Here, modern animal joints are burned outdoors with ‘old’ fuels (dendrochronologically dated wood and manufactured coal briquettes) for the first time.ĭue to the limited amount of dendrochronologically dated wood available, the pyres erected were much smaller than for a real human cremation, and it was possible to burn only small animal joints instead of entire animal corpses as undertaken in previous studies (for example Sheridan, 2010, though this was done for very different purposes). None of these studies, however, have included cremations of modern bone on outdoor fires. Much research has since been carried out in order to try and understand why cremated bone seems to provide reliable radiocarbon dates (Van Strydonck et al. Nevertheless, cremated bone fragments have been considered to provide reliable radiocarbon dates since 2001 (Lanting et al. Their complex structure and chemical composition as well as the incomplete state of knowledge regarding how bone changes when burned, however, has meant that cremated bone has often been left out of biomolecular studies, but have a long history of bioarchaeological investigation (for example McKinley 1997). The widespread use of cremation in the past has resulted in abundant charred and calcined human remains in the archaeological record. In some areas of the world such as Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand, today more than 75% of the deceased are incinerated, and even up to 99% in Japan (The Cremation Society of Great Britain 2007). In the twenty-first century, the number of funeral cremations has increased markedly compared to a few centuries ago. In Britain, more particularly, cremation was practised, contemporaneously with inhumation, from the Early Neolithic until the Saxon period, and was the dominant burial practice during the Middle Bronze Age and Roman-British period (Davies & Mates 2005). Across Europe, cremation dominates in several regions during the Bronze Age and Roman period (McKinley 1997 Wahl 2008). The oldest extant, presently known cremated remains of a human are those of the Mungo Lady in Australia, which have recently been re-dated to roughly forty thousand years BP by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating (Bowler et al. For more than forty thousand years, human bodies have been cremated, leaving calcined bone fragments behind. Of the various burial practices used by humans, cremation is one of the most common, both nowadays and in the past, including the ancient past. Experimental Archaeology the Exhibition.Putting life into Late Neolithic houses.Registration Form for Individual Members.Registration Form for Institutional Members.Institutional Members Groups & Associations.Institutional Members Higher Education Centres.
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