Theme:
Theories and methods in archaeological sciences
Session format:
Session, made up of a combination of papers, max. 15 minutes each
Title:
The destructive, non-destructive, and non-invasive: (Bio)archaeological sciences, and narrating the body in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East
Content:
State-of-the-art methods and techniques in human bioarchaeology currently include destructive, non-destructive, minimally destructive, and non-invasive approaches. This session takes stock of current research, and explores potential for future research in human bioarchaeology in the EMME region (Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East), a region where key developments in human history took place: domestication, writing systems, urbanisation. Papers within the session will showcase both new approaches utilising scientific techniques and methods originating in other disciplines, as well as approaches already well established human bioarchaeology. It will critically reflect on the integration of both the standard bioarchaeological and state-of-the-art scientific and technological approaches, ranging from synchrotron radiation enabled bioarchaeology and stable isotope studies, to name a few, to digital bioarchaeology. Further, papers will address the integration of scientific and technological approaches within human bioarchaeology with theoretically informed approaches in narrating the body. The session participants will present both morphological, metric and statistical bioarchaeological research, together with funerary taphonomy, focusing on the EMME region, as well as bioarchaeological research exploring the integration of advanced scientific and technological approaches, instrumentation and tools to explore the human past, and the past human body and mortuary contexts in particular. The session participants will engage in a critically informed discussion as to the potential of new scientific techniques and new methodologies in bioarchaeological research and interpretation, as well as explore the current debates relating to the use of destructive, non-destructive, minimally destructive, and non-invasive approaches, with particular focus on the EMME region.
Keywords:
bioarchaeology, body, EMME, archaeological sciences
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Main organiser:
Kirsi Lorentz (Cyprus) 1
Co-organisers:
Dr Ali Metin Büyükkarakaya (Turkey) 2
Affiliations:
1. Science and Technology in Archaeology Research Center, The Cyprus Institute
2. Antropoloji Bölümü, Hacettepe Üniversitesi
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