DOI Heft:
Egypt
DOI Artikel:Kaczmarek, Maria: Human skeletal remains from tombs 21, 29 and 30
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42091#0095
MARINA EL-ALAMEIN
EGYPT
APPENDIX
HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS
FROM TOMBS 21, 29 AND 30
Maria Kaczmarek
The aim of the anthropological study is
usually twofold: to describe the range of
morphological variation (based on cranio-
metries, odontometrics and osteometries)
and to identify skeletal and dental diseases
among ancient people.
The sample under study comprised 53
burials of both sexes and varied age at death
[see Table 1}. The funeral niches contained
mostly double or multiple burials. Single
burials were the exception (e.g. burials in
loculi situated on the east wall of Tomb 21
or in Tomb 29). In multiple burials, the
dead were usually laid out next to one
another, but in some cases they were
deposited in two or even three layers. All
but a number of the subadult burials were
mummified, but the mummification varied
widely both in the quality of the original
treatment and the state of preservation.
There were mummies accurately wrapped in
bandages forming a rhomboid pattern on
the surface (subadult burials from loculus 5,
Tomb 21) and furnished with portraits
(burials from loculus 5, Tomb 21, cf. above,
Fig. 11). Some dead were buried in wooden
coffins (male burials from Tomb 29), but
the majority were not. High salinity and
humidity caused the rapid decay of the
bodies resulting in their very poor state of
preservation with only the bones surviving
and in very fragile condition at that.
Additionally, some burials were badly
damaged by plunderers who had cut off the
heads from the body and dislocated the
bones. For these reasons, the present analysis
cannot hope to be complete (see Table 2).
The dead were laid on their back in
supine position with arms resting along the
body and hands either crossed on the womb
or extended along the body. No gender-
specific arrangement of the hands was
observed. In Tomb 21, one of the burials lay
face down. The orientation of the burials
followed the rule of the head being situated
toward the entrance of the burial niche.
While the excavated burials consisted of
males, females and subadults, male burials
outnumbered female ones, reflecting
perhaps some characteristic of the funerary
rites of these people. The sample, however,
is not a representation of a panmictic
population and conclusions should be
drawn with care.
The demographic characteristics are
shown in Table 1, where the distribution of
the dead according to sex and age at death is
given.12 In Tomb 29, there were 13
individuals: nine males, two females, one
with a 4-6 month-old baby laid on the
12 Sex and age at death were assessed in compliance with J.E. Buikstra, D.H. Ubelaker, Standards for data collection from
human skeletal remains. Proceedings of a seminar at the Field Museum of Natural History organized by Jonathan Haas,
Arkansas Archeological Survey Research Series 44 (1994).
91
EGYPT
APPENDIX
HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS
FROM TOMBS 21, 29 AND 30
Maria Kaczmarek
The aim of the anthropological study is
usually twofold: to describe the range of
morphological variation (based on cranio-
metries, odontometrics and osteometries)
and to identify skeletal and dental diseases
among ancient people.
The sample under study comprised 53
burials of both sexes and varied age at death
[see Table 1}. The funeral niches contained
mostly double or multiple burials. Single
burials were the exception (e.g. burials in
loculi situated on the east wall of Tomb 21
or in Tomb 29). In multiple burials, the
dead were usually laid out next to one
another, but in some cases they were
deposited in two or even three layers. All
but a number of the subadult burials were
mummified, but the mummification varied
widely both in the quality of the original
treatment and the state of preservation.
There were mummies accurately wrapped in
bandages forming a rhomboid pattern on
the surface (subadult burials from loculus 5,
Tomb 21) and furnished with portraits
(burials from loculus 5, Tomb 21, cf. above,
Fig. 11). Some dead were buried in wooden
coffins (male burials from Tomb 29), but
the majority were not. High salinity and
humidity caused the rapid decay of the
bodies resulting in their very poor state of
preservation with only the bones surviving
and in very fragile condition at that.
Additionally, some burials were badly
damaged by plunderers who had cut off the
heads from the body and dislocated the
bones. For these reasons, the present analysis
cannot hope to be complete (see Table 2).
The dead were laid on their back in
supine position with arms resting along the
body and hands either crossed on the womb
or extended along the body. No gender-
specific arrangement of the hands was
observed. In Tomb 21, one of the burials lay
face down. The orientation of the burials
followed the rule of the head being situated
toward the entrance of the burial niche.
While the excavated burials consisted of
males, females and subadults, male burials
outnumbered female ones, reflecting
perhaps some characteristic of the funerary
rites of these people. The sample, however,
is not a representation of a panmictic
population and conclusions should be
drawn with care.
The demographic characteristics are
shown in Table 1, where the distribution of
the dead according to sex and age at death is
given.12 In Tomb 29, there were 13
individuals: nine males, two females, one
with a 4-6 month-old baby laid on the
12 Sex and age at death were assessed in compliance with J.E. Buikstra, D.H. Ubelaker, Standards for data collection from
human skeletal remains. Proceedings of a seminar at the Field Museum of Natural History organized by Jonathan Haas,
Arkansas Archeological Survey Research Series 44 (1994).
91