ANTH 116 - Bioarchaeology

ANTH 116 - Spring 2006

Instructor: Kristina Killgrove
Office: Alumni 211-A
Office Hours: Wednesday 10-11am
E-mail: killgrove @ unc . edu
IM Screen Name: KKillgrove
IM Hours: Mon 8-9pm

Course Description: How are mummies formed, and what can they tell us about past burial practices? Does the concept of "race" really exist at a biological level? What is NAGPRA, and why do Native Americans care if scientists study their ancestors' bones? Can carbon and nitrogen isotopes tell us about dietary practices? Bioarchaeology, or the study of human skeletal remains from archaeological sites, tackles all these questions and more in the search for answers about ancient human life across the globe. Although a solid knowledge of human anatomy is imperative for identifying fragments of bone, this survey course will draw on techniques from a variety of disciplines including biology, chemistry, archaeology, pathology, demography, and history in order to understand how to reconstruct both individual lives and collective population histories. During the semester, we will investigate the theory and the methods behind bioarchaeological analysis through a series of lectures, projects, and class discussions.

Announcements:

The new date for submission of the final exam will be Tuesday, May 9, at 12noon. You can submit your completed project to me by e-mail or to my box in AL 301.

See calendar to the right for more events such as TV programs and lectures that can give you extra credit points on your discussion/attendance grade.

Links to Old Chapel Hill Cemetery site by UNC students and one on Wikipedia

Wiki extra credit

Policy on Late Work - There are very few assignments to hand in for this course. I thus expect that they will all be turned in on time. Should they be late, I will penalize you at least half a letter grade for each class day that it is late regardless of whether you were in class or not. If you turn in a project one week after the due date, you will score no higher than a B on that project. Because I did not include this on the syllabus as I should have, this policy will not apply to Project 1. However, it does apply to Project 2 and subsequent assignments.

Texts: Required: Bioarchaeology by Clark Spencer Larsen The Archaeology of Human Bones by Simon Mays Recommended: Human Bone Manual by Tim White or Human Osteology by Tim White Optional: Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton edited by Katzenberg and Saunders The Archaeology of Death and Burial by Mike Parker Pearson	Articles Available Online: AAPA Statement on Biological Aspects of Race AAPA Position on Kennewick Man Diamond 1987 Killgrove 2005 (Chapters 2, 3) Killgrove 2002 (Chapter 3) NAGPRA Law (1990) and NAGPRA in general SAA Repatriation Policy Course e-Reserves (E in biblio) Library e-Journals (J in biblio)
Requirements: Projects (40%) - There will be four (4) projects/labs over the course of the semester, most of which will be conducted during class time. You will be expected to hand in a short (4-page) write-up of your conclusions. Although labs will involve working with other students, your papers should be your own work. Projects are due one week from the date of assignment. Discussion/Attendance/Quiz (10%) - After the first month of the semester, we will be having class discussions on theories and issues in contemporary bioarchaeology based on the readings assigned through that day. Your attendance at and participation in these discussions is required. Extra credit assignments throughout the semester can boost this portion of your grade. Paper (25%) - Your paper assignment will be to choose a disease that manifests itself on bone and research its origin, spread, etc. Deviations from this topic must be cleared with me first. Papers should be 10-12 pages in length, fully referenced. More information on topic and format will be given later in the semester. Final Exam (25%) - The final exam for the course will be take-home and is due to my box in the RLA (AL 108) no later than 12noon Tuesday, May 9. More information will be forthcoming on the format of the final, but it will be similar to writing a grant proposal in that you will be asked to address a research question using a skeletal population and bioarchaeological tools.	Password Access to Articles: Bahn 1997 Becker 1996 Brown 1981 Buikstra et al. 1990 Buikstra 1977 Chapman 2003 Cowgill 2004 Deloria 1992 Meindl and Russell 1998 Nawrocki 1995 Ortner 1991 Ousley 2005 Parker Pearson 1999, Ch. 1 Parker Pearson 1999, Ch. 2 Saunders et al. 1992 Spencer 1982
Course Outline (opens in new window) Bibliography (opens in new window)	Handouts: Final Exam - 4/25 Biodistance Project - 4/18 Ethics and Repatriation Questions - 3/28 Project 3 data (Excel) - 3/9 Palaeopathology Project - 3/9 Paper Topic - 2/28 Demography Project - 2/9 Wanted: Butch and Sundance Handout - 2/2 Cemetery Project - 1/31 Bioarchaeological Excavation Exercise - 1/24 Bone Biology - 1/17

Fun Stuff

North Carolina General Statutes

Body Worlds - plastination

Summum - Modern Mummification

LifeGems - Make your loved one into a diamond!

Angel's Flight - Make your loved one into a firework!

Celestis - Make your loved one orbit space!

Eternal Reefs - Make your loved one into an ugly fish jungle gym!

Court TV's interactive forensic stories:
The Mormon Forgeries and
Buddhist Temple Massacre

Quiz yourself on the human skeleton

Comparative animal anatomy

Duke University Primate Research Center

News

4/19/06 - 30 beheaded skeletons uncovered in China

3/31/06 - A new Body Farm in Iowa

3/28/06 - Lead isotopes being used in African archaeology

3/27/06 - New article on the cause of death in crucifixions, in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 99(4):185-8.

3/2/06 - Don Ortner lecture (Real Media) on the History and Evolution of Human Infectious Disease

2/26/06 - A really cool forensics course at Penn State

2/25/06 - An interview with Jane Buikstra in Archaeology Magazine

2/25/06 - An interview with Susan Alcock on monuments and memory in Archaeology Magazine

2/21/06 - A brief piece on Steve Macko, an environmental sciences prof at UVa who works with physical anthropologists

2/12/06 - The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit opens in Charlotte on Friday, 2/17.

2/4/06 - Evidence of earliest African slaves in the New World through strontium isotope analysis

2/3/06 - Is "Out of Africa" finally out?

2/3/06 - The Iceman was infertile. (And you thought sperm kept well in ice!)

2/2/06 - David Phelps returns 16th century ring to ECU

1/29/06 - Smithsonian repatriates 184 skeletons of Native Alaskans

1/24/06 - 125-year-old forensic mystery - insurance fraud or real dead guy?

1/24/06 - 1,300 Medieval skeletons found while digging for a shopping mall in England

1/23/06 - 3,000-year-old Roman tomb unearthed in the Forum Romanum questions traditional founding date of city.

1/13/06 - Were the Donner party really cannibals?

1/12/06 - The famous Taung child (A. africanus) was killed by an eagle

1/13/06 - Ancient Swedish tooth-filing borrowed from the Americas?

Scarlett Johansson wants to be an archaeologist!