The Analysis of Heat-Induced Crystallinity Change in Bone

Thompson, Tim

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-800451-7.00018-8

Cited by 20 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(140 reference statements)

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“…The results of all of the crystallinity measures produced from the FTIR-ATR analysis are consistent with trends provided by other published studies (for examples, see Thompson, 2015c;Thompson et al, 2013), which suggests that the data are therefore reliable. Note that despite all seven indices being used, only CI and C/P are presented here to allow comparison with other sites, some of which do not report all of the indices used in this study.…”

Section: Microscopic Analysissupporting

confidence: 77%

“…When compared to previous studies (Thompson, 2015c), the cremations fall into the 'medium intensity' category.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Generally, there is an increase in the crystallinity of bone as the intensity of heating increases. This occurs due to the reordering and coalescing of the crystals within the bone and has been shown to be a useful means of analysing burning intensity within different cremation contexts (Thompson, 2015c).…”

Section: Evidence Of Cremation and Its Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Death on the frontier: Military cremation practices in the north of Roman Britain

Thompson

Szigeti

Gowland

et al. 2016

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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Additional information:Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Abstract:The study of cremated human remains from archaeological contexts has traditionally been viewed as less valuable than the study of inhumed bodies. However, recent methodological and theoretical developments regarding the taphonomic processes that transform the human body during cremation have highlighted their potential for understanding past cultural and funerary practices. This study combines the first application of spectroscopic with more traditional methods of studying cremated bone to examine Romano-British contexts, with the aim of better understanding funerary practices along the military frontier. Five RomanoBritish military sites from northern England (Beckfoot, Carlisle, Herd Hill, Lincoln and Malton) were studied, with remains excavated from a range of cinerary urn contexts. Despite the known heterogeneity of the ethnic composition of the Roman army, analyses revealed a surprising consistency with respect to the cremation practice, implying shared knowledge of pyre procedure and, possibly, a prescribed funerary practice amongst military communities in the Roman North. The consistency within these five northern provincial sites in Britain stands in contrast to cremation contexts from Roman sites elsewhere in Europe, as well as other periods of the British past. The associated material culture recovered from these cremation deposits, however, does provide evidence for differences in dress and bodily display. This contrasts with the homogeneity of the cremation technology and highlights the importance of these individualizing features for signalling identity amongst Roman military communities in Britain.

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Section: Microscopic Analysissupporting

confidence: 77%

“…When compared to previous studies (Thompson, 2015c), the cremations fall into the 'medium intensity' category.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Death on the frontier: Military cremation practices in the north of Roman Britain

Thompson

Szigeti

Gowland

et al. 2016

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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“…Methods compiled by Adams and Byrd () leaned more toward forensic applications, but chapters on ethics (Egana, Turner, Doretti, Bernardi, & Ginarte, ), osteometric sorting (Byrd, ; Byrd & LeGarde, ), X‐ray fluorescence sorting (Perrone, Finlayson, Bartelink, & Dalton, ), epiphyseal sequencing (Schaefer, ), estimating the most likely number of individuals (MLNI) (Adams & Konigsberg, ; Konigsberg & Adams, ), spatial analysis (Herrmann & Devlin, ; Tuller & Hofmeister, ), and recovery methods (Naji et al, ) were of clear utility for bioarchaeologists in the analysis of broken, mixed remains. Schmidt and Symes’ (2015) volume on burned human bone offered commingling‐related methods for fire‐modified remains such as the Bab adh‐Dhra’ EB II–III collection, discussing bone and tooth color changes (Beach, Passalacqua, & Chapman, ; Devlin & Herrmann, ; Ullinger & Sheridan, ), thermal breakdown of bone (DeHaan, ; Schurr, Hayes, & Cook, ; Thompson, ), enamel changes (Mahoney & Miszkiewicz, ; Sandholzer, ; Schmidt, ), and site‐specific reconstructions (Curtin, ; McKinley, ; Schmidt et al, ; Wahl, ). Haglund and Sorg's older edited volumes (1997, 2002) provided several taphonomic considerations for studies of commingling (Correia, ; Darwent & Lyman, ; Galloway, ; Haglund, Connor, & Scott, ; Lyman & Fox, ; Roksandic, ; Saul and Saul, ; Ubelaker, ).…”

Section: Commingling Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioarchaeology in the ancientNearEast: Challenges and future directions for the southern Levant

Sheridan

2017

American J Phys Anthropol

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The synthesis of biological anthropology, archaeology, and social theory provides a bioarchaeological model to reconstruct nuanced aspects of demography, diet, disease, death, daily activities, and biodistance, even in the absence of discrete burials. Numerous skeletal assemblages in the southern Levant are composed of mixed and fragmented bones resulting from generational use of cemeteries, mass burial, and additional communal burial practices. Others become commingled due to taphonomic processes such as flooding, geological events, or human mediated mechanisms like looting, improper excavation, and poor curation. Such collections require one to ask broader questions of human adaptability, exercise a holistic approach, use broad demographic categories, and remain cognizant of the limitations posed by fragmentation. Expanded research questions and ethical considerations, the use of centralized databases and understudied collections, as well as the application of social media, citizen science, and crowd sourcing provide new tools for bioarchaeological analyses of the many commingled ancient Near Eastern collections in the southern Levant.

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“…When the muscles contract, the now brittle and inflexible bone fractures rather then adjusts to the new shape. Thompson (2015) recognizes the importance of heat-induced changes in the crystal structures of bone in regards to addressing the complex relationship between the burning context and the consequent changes. Thompson does this through the analysis of the crystal structure of bone, arguing that the use of crystallinity measures in burned bone has implications for forensic anthropology, medical practice, archaeology, and even the processing of meat product waste (2015, p. 324).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Implications of Thermogenic Modification for Anthropological Recovery of Burned Bone

Efford

2016

TAR

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Burn trauma is prevalent in both archaeological and forensic records. It causes thermogenic modifications that have implications for the discipline of anthropology. Anthropologists and medical professionals are frequently the experts called to address burn trauma cases, often in the role of forensic anthropologists. This project seeks to discuss the processes of burn trauma and the resulting changes, as well as how the professionals in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, and medicine are discussing the recovery and analysis of burned human remains. An experiment is used to demonstrate these changes and compare them to those documented by experts in the field. A literature review discusses the processes of burn trauma and the resulting thermogenic modifications that are seen in the scholarly literature on the topic. The author makes recommendations for future research, namely the inclusion of weight in the recorded factors during experimentation and continued research into the recovery of burned remains. The author argues that the bioarchaeological approach of forensic anthropology benefits from the combined experience of archaeologists, biological anthropologists, and medical experts who have a background in osteology and biomechanics.

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The Analysis of Heat-Induced Crystallinity Change in Bone

Cited by 20 publications

References 60 publications

Death on the frontier: Military cremation practices in the north of Roman Britain

Death on the frontier: Military cremation practices in the north of Roman Britain

Bioarchaeology in the ancientNearEast: Challenges and future directions for the southern Levant

The Implications of Thermogenic Modification for Anthropological Recovery of Burned Bone

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