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Osteoarchaeology Cheat Sheet by

**CONTAINS PHOTOS OF HUMAN BONES** Key case studies to discuss osteoarchaeology and its uses as an archaeological science. Brief overview of the bioarchaeology of care, secondary context burials and funerary taphonomy, trauma in bones and using a multidisciplinary approach.

Defini­tions

Osteoa­rch­aeology
Study of bones in an archae­olo­gical context.
Linear Enamel Hypoplasia (LEH)
Pits/l­inear lesions in teeth, provide inform­ation surrou­nding nutrition from 4 weeks in utero. Caused by vitamin A and D defici­encies.
Cribra orbitalia
Porosity on orbital roof as a response to anaemia or physio­logical trauma e.g. rickets and scurvy.
Perios­titis
Reaction of periosteum to stress. Osteop­eri­ostitis = pittin­g/s­tri­ations associated with nutrit­ional defici­encies.

Bioarc­hae­ology of care

Borneo, 31 kya
Found in an area rich in rock art dated to 40 kya.
Geophy­sical survey used to find site, excavated in a 2x2m trench through 9 strati­gra­phical units (SUs) and uncovering a fully articu­lated burial.
Burial features
Limestone rocks positioned at the head and each arm of the individual buried (TB1).
 
TB1 was found in a flexed position and is considered to be an anatom­ically modern Homo sapiens.
 
Aged around 19-20 years of age - evidence from epiphyseal fusion adn auricular surface stages (pelvis).
 
Sex = indete­rmi­nate, but stature suggests male rather than female.
Surgical amputation
Absence of left foot. Left tibia + fibula shaft = unusual distal bony growth.
 
Pattern = consistent with clinical amputation as non-su­rgical amputa­tions (e.g. blunt force trauma) woudl cause crushing of bones rather than oblique sectioning as found here. Remodelled lamellar bone suggests healing prior to death - care for indivi­dual. Lack of infection post-i­njury.
 
Lived for 6-9 years after amputa­tion.
Signif­icance of results
Medicinal knowledge in foraging cultures prior to this discovery always considered rudime­ntary. Care for the wounded limited to trepan­ation, sutures and dentistry. More complex surgeries thought to be beyond capabi­lities of foraging commun­ities.
 
TB1 suggests a foraging community with complex knowledge of limb + muscular anatomy and vascular systems, as well as the knowledge that hte removal of this limb was necessary for survival.
 
Living with the altered mobility of an amputated leg also suggests altruism and care for the indivi­dual, especially in this mounta­inous enviro­nment.
 
Post-s­urgical care such as regular bathing and disinf­ection would have also been necessary to avoid infection.
(Maloney, et al., 2022)

Bornean amputation

  

Secondary Contexts - Funerary Taphonomic Processes

Additions to archae­oth­ana­tology:
Dispos­ition + effects of decomp­osition on disart­icu­lation and inferences we can draw from this.
Çatalh­öyük, Turkey
c. 7100-6000 calBCE
Bodies buried bound with rope, with a delay between eath and burial
Burials underneath settle­ments with younger indivs buried in centra­l/side rooms.
Evidence for secondary context
Disart­iulated and commingled context of bodies. Could suggest bodies were left out to decopose before burial.
Evidence for primary context
Remains = very tightly flexed.
(Knüsel and Robb, 2016)
  

Trauma

Dakleh Oasis, Egypt
Romano­-By­zantine period
Age sex and pathology of remains identified as physio­logical conseq­uences of political, economic, subsis­tence processes, etc changes.
Social context - Egypt well known for its agricu­ltural specia­lities.
Age estima­tions
Dental formation, epiphysial develo­pment + fusion.
 
Cranial develo­pment + fusion.
Health + physio­logical stress
*Cribra orbitalia, LEH and osteop­eri­ostitis all = main signs of physio­logical stress in juveniles of the Kellis 2 burial on site.*
Combining data of age + health -> better idea of demogr­aphic of popula­tion, with majority of indivs showing active lesions perimo­rtem.
LEH in older stratum of the group (around 15 yrs old), always accomp­anied by other lesions (CO, osteop­eri­ost­itis, or both).
Discussion
To what extent is the burial record genera­lisable to living demogr­aphics?
 
Ultima­tely, the burial record is designed, decided and modified by living popula­tions to either symbol­ically represent signif­icance or consci­ously alter perspe­ctives of living demogr­aphics.
 
So the Kellis 2 burial, for example, cannot necess­arily be applied to say that all children underwent malnut­rition with a high juvenile mortality rate. What if younger or sickly indivi­duals were separated in burial contexts from the general popula­tion?
(Wheeler, 2012)

Amarna workers

North cemetery of Amarna, Egypt.
Site shows evidence of early life stress from work.
Demogr­aphic consti­tuted mainly of females, 7-25 years old.
Evidence suggests stress in very early life from physical labour.
Linear Enamel Hypoplasia (LEH)
High frequency of LEH.
(Dabbs, 2019)

Movement and Interc­onn­ect­ivity

Using chemical analysis on bones - multid­isc­ipl­inary approach.
Genomic data and stable isotopic analysis on the Amesbury archer.
Amesbury archer = related to Bell beaker culture, found near Stoneh­enge.
Stable isotope
Strontium - associated with ground­water of region.
Oxygen - associated with typical temper­ature of a region.
 
Suggested inidiv had travelled from Alps to place of burial.
Genomic data
Comparison of aDNA with modern people, determined admixture between Beaker people and steppe ancestry.
(Olalde et al., 2018; Renfrew, Bahn and DeMarrais, 2024)

References for your humble perusal

Dabbs, G.R. (2019) ‘Bioar­cha­eology of the Non-elite North Tombs Cemetery at Amarna: A Prelim­inary Assessment of the Non-elite Indivi­duals of the North Tombs Cemetery at Tell el-Amarna, Egypt’, Bioarc­hae­ology Intern­ati­onal, 3(3), pp. 174–186. Available at: https:­//d­oi.o­rg­/10.57­44/­bi.2­01­9.1012.
Maloney, T.R. et al. (2022) ‘Surgical amputation of a limb 31,000 years ago in Borneo’, Nature, 609(7927), pp. 547–551. Available at: https:­//d­oi.o­rg­/10.10­38/­s41­586­-02­2-0­5160-8.
Olalde, I. et al. (2018) ‘The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transf­orm­ation of northwest Europe’, Nature, 555(7695), pp. 190–196. Available at: https:­//d­oi.o­rg­/10.10­38/­nat­ure­25738.
Renfrew, C., Bahn, P. and DeMarrais, E. (2024) Arcahe­ology Theories, Methods and Practice. 9th edn. London: Thames and Hudson.
Wheeler, S.M. (2012) ‘Nutri­tional and Disease Stress of Juveniles from the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt’, Intern­ational Journal of Osteoa­rch­aeo­logy, (22), pp. 219–234. Available at: https:­//d­oi.o­rg­/10.10­02/­oa.1­201.
 

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  • Published: 4th June, 2025

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