New archaeology, or processual archaeology, employs scientific methods and studies past cultures instead of the history of material remains.
The ownership and custodianship of Ötzi varies, for many reasons. Photo courtesy here. When Ötzi was found, the real political question between Italy and Austria was, "In which country was Ötzi found?" This simple, yet consequential question was successfully answered when authorities confirmed Ötzi was actually found on the Italian side, in an attempt to resolve the bitter dispute over the ownership of the Iceman's historically crucial preserved body. However, instead of rectifying all confusions, this answer led to more questionings over the custodianship of Ötzi. Questions such as "Was Ötzi a pre-Italian man travelling to what is now Austria, or was he a pre-Austrian man travelling to Italy?" arose, and eventually other scientific research and investigation confirmed Ötzi to be an Italian man who was born in an Italian village of Feldthurns (also known as Velturno) which is north of present day Bolzano. Though these questions had been disputed over then answered and resolved, other questions of the ethical issues involving the dead body of a human still remain. This video states the DNA based claims by scientists and how Ötzi is actually not related to people from the Alps, where he was originally found, outbreaking more arguments and revision of how we perceive history on human migration, Photo courtesy here. Ötzi is currently on display in a built facility entrusted to the supervision of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano. He has special atmospheric conditions available to him to stop the decaying or damaging of his body; with the controlled temperature, humidity and a nitrogen rich atmosphere, and he can be seen through a window by the museum visitors. Some may argue that it is wrong to display or investigate human remains, especially of ancient bodies. In the scientific world, such examinations are crucial for the advancement of science and the broadening of our knowledge on human civilisation and history, but it is usually the religious or ethical beliefs of some people which cause them to reject the displaying of human remains. These people reason that the remains of the ancient bodies were once alive and breathing like any other human on earth, and they deserve the same amount of respect after death and should be ritually buried. Nonetheless, various secular-minded people would insist that from the time period in which these bodies belong to, they did not practice Christianity, and were most likely pagan, so religious ethical issues should be ruled out because at the time of their death, religious morals (of the modern day) would not have applied. All the same, this justification leads to the allowed investigation and experiments of human remains. Moreover, most people tend to think that as long as the body of the dead isn't being mistreated or disrespected, it is alright to conduct scientific research. With these reasonings, many still argue over this sensitive topic, upholding their personal beliefs on the dead from the past.
Definition: Archaeology is the scientific study of past human culture, behaviour, and cognition through material remains left from the past.
Secret doors may conceal the burial chamber of Queen Nefertiti, but tantalizing clues await further testing.
Archaeological Digging Site: Two Great Archeologists Work on Excavation Site, Carefully Cleaning with Brushes and Tools Newly Discovered Ancient Civilization Cultural Artifacts, Fossil Remains
CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS—Thomas E. Emerson and Kristin M. Hedman of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey-Prairie Research […]
As the U.K. wrestles with issues of identity and nationalism around Brexit, a new exhibit is putting fresh faces on the region's ancient residents.
Archaeological excavation is the method of unearthing material remains to study the human past. Yet, an excavation is always a destruction.
Archaeological excavation is the method of unearthing material remains to study the human past. Yet, an excavation is always a destruction.
People have long held a morbid curiosity about dead bodies, from public hangings to modern day exhibits like Body Worlds. Through our history, sideshows and museums alike put human remains on display, the only real difference between them being the stated reason: entertainment on one side and education on the other, with the wishes of the deceased and their descendants ignored. Most of the time. Only recently have the dominant societies of the world turned to respecting cultural beliefs about burial, wit...
Archaeologists from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have found traces of Yersinia pestis (the Black Death) in human remains found at the Cal Pa i Figues necropolis in Vilafranca del Penedès, Catalonia, Spain. - HeritageDaily - Archaeology News
The debate on the familial similarity of humans and Neanderthals has continue to rage on, despite DNA evidence showing potential sub-species status. Whether or not they are ‘human’ has …
Archaeological survey, reconnaissance or exploration is the systematic method of identifying archaeological record without excavating ...
Hikers and mountaineers are finding ancient human artifacts in the melting glaciers of the Alps.
Neanderthal Inbreeding Made Some Humans Weaker Today ▶▶ link to original article
A new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has announced the discovery of the youngest known human remains ever found in the Arctic – two Ice Age babies that were buried more than 11,000 years ago in Alaska.
Germany is the newest country to join in the trend of museums repatriating human remains to the indigenous communities and former colonies from which they were originally taken. Last month the Charité Hospital in Berlin returned the skeletal remains of Australian and Torres Strait Islanders with a ceremony marking the occasion. Ngarrindjeri elder performing ceremony at human remains repatriation Exeter 2008 Though repatriation has been a hot topic for museums since the early 1990s in the United States and United Kingdom, it continues to be a source of strife for the source communities who feel they are the cultural carers of their ancestors whose remains are out of their control and out of their homelands. In the New York Times article on this recent repatriation outcome, Torres Strait Island community member Ned David explained that the return of human remains provoked 'moving moments for indigenous people around the world' and 'there are mixed emotions, one obviously of relief…and then the moment is tinged with sadness for what was involved with the removal of the remains'. Drawing of a mokomokai from H.G. Robley's Moko or Maori Tattooing For people that don't work in museums or have contact with the community members who feel these repatriations are integral to their cultural identity, the existence of skulls and bones in a museum might seem like a normal part of the museum experience. The collection of human remains was often made in the name of science to explore archaeology, medicine, and the natural world sciences in general. Many western museums tend to agree that continuing to hold human remains no longer has much scientific merit, and each repatriation is considered on a case by case basis. For some items like tattooed mokomokai Maori heads, their open display has long been deemed inappropriate in museums in the US and UK and museums have returned these Maori ancestral remains relatively consistently. Hoa Hakananai'a in transit Other items of cultural heritage with associated political histories have a much harder time of being accepted into mainstream museum repatriation schemes. For example, Rapa Nuians (Easter Islanders) have asked for the repatriation of the famous moai Hoa Haka from the British Museum, but have not been successful with their request. Other famous cases have also been denied, and in general cultural patrimony will continue to be a difficult subject of negotiation for repatriation efforts in museums due to the fact that many situations of collection involved a set of power relations that do not reflect the present-day state of affairs. Parthenon Marble If we were to account for all of these different power structures in the world retrospectively, the ownership of most museum collections would need to come under question. Of course, perhaps that is what needs to be considered in a postcolonial, postmodern world. Then again, I'm pretty sure I remember the V&A putting on an exhibition that said postmodernism ended in 1990 (http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/postmodernism/), but at least the acceptance of a case by case review is helpful to the repatriation cause.
The common lineage of great apes and humans split several hundred thousand earlier than hitherto assumed, according to an international research team headed by Professor Madelaine Böhme from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen and Professor Nikolai Spassov from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. - HeritageDaily - Archaeology News
Archaeological evidence - i.e. presence of exogenous, foreign material objects (pottery, obsidian and so on) - is used to make inferences on ancient trade, while population movement can only be assessed when the biological component of an ancient community is analyzed (i.e. the human skeletal remains). But the exchange of goods or the presence of foreign…
Phys Org reports that a recent analysis of ancient DNA suggests that Ancient Minoans and Mycenaeans were genetically identical, with both peoples descending from early Neolithic farmers. The study also reveals that they are both closely related to modern Greeks.
Ongoing work at the 15th-century municipal building has yielded an array of archaeological finds
DAVIS, CALIFORNIA—Nine-thousand-year-old human remains discovered at the Andean highland site of Wilamaya Patjxa in Peru appear […]
The Neanderthals, known in folklore as “cavemen”, conducted much of their activities in the open landscape. According to the study published today in the journal Scientific Reports by an international team lead by Israeli researchers, Neanderthals in the Levant constituted a resilient population that survived successfully in caves and open landscapes 60,000 years ago, when dispersing modern humans reached the region.
Some of the bodies found had small holes in their skulls
The ancient German Stonehenge may hold the remains of human sacrifices.
Book tours and tickets to experience Akrotiri. Reserve a ticket for your trip to Santorini today. Free cancellation and payment options - Viator.
Post-excavation analysis of a grave discovered on a hillside just north of Shoreham-by-Sea suggests that its Anglo-Saxon occupant may have met a violent end. The human remains were found by Archaeology South-East (the contracting division of the Centre for Applied Archaeology, University College London), who were working in advance of construction for the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm within an area of the South Downs Way known for its prehistoric burials.
Specialists in mummified human remains will trawl through municipal, state and church archives to aid their efforts to identify the mummies.
Reconstructions show ancient inhabitants of the U.K.
Archaeology is the study of humanity's material remains -- even a piece of an ancient pot can tell us a lot about the past. But how do archaeologists make sense of these relics?
Newly discovered bones prove the first permanent English settlers in North America turned to cannibalism over the winter of 1609-10, US researchers say.
Human remains discovered 138 years ago in Stirling, Scotland, have been identified as belonging to a Bronze Age farmer who worked the land more than four millennia ago. This makes the man officially the earliest known resident of the ancient capital of Scotland.
A genomic analysis of ancient human remains from KwaZulu-Natal revealed that southern Africa has an important role to play in writing the history of humankind.
'Ava' was previously thought to have red hair and blue eyes.
From a human foot bone to an ancient "castle" in the North, here are some of the fascinating archaeological finds and artifacts in the Philippines.
It is believed the fully-intact skeleton is of a baby between seven-10 months old but it is not thought the child was the victim of any human sacrifice on the ritualistic site.
An archaeological excavation in Majoonsuo, Outokumpu, eastern Finland, yielded an astonishing find: a Stone Age child interred with feathers and fur.On a Ancient World, Archaeology, Discovery, Miracle https://mru.ink/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Stone-Age-child-found-buried-with-feathers-and-fur.jpg
Archaeologists have unearthed unprecedented physical evidence documenting the extent of the killing at the Nazis' Treblinka death camp in Poland.
Modern Japanese appear to be genetically descended from the Paleolithic Minatogawa people, according to DNA analysis of human remains in Okinawa Prefecture dating from 20,000 years ago.
The skeleton of a 14-year-old girl, unearthed last summer, reveals evidence of cannibalism in 1609-10
The DNA of extinct humans can be retrieved from sediment in caves - even in the absences of skeletal remains.
The Archaeological Deposit Model (ADM) provides a vital tool for interpreting buried archaeological remains. Derived from geological stratigraphy, it is employed to understand the chronological sequence of site formation. It is composed of various elements such as artifacts, features, and ecofacts laid down through human activities, natural processes, or a combination of both.
