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Article Reference Accompagner les morts : l’activité de fossoyeur de la Révolution à l’Empire à Reims
A person who acts behind the scenes of funerals, the gravedigger generally suffers from a bad image. Although his role is essential to the proper conduct of funeral practices, his missions and status are poorly known. The municipal and community archives of the city of Reims offer the opportunity to outline the activity of the gravedigger during the post-revolutionary period. Although the available bundles only allow us to understand the activity of the gravediggers over a short period of time, the information they provide constitutes the first milestones of a more global development of a «history of gravediggers».
Located in Associated publications / … / ANTHROPOLOGICA ET PREHISTORICA / Bibliographic references
Article Reference Étude ostéologique de deux crémations provenant du site de Postel (Province d’Anvers, âge du Bronze)
Two cremations dating from the Bronze Age were discovered in the 1950s in a burial mound in Postel in the province of Antwerp. The colour of the skeletal remains indicates a homogeneous cremation with a temperature of at least 800°C. The most ancient individual (dated to phase I of the construction of the burial mound) is the most complete: about ¾ of its remains, which belong to all anatomical categories, were transferred from the pyre to the grave. The osteological study reveals that it was probably an adult male who was at least 25 years of age. The second subject is more recent (dated to Phase III) and is thought to have been an individual of undetermined sex, under 20 years old. The smaller quantity of remains and the absence of some anatomical categories, including fragile and small bones, that this was a deliberate sorting made by the cremation officiant. This type of selection has already been seen in other Belgian sites dating from the Bronze Age and later.
Located in Associated publications / … / ANTHROPOLOGICA ET PREHISTORICA / Bibliographic references
Article Reference Quelques aspects des pratiques funéraires au Néolithique proche-oriental : la gestion de l’espace à Çatalhöyük
Au Proche-Orient, des sépultures appartenant à des hommes, des femmes et des individus immatures, ont été retrouvées sous le sol des maisons néolithiques en Anatolie Centrale, au Levant Nord, au Levant Sud, et dans la Djezirah Iraquienne. Au sein de ses sépultures, les individus reposaient individuellement ou à plusieurs (simultanément ou successivement) dans une position évoquant celle d’un fœtus au sein de l’utérus. Les études sur leur contexte domestique et sur leur organisation spatiale sont des principales clefs pour l’interprétation des idées religieuses derrière ces pratiques. Dans le présent article, nous allons présenter quelques aspects des pratiques funéraires au Néolithique proche-oriental qui concernent surtout la gestion de l’espace funéraire à Çatalhöyük.
Located in Associated publications / … / ANTHROPOLOGICA ET PREHISTORICA / Bibliographic references
Article Reference La pratique de l’inhumation dans des contenants périssables dans la Syrie antique entre le Ier et le VIIe siècle après J.-C.
Cette étude vise à identifier les contenants périssables utilisés pour l’inhumation des morts dans la région de la Syrie antique pendant la période romaine. Le travail inclut l’étude d’environ cent tombes dans neuf espaces funéraires. L’analyse des sépultures a été réalisée soit sur le terrain, à Palmyre et Es-Samra, soit à partir des documentations graphiques et écrites dans les autres sites. Cette analyse est fondée d’une part sur les vestiges disponibles et d’autre part sur l’analyse taphonomique des squelettes. Les données recueillies ont permis de démontrer l’existence de plusieurs types de contenants utilisés pour des sujets immatures et adultes. Elles ont permis aussi d’évoquer le statut social des individus concernés par ces pratiques funéraires.
Located in Associated publications / … / ANTHROPOLOGICA ET PREHISTORICA / Bibliographic references
Article Reference Une nouvelle association internationale The International Association for Archaeological Research in Western & Central Asia
Located in Associated publications / … / ANTHROPOLOGICA ET PREHISTORICA / Bibliographic references
Article Reference Early Bronze Age population substructure in the Khabur basin: preliminary evidence from Tell Brak, Tell Arbid and Tell Barri (Syria)
Bioarchaeological studies of human remains examine past populations through their mortuary, biological, and socio-cultural contexts. Biological distance, or biodistance, analyses use both genetic and phenetic data to investigate biological relatedness. Biodistance studies frequently employ phenotypic characteristics, or the physical expression of genetic traits that can serve as a proxy for aDNA, to understand evolution, migration, kinship and social organisation. We used phenotypic variation in dental morphology to investigate the population history of the Khabur basin in Syria, during an important period of urbanisation in the Early Bronze Age (EBA, circa 3000-2100 BCE) that shaped the political, social, and economic history of ancient Mesopotamia. Non-metric dental traits from three EBA sites, Tell Brak (n=77), Tell Barri (n=16) and Tell Arbid (n=17), were recorded using the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System (ASUDAS). Individuals from the sites were compared using the Gower distance matrix and Mean Measure of Divergence (MMD) to examine the difference between sites as population groups. The results suggest that while sites were ancestrally similar, the observed heterogeneity between sites and was related to the socio-political nature of the community. The greatest variation was observed for the samples from Tell Brak and Tell Barri, the capital and the second-rank administrative centre, respectively. Although Tell Arbid showed less variability, some population segmentation was observed between different burial loci.
Located in Associated publications / … / ANTHROPOLOGICA ET PREHISTORICA / Bibliographic references
Article Reference Four unpublished plaques from ancient Urkesh (modern Tell Mozan, Syria): Analysis of context and function
The only four terracotta plaques That were found in Urkesh, dating back to the second millennium BC, offer a style variation of the nude woman motif that was extremely popular in Mesopotamia. The main objective of this article is to present these previously unpublished terracotta plaques from Urkesh. The artifacts in question are dealt with from an archaeological point of view, where the descriptive information and archaeological context related to them is provided, before discussing their proposed function that relies to some extent on their imagery and what it represents. The analysis of these plaques, which conform with the domestic nature of other plaques found all over Mesopotamian sites, and the sexualization of woman’s depiction on them and how it relates to some extent to the change in the manufacturing techniques from the freehand molded figurines to the mass production of a mold made plaques, and the interpretation of their function as objects of a domestic nature, are presented in this article in effort to highlight what might be a new proposed function for the plaques of Urkesh, in the light of their archaeological context that might be related to burials
Located in Associated publications / … / ANTHROPOLOGICA ET PREHISTORICA / Bibliographic references
Article Reference Les étrangers dans les inscriptions de Palmyre
This study presents several categories of persons whose status is that of foreigner, which appear in the inscriptions of Palmyra. We can classify them according to their social statuses in the Empire and at Palmyra: emperors, governors, financial officers, soldiers, those without official function, or simply foreigners (slaves, freed persons, and others). The names of emperors or governors are mentioned in Palmyrene epigraphy, but their actual presence at Palmyra is not assured. Other foreigners moved into the town and settled there, either temporarily or permanently. The latter underwent various levels of integration within the city of Palmyra. This study is based on the inscriptions discovered at the city of Palmyra, engraved both in monolingual Greek, Aramaic, and Latin epigraphs, as well as in bi- and trilingual epigraphs. The period covered by this study is limited to the first three centuries CE and the beginning of the fourth
Located in Associated publications / … / ANTHROPOLOGICA ET PREHISTORICA / Bibliographic references
Article Reference C source code Histological and stable isotope analysis of archeological bones from St. Rombout's cemetery (Mechelen, Belgium): Intrasite, intraindividual, and intrabone variability
Abstract This study compares histological preservation in archeological bones from different burial types to unravel the histotaphonomy-to-funerary practices relationship. Αn intraskeletal approach is also adopted to explore intraindividual (inner ear part of the petrous bone vs. upper/lower limb long bones) and intrabone (proximal vs. distal diaphysis) variability in bone collagen preservation, δ13C, and δ15N. The aim is to (a) target bones that likely retain higher amounts of collagen, (b) better understand the inner ear bone collagen isotopic signature and remodeling, and (c) assess intrabone isotopic and histological homogeneity. For the histological analysis, the data have been collected from 61 specimens (20 individuals) from the medieval/postmedieval cemetery of St. Rombout, Belgium. Thin sections have been studied using optical and scanning electron microscopy. For the collagen and isotopic data, 101 samples have been collected from 21 individuals. Distinct histological patterns are observed only in bones from single coffin burials; however, bone histology can display intraindividual and intrabone variability, which are important to account for interpretations. Collagen wt.%, δ13C, and δ15N show significant intraindividual differences but insignificant intrabone variability. This study also confirms the extraordinary nature of the petrous bone, as the inner ear bone collagen δ13C and δ15N values reflect the dietary input of the first approximately 2–3 years of life.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Article Reference The closed circuit rebreather (CCR): is it the safest device for deep scientific diving ?
The closed circuit rebreather (CCR) is not a new diving technology. From the late 1990s CCR units were commercially available in Europe, and increasingly more divers, and among them scientific divers, have been trained to use them. Even if many benefits exist for using CCR for all diving depth ranges, it is in the deep diving zone ranging from 50 m to 100 m of sea water where the main advantages to using this equipment exist. Using rebreathers does carry additional risks, and these must be mitigated to ensure safe usage. A standard for CCR scientific diving has existed for many years in the USA, and the levels of expertise within the European scientific diving community are now sufficient for a European standard to be established. National legislation for occupational scientific diving in many cases excludes CCR diving, which can limit its use for scientific purposes. This paper suggests that, where possible, legislations should be allowed to evolve in order to include this type of equipment where and when its use has direct advantages for both the safety and the efficiency of scientific diving. This paper provides a brief description of the fundamentals of closed circuit rebreather diving and outlines the benefits that its use offers diving scientists. Special attention is given to safety issues with the assertion that the CCR concept is, if strictly applied, the safest available technique today for autonomous deep scientific diving purposes.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016