Preservation of Archaeological Remains

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Preservation of Archaeological Remains
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Preservation

• Environment generally unconducive to preserving
  artifacts.
• Effects
• Color and Texture
• Weight and Shape 
• Agents of Deterioration
• Chemical (acid soils, water, oxygen)
• Physical (water, wind, sunlight, earth movement)
• Biological (bacteria, fungi, carnivores, rodents)
• Effects not only artifacts, but sites they are
  contained in.

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Types of Artifacts

• Organic
• Bone
• Leather
• Textiles
• Wood
• Inorganic
• Stone
• Baked pots
• Mud bricks
• Gold, Copper, Bronze

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Favorable Conditions

• Dry Conditions
• Tutunkahmens tomb
• Caves in SW U.S.

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King Tutunkahmens Tomb(Discovered in 1922 by
Howard and Carter)
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Spirit Cave Man
Among the archaeological remains found in 1940 in
Spirit Cave,13 miles east of Fallon, Nevada, was
a partially mummified human burial wrapped in two
tule mats. Only the head and part of the right
shoulder are mummified, with intact skin. Dates
to 9,41525 years ago.
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Spirit Cave Textiles
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Ancient Footwear
Ancient, 8,000-year-old shoes found in a Missouri
cave show that fashion in footwear is nothing new
and, in fact, is much older than anyone thought.
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Favorable Conditions

• Wet/Water-logged
• Bogs in Denmark
• Mud Slides in Washington
• Underwater

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Lindow Man

• First, he had been hit twice on the crown of his
  head with a blunt object, probably an ax he had
  also been struck once at the base of his skull.
  Second, he had been strangled.
• Around Lindow Man's neck was a small rope that
  had been twisted tightly, closing off his
  windpipe and breaking two of his neck vertebrae.
• Finally, scientists found a gash at the throat,
  which may indicate that his throat was cut,
  though some scientists think that the wound
  occurred naturally after his death.
• If indeed his throat was cut, it was probably
  done to drain his body of blood.

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Tollund Man

• The amazingly well-preserved and beatific-looking
  Tollund man is a veritable poster boy for human
  sacrifice.
• Tollund Man was discovered in 1950 by two men
  cutting peat, who were sure he must be a recent
  murder victim, but the body dated from the
  Iron-Age.
• Tollund Man had been buried naked except for a
  pointed skin cap and a hide belt.
• Around his neck was a nose woven from two leather
  thongs. Tollund Man was immediately excavated and
  transported to a museum, where it was determined
  that he was 2000 years old.
• After an examination of the body, it was
  concluded that Tollund Man was probably hanged
  after a ritual meal of cereal gruel.

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Tollund Man
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Windover Man
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Windover, FL

• Laboratory tests proved however, that cautious
  speculation had become reality.
• The material was, indeed, human brain tissue.
• This first find was from a woman who died at
  approximately 45 years of age.
• Over the three six-month field seasons 91 skulls
  were found to contain brain tissue.
• Some contained complete brains. Although they
  were shrunken to a third their normal size, the
  brain hemispheres and convolutions were clearly
  intact. T
• he finding of such a large amount of ancient
  brain tissue made the find especially unique.
• Never before had scientists had the opportunity
  to try to clone DNA--the basic building block of
  heredity from tissue so old.

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Ozette Site
Cedar dug-out canoe from the Ozette site
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Rock Art at Ozette
http//content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.e
xe?CISOROOT/locCISOPTR1605CISORESTMPCISOVIEW
TMP
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Artifacts
Cedar box
Bowl
Wood whale dorsal w/ 700 otter's teeth
Wooden Club
http//daphne.palomar.edu/ais130/site_2.htm
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Survey Of Ship Wrecks 2000 Sabine River, Texas
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Favorable Conditions

• Cold
• The Lost Franklin Expedition
• The Ice Maiden
• Inca Mummies

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The Franklin Expedition

• The two lavishly equipped ships H.M.S. Erebus and
  Terror sailed proudly from the Thames on the
  morning of 19 May 1845.
• The combined crews of 134 men under the command
  of Sir John Franklin cheered loudly at the sight
  of a dove settling on the
• main mast of Erebus. It was a good omen, an omen
  of peace and harmony that enveloped the already
  confident expedition
• members.
• Only a small proportion of the 129 men's remains
  were ever found, and many excursions into the
  Arctic today still come across an occasional
  human bone or Franklin relic.
• Subsequent forensic investigations have revealed
  that the tins taken on the Franklin expedition
  were soldered with lead, which would have seeped
  into the food the men were eating. They were
  suffering from the effects of lead poisoning.

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Ships on Ice
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Scattered Human Remains
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Cannibalism
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Ice Maiden

• In 1993, Russian archeologist Natalya Polosmak
  found the famous Ice Maiden of Gorno Altai, in a
  Pazyryk burial chamber just inside the strip of
  no-man's-land that is the border frozen as it was
  in a thick block of ice.
• As the thawing progressed, she realized the
  corpse was female. Along with the horses
  sacrificed outside the burial chamber, the Ice
  Maiden was found with gilded ornaments, dishes,
  a brush, and a hand mirror.
• A small stone dish found at the end of the
  coffin contained seeds, thought to be marijuana
  until closer examination revealed they were
  coriander.
• Polosmak speculated that these seeds wereburnt
  for their scent, perhaps to cover the odor of the
  body.

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Ice Maiden
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Ice Maiden Tattoos
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Ice Maiden
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Ice Maiden clothing
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Inca Mummies, Andes, Peru
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Inca Sacrifices

• Later x-rays will reveal thatSarita died from a
  blow to her head.
• The discovery is proof that the ancients used
  Sara Sara for sacrifice.
• On the bitterly cold Andean mountains, as close
  to the heavens as the Incans could get, there are
  potentially many other child sacrifices.
• They were victims of the mysterious practice of
  capacocha.

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Sarita
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Juanita Discovery