The Amesbury Archer is an early Bronze Age man whose grave was discovered during excavations at the site of a new housing development in Amesbury near Stonehenge. The grave was uncovered in May 2002. The man was middle aged when he died, estimated between 35 and 45, and is believed to date from about 2300 BC. He is nicknamed "the Archer" because of the many arrowheads buried with him. The grave contained more artefacts than any other early British Bronze Age burial, including the earliest known gold objects ever found in England. It was the first evidence of a very high status and wealth expressed in a burial from that time. Previously, Bronze Age society had been assumed not to have been particularly hierarchical.
Bioarchaeology in Europe describes the study of biological remains from archaeological sites. In the United States it is the scientific study of human remains from archaeological sites.
Hydroxyapatite is a naturally occurring mineral form of calcium apatite with the formula Ca5(PO4)3(OH), often written Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2 to denote that the crystal unit cell comprises two entities. It is the hydroxyl endmember of the complex apatite group. The OH− ion can be replaced by fluoride or chloride, producing fluorapatite or chlorapatite. It crystallizes in the hexagonal crystal system. Pure hydroxyapatite powder is white. Naturally occurring apatites can, however, also have brown, yellow, or green colorations, comparable to the discolorations of dental fluorosis.
The remains of Gristhorpe Man were found buried in a coffin in Gristhorpe, North Yorkshire, England. They have been identified as a Bronze Age warrior chieftain. A few other examples of burial in a scooped-out oak tree have been found in Scotland and East Anglia, but it was an unusual method of inhumation in the UK and the remains found near Scarborough, are the best preserved. The remains were discovered in 1834 in a burial mound near Gristhorpe and excavated under the auspices of the Scarborough Philosophical Society. The Bronze Age remains were originally donated to the Rotunda Museum in Scarborough and a report of the excavation was published in the same year by the precocious 17-year-old William Crawford Williamson, the son of the Museum curator. They were taken to Bradford in 2005 for a new evaluation directed by Drs. Nigel Melton and Janet Montgomery, while the museum was being refurbished.
Medieval Archaeology is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal covering the archaeology of the medieval period, especially in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established in 1957 by the Society for Medieval Archaeology and is published on their behalf by Taylor & Francis. The editor-in-chief is Aleks McClain.
Medieval bioarchaeology is the study of human remains recovered from medieval archaeological sites. Bioarchaeology aims to understand populations through the analysis of human skeletal remains and this application of bioarchaeology specifically aims to understand medieval populations. There is an interest in the Medieval Period when it comes to bioarchaeology, because of how differently people lived back then as opposed to now, in regards to not only their everyday life, but during times of war and famine as well. The biology and behavior of those that lived in the Medieval Period can be analyzed by understanding their health and lifestyle choices.
Julia Anne Lee-Thorp, is a South African archaeologist and academic. She is Head of the Stable Light Isotope Laboratory and Professor of Archaeological Science and Bioarchaeology at the University of Oxford. Lee-Thorp is most well known for her work on dietary ecology and human origins, using stable isotope chemistry to study fossil bones and teeth.
Carol Palmer is a British anthropologist, environmental archaeologist and botanist. She is currently Director of the British Institute in Amman, an Honorary Fellow at Bournemouth University, and a part of the Thimar collective. Her primary research interests are in rural societies in the Arab world, changes in the practices of food production on the landscape and in society, and ethnobotany. She collaborates as Project Partner of the INEA project, which aims to examine archaeological site usage using phytolithic and geochemical evidence. She has also been a part of the Antikythera Survey Project and the Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey, and from 2001-2004 served as secretary of the Association of Environmental Archaeology.
Hannah Russ MCIfA is a British zooarchaeologist with a specialism in fish remains.
The Ivory Bangle Lady is a skeleton found in Sycamore Terrace, York in 1901. She was a high-status adult female, potentially of North African descent, who died in York in the 4th century AD. Her skeleton was found with bracelets, pendants, earrings, beads as well as a glass jug and mirror. She appears to have originally been from North Africa. A piece of bone inscribed with the words, "Hail, sister may you live in God" was found with her skeleton.
Karin Margarita Frei is an Argentinean-Danish archaeological scientist. She is a research professor in archaeometry at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. She has developed new methodologies for using isotopes to trace human and animal mobility, including the high time-resolution tracing technique for human hair and finger nails as well as ancient wool.
Michelle Alexander is a bioarchaeologist with an interest in multi-faith societies and is Senior Lecturer in Bioarchaeology at the University of York.
Mary Lewis is Professor of Bioarchaeology at the University of Reading. After completing a PhD in bioarchaeology at the University of Bradford in 1999, Lewis went on to lecture at Bournemouth University (2000–2004) before moving to the University of Reading in 2004. She conducted the first osteological study of a body which has been hanged, drawn, and quartered. Lewis has held editorial roles with the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, International Journal of Paleopathology, and the American Journal of Biological Anthropology.
Michael Phillip Richards is an archaeological scientist, researcher and an academic. He is an archaeology Professor at Simon Fraser University and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Archaeological Science, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (London) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Richards has published more than 300 research articles. His research focuses on studying the diets diet evolution and migrations of past humans and animals using various techniques such as isotope analysis and radiocarbon dating. His work is highly cited and has gathered media coverage.
Near Eastern bioarchaeology covers the study of human skeletal remains from archaeological sites in Cyprus, Egypt, Levantine coast, Jordan, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen.
Janet Margaret Hergt is an Australian geochemist. She is a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor in the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The main focus of her research has been in the chemical analysis of rocks and minerals to explore the exquisite record of Earth processes preserved within them. Hergt is best known for her geochemical investigations of magmatic rocks although she has employed similar techniques in interdisciplinary projects including areas of archaeological and biological science.
Malin Holst is a German bioarchaeologist, Director of York Ostoearchaeology Ltd. and a lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York. She shares a son Gustav, with fellow archaeologist Tim Sutherland.
The 'Loch Lomond Wanderer' or 'Medieval Wanderer' is the name given to a body thrown into a mass grave in Cramond in the 6th century AD.
The analysis of dental remains is a valuable tool to archaeologists. Teeth are hard, highly mineralised and chemically stable, so therefore preserve well and are one of the most commonly found animals remains. Analysis of these remains also yields a wealth of information. It can not only be used to determine the sex and age of the individual whose mandibular or dental remains have been found, but can also shed light on their diet, pathology, and even their geographic origins through isotope analysis.
Isotope analysis has many applications in archaeology, from dating sites and artefacts, determination of past diets and migration patterns and for environmental reconstruction.
