Bioarchaeology of Human Remains

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• the use of human skeletal remains as a resource for studying past variability in diet and subsistence, health and disease, social structure and organisation, and population history and migration
• the ethical issues surrounding working with human remains
• varying approaches to the analysis of human skeletal remains

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• identify and sort fragments of human bone
• undertake and report basic osteological analysis of human skeletons

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• write clear and concise reports
• select appropriate means for recording and analysing data
• evaluate and critique arguments and material

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• evaluate and critique the methods and results of bioarchaeological analyses and studies
• present information clearly and concisely
• observe and visually identify human bones

The module syllabus will typically include the following components:

• The nature of bone & outline of the human skeleton: this will encompass briefly considering the construction of bone and the organisation of the human skeleton.
• Skulls & axial skeleton: the skeletal anatomy of the head, vertebrae, pelvis, scapulae, clavicles and sternum
• Limbs, long bones, hands and feet: skeletal anatomy of the arms and legs, distinguishing hands from feet
• Teeth, dentitions and dental health: or… why you should remember to brush your teeth
• Estimating age and sex: children, the differences between social, chronological and biological ages, and between sex and gender
• Stature and body size: reconstructing adult height
• Trauma, battlefields and bodies: breaking bones, weaponry and bodily protection
• Palaeopathology, disease and infection, including study of syphilis, TB, and leprosy
• Metrics, non-metrics, biodistance and ethnicity, including critique of whether race exists
• Taphonomy, burial ritual and funerary archaeology: how can we get an identity from bioarchaeology?
• Migration, mobility & chemical analyses (aDNA, isotopes): where do these people come from and what did they eat?
• Ethics of working with human remains: what are the ethical considerations of study, curation and repatriation?

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include

• Lecture detailing aspects of skeletal identification or methodology
• Short student presentations on key bioarchaeology texts
• Practical work developing bioarchaeological identification and analysis skills

Learning activities include

• Practical work
• Summative bone fragment tests
• Role play
• Peer review of bone report in advance of submission

Resources & Reading list

Journal Articles

Brickley, M. and McKinley, J.I. (2004). Guidelines to the Standards for Recording Human Remains. IFA Paper, 7.

Textbooks

Agarwal, S.C. and Glencross, B.A. (eds.) (2011). Social Bioarchaeology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Buikstra, J. E. and Beck, L.A. (eds.) (2006). Bioarchaeology. London: Academic Press.

Katzenberg, M.A. and Saunders, S.R. (eds) (2008). Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton. New York: Wiley-Liss.

Larsen, C.S. (1997). Bioarchaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pinhasi, R. and Mays, S. (2008). Advances in Human Palaeopathology. Chichester: John Wiley.

Roberts, C. and Manchester, K. (2010). The Archaeology of Disease. London: History Press.

Iscan, M.Y. and Kennedy, K.A.R. (eds.) (1989). Reconstruction of Life from the Skeleton. New York: Alan R. Liss.

White, T.D. & Folkens, P.A. (2005). The Human Bone Manual. London: Academic Press.

Brothwell, D. (1987). Digging Up Bones. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

White, T.D.; Black, M.T. and Folkens, P.A. (2012). Human Osteology. London: Academic Press.

Hillson, S. (1997). Dental Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bass, W. (1987). Human Osteology. Missouri Archaeological Society.

Roberts, C. (2009). Human Remains in Archaeology: A Handbook. London: Council for British Archaeology.

Mays, S. (1993). The Archaeology of Human Bones. London: Routledge.

Buikstra, J and Ubelaker, D. (1994). Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains. Fayetteville: Arkansas Archaeological Survey.

Ortner, D. and Putschar, W. (1985). Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains. Washington: Smithsonian University Press.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal