ANTHROP 3FA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Grave Goods, Saponification, Bloating

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTHROP 3FA3
• Professor: Tracy Prowse

Document Summary

3w03 bioarchaelogical field school at vagnari, south italy. No prerequisites; mac student in anthropology get first choice. Weeks 1 & 2: labor to excavate burial site. Week 4 & 5: cleaning, exposure and removal. Additional 3 credits: 31s3 independent reading course: completed before the trip. Stages of decay: fresh, bloating, discoloration, skin slippage, active decay, advanced decay, skeletal remains. Higher means a faster rate of decomp. Temp. where a body is located has a huge impact: 2. Tied to temperature as well: warm temperature leads to more insects, 3. Burial & depth of burial (or immersion in water) If the body is buried, decomp is 8x slower. If a body is immersed in water: decomp is 2x slower, variable by fresh or salt water, depends on kind of bacteria in the water. How deep down the body is buried: 4. They want the bone marrow in the inside so they go for the ends of the long bones too.