Bodies of Evidence

Case studies

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Websites

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Romanovs Find Closure in DNA
http://users.rcn.com/web-czar/dna.htm
A detailed account of the DNA testing used to confirm the fate of the Romanovs.

Taung Child
www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/taung1.html
The first early human fossil found in Africa, the Taung child, Australopithecus africanus, was a 2.5 million-year-old ancestor of modern humans.

Lucy: Australopithecus Afarensis
www.archaeologyinfo.com/australopithecusafarensis.htm
Lucy, a female human ancestor more than three million years old, was analysed by forensic archaeologists, who deduced that she walked in an upright manner.

Search of Java Man
www.eastjava.com/books/mystery/html
/search.html
Full history with photographs of Eugene Dubois' search for fossilised remnants of humankind's early ancestors, leading to the discovery of the skullcap of Homo erectus.

The Piltdown Hoax
www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/pilt.html
One of the most famous scandals in science. Includes an excellent FAQ on the concept of race in palaeoanthroplogy.

Krapina Neanderthal Fossil Collection
www.krapina.com/neandertals/index_en.htm
Pictures and history of the 1899 finding of the world's largest Neanderthal site. Radiography has been used to reveal the health of the hominids 130,000 years ago.

Hybrid Child
http://cogweb.ucla.edu/EP/Neanderthal.html
Some palaeoanthropologists claim that Neanderthals and modern humans not only coexisted but also cohabited.

Avebury
www.stonehenge.co.uk/avebury.htm
A clear explanation of the origins and construction of the Avebury stone circle.

Avebury 'barber surgeon'
www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba48/ba48news.html
The story of the rediscovery of the remains of the Avebury 'barber surgeon', one of British archaeology's best-known and most 'dramatic' skeletons, which was thought destroyed during World War II but was rediscovered in a basement of the Natural History Museum.

Slave Island: New York's Hidden History
www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_economy/society
/protest_reform/slave_island_01.shtml
Detailed description of the discovery of the slave burial ground and upsetting account of slavery and the slave trade in New York up to its abolition there in the 1820s.

Bones reveal little-known tale of New York slaves
www.cnn.com/TECH/9802/12/t_t/burial.ground/
CNN report of the discovery.

Shroud of Turin
www.shroudforum.com/
Many fascinating lines of debate about whether the Turin Shroud is genuine or fake.

The Shroud of Turin
www.shroud.com/
All kinds of links and information about the Turin Shroud.

Physicians for Human Rights
www.phrusa.org/about/index.html
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is an organisation of health professionals, scientists, and concerned citizens which uses medical and forensic sciences to investigate and prevent violations of international human rights.

Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation
http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~sss4407/EAFG.htm
Outline of the foundation's work and history.

Peace Brigades International
www.peacebrigades.org/guatemala.html
PBI works non-violently to support peace across the world. Between 1983 and 1999, its team in Guatemala joined forensic archaeologists to observe the exhumations of those murdered by the military regime.

The First Humans: Java Man
www.mikedust.com/history/javaman.html
Accessible explanation of the discovery of Java Man.

Were the Neanderthals Our Ancestors?
www.nhm.ac.uk/palaeontology/v&a/cbs/ancestors.html
Article by palaeontologist Chris Stringer presenting the arguments about the Lagar Velho Hybrid Child on the Natural History Museum website.

Pastoral Putrefaction Down on the Body Farm
www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/10/31/body.farm/
A description of the research done at the University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Facility. Plus a biography of its founder.

Post-Pleistocene Human Evolution
www.cast.uark.edu/local/icaes/conferences/
wburg/posters/cslarsen/larsen.html
An academic paper about the bioarchaeological analysis of the transition from foraging to farming.

700-Year-Old Maronite Mummies
www.mari.org/JMS/january97/700_Year_Old_Maronite.htm
A detailed account of the discovery and history of the Maronite mummies by Lebanese historian Guita Hourani.

Maronite Mummies
www.mummytombs.com/mummylocator/group/maronite.htm
A clear explanation of the history, geography and discovery of the Lebanese mummies. Aimed at children but interesting for everyone.

Inka Mummies
www.mummytombs.com/mummylocator/group/inka.htm
Lots of very accessible information about the mummies of the Andes. Aimed at children but interesting for everyone.

Left-handedness in Medieval Britain
www.soton.ac.uk/~tjms/handed.html
Research into the incidence of modern and historical left-handedness through measuring the length of bones in the arm.

Books

The Mummy Congress: Science, obsession, and the everlasting dead by Heather Pringle (Fourth Estate, 2001) £15.99
Discover the preserved dead from around the world: from northern European bog bodies to the odd Caucasian-looking mummies from Asia.

Modern Mummies: The preservation of the human body in the 20th century by Christine Quigley (McFarland, 1998) £31.50
Covering all kinds of mummification, this book includes political leaders such as Lenin and Mao, accidental preservations by nature, frozen climbers and religious figures preserved by their congregations.

Discovering the Inca Ice Maiden: My adventures on Ampato by Johan Reinhard (National Geographic Society, 1998) £10.99
A good account of Reinhard's expedition to the Peruvian Andes where he uncovered children mummified by the freezing temperatures of the mountains.

Bog Man and the Archaeology of People by Dan Boothwell (British Museum, 1986) £7.95
Describes the discovery of a 2,000-year-old body in a Cheshire peat field, discusses the scientific analysis of the body, and explains how mummies reveal information about the past.

The Bog People: Iron-Age Man preserved by PV Glob (Faber, 1969) £12.99
Classic and very readable account of bog bodies found in Denmark and northwestern Europe, with a discussion how these people lived and died. Includes some excellent photographs.

Lenin's Embalmers by Ilya Zbarsky (Harvill, 1999) £7.99
Provides a fascinating insight into the procedures and technicalities of preservation and also offers an unusual glimpse of life among the Soviet elite. The embalmers were considered a national asset and led a privileged existence.

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The Romanovs

Vladimir Lenin

Taung Child

St Clare

The Inuit Women

Witch burial

Barber surgeon

Slave grave

Turin shroud

The disappeared

Medieval coffins