Bone Colour

Devlin, Joanne Bennett; Herrmann, Nicholas P.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-800451-7.00006-1

Cited by 14 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The vast majority of the human cremains are white-calcinated, suggesting that temperatures normally reached and exceeded 700°C [ 41 – 46 ] causing complete dehydration of the bones. In more limited cases, bone fragments show blueish grey colours, while dark-brown or black charred chromatism are extremely rare.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salorno—Dos de la Forca (Adige Valley, Northern Italy): A unique cremation site of the Late Bronze Age

Crivellaro

Cavazzuti

Candilio³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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The archaeological site of Salorno—Dos de la Forca (Bozen, Alto Adige) provides one of the rarest and most significant documentations of cremated human remains preserved from an ancient cremation platform (ustrinum). The pyre area, located along the upper Adige valley, is dated to the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1150–950 BCE) and has yielded an unprecedented quantity of cremated human remains (about 63.5 kg), along with burnt animal bone fragments, shards of pottery, and other grave goods made in bronze and animal bone/antler. This study focuses on the bioanthropological analysis of the human remains and discusses the formation of the unusual burnt deposits at Salorno through comparisons with modern practices and protohistoric and contemporaneous archaeological deposits. The patterning of bone fragmentation and commingling was investigated using spatial data recorded during excavation which, along with the bioanthropological and archaeological data, are used to model and test two hypotheses: Salorno—Dos de la Forca would be the result of A) repeated primary cremations left in situ; or B) of residual material remaining after select elements were removed for internment in urns or burials to unknown depositional sites. By modelling bone weight and demographic data borrowed from regional affine contexts, the authors suggest that this cremation site may have been used over several generations by a small community–perhaps a local elite. With a quantity of human remains that exceeds that of any other coeval contexts interpreted as ustrina, Salorno may be the product of a complex series of rituals in which the human cremains did not receive individual burial, but were left in situ, in a collective/communal place of primary combustion, defining an area of repeated funeral ceremonies involving offerings and libations across a few generations. This would represent a new typological and functional category that adds to the variability of mortuary customs at the end of the Bronze Age in the Alpine are, at a time in which “globalising” social trends may have stimulated the definition of more private identities.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salorno—Dos de la Forca (Adige Valley, Northern Italy): A unique cremation site of the Late Bronze Age

Crivellaro

Cavazzuti

Candilio³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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“…Most of the bones in TT187 showed clear changes in shape and size that were caused by exposure to temperatures of up to 800-900°C, as judged by the bluish-white colour of some of the calcined bones, and by the fracturing and warping of the bone elements (Bontrager and Nawrocki, 2015;Devlin and Herrmann, 2015) (Figure 2). The colour and distribution of the burns on the bone surfaces were irregular in some cases, with areas of different colours separated by clear dividing lines (Figure 3A).…”

Section: Taphonomymentioning

confidence: 99%

The human remains of the funerary complex of Neferhotep (XVIIIth–XXth Dynasty, Valley of the Nobles, Luxor, Egypt): taphonomy and anthropology

D’Anastasio

Cilli

Icaro

et al. 2021

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The Valley of the Nobles is a burial area that is located between the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, together with which it constitutes the Theban Necropolis. The Valley of the Nobles houses the tombs of ancient aristocratic families, which include the monumental complex of the Neferhotep tomb, catalogued as TT49 (XVIIIth Dynasty). The funerary monument of Neferhotep also includes tombs TT187, TT347, TT348, TT362, and TT363, although tombs TT347, TT348 (Ramessid Period), and TT363 (XIXth Dynasty) remain closed. Tombs TT49, TT187, and TT362 contained numerous human remains in different states of conservation. Those in tomb TT187 were attributable to at least 71 individuals, who showed evident signs of combustion, and also taphonomic alterations that had occurred in recent decades. The context of tomb TT362 was different, as it contained animal and human mummified remains that were disarticulated and showed few signs of exposure to high temperatures. These remains were attributable to 64 individuals. Tomb TT49 contained the remains of a single individual inside the burial chamber. The taphonomic and anthropological data suggest that the tombs within the funerary complex of Neferhotep were frequented not only by modern populations, as they also testify to the ancient reuse of tombs in different phases from the Ramessid to Ptolemaic periods.

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“…The Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage's (CIELAB) system also expresses colors in three values: L * (lightness), a * (position between red and green), and b * (position between yellow and blue). Unlike Munsell data, CIELAB values are device independent, amendable to ratio‐scale statistics, and less susceptible to interanalyst variation (Devlin & Herrmann, 2015; Krap et al, 2019; Ullinger & Sheridan, 2015; Wärmländer et al, 2019). Other, less well‐known color spaces are also available to taphonomists (Ellingham, Thompson, Islam, & Taylor, 2015).…”

Section: Classes Of Bone Surface Modifications and Their Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A wide range of actualistic studies indicates that no or only slight bone cortex color change occurs up to ~150–200°C, while colors associated with carbonization predominate between ~200 and 400°C, and evidence of calcination begins to appear at ~400°C and becomes common at temperatures >700°C (Devlin & Herrmann, 2015; Ellingham et al, 2015; Nicholson, 1993; Shipman et al, 1984). While attempts to equate specific bone cortex colors with discrete and precise temperature ranges and/or durations of thermal exposure probably cannot satisfy Frye or Daubert criteria (Ellingham et al, 2015; Krap, van de Goot, Oostra, Duijst, & Waters‐Rist, 2017; Thompson, 2004), CIELAB approaches that use image capture devices with standardized lighting may eventually offer a way to meet these evidentiary standards (Krap et al, 2019; see Section 4).…”

Section: Classes Of Bone Surface Modifications and Their Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cruel traces: Bone surface modifications and their relevance to forensic science

Egeland

Pickering

2020

WIREs Forensic Science

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The reconstruction of perimortem and postmortem events is of critical importance to criminal investigations. In many cases, the information required for these reconstructions can be accessed through the analysis of skeletal remains. One particular class of skeletal data—trauma to the surfaces of bones, or bone surface modifications (BSMs)—can reveal much about the perimortem and postmortem intervals. While the study of BSMs originated within the fields of paleontology and archeology and was only later integrated into forensic science, a fruitful interdisciplinary exchange of data and methods is now commonplace. BSMs from thermal alteration, sharp‐force trauma, terrestrial and aquatic scavengers and predators, bacteria and fungi, insects, weathering, and sediment abrasion can supply investigators with valuable information about the agents and events of a corpse's deposition, including weapon type, local environmental conditions, the postmortem interval, and the presence, temperature(s), and/or length(s) of thermal exposure. Based on a review of this rich body of literature, we argue that (a) all associations between a BSM and its alleged source must rest on observational cause‐and‐effect studies; (b) secure identifications of BSMs should rely both on the intrinsic features of the modifications themselves and relevant contextual data; (c) the scientific validity of BSM research depends, ultimately, on rigorous blind‐testing and the establishment of error rates; and (d) researchers need to make a concerted effort to enhance interanalyst correspondence through objective definitions, measurements, and/or codes of BSM features. The most promising path forward lies in the combination of digital image analysis and multivariate predictive modeling. This article is categorized under: Forensic Anthropology > Trauma Analysis Forensic Anthropology > Taphonomic Changes and the Environment Forensic Anthropology > Time Since Death Estimation

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Bone Colour

Cited by 14 publications

References 14 publications

Salorno—Dos de la Forca (Adige Valley, Northern Italy): A unique cremation site of the Late Bronze Age

Salorno—Dos de la Forca (Adige Valley, Northern Italy): A unique cremation site of the Late Bronze Age

The human remains of the funerary complex of Neferhotep (XVIIIth–XXth Dynasty, Valley of the Nobles, Luxor, Egypt): taphonomy and anthropology

Cruel traces: Bone surface modifications and their relevance to forensic science

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