HUMAN REMAINS AS A HISTORICAL SOURCE

HUMAN REMAINS AS A HISTORICAL SOURCE

Vladislav Lenchuk

student, Higher School of Economics,

Russia, Moscow

Archaeology as a science requires the integrated use of various auxiliary disciplines for research. However, at present, the methods of field research that were used in the last century require the use of new technologies and the latest achievements of science. Due to this, we will be able to extract more information than before. The interpretation of archaeological sources is often very subjective on the part of the scientist. The use of natural science methods contributes to solving this problem.

Human burials are enough informative historical source. We get information about the culture of society, about the individual’s social status, about religious traditions. These are general facts for burial. I think it should be analyzed by three steps:

- the skeleton of the buried

- funeral equipment

- burial context

As for me the bones carry the greatest value. We should pay attention to small details - the location of the corpse, the orientation of the skeleton, the number of individuals in the burial, also the skeleton of the buried in detail - the condition of the bones, conservation evaluation etc. All this keep much information but without the use of natural science research methods our knowledge will be limited.

It is important to highlight that anthropology allows us to determine many details of an individual's private life without resorting to laboratory research. Modern anthropology, having several "basic" bones from the skeleton (skull, tibia). That allows to use special formulas to calculate the length of the buried skeleton, its approximate body weight, and mechanical intentional changes in the body during life. According to the appearance of the bones, specialists can determine the specific pathologies. That is important because some infectious and genetic diseases have a strong effect on the human bone system. The same applies to various physical injuries such as fractures, wounds, etc. Anthropologists can determine the internal injuries of the buried person. Thus, if there is an anthropologist in the team, based on the shape of the bones of the skeleton, it is possible to specify the height, age, sex, race of the buried person, lifetime injuries and sometimes the cause of death. For a long time, this information was enough for research but nowadays we can get much more from each burial with laboratory equipment.

However, an excellent example of how anthropology can help archaeology is the method of M. M. Gerasimov. He developed this method for reconstructing a person's appearance from the skull [1, p. 238]. I don't think that it was a revolution in archaeology. There is no fundamentally new information for the archaeologist but nevertheless this is an important discovery. Using a similar method, it is possible to reconstruct the appearance of a person which gives us the opportunity to judge the physique of an individual. All the above can be used in the field and get conclusions in the expeditions. However, for more detailed information it is necessary to use laboratory tests.

A lot has been said about natural science methods of analyzing human remains. Let's look at a few of them.

Molecular genetic analysis allows us to determine the relationship of individuals, to determine their gender which allows us to draw conclusions about the correlation of individuals with each other as well as to draw some conclusions about the social organization of the society whose burials are being investigated.

Human remains can be examined for an individual's diet during life. In this question, researchers need to use the analysis of stable carbon isotopes which is not so long ago used in archaeology, but it is applicable to many types of archaeological material. In the case of bones, the most relevant analysis should be considered to be the ratio of the amount of carbon C13 and C14 in the remains of bones which allows us to draw conclusions about the average diet of an individual, and from this information we can already make an overall picture of the population. In addition, we are informed about the main food items by the physical changes in various parts of the skeleton for example - teeth. Human remains can be analyzed to determine the diet of an individual during his lifetime (for example a high level of enamel damage). In the case of special types of burial that allow you to preserve the soft tissues of the human body (for example, embalming), the question of nutrition of the buried person is solved by chemical analysis of the contents of the stomach, as well as the study of various chemical elements in the muscles. A different type of radiocarbon dating (C14) allows us to date the burial and its accompanying objects in the most detail, as well as the grave itself, which makes it possible to compare the dates and deduce the most accurate.

Nowadays one of the most modern methods of studying the human remains can be considered radiological microscopy which allows you to study the structure of archaeological material with multiple magnifications as well as use 2D and 3D views for detailed analyses. Such analyses are important in reconstructing the daily life of ancient man, as well as for " studying the adaptive features of the ancient population.»

The method proposed by I.A.Efremov allows researchers to analyze the processes of changes in bone tissue over time and the impact on the bones by the environment [4, p. 321]. What is more it is instrumental in getting information about time and circumstances of the burial, about the processes taking place on the territory of the burial after that – all this affects the state of the bone tissue, which is important for archaeologists [4, p. 322].

The X-ray is an old method but highly effective. It has been used in archaeology for a long time which allows you to get information about the lifestyle of an individual through changes in bone tissue that occurred during the life of the buried person. We are talking about the structure of the skeleton, its morphological changes, which indicate regular physical stress in the process of vital activity [3, p. 308]. In addition, X-ray examination of an individual's bones provides information about the state of bone tissue which may indicate some specific diseases that affect the texture and shape of the bone and cannot be determined without a detailed study. For the same purposes, another medical analysis can be used – computed tomography, which also allows you to examine the internal content of the bones, but with a better resolution of the images than with X-ray examination. In addition, researchers can create 3D models of bones from computed tomography images, which makes the study more in-depth and detailed, and expands access to the study material among other researchers [3, p. 309]. These types of research allow us to determine the places of muscle growths on the bones or, conversely, the degradation of bone tissue, which tells us either about a constant high physical activity of a certain type or about the absence of it.

Many of these methods allow for several samples of archaeological material to create a complete picture of what is happening in antiquity – the average indicators of height, weight, physique, life expectancy, general features of the diet of a particular people whose remains have been studied. In the absence of explicit archaeological sources that would answer these questions, natural science methods can provide answers to them. However, the complexity of the process of such studies and the high cost of their implementation is a retarding factor in the process of studying the population, the remains of which are discovered by archaeologists.

Also, natural science methods are extremely necessary if the bone remains are in a state of extremely poor preservation, which makes it impossible for paleoanthropologists and archaeologists to work and confuses the entire study.

All the above-described natural science analyses are necessary not only for collecting information by researchers but also for confirming existing hypotheses. Many of them are most applicable to the archaeology of non-written civilizations, for example, to the study of monuments of the 8th Stone Age. In the case of civilizations that have written sources in addition to archaeological material, this type of research is necessary to confirm information from written sources, as well as to resolve controversial issues, since written sources may not always be true. It is worth mentioning the famous squad from Thebes, which actually turned out to be 100, not 300, or the myth of the Spartans throwing children off the cliff [3, p. 311].

Thus, human remains are one of the most important historical sources in matters of social, cultural, and everyday topics. Through visual work with human remains, researchers can obtain information about the length of the body, body type, and age and sex characteristics of an individual. Adding to this the laboratory methods of paleoanthropology it becomes possible to clarify the appearance of a person, his genetic and racial affiliation, find out the exact age, lifestyle, find out what physical activity he experienced, etc. By connecting natural science methods to all the above we have the opportunity to find out the diet of a given individual, learn details about his lifetime health status, causes of death, past illnesses, find out kinship with other individuals, etc. Thanks to the methods of 3D modeling, we could make clear some features of the structure of bone tissue that are invisible to the human eye – damage, structure. With the help of medical methods of studying the skeleton, researchers can reconstruct the process of death of an individual – this fact is important in the study of the history of military operations-based on the injuries of the buried, it is possible to draw conclusions about the weapons used on the battlefield, calculate the number of forces involved in the battle, and so on. All this is based on the study of the particulars of individuals, but in the end creates a complete picture of the research on a particular topic. In addition, we must not forget about the accompanying artifacts which also give us a large amount of information about the social status of the buried. In other words, in human remains, every detail is important-from the position in which the individual is buried to the thickness of the tooth enamel, and by analyzing all the available information, the researcher can achieve high results.

Natural science methods also solve many problems of archaeology – poor preservation of remains, lack of burial equipment and context, contradictory facts of burial, in other words, everything that previously made the skeleton empty for the archaeologist is now not an obstacle to continuing research.

References:

1. Arheologiya i estestvennonauchnye metody [Archaeology and natural science methods]. Collection of articles / Ed.: Chernykh E. N., Zavyalov V. I. Moscow, Languages of Slavic culture, 2005. 216 p. (In Russian).
2. Wagner G. Estestvennonauchnye metody datirovaniya v arkheologii i geologii chetvertichnogo perioda [Natural science dating methods in archaeology and geology of the Quaternary period]. Moscow, Technosphere Publ., 2004.
3. Mednikova M. B. Radiologicheskie metody v paleoantropologii i arkheologii: dinamika razvitiya [Radiological methods in paleoanthropology and archeology: dynamics of development] // Brief reports of the Institute of Archeology, Moscow, No 236, 2014, pp. 307-312.
4. Shvedchikova T. Y. O faktorakh sokhrannosti kostnoj tkani v pogrebeniyakh [On the factors of preservation of bone tissue in burials] // Brief reports of the Institute of Archeology, Moscow, No 236, 2014, pp. 320-323.
5. Chernykh E. N., Chernykh B. N. Dendrokhronologiya i radiouglerodnoe datirovanie v sovremennoj arkheologii [Dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating in modern archeology] // Archeology and natural science methods, Moscow, 2005, pp. 9-