Digging Up Bones

Every year hundreds of human skeletal remains are brought to the surface by engineering works, quarrying or planned archaeological exploration. These remains provide vital clues to unraveling man's antiquity—their position and location, relation to other remains, state of preservation and "medical" condition all provide important information on ancient man and his living environment. Inferences regarding length of life, nutritional standards, diseases and origin of injuries can all be made in bones that are thousands of years old. However, many of these features are open to interpretation and the information gained is only as good as the records and analysis made at that time. The purpose of this book is to describe the many techniques now available for the proper excavation, preparation and analysis of human skeletal remains, so that the most effective use can be made of them. As such it will prove invaluable to both amateur and professional archaeologists, students of anthropology and anatomy, and the layman who has an interest in this ancestors' modus vivendi.