Archaeology 1

Intermediary Period

The time when a person is considered neither fully alive nor fully dead

Secondary burial

A two-stage purist process; an initial temporary treatment of the corpse followed later by recovery and a final, permanent treatment

Tiwah

The secondary burial ceremony of the Dayak people of Borneo

Rites of passage

Ceremonies marking and enabling a person’s shift from one social status to another

Sandung

A small, house-shaped structure used to hold cleaned bones after secondary burial

Ossuaries

Sites of collective (often secondary) burial holding many bodies together

Liminal

The ambiguous “in-between” phrase of a rite of passage. No longer the old status, not yet new one

Dead don’t bury themselves

A reminder that every grave is the product of decisions and labor by living people

Deathways

The full set of fun art customs, belief, and practices belonging to a culture

Differential preservation

The principle that different materials decay at different rates depending on environmental conditions

Decay analysis

Reconstructing burial activity by analyzing exactly how a body decomposed in its specific spiritual context

NAGPRA

The cornerstone US law governing treatment of Native American remains

Tableau mort

An image created with the dead. At Ur, bodies were arranged like a royal banquet.

Hi-li

Sumerian idea of "looking good": washed, dressed, and perfumed.

Me

Sumerian divine powers that can be embodied in clothes and adornment. It's why dress shows rank.

Aradu

The soul's journey to the netherworld. It's liminal, transitional, and dangerous.

Sudu

The provisions and travel gear for that journey, such as carts, food, and weapons. They're temporary grave goods.

Epiphyseal fusing

Bone ends fuse to the shaft when growth stops. The pattern shows age up to about 25. The last to fuse is the collarbone end.

Biological stress

Nutritional or disease stress severe enough to interrupt growth or bone metabolism. Archaeologists use it because most diseases leave no marks on bone.

Harris lines

Lines of denser bone on long bones, showing growth disruption in childhood (0 to 18). They fade as bone remodels.

Enamel Hypoplasia

growth arrest lines in tooth enamel, visible to the naked eye. They show childhood stress while the teeth formed.

Retzius lines

Microscopic growth arrest lines in tooth enamel. They show short-term stress, even birth.

Porotic hyperostosis

Pitting or spongy bone on the outside of the skull. It signals anemia.

Cribra orbitalia

The same sponginess in the roof of the eye socket. It signals anemia or vitamin C deficiency.

Tibial infections

Infection of the tissue around the shin bones. Shins have little tissue covering them, so injuries easily become infected.

Atypical burial

Burial that deliberately breaks from the society's norms. It often means the person had a non-normal social position in life or after death.

Conchopata

The Peru site (Tung) with high violence, where men were hit in the front and women from behind. Two atypical burials, an elderly woman and a sacrificed girl, were both outsiders.

Bone isotope analysis

Reconstructing diet from carbon and nitrogen ratios in bone. Carbon separates C-3 plants (wheat, rice) from C-4 plants (corn, millet). Nitrogen rises with more meat and marine food.

Microbiomes

Communities of microbes in the mouth, gut, skin, and urogenital tract. They're studied through dental plaque, and they show changes with farming and the Industrial Revolution.

Tulsa race massacre

Archaeology can reveal hidden histories and support restorative justice and reconciliation. It's an example of community archaeology.

African burial ground

Uniform deathways despite diverse origins show a close-knit community and a common African American identity. Bones showed high stress

Ur death pits

Funerals were staged performances about power and succession, not just about the dead. Bodies were arranged in a tableau mort. Sumerian texts explain the grave goods (sudu for the journey) and the sacrifices (gifts to Nergal and Ereshkigal).

Ur commoners burials

Commoners show a fuller picture of society, and treatment varied by status, age, and sex.

Pounder from Ubaid

She pounded grain kneeling, likely a specialist occupation. Skeletons record repeated activity (bone biomechanics).

La Florida

More anemia, tooth decay, stress markers, and infections after conquest. Bones were also more robust from farm labor, which was not a good sign.

Old man from Dilmun

Bioarchaeology of care and personhood gives a more humanizing view of a past person, with embodied experience, relationships, and social context.

Conchopata

Violence was gendered, and being an outsider affected treatment in life and death. Local kin membership mattered for identity. It required DNA and bone chemistry to show.