March 2012
31 posts
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It’s midsummer on the Isle of Bute in Scotland. Archaeologist Paul Duffy has a plan. He wants to know how our ancestors went about cremating their dead. He didn’t have a dead person handy, so he decided to cremate our closest relation in the animal kingdom - a pig.
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Life & 6 Months →
Great blog by doctoral student Gemma Angel about the postmortem preservation of tattooed human skin - check it out!
Via The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice
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Mexico mass grave was 'ancient cemetery' in... →
Anthropologists in Mexico say the remains of 167 bodies found in a cave in the southern state of Chiapas were part of an ancient burial ground.
The National Anthropology Institute said tests showed the remains dated back to the eighth century.
Scientists hope pottery found in the cave will help them determine the community those buried belonged to.
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Dead Bachelors in Remote China Still Find Wives →
theossuary:
2006 article from the New York Times. Fascinating.
To ensure a son’s contentment in the afterlife, some grieving parents will search for a dead woman to be his bride and, once a corpse is obtained, bury the pair together as a married couple. […]
Villagers and Mr. Yang, the funeral director, said a family searching for a female corpse typically must pay more than 10,000 yuan, or...
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Events mark 400th anniversary of Pendle witch... →
The 400th anniversary of the Lancashire witch trials will be marked by a series of 40 events, it has been announced.
The two-day trials in 1612 led to 10 people being hanged at Gallows Hill in Lancaster, after being found guilty of causing death or harm by witchcraft.
Commemorative activities include the launch of a sculpture trail in the woods near the village of Barley.
There will also be...
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Lost in History: Remains of dark ages princess... →
archaeologicalnews:
The remains of a mysterious Anglo-Saxon princess, who died thirteen and a half centuries ago, have been found in a field three miles south of Cambridge.
Aged just 16 when she died, and buried lying on a special high status funerary bed, she was laid to rest…
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What happens to uncollected ashes? →
With more people being cremated rather than buried after death, ash-scattering ceremonies are gaining in popularity. But what happens when it doesn’t go according to plan - or if no-one collects the remains?
There is a moment in the film The Big Lebowski where the Dude (Jeff Bridges) and Walter (John Goodman) take their late friend Donny’s ashes to a cliff top. Walter insists on...
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Concealed shoes: Australian settlers and an old... →
Items of clothing found concealed in Australian buildings tell the story of a battle waged by early settlers with the evil spirits they feared were lying in wait in their unfamiliar surroundings.
A shoe hidden in a bridge. A prisoner’s uniform stashed under a staircase. Toys concealed in an attic. A dead cat secreted into a roof cavity.
Together, they sound like the disparate ingredients...
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Zombie gran: 95-year-old Chinese woman terrifies... →
theossuary:
I feel completely trashy posting something from The Mirror, but what the hey.
A doctor at the hospital was quoted as saying: “Thanks to the local tradition of parking the coffin in the house for several days, she could be saved.
But, despite ‘cheating’ death, the same local tradition has left Mrs Xiufeng with nothing as, according to tradition, after a person dies, all their...
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io9: Graveyard Life: The hottest new real estate... →
Many Hong Kongers believe that the ghosts of people who died violently, thanks to an accident, murder, or suicide, haunt their former residences and bring bad fortune to the new occupants. As in the US, Hong Kong home sellers are required to disclose whether the previous resident died in the home, and potential buyers do rigorous background checks less they get stuck with a vengeful spirit. The...
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Body parts found in University of Cologne's... →
Hundreds of human body parts have been found in the cellars of the institute of anatomy, apparently abandoned for years
The University of Cologne is investigating after hundreds of human body parts were found in the cellars of its institute of anatomy, apparently abandoned there for years.
The scandal has shaken the German academic world, especially as last month the former head of the anatomy...
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Iron Age murder mystery as CT scan shows British... →
archaeologicalnews:
Archaeologists have solved a 1900-year-old ‘cold case’ mystery - using a medical CT scanner to scan the head of an Iron Age murder victim.
The preserved head of the second century Briton - known as The Worsley Man due to his location near Salford - was found in a peat bog in 1958.
The…
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Preserved heart of Dublin's patron saint stolen... →
Thieves have stolen the preserved heart of Dublin’s patron saint from the city’s Christ Church cathedral.
In the latest in a spate of holy relic raids to hit the Irish Republic, the 12th century heart of Saint Laurence O’ Toole was taken from Saint Lauds Chapel within the cathedral.
Investigating gardai believe it was taken some time between last night and around 12.30pm...
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Archaeological News: Human remains uncovered at... →
archaeologicalnews:
Human remains believed to be more than 800 years old have been discovered at York Minster.
The body was found by archaeologists during routine work to build a new lift-shaft in the Minster’s Undercroft.
It is the first time for 40 years that archaeologists have been permitted to work at…
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Archaeologists Unearth Slave Burial Ground On the... →
archaeologicalnews:
ScienceDaily (Mar. 8, 2012) — Archaeologists from the University of Bristol have unearthed a unique slave burial ground on the remote South Atlantic island of St Helena. The excavation, which took place in advance of construction of a new airport on the island, has revealed dramatic insights into…
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Wow…so many new followers! I’m not sure how that happened, but thank you and I hope you enjoy reading this blog!
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In pictures: Prosthetics through time →
archaeologicalnews:
“We’re seeing the first glimpses of the development of prosthetic devices,” says Dr Jacky Finch, who has analysed this Egyptian prosthetic toe. It dates to between 950-710BC and was found on a female mummy in a tomb near Luxor.
A model of “the Capua leg”, part of the Brought to Life…
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September 11 victims' remains dumped in landfill →
Remains of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks were dumped in a landfill, it has emerged.
Small traces of the bodies of people killed when The Pentagon was attacked and when a plane crash-landed in Pennsylvania were transported there after being incinerated, according to a report by The Washington Post.
The practice was disclosed by an inquiry ordered by Leon Panetta,...
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In pictures: Auschwitz-Birkenau, then and now →
A new publication by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland shows photographs taken in the extermination camp during World War II alongside pictures of the same locations today. More than a million people - most of them Jewish - were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz-Birkenau during World War II.
