Analysis of human cremated remains.

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Basic human osteology - faculty 3101-AFOSTE

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Cremated or simply burned human remains are considered material requiring specialised attention, out of the scope of your everyday osteologists. But have you ever wondered what it takes to look for reconstructing biological profile from the highly fragmented and distorted bone elements? Or would you like to learn how properly excavate and document cremated burial from an archaeological site? The Analysis of cremains presents the unique opportunity to learn about the process of burning and then cremating human body as well as a practical solution on excavation, documentation and analysis of the findings.

The Analysis of Cremains is an advanced course, so the prior knowledge of human osteology is a must. Participants are expected to be able to work with fragmentary remains, please consider that cremains consist mostly of fragments under 1 cm, and you will be expected to recognize at least some of them.

Course topics:

1. Introduction to cremation

2. Cremains in archaeology and forensic sciences

3. Exploration and documentation of cremated burials

4. Transportation and storage of cremains

5. Osteological analysis of cremains:

▼ fragmentation of cremains

▼ identification of non-human/non-bone elements

▼ establishing MNI

▼ describing a biological profile

6. Process of cremation

7. Advanced analysis of cremains

The course covers several aspects of cremains analysis. There is a part describing the forensic-related problems, like what happens during cremation/burning of the human body, and what are the differences between fire victims and funeral cremation. The differences between the modern cremation and cremation on the funerary pyre will also be discussed. Then there will be a bioarchaeological point of view - the exploration of the cremation grave on site, and laboratory (micro-) excavation. And then most of the course will be concerning the analysis of the cremains (based on McKinley's method, with some changes of course). We will explain why we do the analysis this way, and what data can be gathered when this method is implemented. The explanation of the main differences between cremains analysis and typical analysis of skeletal remains will be provided, and why the expectation of cremains carrying similar information that the skeleton does is unrealistic. The possible additional laboratory analyses on the cremated remains (like radiocarbon dating, isotopic analysis etc.) will also be discussed.

Fairgrieve S. (2008) Forensic cremation. Recovery and Analysis, CRC Press, Boca Raton, ss. 37-60

McKinley J.I. (2004) Compiling a skeletal inventory: cremated human bones, [in:] Guidelines to the Standards for Recording Human Remains, red. Megan Brickley and Jacqueline I McKinley, IFA Paper No. 7, ss. 9-50

McKinley, J. I. et al. The Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Spong Hill, North Elmham, pt. VIII: The Cremations. (1994).

The Analysis of Burned Human Remains (2008) red. CW Schmidt & SA Symes, Elsevier

Additional papers on the particular topics

K_W02, K_W03, K_W04, K_W09, K_W13,

K_U01, K_U02, K_U07, K_U09, K_U12, K_U13

K_K01, K_K02, K_K03, K_K04

Students are acquainted with specialist terminology used in researching human cremated remains, with an in-depth understanding in methods of analysis and interpretation of said material. During the course, the advanced understanding of main aspects of the analysis of human remains exposed to heat and fire is gained, as well as methods of the documentation of the finds of such origin, based on scientific literature. Students can analyse provided information in English on the state and context of the cremains, providing a critical interpretation of findings and presented information, as well as confronting the published literature within the specified topic of human cremated remains. They can point toward multifaceted relations between artefacts and ecofacts to provide an interpretation of cremation practises in past societies. They are aware of the value of the archaeological finds related to the process of cremation for the reconstruction of the past and as a part of the cultural heritage of humanity. Students are able to present their opinions in a scientific way using advanced English with specialist vocabulary.

The grade is based on the results short multiple-choice test concerning the knowledge presented during the course.