Spatial Analysis of Mass Grave Mapping Data to Assist in the Reassociation of Disarticulated and Commingled Human Remains

2014 ◽  
pp. 7-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh Tuller ◽  
Ute Hofmeister
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Analysis ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Mapping Data ◽  
Mass Grave

The utility of spatial analysis in the recognition of normal and abnormal patterns in burned human remains

2015 ◽  
pp. 204-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina L. Fojas ◽  
Luis L. Cabo ◽  
Nicholas V. Passalacqua ◽  
Christopher W. Rainwater ◽  
Katerina S. Puentes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Analysis ◽  
Human Remains

On Manifestations of the Cult of Human Skulls in the Knÿshovskoe Settlement Dating from the Scythian Period

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-328
Author(s):  
Marina N. Daragan ◽  
Petr A. Gavrish
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Analysis ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Steppe Zone ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Complete Disappearance ◽  
Human Sacrifice ◽  
Crucial Step ◽  
Scythian Period ◽  
Human Skulls

Abstract Human remains have been found in many settlements and fortified settlements of the Scythian period in the forest-steppe zone of the Ukraine. Yet there are substantial differences between the nature of the finds and the circumstances of their positioning in the various settlements concerned. At some sites whole skeletons or parts of skeletons have been found in pits and in habitation levels. At others mainly (and sometimes even exclusively) human skulls or their fragments have been found. A picture of this kind was recorded, in particular, at the fortified settlement of Knÿshovskoe. This article examines the places where human skulls and fragments of the latter were found in the context of cultic and domestic buildings within the Knÿshovskoe settlement. Research was focused specifically on the positions of clay altars and the link between the latter and the anthropological remains within the site. Within the investigated area of the settlement, occupying half a hectare, 110 separate fragments of human skulls were found – 52 altars and 211 pits linked to various structures. Using spatial analysis based on gis-technology, a firm link was established between the clay altars, human skulls and also the skulls or skeletons of dogs, examples of cultic figurines, distaffs and clay cones. The areas in which altars and skulls were concentrated made it possible to regard most of these as having functioned simultaneously in a shrine. Analysis of each specific archaeological find of altars and skulls made it possible to single out certain “archaeological situations” demonstrating clear differences in specific cultic practices, a key component of which was the sacrificing of human heads. The shrine was being used no earlier than the second or third quarter of the 4th century bc. Establishing the existence of cultic practices involving human sacrifice could provide a crucial step towards an understanding of phenomena, occurring in the forest-steppe zone in the second half and at the end of the 4th century bc, which eventually led to the complete disappearance of the culture of the Scythian period in the forest-steppe and steppe zones at the end of the 4th century bc.

A Mass Grave outside the Walls

2019 ◽  
pp. 187-211
Author(s):  
Andrei Soficaru ◽  
Claudia Radu ◽  
Cristina I. Tica
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
The Other ◽  
Compelling Evidence ◽  
Urban Center ◽  
Mass Grave ◽  
Archaeological Investigation ◽  
The Way ◽  
Late Roman

This chapter focuses on the Roman frontier province of Scythia Minor during the fourth–sixth centuries CE, in an attempt to get a glimpse of how life on the frontier might have worked. In the fourth century, Ibida, a major urban center in the northern part of Scythia Minor, was the largest settlement after the capital Tomis. A non-specific mortuary assemblage, known as feature M141, was identified in 2008 when scattered human remains were discovered during the archaeological investigation of the foundation of the walled enclosure’s tenth tower. The way these human remains were processed and treated in a mortuary context fundamentally differs from the other two burial assemblages found at the site. There is compelling evidence that the remains of these individuals were subjected to a violent, irreverent, and unceremonious treatment, instead of the prescribed funerary ceremony and interment common in Scythia Minor during the late Roman Empire.

Order in chaos. Spatial analysis of cremated human remains in urn urials from Podlesie, site 5, Oleśnica Commune, Świętokrzyskie voivodeship

Światowit ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 57-69
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Jaskulska
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Analysis ◽  
Upper Limb ◽  
Lower Limb ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Bone Fragments ◽  
Repeated Pattern ◽  
Individual Features

A sample of six cremated graves from the Lusatian Culture cemetery from Podlesie, site 5, has been subjected to a spatial analysis aimed at recognising anatomical provenance of bone fragments within the layers of the urn burial. Even though individual features have shown damage ranging from slight to severe, most of the burials have shown an indication of a repeated pattern, with skull fragments predominantly present in the upper layers (Chi2 = 43.968, df = 16, p < 0.001) and lower limb fragments accumulated in the lower parts of the urn (Chi2 = 28.635, df = 16, p = 0.027). In the case of the torso (the term used to describe postcranial axial skeletal fragments together with pectoral and pelvic girdles’ elements) and upper limb, the analysis has not shown statistically significant distribution between the layers. The analysis confirmed the advantage of the proposed method in determining the presence of the so-called ‘anatomical order’ within cremation burials.

scholarly journals El ADN reescribe nuestra memoria

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercedes Aler Gay ◽  
Ángel Carracedo Álvarez
Keyword(s):  
Dna Analysis ◽  
Physical Appearance ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Genetic Identity ◽  
Genetic Profile ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Mass Grave ◽  
Technological Advances

Continuous advances in DNA analysis for forensic purposes have set milestones in the search for genetic identity in criminal cases, disasters, and disappearances. Technological advances in the study of our genome allow us to infer who was the owner of remains found, for example, in a mass grave or an anonymous tomb: where they lived, their physical appearance, or their family origin. The analysis of DNA of forensic interest manages, thanks to a series of fixed variations between individuals, to identify them individually via their genetic profile. This identification can be carried out by comparing the profile of the human remains with known profiles or by their compatibility with the DNA inherited by their relatives.

Human Remains

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Clegg
Keyword(s):  
Human Remains
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document