95 posts · 43,877 views
Bones Don't Lie is a blog focusing on current news in mortuary archaeology and bioarchaeology. Written by a mortuary archaeology grad student, the blog primarily seeks to expand on news releases on current finds in bioarchaeology and mortuary archaeology. Other content includes summaries of current journal articles, reviews of methods and theories, as well as overviews of topics in the discipline.
Katy Meyers
95 posts
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- August 16, 2012
- 10:23 AM
- 292 views
Environmental Change = Mortuary Change?
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
Last week I posted on the recent discovery that a mass burial from medieval London can actually be attributed to a volcano rather than plague. I discussed the importance of looking at the environment when trying to interpret mortuary sites. This week, another publication has noted the importance of environment when assessing mortuary practices in … Continue reading »... Read more »
Marquet PA, Santoro CM, Latorre C, Standen VG, Abades SR, Rivadeneira MM, Arriaza B, & Hochberg ME. (2012) Feature Article: Emergence of social complexity among coastal hunter-gatherers in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. PMID: 22891345
- August 14, 2012
- 09:59 AM
- 318 views
Diverse Data to Determine Pre-Dynastic Diet
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
A new article by Gamza and Irish (2012) from the Journal of Osteoarchaeology combines all the potential evidence of diet from the Predynastic site of Hierkonpolis in Egypt to determine diet. While extensive archaeozoological, archaeobotanical and archaeological data that are indicative of diet in Predynastic Egypt have been collected, these data don’t necessarily reveal what was actually … Continue reading »... Read more »
T. Gamza, & J. Irish. (2012) A Comparison of Archaeological and Dental Evidence to Determine Diet at a Predynastic Egyptian Site. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. DOI: 10.1002/oa.1214
- August 2, 2012
- 10:35 AM
- 322 views
Choice of Wood in Cremation Pyres
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
When analyzing cremated remains it is important to be aware of the broader burial and not focus so narrowly on the remains themselves if one wants to be able to understand the funeral process. We can learn a lot about the funeral from the bones themselves when they have been burned. The coloring on the … Continue reading »... Read more »
Magdalena Moskal-del Hoyo. (2012) The use of wood in funerary pyres: random gathering or special selection of species? Case study of three necropolises from Poland. Journal of Archaeological Sciences, 39(11). DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2012.05.011
Koen Deforce, & Kristof Haneca. (2011) Ashes to ashes. Fuelwood selection in Roman cremation rituals in northern Gaul. Journal of Archaeological Sciences, 39(5). DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2011.12.024
- July 31, 2012
- 11:09 AM
- 358 views
Coin in the Mouth or Shoe on the Coffin
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
In order to cross the river Styx, the deceased need to pay the ferryman Charon. Only after this are they welcome into the afterlife. During the burial, the living place coins either in the mouth or on the eyes of the deceased so that they can pay this fee. The custom is found archaeologically among … Continue reading »... Read more »
Davidson. (2010) Keeping the Devil at Bay: The Shoe on the Coffin Lid and Other Grave Charms in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-century America. Int J Histor Archaeol. DOI: 10.1007/s10761-010-0123-9
- July 26, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 246 views
Commemorating the Dead in Mesopotamia
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
Burial is more than a way of disposing a body, it is intimately tied to group identity, individual identity, social customs and cultural beliefs. Funerals are a period of renegotiation and transition for both living and dead. In memorialization, the living recreate their own identities as well as create new ties to the recently deceased. As … Continue reading »... Read more »
C. Torres-Rouff, W. Pestle and B. Daverman. (2012) Commemorating Bodies and Lives at Kish's 'A Cemetery': (Re)presenting social memory. Journal of Social Archaeology, 193-219. DOI: 10.1177/1469605312439972
- July 24, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 276 views
Two Perspectives on Dietary Change: Looking Broadly and Specifically
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
Two recent articles from American Journal of Physical Anthropology are using stable isotope analysis to look at variations in dietary habits. Both look at population differences, one from the perspective of change through time and one from an individual life history perspective. Understanding diet is important as it can tell us a lot about the … Continue reading »... Read more »
Lightfoot E, Slaus M, & O'Connell TC. (2012) Changing cultures, changing cuisines: Cultural transitions and dietary change in iron age, roman, and early medieval croatia. American journal of physical anthropology, 148(4), 543-56. PMID: 22552855
Reitsema LJ, & Vercellotti G. (2012) Stable isotope evidence for sex- and status-based variations in diet and life history at medieval Trino Vercellese, Italy. American journal of physical anthropology, 148(4), 589-600. PMID: 22553011
- July 17, 2012
- 01:46 PM
- 294 views
Delicately Digging up the Dead
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
Sieving dirt is one of the activities that occurs on almost every archaeological site, whether it be large scale excavation or small scale like my own cremation urn study. The process involves putting all soil recovered from the excavation through a mesh wire screen. It improves the recovery rate of small artifacts and is an … Continue reading »... Read more »
S. Mays, S. Vincent, & G. Campbell. (2012) The value of sieving of grave soil in the recovery of human remains: an experimental study of poorly preserved archaeological inhumations. Journal of Archaeological Sciences. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2012.05.006
- July 12, 2012
- 03:10 PM
- 335 views
Historical Perspective of Trauma in the Southern Levant
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
Trauma, defined as any injury done to the human body, was most frequently caused by interpersonal violence or conflict in ancient societies. Written documents and archaeological evidence are often used to attest to a high rate of violence, especially in the Southern Levant. However, documents are known to exaggerate and artifacts may not always correlate … Continue reading »... Read more »
H. COHEN, I. SARIE, B. MEDLEJ, F. BOCQUENTIN, T. TOLEDANO, I. HERSHKOVITZ, & V. SLON. (2012) Trauma to the Skull: A Historical Perspective from the Southern Levant. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. DOI: 10.1002/oa.2258
- July 10, 2012
- 07:25 PM
- 342 views
Alas Poor Yorick: Headless Romano-British Burials
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
A large Roman cemetery was uncovered in February, revealing 85 burials dating to the 3rd and 4th centuries. After four months of excavation, the results have finally been released. The cemetery is hailed as being one of the most well preserved of this era and also one of the largest for this region. Archaeologists found … Continue reading »... Read more »
Anderson, T. (2001) Two Decapitations from Roman Towcester. Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 11(6). DOI: 10.1002/oa.581
- June 14, 2012
- 11:54 AM
- 429 views
Bones Abroad: Interpreting Cremations
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
Currently I am in Rome doing an archaeological investigation of cremation remains. At this stage however, it means doing the internal excavation of cinerary urns. While I can’t discuss my own work too much at this stage (I’m doing pre-dissertation research and its all quite hush hush), I can discuss some of the issues and … Continue reading »... Read more »
McKinley, J. (1993) Bone fragment size and weights of bone from modern British cremations and the implications for the interpretation of archaeological cremations. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 3(4), 283-287. DOI: 10.1002/oa.1390030406
- June 1, 2012
- 10:26 AM
- 470 views
The Earliest Evidence of Status Differentiation
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
As far as our narrative of the rise of social differentiation goes, archaeologists posit that the earliest pre-agricultural communities were for the most part egalitarian. With the rise of agriculture comes the increase in social differentiation. However, how and when this occurred is not well understood. In order to determine status differentiation there has been … Continue reading »... Read more »
Bentley, R., Bickle, P., Fibiger, L., Nowell, G., Dale, C., Hedges, R., Hamilton, J., Wahl, J., Francken, M., Grupe, G.... (2012) Community differentiation and kinship among Europe's first farmers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1113710109
- May 22, 2012
- 10:43 AM
- 557 views
Using Mortuary Evidence to Determine Political Economy
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
Political economy refers to the social relations and political structures that guide the economic practices of a group. Traditionally this has meant looking at the coercion and control of the commoners by elites. However, newer interpretations include the role that the non-elites play in structuring these relations and shaping the economy, as well as the … Continue reading »... Read more »
Shepard, B. (2012) Political economic reorganization among non-state societies: A case study using Middle Holocene mortuary data from the Cis-Baikal, Russia. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 31(3), 365-380. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2012.03.001
- May 15, 2012
- 08:09 AM
- 483 views
Determining sex from stable isotope analysis
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
Stable isotope analysis is used in a number of ways to inform our interpretations about people in the past. Nitrogen and carbon are used to determine long term nutritional and dietary patterns. C13 is used to discriminate between C4 and C3 plant consumption. Most plants are C3 and have lower C13 ratios, so a higher … Continue reading »... Read more »
Jaouen, K., Balter, V., Herrscher, E., Lamboux, A., Telouk, P., & Albarède, F. (2012) Fe and Cu stable isotopes in archeological human bones and their relationship to sex. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22053
- May 10, 2012
- 07:40 AM
- 549 views
Bronze Age Skeletons Composites of Multiple Individuals
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
Manipulation of human skeletal material is not unusually. The deceased may be moved to a new location, or singular pieces can be removed as relics or memorials. However, when we find what appears to be a complete skeleton we make the assumption that it represents a single individual. New research may call this assumption into … Continue reading »... Read more »
Hanna, J., Bouwman, A., Brown, K., Pearson, M., & Brown, T. (2012) Ancient DNA typing shows that a bronze age mummy is a composite of different skeletons. Journal of Archaeological Science. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2012.04.030
- May 8, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 599 views
A New Way to Excavate Chamber Tombs
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
Excavation is not always a straightforward process of removing soil in specific cultural and natural layers. It needs to be done carefully to note all inclusions and levels. As I discussed in my post about archaeothanatology, if we do the work in a systematic way that pays attention to the way that the soil has … Continue reading »... Read more »
Karkanas, P., Dabney, M., Smith, R., & Wright, J. (2012) The Geoarchaeology of Mycenaean chamber tombs. Journal of Archaeological Science. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2012.04.016
- May 1, 2012
- 05:03 PM
- 573 views
Skeletal Trauma from Medieval Oslo
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
The Medieval period is one characterized throughout the Western world as one of violence. Artwork from this era shows not only violence done towards other cultural groups, but dangers and suffering from daily life. Historical texts document the violence of heroes and villains, their phrases often loaded with drama. Scholars have argued that this violence … Continue reading »... Read more »
Brødholt, E., & Holck, P. (2012) Skeletal trauma in the burials from the royal church of St. Mary in medieval Oslo. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 22(2), 201-218. DOI: 10.1002/oa.1198
- April 17, 2012
- 07:55 AM
- 407 views
Scurvy During the Irish Famine
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
During the 18th and 19th centuries there are many well documented cases of scurvy in historical records, however paleopathological evidence for disease in Britain has not found the correlating skeletal evidence. This lack of skeletal evidence is thought to be due primarily to misunderstanding and misdiagnosis of the skeletal lesions relating to the disease, especially in … Continue reading »... Read more »
Geber, J., & Murphy, E. (2012) Scurvy in the great irish famine: Evidence of vitamin C deficiency from a mid-19th century skeletal population. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22066
- April 5, 2012
- 03:42 PM
- 545 views
Can you excavate twins?
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
While most mammals have multiple offspring at a time, in humans the phenomenon is fairly rare. The rate of multiple births varies from 1.3 to 3.5% by country, although these have increased slightly in the past decade with the introduction of artificial reproductive techniques. Attitudes towards multiple births varies by culture, from being a sign … Continue reading »... Read more »
Flohr, S. (2012) Twin Burials in Prehistory: A Possible Case from the Iron Age of Germany. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. DOI: 10.1002/oa.2236
Crespo, L., Subirà, M., & Ruiz, J. (2011) Twins in prehistory: The case from Olèrdola (Barcelona, Spain; s. IV II BC). International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 21(6), 751-756. DOI: 10.1002/oa.1169
Marshall, C., Tench, P., Cook, D., & Kaestle, F. (2011) Brief communication: Conjoined twins at angel mounds? an ancient DNA perspective. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 146(1), 138-142. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21557
- April 3, 2012
- 02:13 PM
- 433 views
Basketmaker II Cave 7: Massacre or Cemetery?
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
Mass graves can lead to quite fantastic conclusions: they can be the remains of victims of a deadly disease, sacrifice, warfare or massacre. Looking at the broader contextual evidence, both historical and archaeological, can aid in determining what assemblages of human remains found deposited in a single moment mean. Its important to look for injuries, … Continue reading »... Read more »
Coltrain, J., Janetski, J., & Lewis, M. (2012) A re-assessment of Basketmaker II cave 7: massacre site or cemetery context. Journal of Archaeological Science. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2012.02.018
- March 27, 2012
- 05:32 PM
- 714 views
The Diet of Nelson’s Navy
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
I have previously discussed the excavations and bioarchaeology of Nelson’s Navy, however new research is adding to the story. Nelson’s Navy was active during the early 19th century, and many of their remains were buried at naval hospitals in Plymouth and Gosport. A new publication by Roberts et al. (2012) discusses the results of stable … Continue reading »... Read more »
Roberts P, Weston S, Wild B, Boston C, Ditchfield P, Shortland AJ, & Pollard AM. (2012) The men of Nelson's navy: A comparative stable isotope dietary study of late 18th century and early 19th century servicemen from Royal Naval Hospital burial grounds at Plymouth and Gosport, England. American journal of physical anthropology. PMID: 22407735
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