Human Skeletal Remains: Excavation, Analysis, Interpretation - Hardcover

Ubelaker, Douglas H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0960282270 ISBN 13: 9780960282272

Publisher: Taraxacum, 1999

Synopsis

Many anthropologists and even some archeologists have asked, "Why excavate skeletons? What information can we gain to merit the disturbance of human interments?" Human Skeletal Remains answers such questions. Douglas H. Ubelaker demonstrates the range of data and interpretations potentially obtainable from human skeletal remains and shows how this information can contribute to the solution of various anthropological problems. It also describes and evaluates basic techniques of skeletal excavation and analysis. Human Skeletal Remains is divided into two sections. The first section reviews the techniques and information needed for excavating and describing skeletal remains and for achieving reliable estimates of stature, sex, and age at death. These chapters should improve the capacity of non-specialists to undertake skeletal excavation and preliminary analysis. The second section discusses additional kinds of information that can be gleaned from suitable samples by experienced skeletal biologists. The information in Human Skeletal Remains is a broad-scale overview and many aspects have been treated in greater detail by others elsewhere. References are provided in the text for the convenience of those interested in more information on specific topics. Technical terminology has been avoided where possible, but accurate recording and description cannot be accomplished without employing the names of individual bones and other skeletal landmarks. Terms most commonly needed for description are included in a glossary. While it is somewhat modest in its intentions, this analysis provides a clarity that extensive tomes cannot supply.

About this title

About the Author:

Douglas H. Ubelaker is curator and senior scientist at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. He has served as a consultant of forensic anthropology to the FBI since 1978 and has widely known for his work on the topic of human skeletal biology.

Review:

“Human Skeletal Remains merits the attention of all archaeologists concerned with the recovery and analysis of burials.... For introductory students and general readers, as well as for archaeologists interested in learning what human skeletal remains can reveal, this volume provides an outstanding distillation of the goals and methods of physical anthropology.”

—Marshall Joseph Becker, American Journal of Archaeology

“For any person who has wondered about the merits of burial excavation, and for any archaeologists likely to be faced with the task, this volume should be required reading.... [T]his book is quite good. It will certainly be a useful companion piece to standard osteology texts, which seldom touch on research problems or techniques appropriate for field-data recovery.... [T]his book is an excellent pioneer effort. Ubelaker is to be congratulated for attempting a most difficult task. He has set out to demonstrate that burial excavation is worthwhile and that quality data collection is imperative if osteological data are to be efficiently utilized. His arguments are most persuasive.”

—Jane E. Buikstra, American Anthropologist

About this edition

• Publisher: Taraxacum
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0960282270
• ISBN 13: 9780960282272
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 172