Bodies of Evidence
Time detectives
Ice mummies | Human
remains | Time of death
Forensic archaeology means two things: the use of forensic science
to examine and interpret archaeological finds; and the use of archaeological
methods to investigate a current crime.
The word forensic means something that is related to a court of law,
and forensic science is scientific evidence that can stand up in a court
of law. Archaeology is the study of human history using scientific analysis
of the past's physical remains.
In practice, the term forensic archaeology can cover the investigation
of current crimes, such as the massacres in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia,
as well as the unearthing of historical remains.
Techniques originally developed for criminal investigation, such as DNA
fingerprinting and skull reconstruction
are also now used to analyse historical remains.
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DNA analysis is used to work out how populations are – or are not
– related and, can also identify individuals. This technique was
used to prove that remains discovered in a shallow grave in Russia were
those of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, who
had been shot by Bolshevik revolutionaries.
The well-preserved, 500-year-old ice mummies
discovered in Greenland were a unique and irreplaceable find so they could
not be cut open or even undressed. The only way to investigate how they
had died – and how they had lived – was with the kind of methods
that are used in medical diagnosis. In this case, CAT
scans gave an extraordinarily detailed picture of the mummies but
did not solve the mystery of how they had died. Other mummies – as
well as other precious and delicate artefacts – have been examined
using X-ray technology.
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Usually, human remains are less well-preserved than mummies, and all
archaeologists have to go on are bones or fragments of bones. Forensic
science enables us to work out a great deal from the bones themselves,
even if they are thousands of years old and fossilised like those of Taung
Child, found in South Africa in the 1920s. The structure of Taung
Child's skull showed that this creature walked on two legs and may have
been a 'missing link' between ape and human.
Osteo-archaeologists are bone specialists who can read a great deal from
a skeleton or part of a skeleton. If there is damage to the skull, for
instance, this may indicate how the person died. It could also give clues
about what weapons the people of the time used and the way they fought.
Osteo-archaeologists can tell whether the person was muscular, which
could indicate that they did hard physical work. The way a leg bone is
worn, may show whether they had a mobile or a sedentary lifestyle. In
the case of the East Anglian 'witch' resurrection,
an osteo-archaeologist found the base of her leg bones were worn in a
way that indicated she worked in a squatting position, possibly grinding
corn.
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Radiocarbon dating can give a good idea
of when the person died, even over thousands of years. And forensic entomology
– the science of insects – can show what happened to their body
after death because different kinds of insects make their homes in dead
bodies at different stages of decomposition.
Where forensic science is used alongside rigorous archaeological methods
for surveying and excavating the site and recording the finds, the detective
work will give evidence of the lives and deaths, rituals and customs,
of people of other eras.
Not all the riddles of the past can be solved – sometimes, the remains
of distant historical mysteries can be read in several ways. But, at its
best, forensic archaeology provides evidence that is so convincing that
it could stand up in a court of law today.
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