Learning from the Dead: Why do archaeologists excavate, move and analyse human remains?
Archaeologists can discover an amazing amount about the past from the remains of buildings, pottery and other artefacts of human life. But one of the best ways to learn about how people lived in the past is to analyse them directly. [NOTE: Article contains images and descriptions of human remains]
What are human remains?
When archaeologists use the term ‘human remains,’ they often mean human skeletons from the past. However, anything that was once human can be considered human remains. This means that hair, skin and other tissues (such as organs) are also human remains. Archaeologists treat all types of human remains with respect and dignity.
Triptych: © University of Edinburgh Oil painting portrait of Doctor Joseph Black, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, 1770, by David Martin. Photograph: David Talbot Rice. Locket containing the hair of Doctor Joseph Black, inscription side Locket containing the hair of Doctor Joseph Black, detail of hair
When would archaeologists encounter human remains?
Archaeologists generally encounter human remains in three situations. The first is at archaeological sites where human remains are expected to be found. This could be a church or kirk graveyard, for example. The second is at sites where they are found unexpectedly. This could be at a building site, for instance, where there was no previous record of human remains. The third situation is when archaeologists study human remains that have already been excavated. Archaeologists who specifically study human remains are often called osteoarchaeologists (‘osteo’ means ‘bone’).
Skull of George Buchanan, a Scottish historian © University of Edinburgh
Why do archaeologists excavate human remains?
If archaeologists know there are human remains at a site, why would they excavate them (uncover, or remove from the ground)? This often depends on the context of the site. For example, if a house or a road is going to be built on that site, then the archaeologists would need to protect the remains by excavating them. This allows them to be preserved and for society to continue building necessary structures.
At the same time, the archaeologist can learn about people’s lives in the past from the human remains. This knowledge can also be the focus of an excavation. For these scientific excavations, human remains could be excavated because they provide information that no other source can.
In both situations, the excavation of human remains is taken very seriously and is tightly regulated. Depending on the site, the police, government, local authority archaeologist, and/or major archaeological groups such as Historic Environment Scotland (HES) can be involved in deciding if excavations can take place. This means that what is considered a ‘good scientific reason’ is strict. Human remains are only excavated if there is a unique scientific opportunity, not just because it could be interesting, or we happen to know that they are present somewhere. Groups like the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and HES also provide guidance on how to carefully and respectfully excavate human remains.
In Scotland, depending on the time period, finding human remains can be quite rare. This is because the soil is often acidic and breaks down human remains, especially bone. Therefore, whether bones were deposited in the ground directly or in some sort of container, like a stone-lined cist (tomb), can have a huge impact on their survival rate. In general, fewer remains survive the further back in time one goes, giving us less information about the distant past.
Whitefriars burial in a church in Perth with complete wooden staff (Image credit: Derek Hell)
Why do archaeologists move human remains?
Archaeologists frequently strive to keep remains in situ, meaning in the place they were buried/found. In these situations, remains are not uncovered or moved at all. If they were uncovered for any reason, the archaeologist would cover them back again and thus do not move them.
If, however, they need to be moved for their own protection or for scientific purposes, then they are moved very carefully. Often this means lifting the bones in the soil that they were found, or carefully moving individual bones out of the soil into special bags for preservation.
Once they are lifted from the ground, the remains are then cleaned and packed into protective boxes. They are then stored at respectful and secure locations, such as museums and universities. Sometimes remains can be stored at churches or kirks if the remains are connected to these locations and can be properly secured.
What about reburial of human remains?
As human remains used to be part of a person or were a person, they are treated as such. Archaeologists, therefore, try to be as respectful as possible when it comes to human remains and their burial practices. As mentioned before, when remains are found during excavation, they are often not uncovered at all or reburied after the excavation. Reburial occurs especially if the local community desires it or if there are still living relatives connected to the remains.
As a large portion of archaeological digs in Scotland are ‘rescue excavations’ (meaning excavations that are undertaken so that something can be built on that location), this can make the situation more complicated. If a house foundation or a road is now built where the human remains used to be, where should they go? What is most respectful?
In Scotland, all people have what is called the ‘right to sepulchre’, meaning the right to have their funerary wishes respected.
Sometimes reburial is not the most respectful option. For example, with remains that are over a thousand years old, we cannot accurately say what that person’s beliefs were regarding burial. Throughout history in Scotland, we have evidence of both cremations and burials in cists (stone-lined tombs). As being buried in cists can help preserve bone, was it the desire of the person to have their remains preserved? Or with cremations were they deliberating trying to destroy their remains? We can’t know in either situation, but by studying the remains that we do have left, we might be able to gain more insight into their cultural practices.
St. Andrews Skeleton © Laura Girdwood, University of Edinburgh
What can archaeologist learn from human remains?
From an individual set of human remains, osteoarchaeologists can learn a lot of important information about what that person was like during their life. They can learn whether a person was male or female and how old the person was when they died. They can also learn where that person was from, whether they had any diseases or injuries, and even how tall that person was.
This collection of information about their life is often called a biological profile. A biological profile consists of estimations of what osteoarchaeologists refer to as sex (male/female), age, stature (height), ancestry (where a person was from/what group of people they could have belonged to) and paleopathology (presence of diseases or injuries).
Sometimes, osteoarchaeologists can go beyond this and learn about what their face looked like, what they ate, and when they were alive.
While information about a single person is important, archaeologists can learn even more about the past when they can analyse an entire group of remains, often called a population. What was the average life expectancy of the time period? How healthy were people? Did everyone eat the same food? Or were there different people eating different things? Were there food shortages that impacted people’s health? Were there other cultural phenomena like war happening? These questions can all be answered when analysing a whole group instead of one individual.
Comparing and contrasting individuals with their populations can also provide new information. For example, the skull below came from an excavation of the church at the Whitefriars of Perth site. Though it was connected to a friary (a place where members of certain religious communities live) during the 15th and 16th centuries, analysis showed that this individual sustained a significant blow to the head from something squared off with sharp edges.
If this was similar to the weapon shown, why would that person be buried within the church? Were they possibly a knight? If it was some other object, how did a member of the community sustain that sort of injury? It is still a mystery.
What techniques do archaeologists use to learn from human remains?
Osteoarchaeologists use a lot of different techniques to analyse human remains. For skeletal remains, this can mean examining features like how worn down their teeth were or whether their bones had finished growing to determine the person’s age when they died. Or it can mean examining their pelvis to see if they were male or female, as females’ are often wider and more open to accommodate childbirth. Stature can be calculated by measuring the length of the bones in your legs, or entire body.
Example of tooth wear (left) and a characteristic male pelvis (right) © Mara Karell
Human remains can also be analysed using DNA sampling, radiocarbon dating and isotope sampling. DNA analysis uses the genetic material of the remains and can accurately determine their sex, help identify their family relationships, and give information about their appearance in life. Radiocarbon dating uses the element carbon and its degradation over time to determine what time period the remains are from. Similarly, isotope analysis uses other elements, such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, strontium, to help determine what type of food a person ate during their life and where a person was from.
Increasingly, human remains are being analysed using 3D scanning and 3D modelling techniques. These new techniques are important because they are non-destructive, meaning that no physical sample has to taken from the remains. This helps preserve the original condition of the human remains. These techniques are also useful because they provide a permanent and accurate record of remains. This allows archaeologists to still learn about remains after they were reburied, for example, and to examine the remains without physically being present. Additionally, 3D techniques provide new types of information about human remains that were not possible before. This includes details like the volume of a bone, or being able to view the cross-section of a bone without cutting it.
Example of a 3D model of a bone generated from 3D scanning (Temporal bone, a bone in the skull) © Mara Karell
If you’d like to learn more about the Pictish man from Lundin Links, the Whitefriars’ mystery, osteoarchaeology, forensic anthropology, 3D digital reconstructions and holograms, visit the Polyphonic Murders, Holoxica, BBC Civilisations and Lundin Links – Another Skeleton websites.
By Dr Mara Karell, a forensic anthropologist with the Edinburgh Unit for Forensic Anthropology. She is a specialist in sorting commingled human remains and the use of 3D technology in forensic anthropology and human osteoarcheology.
Header Image: Cross on Islay © Mara Karell
This article was produced as part of Scotland Digs Digital. In the summer of 2020, we shone a spotlight on Scottish archaeology with the Scotland Digs Digital campaign which brought together online and offline events, as well as live updates from across the country for everyone to enjoy.
