Unlocking the Secrets of the Skeleton: A Lecture Series, Durham
An opportunity to learn how human bones can reveal details of ancient lives over a series of six lectures, delivered by members of the Durham University Bioarchaeology Research Group. There will be some interactive sessions to complement particular lectures for which limited places will be available (sign up during lecture).
For the full schedule of when and where lectures are taking place, please see the Durham University website or click on image to download flyer.
Ethical Approaches to Human Remains
Henderson, C.
Archaeologists regularly find human remains during excavation. Reburial requests for these human remains seem to be becoming more common and more high profile. This presentation will cover ethical and legal aspects of their excavation, analysis, curation and reburial. Case studies will be used to illustrate these points. In addition to this the purpose for studying human remains will be presented from archaeological and non-archaeological perspectives.
Unlocking the Secrets of the Skeleton: The Keys
Caffell, A.
Archaeologists often want to ask big questions about the lives of past peoples, such as how did they cope with their environment, and what effect did changes in the way they lived have on their health? How did they bury their dead, and were different rituals given to different members of society? The key to answering to these questions lies in analysing human skeletal remains. This talk will explore how the information contained within these remains is unlocked, looking at how the bio-archaeologist determines the age and sex of each skeleton, how they work out how tall the person was in life, and how they extract information on the health and lifestyle of the individual from traces left in their bones.
It will then consider how this information is collected together to investigate the bigger picture.
Life and Death in the North East: some light from the Dark Ages
Groves, S.
The North East of England is rich in history and archaeology from the Early Medieval period; the writings of Bede give us an insight into the lives of the kings, saints and nobles, but until recently little was known about the ordinary people who lived and died here. Research by the Bioarchaeology Group at Durham is shedding light upon the people of the North East of England; how they lived, what they ate, how they moved around the country, some of the diseases they suffered from, how they cared for their sick and injured and in some cases even how they died. This lecture will introduce the audience to some of the Early Medieval communities from the North East, and the scientific techniques which we can use to find out about their lives.
Plague, Pestilence and Pollution: Skeletal Evidence for Urbanisation in the Past
Gowland, B.
For the first time in history over half of the World’s population now live in urban environments. The health consequences of living in urban environments are well known, from the transmission of infectious diseases to the pollution of air and waterways. This lecture discusses the skeletal evidence for the effects of urbanisation on the health of populations during the Roman and Medieval periods.
Swords, Arrows and Bullets; Understanding Weapon Trauma in Archaeology
McCarrison, K.
The evolution of violence and warfare in human society has been the subject of great academic debate although is still, in many respects poorly understood. However, the resulting physical evidence of such activities allows archaeologists to study both the development of weapons over time and the injuries they caused. Written accounts of battles and conflict are often plagued by inaccuracies and hearsay and therefore must be interpreted with caution, (not least because the majority of history is written by the winners!).
The most direct evidence of trauma (injury) can be found on the skeletal remains of those who were unlucky enough to suffer it. Through individual burials to mass graves from historic battles, the injuries sustained are as varied as they are often incredible.
This talk aims to look at some examples of weapon trauma from the distant past and examine in more detail the techniques employed by human bioarchaeologists. We will look at types of injuries often seen on the battlefield such as those inflicted by swords and other heavy weapons as well as injuries caused by arrows and gun shots. This will also enable us to explore some experimental archaeology and even consider the development of armour over time. We will also consider some of the most famous and fascinating examples of bog bodies ever discovered. Although for none of the victims will we know ‘who dunnit’, we can perhaps come a little closer to knowing ‘what dunnit’ and how!
Death on the White Nile
Jakob, T.
This lecture will explore what bioarchaeological analysis can tell us about the life and death of people living on the banks of the White Nile several thousand years ago. We will learn how people lived and what they were doing to feed themselves and their children. What kind of animals did they have and what the climate was like are just some of the questions we will investigate. In addition, we will explore how different groups of people buried their dead and what kind of grave goods they placed in the graves. The evidence for this investigation is based on the skeletal remains excavated in a large cemetery south of the capital Khartoum and we will asked questions about the general health of these people and learn which diseases they suffered from. We will see that many illnesses that are common today also affected people in the past and we will look at different diseases such as tooth decay, broken bones and joint disease (osteoarthritis).
In addition, a practical demonstration in the laboratory will introduce some of the diseases described in the lecture and participants will be able to have a closer look at the human skeletons. This is a unique opportunity to come eye to eye with the remains of people who lived more than 8000 years ago.
