis is irreplaceable for the study of the teeth structure and any damages to their inside. As well, X-ray examination might identify any alien elements in teeth and/or bones and present the findings for the further study during the biochemical analysis (Brothwell, 1981, pp. 55 – 56). The latter, according to Larsen’s (2000) argument, can provide the insight into the history of the bone samples and answer the questions about the health pathologies of the persons whose skeletons are analyzed and the causes of their deaths (Larsen, 2000, p. 30).

Disadvantages

However, the methods under discussion also have considerable disadvantages. The first, and foremost, is the inability of any of the used methods to present the comprehensive and full picture of the bone elements’ characteristics. According to Brothwell (1981), X-ray examination, apart from being rather useful, fails to provide the information that for example spectral analysis can provide about the person’s illnesses or eating preferences based on the study of teeth samples (Brothwell, 1981, p. 55). As well, X-ray examination is an outdated research method whose implementation is connected with considerable expenses but insufficient results in many cases. In regard to the biochemical analysis, its disadvantages are not as evident because, for example, in the case with the Ardsallagh 1 (A008/035) bone samples analysis the biochemical analysis provided the researchers with all the information that it could provide. Another problem is that both X-ray and biochemical analyses at their best cannot provide the information to identify the sex and lifetime pathologies of the persons whose skeleton elements were analyzed. But this is already the concern of archeology and osteology as sciences to design methods for the more comprehensive analysis of bone samples.

Conclusion

Thus, it is obvious that human history can be learnt not only from historical monuments and scholarly works but also from the results of archeological and osteological research procedures. Archeology and osteology as sciences can provide a clearer and deeper look into the picture of the development of the humankind, because these sciences investigate the actual lives of specific people by way of examining their skeletons and samples of bones. Needless to say, osteology has a wide range of methods of bones studies, but X-ray and biochemical analyses are often referred to as the most reliable ones. Although both these methodologies have their advantages and disadvantages, the major drawback of the current osteology is the lack of methodologies that could compensate the gaps left by the incomplete results retrieved through the existing methods.

Reference List

Brothwell, D. R. (1981) Digging up bones: the excavation, treatment, and study of human skeletal remains. Cornell University Press.

Larsen, C. S. (2000) Skeletons in Our Closet: Revealing Our Past through Bioarchaeology. Princeton univ. Press.

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