The Study of Human Remains

An even more sensitive and contentious issue involves the disposition of ancient human skeletal remains. North American archaeologists have been excavating burials along with other cultural materials for many years. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, IX , for example, housed the remains of more than 16,000 Native Americans 

Because of growing concern about these materials and the desire of native peoples 

The ongoing conflict between science and belief is highlighted in such issues. The public battle over burial rights and the pursuit of knowledge about the past has both underscored and brushed aside the importance of the Kennewick find. In all 

Federal agencies and museums must identify cultural items in their collections that are subject to NAGPRA. and prepare inventories and summaries of the items 

Federal agencies and museums must consult with lineal descendants, Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations regarding the identification and cultural affiliation of the cultural items listed in their NAGPRA inventories and summaries 

---

The study of human remains has long been the most direct method of understanding the detailed lives of our ancestors as individuals. The methods of forensic science and palaeopathology have been applied for many years to determine age, sex, stature, nutritional status and cause of death, and to detect evidence of some diseases. Increasingly, DNA is being used to determine kinship. It is, however, no exaggeration to say that entire new vistas have been... 

Beyond these issues of concern to all archaeologists, there are some specific topics particularly relevant to archaeometry and archaeological chemistry. We discuss two of these - destructive analysis and the study of human remains - in more detail below. 

Bioarchaeology The study of human remains from archaeological contexts. 

Bell, L.S. and Lee-Thorp, J.A. in press Advances in the study of human skeletal remains a joint perspective. In Cox, ed., Grave Concerns, Council for British Archaeology. 

Bones and teeth, however, are primary archaeological materials and are common to many archaeological sites. Bones bearing cut marks from stone tools are a clear proxy for human occupation of a site, and in the study of human evolution, hominid remains provide the primary archive material. Hence, many attempts have been made to directly date bones and teeth using the U-series method. Unlike calcite, however, bones and teeth are open systems. Living bone, for example, contains a few parts per billion (ppb) of Uranium, but archaeological bone may contain 1-100 parts per million (ppm) of Uranium, taken up from the burial environment. Implicit in the calculation of a date from °Th/U or Pa/ U is a model for this Uranium uptake, and the reliability of a U-series date is dependent on the validity of this uptake model. 

Alchemists acquired the knowledge of Divine operations by the study of human arts and the observation of natural phenomena. Hermetism begins with the study of the operations of Nature, and ends with the knowledge of the Divine Principle. None, however, must hope to behold the secret Sun of this Royal Art while he remains in darkness regarding the fundamental principles of physical Hermetism, or Alchemy. 

Carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses today are a routine part of the study of human skeletal remains. They are usually calculated along with radiocarbon measurements at dating laboratories. There are other isotopes that may also be of interest in the study of diet such as hydrogen and sulfur, but these are less well understood. 

Animals Palaeodietary reconstruction usually focuses on humans, but in certain situations, the study of animal remains can provide information on human activities such as herd management and transhumance. Studies of carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotopes in sheep teeth from Late Stone Age Kasteelberg in Southern Africa indicate that there was little seasonal movement of animals from the coast to inland, suggesting that the transhumance practiced in that region by the historical Khoekhoe peoples developed only later in prehistory, when cattle pastoralism began. 

The main object of archaeology is the study of human activity in the past however, the evidence upon which this relies is entirely provided by the material remains that still survive. To connect two subjects so far apart draws on a wide range of analytical methods to extract often unexpected forms of information from recalcitrant and sometimes unique material. Furthermore, analytical results usually require interpretation within a context that can be quite specialized, although overlaps with palaeoecology or geochemistry or palaeoclimate are common. 

Throughout most of history, space was inaccessible to humans. The only way to study extraterrestrial objects was through observation. Astronomy began with these simple observations. In the seventeenth century, people began to use telescopes to view the sky, and physics and chemistry began to be important in interpreting their observations. In the nineteenth century, scientists discovered the existence of cosmic rays and learned the nature of meteorites, but the study of space remained largely limited to observations from the surface of the Earth. 

Also of value is the study of the history of technology (24,25) that affords insights into the history of the development of civilization. The eadiest existing written records, treatises of crafts people and artists on the techniques and materials with which they worked, date back to medieval times (26—29). For prehistoric human activities, the record is in the objects which remain, and only through the study of these can knowledge in this regard be furthered. 

As stated at the beginning of this article, the liver is the most intensively studied animal tissue in biochemistry. In the context of the role of free radicals in human diseases, the liver is not obviously at centre stage, since heart disease and cancer are more important in the industrialized world than, for example, cirrhosis. Free-radical biochemistry of the liver will remain a fertile area of work, however, not least because so many original ideas and techniques are developed there and then applied to the study of other tissues. The increasing use of liver transplantation, following the acceptance of kidney and heart transplants as almost routine, will surely increase the interest in the study of ischaemia-reperfusion injury in... 

Thus chemicals and the processing of chemical substances have always been part of the human experience. It seems obvious, then, that the practice of archaeology, which is the study of the human past through the analysis of its material remains, requires a thorough understanding of the chemical nature and properties of these remains. 

Animals, including humans, create their body tissues from the food they consume all the substances that constitute their bodies are derived from food. Food is, therefore, essential for their survival, and food and the search for adequate supplies of food have determined, and still determine, the life-patterns of ancient as well as of modem people. The study of past human feeding habits and their diets is, therefore, central to the understanding of ancient societies. A large number of studies have shown that there is strong correlation between the type food consumed and the relative amounts of the stable isotopes of some elements in the body or in its dead remains. This seems to confirm an axiom generally recognized in science, that "You are what you eat."... 

The study of coprolites, particularly of their composition, throws light on the paleodiets (the feeding behavior) of ancient animals as well as humans and on the diseases that affected them. Coprolites composed only of plant material, for example, are indicative of a herbivorous diet bone remains in the feces denote carnivorous behavior, while remains of both plant and... 

In this study, 4.4 mg of lead equivalent was applied to the skin under a covered wax/plastic patch on the forearms of human subjects of the applied dose, 1.3 mg of lead was not recovered from skin washings. The amount that actually remained in (or on) the skin and the mass balance of the fate of this lead was not determined it may have been absorbed or eliminated from the skin by exfoliation of epidermal cells. Thus, while this study provides evidence for dermal absorption of lead, it did not quantity the fraction of applied dose that was absorbed. The quantitative significance of the dermal absorption pathway as a contributor to lead body burden remains an uncertainty. The wax/plastic patch provided a means by which the lead compounds could permeate or adhere to the skin. The effect of concentration in aqueous solution may cause skin abrasion through enhanced acidity since the lead ion is acidic. Abraded skin is known to promote subsequent higher lead penetration. 

Carotenoids are a class of lipophilic compounds with a polyisoprenoid structure. Most carotenoids contain a series of conjugated double bonds, which are sensitive to oxidative modification and cis-trans isomerization. There are six major carotenoids (ji-carotenc, a-carotene, lycopene, P-cryptoxanthin, lutein, and zeaxanthin) that can be routinely found in human plasma and tissues. Among them, p-carotene has been the most extensively studied. More recently, lycopene has attracted considerable attention due to its association with a decreased risk of certain chronic diseases, including cancers. Considerable efforts have been expended in order to identify its biological and physiochemical properties. Relative to P-carotene, lycopene has the same molecular mass and chemical formula, yet lycopene is an open-polyene chain lacking the P-ionone ring structure. While the metabolism of P-carotene has been extensively studied, the metabolism of lycopene remains poorly understood. 

---