Forensic Anthropology

"Representations", N. 129, Winter 2015.

The essay analyzes the project of maintaining the body of V. I. Lenin in the Mausoleum in Moscow for the past ninety years, focusing on the unique biological science that developed around this project, and the unexpected political role this body has performed.

This report reviews and categorizes the enormous corpus of knowledge produced by American academic and policy institutions about U.S. relations with the Middle East and other Islamic actors in the international arena. The report identifies five epistemic communities – conservatives, neoconservatives, realists, liberals and the left – and analyzes their discourses and policy recommendations. Finally, the policies that these epistemic communities recommended are evaluated and assessed. The author recommends a mixed-paradigmatic approach that will not only make the United States more effective in the Middle East but also underscore its continuing relevance to the security and the stability of the region and the global order.

Age estimation is an important step in constructing a biological profile from human skeletal remains. The goal of the forensic anthropologist is to assist medicolegal officials with identification by presenting a probable age range of the deceased. In adults, this is typically done by examining various skeletal traits which have been shown to degenerate with age in a predictable manner. Using trait characteristics, forensic anthropologists strive to provide as narrow an estimated age range as possible, but, as you will see, human variation in degenerative traits and variation in the rate of the aging process necessitates somewhat broader age-range estimates.

In the modern field of forensic anthropology, forensic anthropologists must begin with a set of remains, and then decipher a large amount of information from them. In particular, the forensic anthropologist must identify the individual, if possible, by determining age, sex, and ancestry of an individual, and then provide a rough estimate as to when that person may have passed. In addition, the forensic anthropologist may also have an additional task, which is to interpret any visible bone traumas found on the remains. When it comes to deciphering skeletal trauma and its importance to a particular case, one of the more important functions of the forensic anthropologist is the detection of the time frame in which that trauma was inflicted; or more precisely, whether that trauma occurred before, during, or after the terminal event (death)

When the pelvis is unavailable, the skull is widely considered the second best indicator of sex. The goals of this research are to provide an objective hierarchy of sexing effectiveness of cranial and postcranial elements and to test the widespread notion that the skull is superior to postcranial bones. We constructed both univariate and multivariate discriminant models using data from the Forensic Anthropology Data Bank. Discriminating effectiveness was assessed by cross-validated classification, and in the case of multivariate models, Mahalanobis D 2 . The results clearly indicate that most postcranial elements outperform the skull in estimating sex. It is possible to correctly sex 88-90% of individuals with joint size, up to 94% with multivariate models of the postcranial bones. The best models for the cranium do not exceed 90%. We conclude that postcranial elements are to be preferred to the cranium for estimating sex when the pelvis is unavailable.

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RESUMEN
El presente artículo se propone dar cuenta del elusivo fenómeno de la conciencia desde la original perspectiva de la neurofenomenología de Francisco Varela, quien a partir de nociones tales como neuroplasticidad, enacción y emergencia, explica, cómo ocurren los procesos cerebrales que fundan la conciencia y la “unidad” de la vivencia. Describiendo como la conciencia aparece en el vivir encarnado: en la regulación con el cuerpo entero; en sus relaciones sensorio-motoras con el mundo y en una red ínter-subjetiva de acciones y de lenguaje.
Dr. Adolfo Vásquez Rocca
Keywords:  Neurociencias, ciencias cognitivas, ética, yo, cuerpo, neuroplasticidad, enacción, acciones corporeizadas,  biología cultural,  saber-cómo.
Neuroscience, cognitive science, ethics, self, body, neuroplasticity, enaction, actions embodied experiences, cultural biology,  know-how.
-Francisco Varela: neurophenomenology, enactive approach to cognition, minds without me and the elusive phenomenon of consciousness.
DR. ADOLFO VÁSQUEZ ROCCA

The biomechanics of bone trauma is the application of mechanical laws to describe and interpret damage that occurs to bone. It involves the examination of both the intrinsic and extrinsic  factors resulting in bone injury. Knowledge of the biomechanics of bone trauma allows forensic scientists to use bone fractures to deduce the type and direction of loading that caused the bone to fail. The strength of bone is its ability to withstand loads without failing, and is dependent on its material composition, organization, and overall geometry. Loads can be applied in tension, compression, bending, torsion, shear, or a combination of these basic components. These loads cause internal tensile, compressive, and shear stresses on the bone. However, bone is a dynamic composite tissue that exhibits anisotropic and viscoelastic characteristics and will react differently to loads depending on its orientation and the rate at which the force is applied. When more energy is transferred to a bone than it can absorb, the bone will fracture. The type of fracture produced in bone depends on the magnitude, direction, rate, and area of force applied and the structural and material properties of the bone at and near the location of the force.

In ihrem neuesten Fall stoßen der Privatermittler Achille Corso und die Forensikerin Pentesilea Orsini auf eine undurchsichtige Stiftung, die Verbindungen zu einer geheimen Loge hat. Als sie beginnen, die Aktivitäten der Loge zu untersuchen, entdecken sie eine mysteriöse Verbindung zum Transit zum Stern Sirius - aber was verbirgt sich hinter diesem geheimnisvollen Plan? Mit Hilfe einer eingeschmuggelten Agentin versuchen sie, die Machenschaften der beiden Chefs der okkulten Templerloge aufzudecken. Doch je tiefer sie ermitteln, desto gefährlicher wird es für die Agentin, die in große Gefahr gerät. Buchtrailer: https://youtu.be/E0GGxo--mb4

This paper begins by exploring the role of fermented and deliberately rotted (putrefied) meat, fish, and fat in the diet of modern hunters and gatherers throughout the arctic and subarctic. These practices partially 'pre-digest' the high protein and fat content typical of northern forager diets without the need for cooking, and hence without the need for fire or scarce fuel. Because of the peculiar properties of many bacteria, including various lactic acid bacteria (LAB) which rapidly colonize decomposing meat and fish, these foods can be preserved free of pathogens for weeks or even months and remain safe to eat. In addition, aerobic bacteria in the early stages of putrefaction deplete the supply of oxygen in the tissues, creating an anaerobic environment that retards the production of potentially toxic byproducts of lipid autoxidation (rancidity). Moreover, LAB produce B-vitamins, and the anaerobic environment favors the preservation of vitamin C, a critical but scarce micronutrient in heavily meat-based northern diets. If such foods are cooked, vitamin C may be depleted or lost entirely, increasing the threat of scurvy. Psychological studies indicate that the widespread revulsion shown by many Euroamericans to the sight and smell of putrefied meat is not a universal hard-wired response, but a culturally learned reaction that does not emerge in young children until the age of about five or later, too late to protect the infant from pathogens during the highly vulnerable immediate-post-weaning period. Ethnohistoric and ethnographic evidence clearly show that putrefied meat and fish were not used solely as starvation foods, but served instead as ubiquitous, desirable, and nutritionally important components of forager diets throughout these northern environments. In the second part of the paper, I extend these arguments to suggest that putrefied meat, fish, and fat are likely to have been equally important to the lifeways and adaptations of Eurasian Paleolithic hominins inhabiting analogous environments. If such food practices were in fact widespread during the mid-to late Pleistocene, they may help account for aspects of the archaeological record that are presently difficult to comprehend, such as the 'on again, off again' evidence for fire use (and hence cooking) during the Eurasian Middle Paleolithic. Putrefaction also may alter the isotopic composition of the diet. As meat and fish decompose, a variety of volatile compounds are produced, including ammonia. Loss of NH 3 , along with lesser amounts of two other nitrogenous gases—cadaverine and putrescine—would very likely leave rotted meat and fish enriched in 15 N by comparison to the isotopic composition of these foods in their fresh state. Such enrichment may have contributed to the elevated values seen in many Neanderthals, values that are widely taken as prima facie evidence of Neanderthal's status as a 'top predator.' Finally, if Paleolithic foragers relied upon putrefaction to prepare and store meat, archaeologists may have to rethink the way they interpret a number of widely used taphonomic signatures, including the number and distribution of cutmarks, the extent of carnivore damage, the incidence of burning on both animal bones and stone tools, and the frequency and scale of hearths, ash lenses, and other features of combustion. " When we fix salmon head we put it in bucket in ground and we take it out and eat it. We leave it in ten days

This paper introduces some of the invaluable aspects of, and new perspectives arising in, the field of zooarchaeology. Studying archaeological animal remains provides clear evidence of past human diet, but the contributions zooarchaeology can make to archaeological research have a much broader scope. Zooarchaeological research provides an interesting insight into the study of past environments, animal domestication, biostratigraphy, the social side of food, animal remains as clothing or even as building materials and art manifestations, amongst others. Zooarchaeology is subdivided here into environmental or physical zooarchaeology, which mainly deals with climate, seasonality and dating of a site, and social zooarchaeology, which deals with hunting techniques, animal management, social hierarchy and symbolism. This array of possibilities is illustrated through examples drawn from diverse periods and places. Some of the issues concerning zooarchaeology are analysed in more depth through the site of Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Murcia, Spain). This case study provides a practical application of zooarchaeological perspectives in the study of human evolution.

The field of zooarchaeology is therefore not limited to the study of past dietary habits. Rather the study of animal remains allows a deeper understanding of complex human-animal interactions and a greater comprehension of archaeological societies and cultures.

Establishing the age at which prehistoric individuals move away from their childhood residential location holds crucial information about the socio dynamics and mobility patterns in ancient societies. We present a novel combination of strontium isotope analyses performed on the over 3000 year old " Skrydstrup Woman " from Denmark, for whom we compiled a highly detailed month-scale model of her migration timeline. When combined with physical anthropological analyses this timeline can be related to the chronological age at which the residential location changed. We conducted a series of high-resolution strontium isotope analyses of hard and soft human tissues and combined these with anthropological investigations including CT-scanning and 3D visualizations. The Skrydstrup Woman lived during a pan-European period characterized by technical innovation and great social transformations stimulated by long-distance connections; consequently she represents an important part of both Danish and European prehistory. Our multidisciplinary study involves complementary biochemical, biomolecular and microscopy analyses of her scalp hair. Our results reveal that the Skrydstrup Woman was between 17–18 years old when she died, and that she moved from her place of origin-outside present day Denmark-to the Skrydstrup area in Denmark 47 to 42 months before she died. Hence, she was between 13 to 14 years old when she migrated to and resided in the area around Skrydstrup for the rest of her life. From an archaeological standpoint, this one-time and one-way movement of an elite female during the possible " age of marriageability " might suggest that she migrated with the aim of establishing an alliance between chiefdoms. Consequently, this detailed multidisciplinary investigation provides a novel tool to reconstruct high resolution chronology of individual mobility with the perspective of studying complex patterns of social and economic interaction in prehistory.

Medical expertise is crucial in death investigations. It begins with body examination and evidence collection at the scene and proceeds through history, physical examination, laboratory tests, and diagnosis – in short, the broad ingredients of a doctor’s treatment of a living patient. The key goal is to provide objective evidence of cause, timing, and manner of death for adjudication by the criminal justice system. Death investigation has been performed for centuries in all societies, although not always by medical professionals (Committee, 2003). The association of law and medicine dates back to the Egyptian culture as early as 3000 B.C. The English coroner system was mentioned in documentations around the 12th century B.C. (Spitz, 2006).
Although the primary goal of a death investigation is to establish the cause and manner of death, the role of the death investigation extends much further than simply answering these two questions. A common question asked is, “Why does it matter? The person is dead.” While it is true that the dead cannot benefit, the value in death investigation is to benefit the living and future generations. In a culture that values life, explaining the death in a public forum (the meaning of “forensic”) is crucial for many reasons. And this interest goes beyond simple curiosity (Wagner, 2009).
In homicide, suspected homicide, and other suspicious or obscure cases, the forensic medicine expert should visit the scene of the death before the body is removed. Local practice varies but any doctor claiming to be a forensic medicine expert should always make himself available to accompany the police to the locus of the death. This duty is often formalized and made part of a contract of service for those forensic medicine experts who are either full-time or substantially involved in assisting the police, in England and Wales, the 'Home Office Pathologists' are permanently on call for such visits and in many other jurisdictions, such as the medical examiner systems in the USA, and the European State and University Institutes of Forensic Medicine, there is usually a prearranged duty roster for attendance at scenes of death (Saukko & Knight, 2004). In many cases, the scene investigation is more important than the autopsy. A thorough and complete investigation commonly leads to the proper diagnosis of the cause and manner of death prior to an autopsy (Avis, 1993; Dix & Ernst, 1999).
Why go to the scene? The purpose of having the forensic medicine expert attend the death scene is severalfold. By viewing the body in the context of its surroundings, the forensic medicine expert is better able to interpret certain findings at the autopsy such as a patterned imprint across the neck from collapsing onto an open vegetable drawer in a refrigerator. The forensic medicine expert is also able to advise the investigative agency about the nature of the death, whether to confirm a homicide by a specific means, evaluate the circumstances to be consistent with an apparent natural death, or interpret the blood loss from a deceased person as being more likely due to natural disease than to injury. This preliminary information helps the investigative agency to define its perimeter, structure its approach, organize its manpower, secure potentially important evidence, and streamline its efforts.
Nonattendance at death scenes has been regarded as one of the classical mistakes in forensic pathology. Hospital pathologists performing forensic autopsies who are not trained to, or able to, attend death scenes should be provided with information on how, when, and where the body was found, by whom, and under what circumstances. In some deaths, the immediate environment does not contribute to death, such as in cases of metastatic breast carcinoma. In other cases, the environment plays a role although it does not cause the death; for example, consider a case in which a person with marked coronary atherosclerosis collapses with a dysrhythmia while shoveling snow. On the other hand, the scene description and scene photographs are critical in documenting that the physical circumstances and body posture are indicative of death due to positional asphyxia because the autopsy in these cases may yield very few findings. The most meticulous autopsy in all academia will provide only a speculative cause and manner of death in a 30-year-old man with a negative history, negative toxicology, and autopsy findings of visceral congestion.
Yet at the scene, a screwdriver is next to an uncovered electrical outlet on a rain-soaked patio at the decedent's house, which is undergoing renovation. The cause and manner of death are provided by the scene (Lew & Matshes, 2005).
The examination of a death scene and subsequent collection of potential evidential material requires special skill, knowledge, aptitude, and attitude. The manner in which a death scene investigation is conducted may be a critical factor in determining the success of an investigation. The thorough examination of a death scene requires a disciplined and systematic approach to recording the various observations made and collection of potential evidential material. This must be combined with the analysis of various observations and the interrelationship of potential evidentiary material (Horswell, 2005a).
If resources are sufficient and the circumstances of death so dictate, it is ideal for a forensic medicine expert to perform a scene investigation. This is particularly relevant if the body remains at the scene of death, and has not been transported to the hospital during attempts at resuscitation; however, a scene investigation can be vitally important and provide valuable information even if the body has been transported to the hospital. If a body is pronounced dead at the scene (as opposed to after transport to the hospital), many death investigation systems require a scene investigation. Others have various protocols as to which case types absolutely require a scene investigation (whether or not the body is present at the scene). Case types that should always have a scene investigation include all confirmed or suspected homicides, suicides, accidents, child deaths, traffic-related deaths, in-custody deaths, and workplace-related deaths (Prahlow, 2010).
Death scene investigation may include a combination of the following types of incidents and examinations:
• Accidental deaths, which include a multitude of circumstances, including misadventure
• Suicidal deaths, which include a multitude of circumstances
• Homicidal deaths, which include a multitude of circumstances
• Sudden deaths, with or without suspicious circumstances
• Difficult victim identification, which includes mummification and putrefaction
• Disaster victim identification dealing with multiple casualties (Horswell, 2005a)
This chapter will focus on the steps of death scene investigation and some real cases will be analyzed.

Estándares Forenses Mínimos para la Búsqueda de Personas Desaparecidas y la Recuperación e Identificación de Cadáveres se desarrollan a partir de la necesidad existente de brindar respuestas satisfactorias a un mayor número de familiares de víctimas, sobre la base de una propuesta metodológica orientada con este fin.

Please start recording these revised measurements and submitting them to the Forensic Data Bank so we can improve the nature of metric data in forensic anthropology. These will eventually be incorporated into the Fordisc software. Data Collection Procedures 2.0 is the first version of many to come. The DCP will be versioned, like the Fordisc software. Changes in newly released versions will be detailed in the introductory section of the manual. The DCP is also accompanied by an instructional video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtkLFl3vim4
The amendments contained in the DCP 2.0 are listed at the beginning of this manual. They include changes to the measurements, references, and age estimation section. The age estimation materials were provided by George Milner and are designed to correspond to the Transition Analysis method incorporated in the next iteration of the Fordisc software program. Line drawings have been simplified and streamlined, and obvious measurements have been removed from figures. We urge the user to read the definitions and not rely solely on illustrations. The accompanying video is also a useful resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtkLFl3vim4.

This paper will provide mass fatality emergency planners, police, medical examiners, coroners and other Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) personnel ways to integrate forensic anthropologists into DVI operations and demonstrate how anthropological contributions have improved DVI projects. In mass disaster situations, anthropologists have traditionally been limited to developing biological profiles from skeletal remains. Over the past decade, however, anthropologists' involvement in DVI has extended well beyond this traditional role as they have taken on increasingly diverse tasks and responsibilities. Anthropological involvement in DVI operations is often dictated by an incident's specific characteristics, particularly events involving extensive fragmentation, commingling, or other forms of compromised remains. This paper will provide examples from recent DVI incidents to illustrate the operational utility of anthropologists in the DVI context. The points where it is most beneficial to integrate anthropologists into the DVI process include: (1) during recovery at the disaster scene; (2) at the triage station as remains are brought into the mortuary; and (3) in conducting the reconciliation process. Particular attention will be paid to quality control and quality assurance measures anthropologists have developed and implemented for DVI projects. Overall, this paper will explain how anthropological expertise can be used to increase accuracy in DVI while reducing the project's cost and duration.

Early Archaic human skeletal remains found in a burial context in Lapa do Santo in east-central Brazil provide a rare glimpse into the lives of hunter-gatherer communities in South America, including their rituals for dealing with the dead. These included the reduction of the body by means of mutilation, defleshing, tooth removal, exposure to fire and possibly cannibalism, followed by the secondary burial of the remains according to strict rules. In a later period, pits were filled with disarticulated bones of a single individual without signs of body manipulation, demonstrating that the region was inhabited by dynamic groups in constant transformation over a period of centuries.

This volume contains the following articles, research reports, and obituaries: "John Victor Murra (August 24, 1916 - October 16, 2006): An Interpretative Biography" by Monica Barnes with a "Bibliography of Works by and about John Victor Murra" by David Block and Monica Barnes; "Introduction to John Victor Murra: A Mentor to Women" by Heather Lechtman and Freda Yancy Wolf de Romero; "Anthropology is My Village" by Heather Lechtman; "Mentors as Intellectual Parents" by Freda Yancy Wolf de Romero; "an Extraordinary Teacher Who Taught All the Time" by Patricia Netherly; "Kicking Off a New Perspective in Ethnohistory" by Ana Maria Lorandi; "The Ability to Bestow Confidence and Stimulate New Ideas" by Victoria Castro; "The Green Pachwork Paper" by Rolena Adorno; "Do Anthropology the Way Poets Write Poetry" by Inge Maria Harman; "Eight Thousand Solutions to the Same Problem" by Silvia Palomeque; "Kinsmen Resurrected: John Victor Murra and the History of Anthropology" by Frank Solomon; "Costanza Di Capua Di Capua (December 17, 1912 - May 5, 2008) by Karen Olsen Bruhns; "Reconstruction of the Burial Offering at Punkuri in the Nepena Valley of Peru's North-central Coast" by Victor Falcon Huayta; "An Analysis of the Isabellita Rock Engraving and Its Archaeological Context, Callejon de Huaylas, Peru" by Victor Manuel Ponte R.; "Strange Harvest: A Discussion of Sacrifice and Missing Body Parts on the North Coast of Peru" by Catherine M. Gaither, Jonathan Bethard, Jonathan Kent, Victor Vasquez Sanchez, Teresa Rosales Tham, and Richard Busch; "A Design Analysis of Moche Fineline Sherds from the Archaeological Site of Galindo, Moche Valley, Peru" by Gregory D. Lockard; "More than Meets the Eye: A Study of Signs in Nasca Art" by Ana Nieves; "Early Cotton Network Knotted in Colored Patterns" by Grace Katterman; "Climate, Agricultural Strategies, and Sustainability in the Pre-Columbian Andes" by Charles R. Ortloff and Michael E. Moseley; "Experiences with the Institute of Andean Research 1941-42 and 1946" by Gordon R. Willey with an "Introduction" by Richard Daggett; "Archaeological Investigations at Antumpa (Jujuy): Contributions to the Characterization of the Early Ceramic Period in the Huamahuaca Region" by Juan B. Leoni; "San Pedro de Atacama" by Carolina Aguero, Muricio Uribe, and Carlos Carraso; "Tarapaca Region" by Mauricio Uribe, Leonor Adan, Carolina Aguero, Cora Moragas, and Flora Viches; "New Archaeological and Rock Art Projects in Bolivia" by Matthias Strecker, Freddy Taboada, and Claudia Rivera; "Exchange at Chavin de Huantar: Insights from Shell Data" by Matthew P. Sayre and Luisa Lopez Aldave; "La Forteleza at Ollantaytambo" by J. Lee Hollowell.

Ancient human mobility at the individual level is conventionally studied by the diverse application of suitable techniques (e.g. aDNA, radiogenic strontium isotopes, as well as oxygen and lead isotopes) to either hard and/or soft tissues. However, the limited preservation of coexisting hard and soft human tissues hampers the possibilities of investigating high-resolution diachronic mobility periods in the life of a single individual. Here, we present the results of a multidisciplinary study of an exceptionally well preserved circa 3.400-year old Danish Bronze Age female find, known as the Egtved Girl. We applied biomolecular, biochemical and geochemical analyses to reconstruct her mobility and diet. We demonstrate that she originated from a place outside present day Denmark (the island of Bornholm excluded), and that she travelled back and forth over large distances during the final months of her life, while consuming a terrestrial diet with intervals of reduced protein intake. We also provide evidence that all her garments were made of non-locally produced wool. Our study advocates the huge potential of combining biomolecular and biogeochemical provenance tracer analyses to hard and soft tissues of a single ancient individual for the reconstruction of high-resolution human mobility.

Es algo común durante los trabajos de campo que aparezcan dificultades a la hora de determinar la lateralidad de esos huesos si se trata de restos e las manos o lo pies. determinar la lateralidad de los restos es una cuestión esencial también en el campo de la Antropología Forense a fin de conocer el número mínimos d individuos del caso. por esa razón, proponemos este atlas realizado sobre restos arqueológicos.

It is usual during field work to appear difficulties in the identification of some of the remains, it is even more difficult to determinate the laterality of the recovered bones speaking of remains of the hand or the foot. In Forensic Anthropology resolving laterality of remains is an essensial issue to know the minimun number of individuals. That reason we propose this atlas made with archaeological remains.

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a geological prospection tool appropriated from fields in the natural sciences into anthropological research that provides a relatively quick and nondestructive method of investigating the near subsurface of a site.  Originally utilized for archaeological investigations, including the location and delimitation of historic cemeteries, GPR has recently begun to play a larger role in forensic science.  Ground Penetrating Radar can provide the forensic investigator with a noninvasive method of locating clandestine burials.  This paper provides an overview of GPR and applications in the fields of archaeology and forensic investigations.  Special attention is paid to the utilization of GPR in the detection of cemetery graves and further possible research in this area. 


Key Words: Ground Penetrating Radar, Clandestine Burials, Geophysical Applications in Anthropology, Historic Cemeteries
 

Lo studio delle necropoli, attraverso i diversi e molteplici aspetti che in esse confluiscono, è una delle fonti principale per la conoscenza delle società antiche. Spesso i cimiteri sono considerati lo specchio di pratiche culturali e trasformazioni sociali, ma non sono l'esatto riflesso della realtà, piuttosto la rappresentazione e l'immagine che si vuol dare di questa.

Moving from Barnesmoore's (2016) theorization of humans as beings with the potential for conscious (epistemological) evolution, this article argues that a revolution in the ideas by which ('world view' in which) we conceive of potential practice must necessarily precede a revolution of academic and social practice (that theory necessarily precedes practice). Revolution must be rooted in revolutionary ideas and cannot be facilitated by practices that rise from (are rationalized within) the hegemonic essence (ideas, axioms and logics) of the regime against which revolution is being waged.

L’argomento di questa tesi nasce dall'esperienza congiunta di rievocazione storica ed archeologia sperimentale che ho maturato con gli anni. Appassionato di rievocazione dal 2007,
ho praticato (e continuo tuttora a praticare) la scherma ed il reenactment relativi a svariati periodi della storia della Sardegna: il periodo medioevale (giudicale), quello romano-imperiale e da ultimo quello nuragico. La necessità di avere maggiori informazioni, non disponibili tramite le fonti scritte, iconografiche e archeologiche legate sopratutto a quest’ultimo periodo, mi ha portato con gli anni a pormi ulteriori quesiti sull’argomento. Quella dei nuragici era una società pacifica? In caso contrario come combattevano i suoi guerrieri? Che tipo di struttura gerarchico-militare avevano? Le risposte a queste domande diventavano sempre più impellenti man mano che mi confrontavo con il pubblico (e spesso con i pregiudizi legati a questo lontano periodo). Desideroso di avere delle risposte, coadiuvato dall’esperienza di artigiano-archeotecnico del bronzo che porto avanti nei ritagli di tempo, ispirato da studi sulla cosiddetta “archeologia del combattimento” e dalle tecniche forensi applicate nell'archeologia, sono giunto a conclusione che solo studiando i resti umani di quegli
uomini vissuti 3000 e più anni fa, avrei potuto ricavare maggiori risposte alle mie domande.
Nel presente lavoro ho esaminato i casi più noti in letteratura di reperti scheletrici con visibili segni traumatici, ponendo particolare attenzione ai periodi preistorici. Come paragone
per lo studio dei reperti nuragici è stato utilizzato lo scheletro di un presunto soldato medioevale, il quale presentava diversi traumi da combattimento. I resti ossei nuragici consistono in tre crani appartenenti a tre diverse sepolture collettive localizzate in aree della Sardegna tra loro molto distanti. Per questi tre casi si è provveduto a determinare il tipo di trauma osservato, che tipo di arma ha provocato la ferita e lo scenario ipotetico dell’aggressione che ha interessato ciascun individuo. Lo studio di questi casi ha permesso una ricostruzione delle modalità di combattimento più verosimili per tale periodo; queste hanno
permesso di dedurre quali ferite e in quali aree del corpo si potrebbero riscontrare più frequentemente i traumi. La riproduzione dei traumi mediante prove d’archeologia sperimentale (test di taglio) hanno permesso di capire quali lesioni potrebbero essere prodotte da alcune specifiche armi dell’età del Bronzo. Come ultima analisi sono stati elencati i principali casi di trapanazioni craniche per poter determinare se tali pratiche siano da mettere in relazione a traumi conseguenti ad episodi violenti o a pratiche etnoiatriche.

The subject of this thesis was born from a joint of historical reenactment and experimental archeology that i have gained over the years. Fond of living history since 2007, I practiced (and still continuing to practice) the fencing and the reenactment related to various periods of the history of Sardinia: the medieval period (Judicial), the Roman Empire and finally the nuragic one (Age of Bronze). The need to have more information, not available through the written sources, iconographic and archaeological related especially in the latter period, led me through the years to ask me more questions on the subject.
Nuragics was that of a peaceful society? Otherwise how his warriors fought? What kind of hierarchical-military had? The answers to these questions became more compelling as I compared them with the public (and often with the prejudices related to this distant period). Eager to get answers, aided by the experience of bronze artisan-archeotecnic that I carry in my spare time, inspired by studies on the so-called "archeology of combat" and forensic techniques applied in archeology, I have come to the conclusion that only by studying the human remains of those men lived 3000 years and more ago, I could get more answers to my questions.
In this paper I have examined the best known cases in the literature of skeletal remains with visible signs of trauma, paying particular attention to prehistoric times. As a comparison for the study of the nuragic finds, was used the skeleton of a supposed medieval soldier, who presented several combat trauma. The skeletal nuragic remains consist of three skulls belonging to three different collective burials located in areas of Sardinia each other very distant. For these three cases, it was decided to determine the type of trauma observed, what kind of weapon caused the wound and the hypothetical scenario of the attack that affected each individual. The study of these cases has allowed a reconstruction of how to combat the most plausible for that period; These have enabled us to deduce which wounds and in which areas of the body could be encountered more frequently trauma. Reproduction of trauma by tests of experimental archeology (test cutting) have allowed us to understand what injuries could be produced by a number of specific Bronze Age weapons. As the final analysis were listed the main cases of cranial drilling to determine whether such practices are to be related to trauma resulting from violent incidents or etnoiatric practices.

Resumen

Schopenhauer, pese a la reticencia de Freud en reconocer estos “prestamos inconfesables”, se anticipó a Freud en medio siglo. En Schopenhauer aparece por vez primera una filosofía explícita del inconsciente y del cuerpo. Schopenhauer procede de los “años salvajes de la filosofía”, pese a su  enemistad con el Romanticismo, en el convergen muchas de estas ideas convirtiéndolo, tal vez a su pesar, en un insospechado heredero de un legado del que se convierte en mediador –a través de Nietzsche (y Freud) a importantes corrientes de pensamiento del siglo XX.  Schopenhauer nada contra la corriente de su tiempo: no le anima el placer de la acción, sino el arte del nirvana. Este filósofo de lo irracional, diseña una filosofía de la contemplación, que invita a inhibir la acción o suprimir el deseo-  Su sueño es un mundo transformado en el espejo “desinteresado”de la música.   

Palabras Clave: voluntad, psicoanálisis, inconsciente, represión, eros, mundo.

Dr. Adolfo Vásquez Rocca

Gladiator remains from a recently unearthed cemetery in ancient Ephesus (Turkey) offer a unique opportunity for proving common theories involving the weaponry and techniques of gladiator fighting based on the evidence supplied by cranial bones. This mass grave is the first of its kind to undergo a thorough osteological and forensic examination.A minimum number of individuals (MNI) analyses revealed that at least 68 individuals. All individuals found turned out to have been males aged between 20 and 30 years, except for one female associated with a female slave gravestone, and one male aged 45–55 years, had been buried in this area of the cemetery. The male mean body height was 168 cm (S.D. = 5 cm), which lies inside the normal range of height for Roman populations at those times.Eleven (16% of MNI) individuals exhibit a total of 16 well-healed antemortal cranial traumata. Five of the 11 individuals showed multiple trauma. Ten (15% of MNI) individuals exhibited a total of 10 perimortal cranial traumata. This is a surprisingly high frequency of deadly head injuries, taking into account that most of the gladiator types wore helmets. A possible explanation could be the frequently reported deathblow technique used by the hammer-carrying death god “Dis Pater”.The gladiator weaponry is well known through historical sources. At least one injury per known type of offensive weapon could be identified, as well as evidence for the most popular, the gladiator trident, which was found to be represented by one perimortem and two antemortem injuries. Overall the reportedly very strict nature of combat rules for gladiator fights could be confirmed by the absence of multiple perimortal traumatized individuals, showing a lack of the excessive violence commonly observed on medieval battle ground victims.This graveyard gives the opportunity to confirm historical aspects and to check the reliability of forensic methods for identification of antemortem, perimortem, or postmortem bone lesions. Typical examples for these kinds of lesions and injuries are presented. The colour of the margins of the traumata proved to be the most distinguishing feature for postmortal lesions.

Forensic anthropologists are frequently confronted with the need to interpret burnt bone. Regardless of the context,
one of the key factors for the correct interpretation of the remains and a reconstruction of the incidents leading
to incineration is the estimation of themaximumexposure temperature. The recent years have seen an influx
in experimental research focusing on temperature estimation, spanning from colour assessment, mechanical
strength measurements, histology and structural observations, biochemical changes and crystallinity studies,
vastly advancing the understanding of heat induced changes in bone, thus facilitating a more accurate interpretation.
This paper draws together and evaluates all currently availablemethodologies for temperature estimation.

RESUMEN
- Sloterdijk –señala en Normas para el Parque Humano que “...los hombres de ser un simple rebaño conducido y guiado por pastores privilegiados, ...... Los pueblos nómadas y ganaderos se transformaron después de muchos siglos en pueblos agrícolas”. Sloterdijk intenta dilucidar a qué refiere Heidegger1 con “los pastores del ser”, ya que si bien las formulaciones pastoriles de la carta sobre el Humanismo son bien conocidas, no se ha precisado el sentido de estas figuras, antes bien han sido objeto de burlas soterradas. Aquí pues ha de buscarse el sentido la metáfora heideggeriana del hombre como 'pastor del ser'. Para – a partir de allí–  plantearse los alcances de las observaciones de Sloterdijk en torno a las distintas prácticas de pastoreo y –en particular– a la cría de ganado a gran escala con el 'capitalismo cárnico' que esto implica o, como lo anuncia Nietzsche, la lucha entre los pequeños criadores y los grandes criadores del hombre.
Adentrándose en estas formulaciones heideggerianas, Sloterdijk también interrogará por ¿quienes son los visitantes y qué significa ser vecino de esta extraña abstracción, a la cual se le denomina el Ser”?
- Sloterdijk declara ser un inmunólogo teórico, quien se ha dado a la tarea  de pensar en cómo el ser humano diseña la arquitectura de la seguridad de su existencia. ¿Cómo habita? ¿Cómo se previene de futuras crisis? ¿Cómo se defiende? ¿Cómo se integra en sus culturas, entendidas como comunidades de lucha? (Es un cambio de paradigmas: de la filosofía a una inmunología general.)
Las consecuencias de aplicación de las tecnologías génicas en la industria alimentaria, la agricultura moderna, y aún más en la industria cárnica, para nuestra dieta son fatales. La enfermedad de las vacas locas (encefalopatía espongiforme bovina (EEB) es sólo la punta del iceberg. Desde la antigüedad, la civilización occidental descansa sobre las espaldas de ganado, que fue ordeñado, sacrificado, sin piel, estirada en el yugo, y considerados dioses. En su libro, Jeremy Rifkin revela la magnitud y de las consecuencias devastadoras de la moderna manía de carne de vacuno.
Si pudiera hablarse propiamente de una era “poshistórica”, su comienzo sería indisociable de la salida de la Tierra de sus bambalinas históricas, de la pérdida de su condición de materia prima y de la adquisición de la categoría de objeto de la preocupación humana.
Sloterdijk critica la vieja idea de Heidegger sobre el enraizamiento, con el que se refiere a ese modo de entender a los seres humanos como seres cuya verdadera naturaleza es el enraizamiento en la tierra.1 Según esta idea, la única solución del hombre para una estabilidad con el medio sería la necesaria reinstauración de esa relación. Muy diferente de lo que argumentaba Ortega, según el cual es precisamente el extrañamiento en vez del enraizamiento lo que realmente definía al hombre en su relación con la naturaleza.2 Ortega defiende que somos seres “extraños” y es precisamente la “incomodidad” constante con el medio lo que nos obliga a reinventarnos y por tanto inaugurar una determinada técnica. 
Ahora bien, en lugar de enunciar la pertenencia a una época pre-sostenible, más que post-industrial, Sloterdijk deja entrever su tesis sobre la ineludible atadura que plantea cualquier “post” que nos ata definitivamente a aquello de lo cual queremos salir.3
Si pudiera hablarse propiamente de una era “poshistórica”, su comienzo sería indisociable de la salida de la Tierra de sus bambalinas históricas, de la pérdida de su condición de materia prima y de la adquisición de la categoría de objeto de la preocupación humana.
Es evidente, para Sloterdijk, que la tierra no podrá seguir soportando durante mucho tiempo lo que parecía soportar hasta ahora. Su definición de theatrum cosmopoliticum la desborda. Sus funciones históricas —campamento de base para el éxodo histórico, fuente de material de construcción y combustible, escenario y objeto de contiendas geopolíticas- no serán, en un futuro previsible, compartibles con su pervivencia. Así pues, una verdadera poshistoria empezaría eximiendo a la tierra de las funciones destructivas históricamente adquiridas.
Es necesario decir que éstos son los conceptos de la Tierra que tienen las llamadas altas culturas, cuya altura suele medirse por la magnitud de su rechazo del estado de simbiosis con la Tierra.
No es casualidad que el cosmopolitismo sea el criterio de la alta cultura que triunfa; y lo que es menos aún el que la palabra cosmopolita, ciudadano del mundo, fuera en un principio una profética ironía cínica (Diógenes) que se convertiría en algo históricamente muy serio. Ahora los llamados ciudadanos del mundo casi no viven ya en la Tierra: son habitantes del país llamado complejidad, viajeros de la clase Grande-Vitesse, presurosos huéspedes transeúntes.4
Entre las problemáticas que vienen de la mano de la sostenibilidad, aparecerían los ecosistemas, que son la verdadera urgencia que nos presenta el momento presente. Energías y ecosistemas nos permitirían ver el proyecto como dispositivo, como prototipo de intercambio de información, de organización de la vida, no solo de la vida del hombre, sino de la Vida en mayúsculas. El proyecto con este panorama alcanza niveles de lo macro, de las organizaciones estratégicas de las cosas, y a la vez de lo micro, de las múltiples realidades participantes en el sistema. Podría hablarse de muchos ejemplos proyectuales que empiezan a manejar lo micro (las bacterias o microorganismos, por ejemplo, como material del proyecto de bio-arquitectura).
De allí que no sea casual, que la lengua alemana haya reservado la palabra “Erdenbürger”, ciudadanos de la Tierra, a los recién nacidos, como para distinguir el único momento de la vida del individuo en el que se le concede un soplo de superioridad sobre el mundo histórico. Y  no  deja  de ser  significativo  que  fuera  un  astronauta,  Edgar  Mitchell  (“el sexto  hombre  en  pisar  la  luna”)  quien  dio  un  nuevo  valor  a  la palabra al describir las emociones de los que regresan del espacio: “vuelves con la sensación de no ser ciudadano de los EE.UU. sino  ciudadano  de  la  Tierra”.  Si  pudiera  hacer  realmente  una era  “poshistórica”,  su  comienzo  sería  indisociable  de  la  salida de  la  Tierra  de  sus  bambalinas  históricas,  de  la  pérdida  de  su condición de materia prima y de la adquisición de la categoría de objeto de la preocupación humana... Con ello cambian todas las premisas del drama histórico. Lo que era escenario se convierte en tema de la acción. Lo que servía de telón de fondo pasa a  primer  término.  Lo  que  se  presentaba  como  materia  prima se  trueca  en  producto.  Lo  que  era  escena  es  ahora  la  obra  en sí... Ya desde ahora puede decirse que la “historia del mundo” como  proyecto  inscrito  en  el  tiempo  para  la  ejecución  de  misiones espirituales y morales con trasfondos naturales y físicos, es una idea agotada... Para nosotros, la Tierra ha dejado de ser el infatigable y paciente “apoyo y protección” que casi todas las generaciones pasadas vieron en ella. Sólo  podrá  sobrevivir  gracias  a  un  nuevo  gesto  constructivo, realizado por los seres humanos que hayan comprendido que la protección del escenario es el argumento de la obra.
CITAR:  - Vásquez Rocca, Adolfo, “Sloterdijk: De los Pastores del ser al Capitalismo cárnico contemporáneo. Posthumanismo, inmunología general y giro antropotécnico”, Rosebud —Anno 6º— Dublin (Ireland), August 2016. https://rinabrundu.com/2016/08/06/sloterdijk-de-los-pastores-del-ser-al-capitalismo-carnico-contemporaneo/

Differentiating between perimortem and postmortem skeletal injuries is a critical, but often extremely difficult, task for forensic anthropologists. Sixty porcine long bones were exposed to natural taphonomic conditions and fractured every 28 days throughout a 141 day period. Differences between macroscopic blunt force trauma fracture characteristics were documented and examined to determine if they varied over time.  Changes in fracture characteristics were also examined in relationship to bone moisture content – measured by percent ash weight. There is a significant relationship between 1) postmortem interval and percent ash weight, fracture surface, and fracture angle and 2) the percent ash weight and fracture surface and fracture angle. Bone moisture content correlates significantly with fracture morphology and other characteristics commonly used by forensic anthropologists to determine the timing of traumatic injuries. However, fracture characteristics normally associated with perimortem trauma can persist long into the postmortem interval.

Gunshot wounds are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the world and the most frequent in the skull in homicides and suicides. With the purpose to understand the basic principles of biomechanics when a projectile impacts the bone; Aurora Marcela Perez Florez as part of her disertation for the degree of Master in Physical Anthropology (Mexico), has carried out an assessment of knowledge of disciplines such as orthopedics, medicine, cosmetic surgery, forensic anthropology, ballistics, among others, with the purpose of proposing a model for identifying and analize such injuries.This model will allow forensic science professionals have argumentative elements for the diagnosis of gunshot wounds in skull and also allow them to have the necessary information to understand the dynamics of the factors and the dependency relationships between them.

The First World War is still widely regarded as a recent event. However, with the passing of the last survivors, History is becoming the domain of Archaeology. These archaeological finds give a clear insight into global politics and aspects of social life, including alterations to suffrage and class boundaries.  Archaeologists’ discoveries, interpreted anthropologically, help uncover how and why such a brutal war took place, as human relations often parallel their geo-political counterpart. The distinctive approach of newly-developed battlefield archaeology provides different and complementary information about the conflict.  Material remains allow researchers to discover a broad range of original perspectives about everyday lives of soldiers. Throughout this article, a multidisciplinary approach will be followed to discuss remains left after battle, landscapes in a broad sense, the archaeology of First World War battlefields, and finishing with concerns about the role of archaeology in historical periods.

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-3756525041
https://www.amazon.de/dp/375652504X/
Das Buch präsentiert die aktuellen Forschungserkenntnisse und Materialien zu der geheimnisvollen Gestalt der Amarnazeit: Semenchkare. Es ist bis heute umstritten, ob Semenchkare ein junger Mann an der Seite Echnatons war oder aber Königin Nofretete, welche mit dieser fiktiven Identität als männlicher Pharao Nachfolger ihres Mannes wurde. Die Identifikation der Mumie aus dem Grabversteck KV 55 ist ein entscheidendes Puzzleteil dieses ägyptologischen Enigmas. Vor einigen Jahren wurde die Mumie KV 55 als genetischer Vater von Tutanchamun bestimmt. Ein Neufund, der eine längere Mitregentschaft belegt, scheint das Rätsel endlich zu lösen. 2015 wurde von C. N. Reeves eine neue Theorie aufgestellt, wonach Nofretete alias Semenchkare in unentdeckten Kammern im Grab von Tutanchamun zu finden sein soll. Erweiterte und aktualisierte Auflage in Taschenbuchformat. Neue forensische Rekonstruktionen und zusätzliche Photographien. Forensische Gesichtsrekonstruktionen von KV 55 (Echnaton), der Mumie Kairo CG 61076 (möglicherweise eine Amarnaprinzessin) und der Younger Lady KV 35 (Nofretete?).

A revised method for estimating adult age at death using the auricular surface of the ilium has been developed. It is based on the existing auricular surface aging method of Lovejoy et al. ([1985] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 68:15–28), but the revised technique is easier to apply, and has low levels of inter-and intraobserver error. The new method records age-related stages for different features of the auricular surface, which are then combined to provide a composite score from which an estimate of age at death is obtained. Blind tests of the method were carried out on a known-age skeletal collection from Christ Church, Spitalfields, London. These tests showed that the dispersion of age at death for a given morphological stage was large, particularly after the first decade of adult life. Statistical analysis showed that the age-related changes in auricular surface are not significantly different for males and females. The scores from the revised method have a slightly higher correlation with age than do the Suchey-Brooks pubic symphysis stages. Considering the higher survival rates of the auricular surface compared with the pubic symphysis, this method promises to be useful for biological anthropology and forensic science. Am J Phys Anthropol 119:231–239, 2002.

The royal Piso family of Rome performed "miracles" by creating them in the form of literary works. This paper explains not only what they did, but how and why they did it and more. There are many items in ancient texts that have baffled scholars for a long time; this sheds light upon a few of those. Please share this information. TY

Animal resources have been part of hominin diets since around 2.5 million years ago, with sharp-edged stone tools facilitating access to carcasses. How exactly hominins acquired animal prey and how hunting strategies varied through time and space is far from clear. The oldest possible hunting weapons known from the archaeological record are 300,000 to 400,000-year-old sharpened wooden staves. These may have been used as throwing and/or close-range thrusting spears, but actual data on how such objects were used are lacking, as unambiguous lesions caused by such weapon-like objects are unknown for most of human prehistory. Here, we report perforations observed on two fallow deer skeletons from Neumark-Nord, Germany, retrieved during excavations of 120,000-year-old lake shore deposits with abundant traces of Neanderthal presence. Detailed studies of the perforations, including micro-computed tomography imaging and ballistic experiments, demonstrate that they resulted from the close-range use of thrusting spears. Such confrontational ways of hunting require close cooperation between participants, and over time may have shaped important aspects of hominin biology and behaviour.

The interdisciplinary research of burned bones is focused in this paper by presenting and discussing some methods that can assist the bioanthropologist in the analysis of this kind of remains. In particular, some techniques based on the histological structure of bone and on its molecular composition allow new ways of identifying burned human bone and of determining some aspects of the biological and ontological profile of an individual. A brief summary of those techniques is thus here presented.