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Bodies of Evidence

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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 discovery of the first 2.5 million year old Australopithecus africanus – an ancient human ancestor – proved that humankind originated in Africa.

Lucy: Austrolopithecus Afarensis
www.archaeologyinfo.com/australopithecusafarensis.htm
Lucy, a female human ancestor more than 3 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 fossilized 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 paleoanthropology.

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 paleoanthropologists claim that Neanderthals and modern humans not only coexisted but also cohabited.

Ice Mummies
www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/inheavenprod.shtml
A good account of Dr Johan Reinhard's expedition to the Peruvian Andes where he uncovered children mummified by the freezing temperatures of the mountains.

Ancient Princess Preserved by Permafrost
www.sras.org/programs/Altai%20Princess.htm
The discovery of the mummified body of a shaman princess from the 1st millennium BC shows that early Siberian peoples believed in the afterlife.

Argentine and Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Teams
www.guaso.org/perhaps.htm
Teams of forensic archaeologists investigate the thousands of people who have 'disappeared' in South America in the past four decades, and who had been buried in clandestine graves.

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

British Archaeology
www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba48/ba48news.html
The story of the rediscovery of the barber surgeon's remains in the basement of the Natural History Museum in London in 1999.

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/
Good CNN report of the discovery but hard to follow up as many links don't work.

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.

Search of Java Man
www.eastjava.com/books/mystery/html/search.html
More detail on the history of Dubois' discovery of Homo erectus fossils.

Raising the Dead
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/media_centre/files/198_01.htm
City of London Corporation news release outlining the plans to exhume coffins from the crypt of St Andrews, Holborn.

Coffins Exhumed To Save Church
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/england/
newsid_1731000/1731076.stm
BBC report on the exhumation of bodies from St Andrews, Holborn.

The Animal Mummy Project
www.animalmummies.com/
Describes the collection of animal mummies in the Cairo Museum and the problems faced in preserving them.

Discovery Channel
http://exn.ca/Egypt/home.cfm?ID=19970617-
01&SubType=Mummies
Explains why the Cairo Museum needs financial support for the preservation of animal mummies.

Archaeology Today
www.archaeologytoday.net/0699toc/6randn1-fossils.shtml
Clear outline of the work on the Krapina hominids.

Research Worldwide
www.upenn.edu/museum/News/neanderthalsxrayed.html
Mann and Monge's own report on their analysis of X-rays of the Krapina cave Neanderthals.

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.

'Hybrid' Child
www.bbc.co.uk/science/apeman/fact_file/finds/
hybrid_child/index_p.shtml
The story of the skeleton found at Lagar Velho in Portugal, in a nutshell.

The Cherchen Mummies
http://dsc.discovery.com/stories/history/
desertmummies/cherchen.html
The fascinating story of the preserved bodies of Xinjiang in north-west China.

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.

Mummy
www.carmensandiego.com/products/time/egyptc01/mummy.html
An article from the Encyclopedia Britannica on mummy medicine.

Bulls from the Sea
http://users.erols.com/gmqm/ancient1.html
Detailed article about the use of oils in the ancient Middle East, which puts bitumen and mummy medicine in context.

John Musty's Diary
www.archaeology.co.uk/hilites/musty/sdsearch.asp
A comprehensive review of Clark Spencer Larsen's book on how bones can give information about ancient people's lifestyles.

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.

Tooth and Nail Dentures
http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/
tech/newsid_43000/43705.stm
A good description of the discovery of the Roman Gaul with a tooth implant.

Easter's End
www2.mc.maricopa.edu/anthro/origins/eastersend.html
A detailed description of Easter Island, its history and people.

Frozen in Heaven
www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/inheaventran.shtml
The transcript of a BBC Horizon programme about the excavation of ice mummies in the Andes.

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.

Humans Dwelt in Ice-Age Tibet
www.nature.com/nsu/020325/020325-5.html
A description of the discovery of the Ice-Age foot and handprints along with other indications of human habitation.

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.

Top

The Romanovs

Vladimir Lenin

Taung Child

St Clare

The Inuit Women

Witch burial

Barber surgeon

Slave grave

Turin shroud

The disappeared

Medieval coffins