December 2011
44 posts
sanitka asked: Hello.. Just a question: are you still a student? what do you do for a living?
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Dead men tell no tales - but they can be sued →
A state appeals court ruled that a dead man can be held responsible for the injuries his body parts caused after he was struck by a train.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the court found it was “reasonably foreseeable” that the Amtrak train would kill 18-year-old Hiroyuki Joho, sending his body parts flying.
In 2008, Joho was killed while running to catch a train in the pouring...
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Infamous 'yeti finger' flunks DNA test →
oldowan:
A finger long claimed to be from a yeti, once revered in a monastery in Nepal and taken in the 1950s by a Bigfoot researcher, has been identified after decades of mystery. Turns out, it’s just a regular old human finger — albeit one with a very interesting history.
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Mysterious Mass Sacrifice Found Near Ancient Peru... →
archaeologicalnews:
An apparent ritual mass sacrifice—including decapitations and a royal beer bash—is coming to light near a pre-Inca pyramid in northern Peru, archaeologists say.
Excavations next to the ancient Huaca Las Ventanas pyramid first uncovered bodies in August, and more have been emerging since…
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How has the human skull evolved? →
Genetically determined morphological integration directs the evolution of skull shape in humans. The study is based on the analysis of 390 skulls, decorated according to local tradition, from the ossuary in Hallstatt, Austria which houses an exceptionally valuable collection for anthropological research.
The more than 700 items of skeletal remains are famous for their painted decoration,...
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Human zoos: When real people were exhibits →
An exhibition in Paris looks at the history of so-called human zoos, that put inhabitants from foreign lands, mostly African countries, on display as article of curiosity.
Over four centuries from the first voyages of discovery, European societies developed an appetite for exhibiting exotic human “specimens” shipped back to Paris, London or Berlin for the interest and delectation of...
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Bodies stored for 10 years over Edinburgh legal... →
The bodies of an elderly couple have lain in a public mortuary for the past 10 years because of a legal wrangle, BBC Scotland can reveal.
They belong to an elderly couple who died in 1987 and 1994. Edinburgh City Council has been unable to gain family consent to bury or cremate the bodies.
The authority believes it is powerless to act without appropriate permission.
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Archaeological News: 3,000-year-old human remains... →
archaeologicalnews:
KATHMANDU, Dec 12 (Bernama) — What could well be compared to Shangri-La as envisioned by British author James Hilton in his 1933 novel Lost Horizon, recent findings of human history dating back to over 3,000 years in the caves of Upper Mustang in western Nepal have unraveled a significant portion,…
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Is anatomy different in Peru? →
Time once again for my favorite game: “What’s wrong with this skeleton?” Today’s contestant comes from an NPR piece “Finders, Not Keepers: Yale Returns Artifacts to Peru”. I’m guessing NPR itself didn’t take the photo - likely someone at Yale did - but the errors are egregious.
Have at it, commenters. How many things can you find wrong with...
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Could this be a 'Yeti's Finger' ? →
Primatologist Ian Redmond examines an anatomical specimen labelled “Yeti’s finger” which has lain overlooked in the Royal College of Surgeons Hunterian Museum for decades.
The Radio 4 documentary Yeti’s Finger was broadcast on Tuesday 27 December 2011 at 1100 GMT and is available online at the above link.
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The Order of the Good Death: In other news, bones... →
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Death Portal!
theossuary:
How did I not realize until now that there is a portal on Wikipedia devoted to death?
As a former information professional (with an advanced degree ‘n shit), I should know better.
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Calls for more post-mortems after natural deaths →
With 30% of death certificates in the UK found to be inaccurate, there are calls for more consented post-mortem examinations to be carried out to check the cause of natural deaths.
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USA Today: Why the holiday suicide myth persists →
theossuary:
See also: this article on the Wall Street Journal Health Blog, and this Snopes entry.
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The Commodification of Death: A reflection on dark... →
A lecture delivered at the University of Bath (UK) on 9 Dec, 2011, by Dr. Philip Stone is now available to download.
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Every death on every road in Great Britain, 1999 -... →
A poignant feature on the BBC News website worth checking out - the time-lapse maps are particularly moving.
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Body Modification Research →
You are being asked to participate in a research project carried out by the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification (CAHID) at the University of Dundee, Scotland, UK. For this project, we will be collecting images of body modifications to establish a database which may aid in the identification of victims and missing persons, for example in a disaster.
By collecting a large number of images...
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WatchA beauty tip for mourners, courtesy of Max Factor…
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Jonestown: Guyana ponders massacre site's future →
Jonestown: Guyana ponders massacre site’s future
It’s hard to believe that Jonestown ever existed.
The patch of rainforest in remote northern Guyana where Jim Jones moved his People’s Temple in the 1970s has been almost entirely reclaimed by the jungle.
Locals say if you search long enough, you can still find remnants of a tractor used for transport and...
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Can Grave Secrets Be Revealed via Analysis of Bare... →
forensicanth:
Article by Heather Walsh-Haney in American Anthropologist (subscription required).
Does the exaggerated portrayal of forensic science on crime television shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation influence public perception? Vote here.
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Reading Bones to Identify Genocide Victims →
forensicanth:
Rachel Nuwer, has written about the practical use of skeletal material in identifying genocide victims. The piece was published on The New York Times’ At War blog.
The article describes some of the work of Dr Eric Stover, director of the Human Rights Centre at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr Stover has worked in Guatemala, Iraq, Rwanda and other locations in the wake of...
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Last member of 65,000-year-old tribe dies, taking... →
solutreantoolkit:
jalwhite:
fyeahblackhistory:
The last member of a 65,000-year-old tribe has died, taking one of the world’s earliest languages to the grave. Boa Sr, who died last week aged about 85, was the last native of the Andaman Islands who was fluent in Bo. Named after the tribe, Bo is one of the 10 Great Andamanese languages, which are thought to date back to the pre-Neolithic...
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Five things humans no longer need. →
ohyeahdevelopmentalbiology:
Vestigial organs are parts of the body that once had a function but are now more-or-less useless. Probably the most famous example is the appendix, though it is now an open question whether the appendix is really vestigial. The idea that we are carrying around useless relics of our evolutionary past has long fascinated scientists and laypeople alike.
This week we...
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2,000-year-old tomb found in NE China →
archaeologicalnews:
An ancient tomb more than 2,000 years old has been recently excavated in Northeast China’s Liaoning Province. This archaeological discovery is expected to break traditional views on ancient civilizations in that part of the country.
The tomb, part of cluster that archaeologists began…
November 2011
38 posts
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Exquisite Corpses: The Art of the Cadaver Tomb →
theossuary:
From the ever-great Atlas Obscura:
Something strange happened to funeral monuments in the 15th century. Across France, Italy and England the long standing practice of carving recumbant effigies in poses of gentle rest was replaced by depictions of rotting corpses.
Read more.
