Culturally modified skeletal remains from the site of Huamelulpan,Oaxaca, Mexico

A series of crania from the site of Huamelulpan, Oaxaca, Mexico (400 BC to AD 800), were examined. Four showed notable cultural modifications. One exhibited a healed trephination, while the other three were perforated through the frontal. The cultural context and significance of these modifications is discussed, especially in relationship to the site of Monte Albán, where trephination was more common than anywhere else in Mesoamerica. The post-mortem cranial perforations appear to be connected with the practice of ancestor veneration. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the causes of perforations in archaeological domestic cattle skulls: New evidence

An example of ante‐mortem cranial perforations in the skull of a European wisent (Bison bonasus) from Armenia is presented. The implications for reinterpreting the possible causes of this condition in ancient domestic cattle (outlined in a previous paper) are briefly discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Remodeled human skulls in Köşk Höyük (Neolithic age,Anatolia): a new appraisal in view of recent discoveries

Between 1985 and 2007 overall nineteen human skulls dating to the Late Neolithic period were recovered at Kö?k Höyük, which lies within the borders of Bor, a district of the Ni?de Province in Central Anatolia. One of these skulls belongs to a child and the remainder to adult males and females. The plastered skulls may have been laid on or wrapped in mats and exposed either singly or in groups on a plaster surface inside the house. Among thirteen of these skulls the mouths, noses, eyes and ears were depicted with clay and painted with red ochre, while the remaining six were untreated. Two headless skeletons were also found in situ underneath the floor inside the house. One of these skeletons belongs to a child aged approximately 15–16 years old and the other belongs to an adult female. The modeled human skulls were encountered in the second and third cultural levels of the Late Neolithic period indicating that this characteristic mortuary practice lasted for quite a long time and likely disappeared by the Chalcolithic at Kö?k Höyük.     

中国边疆地区汉代以后古人骨的研究

近年来,在新疆、辽宁、吉林、黑龙江、青海和内蒙古等地出土了一些有关古代车师、鲜卑、高句丽、渤海、吐蕃和契丹等族的人骨资料。吉林大学边疆考古研究中心承担的教育部人文社会科学重点研究基地重大项目课题组对这些古人骨资料进行了体质人类学和分子考古学研究,取得了一批重要的学术成果,填补了多项该领域学术研究的空白。     

Morphometric identification of bovid metapodials to genus and implications for taxon-free habitat reconstruction

Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of measurements on twelve metacarpal and ten metatarsal dimensions indicates that metapodials differ much more in size than in shape among the twenty-three genera of extant Sub-Saharan bovids. The only conspicuous shape variation is in metapodial length, which sometimes differs significantly among genera that are similar in all other dimensions. It follows that Discriminant Analysis (DA) intended to identify metapodials to genus will depend primarily on size, and except for the occasional like-sized genera that differ in metapodial length, DA will often confuse genera of similar size. DA of the same metapodials subjected to PCA supports this prediction. PCA further shows that bovid species that favor the same habitat often differ in metapodial size, shape, or both, and species that favor different habitats often overlap substantially in their metapodial morphometrics. DA intended to assign metapodials to habitat will thus produce different results depending on the species used to characterize each habitat type and on the number of specimens by which each species is represented. Habitat reconstruction founded in DA is therefore taxon dependent rather than taxon-free, and it cannot supplant reconstruction based on taxonomic identifications below the family level.     

On the Causes of Perforations in Archaeological Domestic Cattle Skulls

We have undertaken a preliminary survey of the occurrence of cranial perforations which have been noted on the posterior portion of archaeological cattle skulls. The interest arose from the authors independent encounter with unusually high frequencies of this condition in assemblages from Bruges and Lincoln and the subsequent search for an explanation. A rapid literature survey and direct contact with other colleagues in the field showed that the phenomenon is widespread in European material and represented throughout a range of time periods and geographical locations. It is also clear that a variety of diverse but untested theories have been proposed by various workers in an attempt to explain the condition. A number of possible aetiological factors are discussed in an attempt to establish the most likely explanations. On the basis of this brief survey, which includes the evaluation of additional archaeological evidence from some of the assemblages, it would appear that parasites, tumours and infection can be ruled out as causal factors. Although not clearly established, it is suggested that a congenital or yoking pressure origin is more likely. If this is the case, then the presence of cranial perforations in domestic cattle may provide important information regarding the temporal and spatial spread of a specific congenital condition or yoking practice. Only a wider survey of both archaeological and modern comparative material (including other bovid species) will enable a full appraisal of the yoking versus congenital hypothesis.     

Occipital perforations in a late neolithic probable aurochs (Bos primigenius bojanus) cranium from Letchworth,Hertfordshire, UK

An example of ante‐mortem occipital perforations in the cranium of a probable aurochs (Bos primigenius) cow from a late Neolithic archaeological site at Letchworth, Hertfordshire is presented. This is the second reported occurrence thus far of cranial perforations in a wild bovid and lends support to a congenital cause of the condition in archaeological domestic cattle skulls. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.