A Case Study of the Fetal Skeleton from a Joseon Period Cemetery (original) (raw)
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Journal of Archaeological Science, 2020
Evidence of maternal care and childbirth events in the past are rare in the archaeological record and are difficult to recognize. To combat this, we analyzed thirteen double burials potentially related to childbirth death events, thereby containing an adult and a perinate. The specimens were excavated from the archaeological area identified as "Forlì Campus" (Forlì, Italy), that dated to 17 th-18 th centuries AD and was adjacent to a hospital in use at that time. This period witnessed the development of medical techniques and novel approaches in obstetrics in Europe, with the introduction of lying-in hospitals and maternity wards. We here tested if the double burials were ascribable to childbirth death events and thus represent the first reported cases of the hospitalization of childbirth in the history of medicine. A multidisciplinary analysis was undertaken to achieve this aim, combining anthropology, archaeology, paleopathology and archaeogenetics. In five burials the adult individual was recognized as a female in fertile age and the non-adult individual was assigned as perinate. Mitochondrial DNA analysis highlighted different haplotypes among the individuals of these burials, and these results, combined with the archaeological and anthropological data do not support a possible maternal relationship between them. This study is novel in testing the hypotheses of childbirth deaths, through a reliable approach in the interpretation of these archaeological contexts. The analysis of ancient DNA in this particular application proves a useful strategy to support and complete the interpretation of archaeological and anthropological data, showing that a general assumption of mother/child relations within such burials can be misleading.
Until relatively recently, fetuses, along with infants and children, were largely overlooked in bioarchaeological research. Over the past 20 years there has been increasing recognition of the importance of research on subadults in the archaeological context. However, although fetuses are now sometimes included in analyses of population health and isotopic studies of infant weaning and diet in the past, most research focuses on postnatal subadults. The neglect not only of fetuses, but of immature individuals, is a problem because we are missing a crucial part of the skeletal sample well known to be informative for understanding past population demography, stress and adaptation, and social organization factors.
PLOS ONE, 2016
In November and December 2013, unidentified human skeletal remains buried in a mokgwakmyo (a traditional wooden coffin) were unearthed while conducting an archaeological investigation near Gyeongju, which was the capital of the Silla Kingdom (57 BCE-660 CE) of ancient Korea. The human skeletal remains were preserved in relatively intact condition. In an attempt to obtain biological information on the skeleton, physical anthropological, mitochondrial DNA, stable isotope and craniofacial analyses were carried out. The results indicated that the individual was a female from the Silla period, of 155 ± 5 cm height, who died in her late thirties. The maternal lineage belonged to the haplogroup F1b1a, typical for East Asia, and the diet had been more C 3-(wheat, rice and potatoes) than C 4-based (maize, millet and other tropical grains). Finally, the face of the individual was reconstructed utilizing the skull (restored from osseous fragments) and three-dimensional computerized modeling system. This study, applying multi-dimensional approaches within an overall bio-anthropological analysis, was the first attempt to collect holistic biological information on human skeletal remains dating to the Silla Kingdom period of ancient Korea.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2009
The Teouma skeletal sample from Vanuatu represents one of the few truly colonising populations in the Pacific Islands. Therefore, investigating the factors that may have affected foetal/infant mortality in this population is potentially important for understanding the success of settlement in this region of the world. We investigate whether stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen in conjunction with skeletal ageing techniques, can aid in identifying whether the subadults from Teouma died before or after birth in an attempt to understand the potential threats to foetal and infant survival. Multiple skeletal ageing methods using diaphyseal lengths were used to age the young subadults (n 1⁄4 7). Using regression-based skeletal ageing methods, four of the individuals were aged at around full-term gesta- tion (37–42 weeks gestation), while the remaining three individuals died preterm. The isotope analyses did not assist in identifying the individuals that survived post-birth because none of the subadults displayed the 2–3& trophic increase in d15N values expected for a breastfed infant, probably as a result of their young age. However, all of the foetal/perinatal individuals exhibited higher d15N values in their bone collagen compared with the adult females of the sample, with two of the individuals demonstrating unusually high d15N values. The d13C values of the foetuses/perinates did not exhibit the same variation. We explore a number of possible explanations for this elevation of perinatal/foetal d15N values and tentatively suggest that this is a result of in utero stress as a consequence of chronic maternal ill-health. The osteological and palaeodemographic evidence supports the assertion that females, foetuses and perinates were susceptible to environmental stress within this colonising population, resulting in early death of the perinatal individuals in addition to early terminations of pregnancy or premature birth possibly caused by infectious and/or metabolic diseases.
WAC 8, Kyoto, 2016 Births, mothers and babies: a bioarchaeological perspective
Although births, mothers and babies present key pillars for human survival, their role has not been adequately studied, either by physical anthropology or archaeology. The attitudes of past communities towards pregnancy, birth and neonatal care must have played a key role in the success of the birthing process, but these have also not been satisfactorily addressed in archaeological writing. The aim of this session is to provide an overview of bioarchaeological research into the place of births, mothers and babies in ancient populations across time and space. Contributions will use multidisciplinary approaches and improved methodologies to address the roles and circumstances of birthing in human evolution. New methods for studying pregnancy, breastfeeding-weaning and social status of women and children, eg., through studies of nutrition, health, and growth, will be showcased.
Paleoparasitological studies on mummies of the Joseon Dynasty, Korea
The Korean journal of parasitology, 2014
Paleoparasitology is the application of conventional or molecular investigative techniques to archeological samples in order to reveal parasitic infection patterns among past populations. Although pioneering studies already have reported key paleoparasitological findings around the world, the same sorts of studies had not, until very recently, been conducted in sufficient numbers in Korea. Mummified remains of individuals dating to the Korean Joseon Dynasty actually have proved very meaningful to concerned researchers, owing particularly to their superb preservation status, which makes them ideal subjects for paleoparasitological studies. Over the past several years, our study series on Korean mummies has yielded very pertinent data on parasitic infection patterns prevailing among certain Joseon Dynasty populations. In this short review, we summarized the findings and achievements of our recent paleoparasitological examinations of Joseon mummies and discussed about the prospects for...
Mummification in Korea and China: Mawangdui, Song, Ming and Joseon Dynasty Mummies
BioMed Research International, 2018
Over the decades, mummy studies have expanded to reconstruct a multifaceted knowledge about the ancient populations' living conditions, pathologies, and possible cause of death in different spatiotemporal contexts. Mainly due to linguistic barriers, however, the international knowledge of East Asian mummies has remained sketchy until recently. We thus analyse and summarize the outcomes of the studies so far performed in Korea and China in order to provide mummy experts with little-known data on East Asian mummies. In this report, similarities and differences in the mummification processes and funerary rituals in Korea and China are highlighted. Although the historical periods, the region of excavation, and the structures of the graves differ, the cultural aspects, the mechanisms of mummification, and biological evidence appear to be essentially similar to each other. Independently from the way they are called locally, the Korean and Chinese mummies belong to the same group with a shared cultural background.
2016
Archaeologically excavated historic cemeteries are a unique and largely untapped dataset for answering questions about past populations using empirical methods. One such question centers around the assumptions that infant mortality was high in societies without modern fertility control and that infant remains are more likely to be poorly preserved and recovered from archaeological contexts than adult bones. To assess this, excavated osteological populations of European descent from historic cemeteries (1600-1950 AD) were studied for their age composition as compared to historical records and Model life tables. These datasets were then considered in their taphonomic contexts to determine which factors most affect preservation and recovery. The resulting calculation of the mortality and preservation of each population were compared statistically with traditional high mortality estimates, and applied experimentally to cemetery populations with an unknown number of infants and children....
PAPER PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY Effects of Cremation on Fetal Bones
The charring process is a weak point of anthropological analysis as it changes bone morphology and reduces information obtainable, specially in fetuses. This experiment aims at verifying the conservation of fetal bones after cremation. A total of 3138 fetuses of unknown sex and age were used, deriving from legal and therapeutic abortions from different hospitals of Milan. Cremations took place in modern crematoria. Nine cremation events were analyzed, each ranging from 57 to 915 simultaneously cremated fetuses. During the cremations, 4356 skeletal remains were recovered, 3756 of which (86.2%) were morphologically distinguishable. All types of fetal skeletal elements were found, with the exception of some cranial bones. Only 3.4% of individuals could be detected after the cremation process, because of the prevalence of abortions under 12 lunar weeks. All fire alterations were observed and the results were statistically analyzed. This pilot study confirmed the possibility of preservation of fetal skeletal elements after cremation.
Death in utero. A palæoanthropological and palæomedical approach
The grave from Fîrlădeni-La Văleanu (Căușeni District, Republic of Moldova), which is part of a still unexplored medieval necropolis, was discovered in 2015 and dated, according to the funeral ritual, in the 17th-18th centuries CE. The skeleton belongs to a female, with a biological age at death of approx. 17-18 years. Biomorphometric characteristics indicate Europoid and Mongoloid phenotypic features. The analysis of the dentition revealed several dental anomalies, and among the indicators of physiological stress, the linear enamel hypoplasia. Cribra cranii, cribra orbitalia, and periosteal changes/reactions on some limb bones diaphyses have been identified. Regarding the occupational indicators, we mention the septal aperture on the humeri and the squatting facets on the tibiae. On the coxae is well marked the preauricular sulcus, which is type 3 to 4. The detail that makes this discovery special is the presence of skeletal remains from another unborn individual, a foetus with an intrauterine age between 5-7 months. No pathologies or abnormalities visible to the naked eye were identified on the skeletal elements of this unborn child. For the Prut-Dniester area, the discovery from Fîrlădeni-La Văleanu is the first case of a pregnant woman discovered in an archaeological context and anthropologically documented.