Erstmalig fur den deutschen Sprachraum wird ein methodisches Kompendium vorgelegt, mit dessen Hilfe eine umfassende Bearbeitung von historischen menschlichen Skelettresten ohne weiterfuhrende Literatur moglich ist. Dargestellt ist das gesamte gangige methodische Repertoir von der Ausgrabung bis zur vergleichenden Auswertung der Daten. Ein Schwergewicht liegt auf moderner Laboranalytik (u.a. Spurenelement- und DNA-Analyse). Ziel und Nutzen des Buchs sind, dass ein Bearbeiter/Ratsuchender/Studierender allein mit dem vorliegenden Werk seine Arbeit planen und durchfuhren kann. Hierzu dienen...

This book contains the contributions to an European symposium on "Trace Elements in Environmental History," held from June 24th to 26th at GCittingen, FRG. The confe rence was organised by the Institute of Anthropology of the Georg August-University in GCittingen. At first glance, it might be surprising that the organizers are anthropolo gists. But this is a result of change of paradigm prehistoric anthropology is facing at the time. For decades, population development and population processes in the past have been looked at in terms of morphology, thus describing the diversity of human...

The examination of excavated human bone finds is mainly the domain of anthropologists and forensic pathologists, the former working with ancient and historical specimens, the latter with modern finds. The methodological and diagnostic approaches to these skeletal finds are the same, regardless of the time of burial. For physical an thropology, bodily human relics are dealt with as historical resources which give clues to ancient population structure, population develop ment, life-style and subsistence. They are thus able to help scientists understand the present state of human populations....

Locked up within human bone are tantalizing clues concerning the diets consumed by ancient peoples. On the one hand the amounts of certain elementsin bone (strontium, zinc) serve as measures of protein, fiber, and calcium intake. On the other hand, the ratios of carbon isotopes and of nitrogen isotopes provide information on questions of fish vs. meat, herbivore vs. carnivore, or (for animals) browser (shrubs) vs. grazer (grasses). Such information can provide a window on many aspects of prehistoric cultures and can supplement the nonskeletal archaeological record. In addition to these two...

This work takes a critical look at the current concept of isotopic landscapes ("isoscapes") in bioarchaeology and its application in future research. It specifically addresses the research potential of cremated finds, a somewhat neglected bioarchaeological substrate, resulting primarily from the inherent osteological challenges and complex mineralogy associated with it. In addition, for the first time data mining methods are applied. The chapters are the outcome of an international workshop sponsored by the German Science Foundation and the Centre of Advanced Studies at the...

At the heart of this book is the matter of how isotopic landscapes combined with data mining enriches insights on prehistoric migration and cultural transfer. Isotopic mapping is an indispensable tool for the assessment of mobility and trade in the past, but is limited by eco-geographic redundancies. An interdisciplinary research group focuses on the archaeological isotopic landscape of a reference region of outstanding importance, namely the transalpine migration route via the Brenner Pass which has been in use since the Mesolithic. Over the period of several cultural epochs, cremation was...