Update on George!!!

I have to update you on poor old George, my skeleton from my first osteo report...

Well, we managed to find out, from evidence on his skeleton, that he more than likely died from a nasty blow to the head with an axe!!! Poor George!

Close examination of his skull showed scrapping marks to his left parietal bone (left part of upper skull), and a radiating fracture going into his frontal plate. This can be seen in the photo on the left, showing the left side of his skull and face, the scrapping marks seen near the top right of the photo, and the radiating fracture in the middle. This evidence was further confirmed by looking at the post-cranial parts (anything other than the skull) of his skeleton. The left clavicle (collar bone) showed two very slight cuts into the bone, and happened peri-mortem (before the individuals death). The two slight cuts to the bone can be seen in the middle of the clavicle in the photo on the right, on the bottom edge of the bone.

So basically, the evidence from the left side of the skull and the left clavicle, points towards a blow to his head, and maybe a second blow to his neck. The second blow cut of his left mastoid process (a tubercle just behind the ear) and left marks in his left clavicle.

Poor George died in a bad way, not from the disease that was quite chronic as seen from his hip joint, but from a nastly blow to his head and the second blow to his neck probably finished him off.

See....the bones never lie!!!

Ok...so I have been very slack to update my blog since I started it (8 months ago), but my MA is my only, but very big excuse!!!! Things got very busy with my studies, and I sort of lost track of anything other than my MA. But please, dont ever be put off doing a master degree, as its been the best thing ever for me. It is a HUGE amount of work, but if you pick the right subject, it can be totally amazing.

Starting the MA was very personal to me, an accomplishment I never thought I could actually do...but I did and its very nearly complete! Not only will I come out with an MA degree, but I have met some amazing people and now have some amazing friends along the way and I have grown and changed into a completely different person I was this time last year! So I would definitely say this MA has been the best decision I have made in my life thus far!

Anyway...back to the subject of this blog!

I'm at the end of my course now, nearly 12 months have gone by, and I'm currently in the middle of my dissertation. A mammoth 20'000 words...and so far its going well! So hopefully, I will be able to post more insights to the fascinating subject that is osteo...and be able to show what I have learnt in the last 12 months!

Lion or Bear...?

Meet Baloo and Simba...

These are the two new plastic replica skulls that the archaeology department received the other week.

The light brown skull on the left is a cave bear and the dark brown skull on the right is an American lion!

Look at those teeth! You would know if one of those bit you on the bum!

The bear skull is nearly as big as my torso!!

We have a little bet that is going on in the department at the moment...

Who would win in a fight...the bear or lion??

George!

Meet George...!

I have got to know George very well over the past month. He is one of the three skeletons that me and my group have had to do a project on. Basically we have to produce a near-to-professional-project as we can on chosen skeletons. The skeletons are from the Great Chesterford collection which is from a Medieval site in Essex.

For each of the three skeletons we have to age, sex, take measurements, note any pathology, and take note of all the skeletal elements. We also have a female (Britney) and a baby to look at (the baby is more than likely less than 1 year old, so it has been very sad looking at his tiny bones, I gave him the name Issac).

Yes I know it is really odd to call the skeletons names, and I know its strange to make them human. But to me, the skeletons I look at are more than just a number in a skeletal report, they were once a living human being, and by naming the skeletons, I like to think I bring them back to life, and honour their life by finding as much as I can about them!

George is my favourite skeleton, and I feel strangely attached to him! Looking at his skull, he seems a sad sort of character, and looks like he has had a hard life. We obviously found out he was male; he was around late 30’s when he died and from looking at the pathology, we think he had suffered from Tuberculosis. We are not sure what he died from yet, but more than likely it was the tuberculosis infection. Poor, old George :o(

When we first got told about this project, it looked very daunting and difficult to do. But now, it doesn’t even faze me. We have to do a weekly test on human bone, where we have to identify 20 bone fragments (30 seconds for each fragment), and say what element they are and also say what side of the body they are from. We have now had 9 tests, and they have progressively got harder and the fragments smaller and more difficult. However, this has made me an expert on human bones and I now know my ulna from my capitate and my navicular from my zygomatic!

And I owe alot to George, helping me to learn the elements...thanks George!!

Bones, bones and more bones!

A few months ago, I was ploughing aimlessly through my life, not knowing where to go, what career path to take and what job to apply to next. Things would have carried on this way if my mother hadn't asked me a question while walking along the sea wall at Dawlish one day in early spring 2008 (which will continue to be the best question she ever asked me in my life!). She asked me the question "what would you do if money wasn't an issue" to which I replied without having to think about it "I would go back to uni and study an MA in forensic archaeology", my mum then replied with "well then, you look into it and I will do as much as I can to get you there"...

Many months followed...of searching for courses, applying to universities, waiting eagerly to hear back, and finally to packing up my life as I knew it and leaving for the unknown!

I got accepted into Southampton University to study an MA in Osteoarchaeology and I started two and a half months ago. This still, even now, perplexes me as to how I am actually here. I still continue to doubt my intellectual level, but I managed to survive my first term, so I must be doing something right!

So now…onto the blog…

Osteoarchaeology is basically the archaeology of human and animal remains. And wow, what a fascinating subject it is…even after a few months of studying it, it truly is amazing. Through this blog I shall post information, facts and my thoughts and feelings on the subject.

I hope to be able to inspire others and get people as passionate as I am on this subject. And I do firmly believe, that if you work hard and keep positive…the dreams you have will come true!