Osteoarchaeology

Osteoarchaeology is the study of preserved bones and teeth from archaeological sites. Human bones can reveal a lot about the life style and health of an individual. Gender can often be determined from the shape of the skull and pelvis. The age can be inferred from the wear on teeth. Height is determined using a formula based on the length of the shin bone (the tibia).

Various aspects of health can also be determined as some diseases, such as leprosy or syphilis, can leave distinctive traces on bones. The cause of death may also be apparent, especially where an individual has met a violent end.

The bones and teeth may also give some indication of the diet eaten by an individual as well as malnutrition or vitamin deficiency. Malnutrition as a child leaves distinctive Harris lines on the teeth where growth was impaired. Stable isotope analysis of the bones can also reveal details of diet. The amount of a certain isotope in your bones is influenced by what kind of food you are eating.

The carbon isotope value, which measures the ratio between Carbon 12 and Carbon 13, tells us about how much marine protein (e.g. fish, shellfish) there was in the diet, compared to terrestrial proteins (e.g. grains, breads, cattle meat and milk).  The nitrogen isotope value, the ratio between Nitrogen 14 and Nitrogen 15, tells us about how much plant food there was in the diets, compared to animal foods (like meat and milk).  For instance, a study of Neolithic bones in southern England found that the make-up of isotopes corresponded with that of carnivores suggesting very little plant food or fish was eaten.

The oxygen or strontium isotopes ratio of the water you drink depends on the source of the water in precipitation, the distance from the coast, latitude and altitude and the local temperature of precipitation. The oxygen isotopes ratio in teeth is compared with that of drinking water from different regions and that determines where a person might have lived, at the time their teeth formed. Strontium isotopes provide a fingerprint for different rock types and, as the distribution of rocks is well mapped in Britain and around the world, the geology provides the key to geographic location. Recent results have found that a group of men called the Boscombe Bowmen, whose burial was excavated on Boscombe Down near Stonehenge in 2003, came originally from Wales. The Amesbury Archer, another Neolithic burial near Stonehenge, came from Switzerland.

DNA analysis can reveal the sex of a person and has been used to work out whether burials that seem to relate to one another are actually of family members.

Analysis of animal bones on a site can also indicate whether they were being butchered for food or, in the case of sheep for example, being kept for their wool; in the case of cattle whether they were kept for traction or milk.