Kirsty Squires

Staffordshire University | SU

Los antropólogos biólogos y forenses se han vuelto cada vez más conscientes de los problemas éticos asociados a la investigación y la enseñanza con restos humanos. El proceso de exhumación, el análisis y el almacenamiento de estos restos han sido el foco de atención habitual tanto de profesionales como de los medios de comunicación. Además, debido...

Natural disasters, pandemics, and epidemics have devastating impacts on communities. Poverty, famine, ill health, social isolation, and death are some of the consequences of such events. Transformations in culture, religion, political and economic stability, and other social aspects can also be attributed to catastrophic incidents. Whilst such even...

The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo (Sicily) are a unique and culturally rich site utilized from the late sixteenth to mid-twentieth century. The Catacombs are home to the largest collection (n = 1,284) of partly or completely mummified remains in Europe, and the largest assemblage of juvenile mummies (n = 163) in Sicily. As a result, the site attrac...

The excavation, analysis, curation, and restitution of archaeological human remains are associated with ethical challenges that those working within archaeology and heritage management should be aware of. However, the way ethical issues are acknowledged in scientific publications continues to be overlooked. This paper explores evidence for authors...

This article presents a multidisciplinary approach adopted in the Sicily mummy project, highlighting unique challenges and major ethical concerns inherent to the scientific study, conservation, and presentation of these mummies. Recognizing mummies as a distinct category of human remains, this paper argues for the development and application of spe...

Among the 70 items donated by the abbot Antonio Pietro Paternostro to the former National Museum of Palermo (now Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum) in 1870, an ancient Egyptian mummified human head stands out. In 2022 the finding was submitted for a multidisciplinary investigation that relied upon non-invasive or minimally invasive approaches....

The microscopic examination of burned bone has allowed cremation research to infer a wealth of information concerning burning practices and pyre technology from archaeological contexts. Recently, a new approach for quantifying the microscopic heat‐induced alterations in burned bone to categorise burning intensity using petrography has been develope...

In the past, experimental research into the histomorphological examination of burned human bone has led to the creation of a criterion for assessing burning intensity, which can be used to infer firing conditions in both archaeological and forensic contexts. Current methods visually compare the microscopic alterations in burned bone with modern bon...

In the nineteenth century the Staffordshire pottery industry was in its heyday. Despite global interest in the Staffordshire potteries and associated collieries, very little research has explored the lives of children that worked in these industries. This research aims to redress the balance. Testimonies of workers, teachers, doctors and government...

The revival of monasticism in the eleventh century promoted greater seclusion of monks and the re-positioning of care offered to the community. The increasing prevelance of leprosy also prompted the development of hospitals as independent foundations. These factors contributed to the establishment of over 1000 hospitals in England during the mediev...

The Anglo-Saxon period (fifth to eleventh century AD) entailed shifting ideological beliefs, identities, and social and political structures. Each of these subjects has been scrutinized in much detail by archaeologists, historians, and literary experts. The subject of childhood and the transition from childhood to adulthood continues to be a widely...

Four key conflicts have taken place in Zimbabwe over the past 50 years. These events have resulted in the deaths of thousands of people and have consequently led to ongoing tensions between the state, victims, and community groups. Moreover, the situation is complicated further due to the politicisation of human remains, the time elapsed since the...

The rise of more sophisticated forms of analysis has allowed bioarchaeologists to address and answer a wide range of questions regarding past diets, health, mobility, population history, kinship, and taphonomy. However, all of these techniques, e.g. DNA analysis, radiocarbon dating, isotope analysis, and histological analysis require destructive sa...

This book is the first of its kind, combining international perspectives on the current ethical considerations and challenges facing bioarchaeologists in the recovery, analysis, curation, and display of human remains. It explores how museum curators, commercial practitioners, forensic anthropologists, and bioarchaeologists deal with ethical issues...

Cremation was one of the primary funerary rites employed during the fifth and early sixth centuries AD. However, the difficulties faced by communities to ensure that successful cremations were achieved are often overlooked by archaeologists. Weather and seasonality would have undoubtedly played a major part in the success of an open-air cremation....

The fiery transformation of the dead is replete in our popular culture and Western modernity's death ways, and yet it is increasingly evident how little this disposal method is understood by archaeologists and students of cognate disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. In this regard, the archaeological study of cremation has much to off...

This chapter explores the myriad ways in which heating and burning alters the human body, how these alterations influence our ability to successfully analyse the remains, and possible future directions for research and practice. It discusses specific terms used in relation to burned remains, but the key point is that while many terms are used inter...

Our understanding of the cremation rite in early Anglo-Saxon England (5th-mid 6th century A.D.) has become clearer over recent years owing to detailed osteological and artefact studies of large cemetery sites. Typically, these sites are studied in isolation or on a local or national scale. Through an examination of material culture, the recent publ...

CSEye, August 2016

Studies of early Anglo-Saxon social identity have been largely based on information obtained from the skeletal remains and grave assemblages from inhumation burials. As a result, the social identity of populations that practiced the alternative mortuary rite, namely cremation, is often overlooked. This paper will provide new evidence for the social...

Our demographic knowledge of early Anglo-Saxon cemetery populations is highly valuable. This paper will present new demographic data from the Elsham and Cleatham cemeteries, both located in North Lincolnshire. These population structures will be compared with those recorded from contemporary cemeteries, including Sancton and Spong Hill. The observa...

Macroscopic examination, histomorphometry and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) are applied to the analysis of burned bones from the early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Elsham in Lincolnshire, UK. These methods were undertaken to gain a greater understanding of pyre conditions from an archaeological context and the effects of burning on bone...