engleski

To give up or not to give up? An anthropological case study

Authors report their findings during anthropological analysis of a graveyard in Tugare, Croatia and problems they encauntered. Total of 141 graves were analysed during project "Anthropological analysis of skeletal remains of early-medieval population from suthern Croatia" of which three were from Tugare. Graveyard in Tugare was overrun by buldozers before graves were discovered and the bones were destroyed. This paper presents challenges met during the anthropological analysis. When received, material was full of dirt and fragmented beyond recognition. A lot of patience was required to clean, assemble and analyze it. According to archaeological data more than one person was burried in each grave. Because of fragmentation it was impossible to distinguish one person from another. DNA analysis for each fragment would be too expensive and ineffective because there were hundreds of fragments and in most fragments DNA was deteriorated. In most of the skeletons different materials were required for proper assembly like metal wires, glue or foam. But these materials are known to obstruct further analysis. When used, metal wires were visible on X-rays or CT scans and it was impossible to do an MRI on bones connected with them because of their magnetic attributes. Glue that was used for skulls, or foam used for long bones, was visible on MRI because it mostly consisted of water. Also glue, if used, complicated the DNA analysis. After all this problems, anthropological analysis was finished and entire demographic profile of population over 3000 years old was completed.

anthropology; problems

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