thecontagionist:

Linear Enamel Hypoplasia (LEH) is a dental defect caused by periods of enamel deficiency, which occur during the formation of permanent teeth in early childhood (Wood, 1996). LEH in permanent teeth is usually the result of episodic childhood disease or malnutrition that occurs roughly within the first six or seven years of life (Maclellan, 2005).

Once the mature tooth has erupted, LEH typically presents itself as transverse striations or bands near the crown of the tooth, but it can also manifest as small pits of reduced thickness in the tooth’s enamel (Wood, 1996).

The emergence of deciduous and permanent teeth occurs at a known rate, and by measuring the distance between the LEH and the cement-enamel junction (CEJ; where the enamel covered crown meets the cementum covered root), the age at which specific episodes of illness occurred can be determined (Maclellan, 2005).

While the skeletal remains of children are generally underrepresented in the archaeological record, studying LEH in adult remains can help capture and reconstruct the nature of childhood – of the stressors that acted upon their bodies and their social circumstances – in a particular area at a particular time (Maclellan, 2005).

photo source (otisarchives1)

Maclellan, E. (2005). Linear enamel hypoplasia: What can it say about the condition of childhood?. Totem: The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology, 13(1), 40-52. Retrieved from http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/totem/vol13/iss1/7

Wood, L. (1996). Frequency and chronological distribution of linear enamel hypoplasia in a north american colonial skeletal sample. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 100, 247-259. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199609)101:1<135::AID-AJPA10>3.0.CO;2-1

tea-and-skeletons:

Postmortem pink tooth phenomenon. Pink discolouration to teeth is caused by blood breakdown products permeating the dentinal tubules

malformalady:

A small skull picked clean by vultures after a Tibetan sky burial

More on my Blogspot

Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical studies

Hi!

First off, are you going to school in the US?  If so, you’ll most likely find schools whose archaeology degrees are within the anthropology department.  I have an anthropology degree from University of Illinois at Chicago; they have no separate archaeology degree or department, but still some of the best North and Latin American archaeologists in the world.  (So I was actually super confused at first and didn’t know to look at the anthro departments, so I declared a history major at first!)  Many US universities do have separate degrees, or at least a “certificate” or some way of designating your concentration in archaeology.  In such a case you’ll still get to take core modern ethnography courses.  Some universities do make a complete distinction, but this is more common in more traditional universities and the UK.  

So, the short answer is, if you want a more scientific, cultural approach, I’d go with a university whose archaeologists are within the anthropology dept, or at least associated with it, whether or not your degree will actually be in one or the other.  If not, there are loads of classics departments that do archaeology, but in a less scientific manner (i.e., mostly art history).

I hope that helps!  This is based off my experience at UIC, and so far in the UK.  Bristol is one of the few UK universities that link the two degrees, but they’re still distinct.  I think my degree is anthropology because I’m studying physical remains.

nordic-drifter:

Koelbjerg Woman, a skeleton recovered from a peat bog in Denmark, is the oldest body ever found in a bog. The remains date to 8000 BCE. Unlike other bog bodies, Koelbjerg Woman was not mummified because her remains ended up in open water and did not become incorporated in the bog until later. Experts believe the woman was about 25 when she died, possibly from drowning.

Esp. I think a lot is to be learned from the case of Col. Shy: A really big error by Bill Bass like misjudging time since death by 112 years leads to the idea of the Body Farm. Sometimes our errors ar mor important than our successes!

and

… and now you can continue your reading with “Beyond the Body Farm”

I did love the Col. Shy “case.”  It’s so amazing how science can turn a blunder into an enormous success!  also…there’s a sequel?!  I’ll get on that!

If you live in Michigan and have an opportunity to attend the osteo and forensic anthro course at MSU, I totally recommend it. Or visit UF’s forensic anthro lab. Forensic Anthro rules!

Yes I’ve heard about MSU’s deptartment too!  I’m from Chicago (currently living in England), but most of my family is from MI, so I’ve been leaning toward MSU.  Rock on, forensic anthro!

Publication Date: October 27, 2003

Nowhere is there another lab like Dr. Bill Bass’s: On a hillside in Tennessee, human bodies decompose in the open air, aided by insects, bacteria, and birds, unhindered by coffins or mausoleums. At the “Body Farm,” nature takes its course, with corpses buried in shallow graves, submerged in water, concealed beneath slabs of concrete, locked in trunks of cars. As stand-ins for murder victims, they serve the needs of science - and the cause of justice.

For thirty years, Dr. Bass’s research has revolutionized the field of forensic science, particularly by pinpointing “time since death” in murder cases. In this riveting book, he investigates real cases and leads readers on an unprecedented journey behind the locked gates of the Body Farm. A master scientist and an engaging storyteller, Bass shares his most intriguing work: his revisit of the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, fifty years after the fact; the mystery of a headless corpse whose identity astonished the police; the telltale bugs that finally sent a murderous grandfather to death row; and many more.

frankgaillard:

Case Discussion:

This case illustrates typical appearances of a cerebellar hemisphere haemorrhage. 

Related articles

• cerebellar haemorrhage
• intracranial haemorrhage

archaeologicalnews:

Perched in some cases on precarious cliff ledges, centuries-old log coffins—such as this one, pictured alongside researcher Nancy Beavan—and “body jars” are the only known traces of an unknown Cambodian tribe. Now new dating studies are beginning to assure the unnamed culture a place in history.

Ten such burial spots have been found in the Cardamom Mountainssince 2003, and none are lower than about 50 stories—the intention apparently being that “anyone trying to disturb the burials would break their neck,” said Beavan, who led the new study.

Skulls and other human bones poke from large ceramic jars at Khnorng Sroal, one of the newly dated mountainside burials in southwestern Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains.

Hewn from tree trunks some 700 years ago, several log coffins are pictured lined up like ramshackle piano keys beneath a rock overhang at the Phnom Pel burial site in Cambodia in 2010.

Human bones lie inside a log coffin at Phnom Pel. Read more.

Going through a colleague’s thesis on the pathology of the collection I’m studying, and I got stuck at the dental pathology bits.  Because rotting teeth and abscesses are GROSS.  I can handle amputated limbs and burned corpses, but NOT teeth.  Blaaaaaggghhh.

Oh yeah, I’m also going to Nottingham at the end of this month.  Fulbright wants us all together one more time before we part ways.

I can’t believe how quickly this went by…I wish I had trusted myself more at the beginning.  I’m only just now making friends and getting invited to parties.  It’s going to be over in just a couple short months.

Then the rest of my life has to begin…

I get the impression that most people would be willing to put up with it to a point.  I doubt I’ll find anything particularly bloody to be relevant to this blog, so I was more concerned about the violence that would be implied in modern, mummified crime victims.

My last year of high school (I was 18), a forensic scientist visited my biology class.  He warned us that he had some disturbing images, but he’d introduce them gradually; “a frog stuck in water won’t notice it’s getting boiled.”  Lol.  He eventually got to some remains from a plane crash.  I think this planted the seed for my eventual interest in forensic anthro; I didn’t know it was even a separate field at the time.

SO.  What you can expect right now: perhaps more “modern, mummified crime victims” - remains that are skeletonized but from a much more recent context, and perhaps with bits of dried flesh still attached.  (Om nom nom.)  Maybe it’ll get more intense, maybe not.  Kind of depends on how much I can handle, too, though I suspect I’ve seen some pretty gruesome stuff already thanks to sinner-skinner. :P I’ll add #graphic if I think it’s getting to the boiling point.  This is all just an idea bobbing around in my head, so I’m willing to take people’s opinions into account.  How does that sound, my little froggies?