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If human burials were our only window onto the past, what story
would they tell? Skeletal injuries constitute the most direct and
unambiguous evidence for violence in the past. Whereas weapons or
defenses may simply be statements of prestige or status and written
sources are characteristically biased and incomplete, human remains
offer clear and unequivocal evidence of physical aggression
reaching as far back as we have burials to examine. Warfare is
often described as 'senseless' and as having no place in society.
Consequently, its place in social relations and societal change
remains obscure. The studies in The Routledge Handbook of the
Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict present an overview of the nature
and development of human conflict from prehistory to recent times
as evidenced by the remains of past people themselves in order to
explore the social contexts in which such injuries were inflicted.
A broadly chronological approach is taken from prehistory through
to recent conflicts, however this book is not simply a catalogue of
injuries illustrating weapon development or a narrative detailing
'progress' in warfare but rather provides a framework in which to
explore both continuity and change based on a range of important
themes which hold continuing relevance throughout human
development.
If human burials were our only window onto the past, what story
would they tell? Skeletal injuries constitute the most direct and
unambiguous evidence for violence in the past. Whereas weapons or
defenses may simply be statements of prestige or status and written
sources are characteristically biased and incomplete, human remains
offer clear and unequivocal evidence of physical aggression
reaching as far back as we have burials to examine. Warfare is
often described as 'senseless' and as having no place in society.
Consequently, its place in social relations and societal change
remains obscure. The studies in The Routledge Handbook of the
Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict present an overview of the nature
and development of human conflict from prehistory to recent times
as evidenced by the remains of past people themselves in order to
explore the social contexts in which such injuries were inflicted.
A broadly chronological approach is taken from prehistory through
to recent conflicts, however this book is not simply a catalogue of
injuries illustrating weapon development or a narrative detailing
'progress' in warfare but rather provides a framework in which to
explore both continuity and change based on a range of important
themes which hold continuing relevance throughout human
development.
In July 1834 excavation of a barrow at Gristhorpe, near
Scarborough, Yorkshire, recovered an intact, waterlogged,
hollowed-out oak coffin containing a perfectly preserved Bronze Age
skeleton that had been wrapped in an animal skin and buried with
worked flints, a bronze dagger with a whalebone pommel, and a bark
vessel apparently containing food residue. Gristhorpe Man became
the centrepiece of the Scarborough Philosophical Society s museum
display. In 2004, planned refurbishment of the renamed Rotunda
Museum provided the opportunity for a scientific re-examination of
the burial and grave goods in order to elucidate the life and death
of this extraordinary survival of the British Early Bronze Age.
Tree-trunk coffin burials are relatively rare and Gristhorpe Man,
with his range of grave goods was likely to have held a special
role in society. Analysis of the skeleton included an examination
of its skeletal morphology and palaeopathological conditions
combined with isotopic analyses of the bones and teeth in order to
investigate mobility, diet, and status of the individual whose
unusual large stature, dentition, and novel methods of conservation
were of particular interest. These analyses, combined with
examination of the surviving coffin lid, including the unique face
carved onto one end of it, the grave goods, and radiocarbon and
dendrochronological dating, reveal fascinating insights into the
social position, inter-regional contacts and the burial rite
associated with this enigmatic mature man who probably saw active
combat and who suffered from a benign brain tumour that may have
seriously altered his personality in his later years."
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