The Baptist Chapel burial ground,Littlemore, Oxford

Abstract

Excavation of the cemetery associated with Littlemore Baptist Chapel, Oxford, revealed a total of 31 graves and coffins dating to the second half of the 19th century. The remains of 30 individuals survived. Coffin fittings were not plain as expected, but rather followed the Anglican tradition of the time. The skeletal evidence indicated a population where some suffered nutritional deficiencies in childhood, while others experienced longevity in adulthood, with the majority of pathological conditions being linked to old age. Evidence of trauma and degenerative change linked to manual labour were largely absent. Two examples of neoplastic disease were identified and these are discussed in detail.     

Semitella,an Italian Bell-Beaker (Final Copper Age) animal burial ground

The Italian Bell-Beaker (Final Copper Age) has been widely studied, yet little is known about its archaeofaunas. Reported are the results of the analysis of the archaeofauna from Semitella, which is one of the largest and most important Bell-Beaker sites in Italy. The site yielded an intentionally buried bovine skeleton and contained many pits, scattered throughout the excavated area. These pits may have originally contained the corpses of the animals whose bones are represented in the sample. The hypothesis is that Semitella was a sort of cemetery for animal carcasses, or a dumping ground where carcass discards and animal cadavers were thrown or buried. A careful taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses were therefore mandatory. The study confirmed the hypothesis. It in fact revealed a poorly diversified, selected fauna, dominated by domestic taxa, matched to a strikingly low incidence of bone surface modifications, which is the expected state of bones that have been rapidly subtracted to biostratinomic agents. The accumulated evidence indicates that Semitella was a dumping and/or a burial ground for animal corpses in the surroundings of a nearby settlement. The assemblage's final arrangement is the result of floodings that removed the disarticulated skeletal parts scattering them downstream. What remains unresolved is whether, or not, the burials were connected with ritual practices.     

Neandertals,early modern humans,and rodeo riders

In 1995 Berger and Trinkaus (J. Archaeol. Sci. 22, 841–852) proposed that the anatomical distribution of Neandertal trauma, with a predominance of upper body lesions, reflected close-quarter ambush hunting as dictated by the available Middle Paleolithic weaponry (the “Rodeo rider” hypothesis). The necessity for mobility among these Late Pleistocene foragers, as a factor possibly reducing the number of preserved lower limb injuries, was considered as an alternative explanation. The accumulating data on Upper Paleolithic injuries and Middle Paleolithic weaponry, considerations of differential skeletal susceptibility of minor trauma, and evidence of interhuman violence, plus the importance of mobility for Late Pleistocene human existence, suggest that hunting injuries may explain only part of the pattern. The purpose of this note is not to resolve to ultimate factors behind the anatomical distribution of traumatic lesions among the Neandertals (or early modern humans). It is 1) to emphasize that there are multiple probable contributing factors other than close-quarter ambush hunting due to the limitations of Middle Paleolithic weaponry, and 2) to open the discussion to alternative interpretations.     

Women,work, property and gender in early modern Europe

Natalie DAVIS & Arlette FARGE eds, A History of Women in the West, III. Renaissance and Enlightenment Paradoxes, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1993, ISBN 0–674–40372‐X.

Merry E. WIESNER, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993, ISBN 0–521–38459–1 hardback, 0–521–38613–6 paperback.

Hilary MARLAND, ed., The Art of Midwifery. Early Modem Midwives in Europe, Routledge, London, 1993, ISBN 0–415–06425–2.

Amy Louise ERICKSON, Women and Property in Early Modem England, Routledge, London, 1993, ISBN 0–415–06267–5.     

The family, love, and suicide in early modern Geneva

Analysis of criminal proceedings and death records for early modern Geneva reveals an explosion in suicides after 1750. New attitudes toward courtship, marriage, and the familly contributed to this dramatic increase, as unprecedented numbers of people took their lives because of family concerns, such as marital breakdown, unhapppy love stories, and deaths of family members. Greater interest in the companionate marriage was central to these changes. After 1750, marriage, even more than parenthood, offered immunity to suicide, as married people were underrepresented among those who took their lives. Although men constituted the large majority of suicides, women and men shared the growing emphasis on conjugal sentiment, which cut across class lines.     

A late pre-Islamic burial at al-Khatt, U.A.E.

Gravegoods comprising local and imported pottery together with iron arrowheads were 'rescued'from a burial at al-Khatt, U.A.E., in 1993. Their relation to the chronology established at Mleiha suggests that they date from the late 3rd to early 2nd centuries BC, a period as yet little known in the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah.     

Modern human,early modern human and Neanderthal limb proportions

The limb proportions of 686 subjects (461 men and 225 women) from five ethnic groups (White, Inuit, Gurkha, Bantu, San) have been compared. Stature, limb and skeletal measurements were taken directly from the subjects by one observer. The brachial and crural indices of the Whites were markedly smaller (lower) than those of the other populations. The crural indices of the Inuit were similar to those of the two African populations, but this may be an artefact from relatively small numbers for the Inuit population. There is no sexual dimorphism for the brachial index, but men have larger (higher) crural indices than women, a finding which probably relates to the relatively broad pelvises and consequently long femurs of women. The two African populations have long limb lengths standardized for height compared to the Gurkha and Inuit populations, with the Whites intermediate. This finding is consistent with Bergmann's thermoregulatory rule. The correlations between distal abbreviation and limb abbreviation for both the upper and lower limbs are poor and negative. Relatively long limbs tend to have smaller distal segments than relatively short limbs and for the legs this may constitute a safeguard for the integrity of the medial and cruciate ligaments of the knee. For these five modern populations distal abbreviation cannot be used as a proxy for limb abbreviation and there is no justification for linking distal abbreviation with climatic selection. Skeletal data relating to nine Neanderthal and 25 early modern humans have also been analysed. The analysis confirms marked limb and distal abbreviation for the Neanderthals compared to early and contemporary modern humans, but this conclusion presupposes that the taxonomic classes are correct and that limb proportions were not used originally as a class discriminant. For these archaic populations there is a moderate positive correlation between lower limb abbreviation and distal abbreviation, but the numbers are small and the confidence intervals very wide. In view of the findings for modern populations, and until more relevant fossils are available, it is probably unwise to use the crural index as a proxy for limb abbreviation in archaic populations. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.