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Posts

April 24, 2013

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1:27 PM | Update on Badgers, Basketmakers, and Boats
In archaeology, we are constantly getting updates on old material. When results are released, it isn’t always when the study itself is complete. Further, new methods or techniques may lead to re-analysis of older sites and remains, revealing new conclusions. Updates on old topics can cause increased debate, or end arguments completely depending on the … Continue reading »

Geib, P. & Hurst, W. (2013). Should dates trump context? Evaluation of the Cave 7 skeletal assemblage radiocarbon dates, Journal of Archaeological Science, 40 (6) 2754-2770. DOI:

Coltrain, J., Janetski, J. & Lewis, M. (2012). A re-assessment of Basketmaker II cave 7: massacre site or cemetery context, Journal of Archaeological Science, 39 (7) 2220-2230. DOI:

Martin, R., Naftel, S., Macfie, S., Jones, K. & Nelson, A. (2013). Pb distribution in bones from the Franklin expedition: synchrotron X-ray fluorescence and laser ablation/mass spectroscopy, Applied Physics A, 111 (1) 23-29. DOI:

Bones Don't Lie
Archeology | Anthropology
Citation
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2:27 AM | Bones - Season 8, Episode 23 (Review)
The Pathos in the Pathogens Episode Summary The Jeffersonian takes on a case at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  A body was found mingled with veterinary waste.  An infection such as necrotizing fasciitis was first suspected, but the changes to the remains and the state of decomp suggest an unknown pathogen that is highly virulent and is replicating quickly.  Dr. Ivan Jacobs of the CDC can't figure out what the disease is, so the remains […]
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Anthropology | Archeology

April 23, 2013

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5:50 PM | On My Mind
I’ve got a lot on my mind. Bronze Age deposition book: visiting some sites on Friday, data collection almost done, have started doing stat analysis and writing interpretations, need to write gazetteer entries while I remember details of how I’ve managed to pinpoint find spots. Also time to decide what my next project will be!…
Aardvarchaeology
Archeology
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1:50 PM | Digging Up Windsor's Earliest Queen: Photos
See photos of the excavation of a 4,400-year-old female skeleton that may be the first Windsor queen.
Archaeology
Archeology
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1:25 PM | Gold-Adorned Skeleton Could Be First Windsor Queen
A 4,400-year-old female skeleton adorned with some of Britain’s earliest gold jewels could be the remains of the first queen of Windsor. Continue reading →
Archaeology
Archeology
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11:00 AM | Oldest Temple in Mexican Valley Hints at Human Sacrifice
The extensive complex contains animal and human bones.
Archaeology
Archeology

April 22, 2013

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6:53 PM | New Paper On The Wreck Of The Rikswasa
A few years ago I did some fieldwork at Djurhamn, a peripheral naval harbour of the 15th through the 17th centuries (and blogged much about it: A – B – C – D – E – F – G – H, and published a paper on it in an anthology). Now maritime archaeologist Jonas Wiklund…
Aardvarchaeology
Archeology
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5:56 PM | 66 Ancient Skeletons Found in Indonesian Cave
Tiger Cave in Sumatra holds the 3,000-year-old burials.
Archaeology
Archeology

April 21, 2013

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8:42 PM | Talking To Stubbornly Angle-Pushing Journalist About Vaccine
As part of my duties as chairman of the Swedish Skeptics, earlier tonight I took part in a studio discussion on Swedish TV4 about Gardasil, the vaccine against human papilloma virus that is offered to all 12-y-o Swedish girls. It was a pretty silly affair. The TV people had decided on the angle that the…
Aardvarchaeology
Archeology

April 19, 2013

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7:34 PM | Stonehenge Settled 5,000 Years Earlier Than Thought
Carbon dating near the monument reveals a settlement occupied between 7,500 and 4,700 BC. ->
Archaeology
Archeology
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3:55 PM | Did Richard III Receive Scoliosis Treatment?
For those who could afford it, difficult therapy was available for the condition.
Archaeology
Archeology

April 17, 2013

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1:50 PM | Transparent Recruitment Charade
2009. University of Lund publishes the PhD thesis Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning in Created Agricultural Wetlands, dealing with biological diversity and ecosystem services in ponds in the agricultural landscape (and commented on here). 2013: Same department advertises a post-doc in the field “Biological Diversity and Ecosystem Services in Ponds in the Agricultural Landscape”. Because in…
Aardvarchaeology
Archeology
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12:00 PM | Identifying Mass Graves: Modern and Historic
A mass grave is a burial that includes multiple individuals within one grave. The term is often used for burials with three or more individuals, since burials less than that can be normal burial activity. Usually, the finding of a mass grave means that something specific occurred to cause this, since it is not a … Continue reading »

Gowland, R. & Chamberlain, A. T. (2005). Detecting plague : palaeodemographic characterisation of a catastrophic death assemblage, Antiquity, 79 (303) 146-157. Other: Link

Kjellstrom, A. (2005). A sixteenth-century warrior grave from Uppsala, Sweden: the Battle of Good Friday, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 15 (1) 23-50. DOI:

Bones Don't Lie
Archeology | Anthropology
Citation

April 16, 2013

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12:35 PM | Mayan Calendar End Date Confirmed
Dating of an elaborately carved wooden beam from a temple in an ancient Maya city confirms the calendar ended last December. ->
Archaeology
Archeology
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2:26 AM | Bones - Season 8, Episode 22 (Review)
The Party in the Pants Episode Summary A newbie attempting to work a forklift at a building demolition site scoops up a decomposing human corpse and accidentally drops it on the forewoman.  She gets it off, but somewhere off-camera, the remaining load falls on the corpse, crushing the skull.  Brennan thinks that the individual was male, based on the crushed skull I guess, and Caucasian based on the parabolic dental arcade.  A uniform that the victim was wearing makes him […]
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Anthropology | Archeology

April 14, 2013

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6:54 PM | The Paleo Diet: The World’s Healthiest Lifestyle? (Part 1)
The author of ‘The Paleo Diet’, Dr Loren Cordain, claims that this is “the world’s healthiest diet” and it is a “lifelong plan to optimize health and well-being”. He even claims to be the world’s leading expert on Palaeolithic diets…Read more ›

Cordain L (1999). Cereal grains: Humanity's double-edged sword., World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics, 84 19-73. PMID:

Cordain L, Toohey L, Smith MJ & Hickey MS (2000). Modulation of immune function by dietary lectins in rheumatoid arthritis., The British Journal of Nutrition, 83 (3) 207-17. PMID:

Cordain L, Eaton SB, Sebastian A, Mann N, Lindeberg S, Watkins BA, O'Keefe JH & Brand-Miller J (2005). Origins and evolution of the Western diet: Health implications for the 21st century., The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 81 (2) 341-54. PMID:

Bones and Skulls
Archeology | Anthropology
Citation

April 11, 2013

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8:34 PM | Presenting Anthropology - Weeks 13&14 (Readings)
Avant-Garde Challenge & Best Practices My inspiration for this course was actually Project Runway.  I don't particularly care for reality shows, since they largely highlight interpersonal relationships I couldn't care less about, but for me, the draw of Project Runway is that the contestants are actually very talented.  On a weekly basis, I get to see people who are really good at their job employ their skills and engage in a creative process, creating things in a matter […]
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Anthropology | Archeology
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2:10 PM | Preservation: When bodies don’t decompose
Last week I discussed taphonomy and what happens when bodies decompose. This week, I want to discuss the reverse- what happens when they don’t decompose? I’m not talking about embalming (I did that a couple weeks ago), I’m talking about natural forms of mummification and preservation. This is not an easy thing to happen, the human body … Continue reading »
Bones Don't Lie
Archeology | Anthropology

April 10, 2013

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8:28 PM | The Iceman Could Have Used a Dentist
Three-dimensional scans of the Iceman's teeth show a number of painful conditions related to a Neolithic diet. ->
Archaeology
Archeology

April 09, 2013

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4:15 PM | Presenting Anthropology - Weeks 11&12 (Kids Projects)
Last week in class, we discussed how best to present anthropological concepts to kids, from preschoolers to high schoolers.  Unsurprisingly, there isn't one book or activity that is appropriate for this vast age range.  Several students in the class have had experience doing outreach, mainly archaeological, with kids through the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN), but the consensus was that teaching even basic concepts in archaeological methods was best done at the 3rd grade […]
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Anthropology | Archeology
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1:00 PM | Can you determine activity from human remains?
If you watch the tv show Bones, you know that every once in a while Brennan will determine some activity that the deceased did based purely on their skeletal remains. For example, in the Pilot episode she determines that the deceased is a young woman who played tennis. The determination of the activity was based on … Continue reading »

Villotte, S. & Knüsel, C. (2013). Understanding Entheseal Changes: Definition and Life Course Changes, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 23 (2) 135-146. DOI:

Cardoso, F. & Henderson, C. (2013). The Categorisation of Occupation in Identified Skeletal Collections: A Source of Bias?, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 23 (2) 186-196. DOI:

Henderson, C., Craps, D., Caffell, A., Millard, A. & Gowland, R. (2013). Occupational Mobility in 19th Century Rural England: The Interpretation of Entheseal Changes, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 23 (2) 197-210. DOI:

Bones Don't Lie
Archeology | Anthropology
1
Citation

April 08, 2013

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8:07 PM | Norse Saga About The Buddha
I found something pretty wild in an essay by J.L. Borges this morning. There’s a 13th century Norse saga about the Buddha. And the story has other fine twists as well. This all revolves around a legendary tale of the Buddha’s early life. In the 6th century BC a son was born to a petty…
Aardvarchaeology
Archeology
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12:24 PM | Day of DH!
The Day of DH is a national celebration of the range and variety of people, projects, and groups involved in digital humanities (DH). This year the event is hosted by MSU’s own DH center: MATRIX: The Center for the Digital Humanities & Social Sciences. It is a community sourced online publication and project to bring together scholars … Continue reading »
Bones Don't Lie
Archeology | Anthropology

April 05, 2013

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11:48 AM | Taphonomy: What Happens To Bones After Burial?
Last week I discussed a way of preserving bodies almost indefinitely in some cases: embalming. On the other side of this is decay, the process of bodily decline and biological breakdown of the flesh. If you’ve ever watched any of the forensics crime shows, you know that understanding decay and changes in the body can … Continue reading »

Lieverse, A., Weber, A. & Goriunova, O. (2006). Human taphonomy at Khuzhir-Nuge XIV, Siberia: a new method for documenting skeletal condition, Journal of Archaeological Science, 33 (8) 1141-1151. DOI:

Bones Don't Lie
Archeology | Anthropology
Citation

April 04, 2013

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9:03 AM | March Pieces Of My Mind
The Swedish Church lost 54,000 members last year. That’s more than half a percent of the country’s population. Yay! Eight years after submission, a star-crossed paper of mine has finally appeared in print! I was at this provincial museum in 2004, looking at finds, and the staff asked me for a paper to put in…
Aardvarchaeology
Archeology

April 03, 2013

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12:00 PM | Health and Wealth in 17th and 18th c. German Population
In modern societies, perfect health and being in-shape are often associated with wealth. Those who have more money have better access to healthier food, ability to hire nutritionists, access to the best gyms and health related centers, and overall tend to be in better health than their poorer counterparts. In the past few years, studies have … Continue reading »

Pētersone-Gordina, E., Gerhards, G. & Jakob, T. (2013). Nutrition-related health problems in a wealthy 17–18th century German community in Jelgava, Latvia, International Journal of Paleopathology, DOI:

Bones Don't Lie
Archeology | Anthropology
Citation

April 02, 2013

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4:00 PM | Trove of Neanderthal Bones Found in Greek Cave
Child and adult bones suggest ancient humans and Neanderthals crossed paths there.
Archaeology
Archeology
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3:31 AM | Bones - Season 8, Episode 21 (Review)
The Maiden in the Mushrooms Episode Summary A couple on a scavenger hunt finds a body covered in mushrooms in the dirt floor of an abandoned building.The Jeffersonian team and the FBI are called to the scene.  Hodgins identifies the variety of mushrooms as ganoderma, enokitake, bunapi-shimeji, and hypholoma.  The frontal eminence and orbital margins tell Brennan the skeleton is from a Caucasian female.  Cranial sutures suggest she was in her mid-20s at death.  Based […]
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Anthropology | Archeology

April 01, 2013

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10:23 PM | Roman Bioarchaeology Carnival XXVII
New Finds Colchester ringfenced burials (credit) 8 March - Remarkable Ringfenced Burials from Roman Colchester (CurrentArchaeology). Wooden ditches and fences dating to the 2nd-3rd centuries AD appear to mark inhumation burials in Colchester.  These clusters are unusual in terms of burial practices in this time and place. 9 March - Domus Aurea: Skeletons of Unknown Burial (Il Messagero).  This Italian news piece reports on a 5th century AD graveyard lying atop Nero's palace. […]
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Anthropology | Archeology
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9:33 PM | Presenting Anthropology - Weeks 11&12 (Readings)
Kids Challenge When did you first learn what anthropology was? My favorite quotation from Kurt Vonnegut goes: "I didn't learn until I was in college about all the other cultures, and I should have learned that in the first grade. A first grader should understand that his or her culture isn't a rational invention; that there are thousands of other cultures and they all work pretty well; that all cultures function on faith rather than truth; that there are lots of alternatives to our own […]
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Anthropology | Archeology
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