Within the framework of contractual archaeology in the UK (in which both authors largely operate) individual graves and funerary sites are regularly encountered, while they are also the object of targeted research projects. The ability to investigate a burial and to exhume human remains is a practical skill that can be taught and which may be mastered by practice. The investigation of a cemetery of any age is essentially a repetition of this basic technique, in which each grave (or indeed any feature-type containing human remains) is revealed, excavated, and the human remains recorded and lifted. Such exercises vary in scale, but the largest can address very significant numbers of bodies: one obvious example is the cemetery at Spitalfields, London, in which several thousand skeletons were exhumed. Post-excavation methods are also fairly standardized, both in terms of general archaeological reporting and the specific osteological analysis of human remains. These approaches can reasonably be said to be universal within European and North American archaeology, though inevitably with some variation in detail. As a consequence, field archaeologists are, in a technical sense, expert in dealing with the dead. Archaeologists, however, are often less familiar with the more esoteric aspects relating to the dead. Taking the British example again, the field archaeologist generally arrives at a site only after any discussion about the moral or social aspects of exhumation has been concluded. Thus, while provided with technical guidance and being aware of the wider issues involved, they are essentially there to dig. But away from such controlled circumstances, governmental frameworks for dealing with cultural heritage are either less developed or do not exist at all. Here, archaeologists can find themselves enmeshed in matters that go far beyond the technical and, not uncommonly, do so in societies where local attitudes and belief systems are very different to their own. This requires a skill-set for which ‘standard’ archaeological education and training has not necessarily equipped them. This chapter offers a narrative of one such example, which took place on the remote South Atlantic island of St Helena during 2007–8. Here, a team of experienced British field archaeologists, tasked with the excavation of a graveyard of considerable size and international significance, came to deal with the dead— and the living—on a number of fundamental levels that extended far beyond the project brief.
Examines requirements of information professionals in the health sector, and ways career development can be enhanced. Includes analysis of job descriptions, categorising skills and roles, mapping profiles to other criteria, including health sector, and two statements for standards in higher education. Interviews with nine professionals confirmed findings of the job description analysis. There is a spectrum of skills, with clumps of traditional library skills, information analysis skills and a growing need for specialist skills. The statement provides a good basis for skills required. Providers need to encourage students towards``lifelong learning'' to meet changing requirements.
In an outbreak of gastroenteritis on board a cruise ship 251 passengers and 51 crew were affected and consulted the ship's surgeon during a 14-day period. There was a significant association between consumption of cabin tap water and reported illness in passengers. Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli were isolated from passengers and crew and coliforms were found in the main water storage tank. Contamination of inadequately chlorinated water by sewage was the most likely source of infection. A low level of reported illness and late recognition of the outbreak delayed investigation of what was probably the latest in a series of outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on board this ship. There is a need for a national surveillance programme which would monitor the extent of illness on board passenger cruise ships as well as a standard approach to the action taken when levels of reported illness rise above a defined level.
Between the early 16 th and late 19 th centuries, an estimated 12 million Africans were transported to the Americas as part of the transatlantic slave trade. Following Britain's abolition of slave trade in 1807, the Royal Navy patrolled the Atlantic and intercepted slave ships that continued to operate. During this period, the island of St Helena in the middle of the South Atlantic served as a depot for "liberated" Africans. Between 1840 and 1867, approximately 27,000 Africans were disembarked on the island. To investigate their origins, we generated genome-wide ancient DNA data for 20 individuals recovered from St Helena. The genetic data indicate that they came from West Central Africa, possibly the area of present-day Gabon and Angola. The data further suggest that they did not belong to a single population, confirming historical reports of cultural heterogeneity among the island's African community. Our results shed new light on the origins of enslaved Africans during the final stages of the slave trade and illustrate how genetic data can be used to complement and validate existing historical sources.
The tradition of Saxon and other Continental piracy is one of the longest standing tenets of Romano-British studies. It may also be one of its greatest myths, which owes more to its considerable antiquarian pedigree than to any firm basis in fact. This paper reassesses Roman military strategy around the British coast, and suggests that the 'Saxon Shore Forts' and other coastal installations played a more significant economic and logistical role than is often appreciated. Moreover, the idea that each monument fulfilled a single, dedicated function is argued to be too simplistic: instead it is proposed that individual forts served in various capacities during their operational lifetime, and quite possibly not those for which they were originally conceived.
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