1,721,067 research outputs found
The place of human remains in the frame of cultural heritage: the restitution of medieval skeletons from a Jewish cemetery
Full text linkFor social, cultural, religious and political reasons the human remains may represent powerful symbols with different meanings that changed over time among the different communities and countries. Thus, they have a sensitive nature that poses them in a “grey area”, still failing in terms of finding an adequate positioning in the research, in the contemporary cultural institutions and museums. Italy still lacks any official guidelines to follow in the case of protests and claims for restitution of human remains. Only recently, Italy experienced for the first time the restitution and reburial of skeletons coming from a me- dieval Jewish cemetery before the whole anthropological study could be completed. This event re-opens the debate, largely addressed in many Western countries from the 1990s but marginally until now in Italy, of the disputes between the legitimacy of scientific research on human remains and other various instances (ethnicity, religion, public view...). The case study provides the opportunity to propose our re- flections on the legal position of human remains and on their fate in the often-contrasting viewpoints between the public and the researches
Le relazione enigmatiche: la sepoltura triplice di Dolní Vĕstonice (Moravia, 26-27000 BP).
No full textDallo studio delle ossa umane ai comportamenti funerari: anomalo vs. Normale.
No full textIl rapporto tra l’uomo e la morte è cambiato nel tempo ma, mentre per le epoche protostoriche e storiche la presenza di documenti scritti amplia la possibilità di interpretare i rinvenimenti archeologici, fornendo un quadro culturale di riferimento nel quale ricercare informazioni sulla concezione della morte, nella preistoria, e soprattutto prima che i contesti funerari siano chiaramente riconoscibili con la scoperta di vere e proprie sepolture (intorno a 200,000 anni fa), la documentazione disponibile è costituita essenzialmente dai resti scheletrici umani. Quindi il contributo dell’Antropologia fisica in questo contesto assume particolare rilevanza per la possibilità di fornire dati su eventuali interventi intenzionalmente praticati peri mortem o post mortem (smembramento, scarnificazione, accumulo di ossa, ecc.) in un’ottica paleoepidemiologica che tenga quindi conto del profilo biologico (età alla morte, sesso) dei resti esaminati.
Un altro aspetto è quello relativo alla possibilità di fare luce e anticipare, rispetto a quanto noto e per ampi contesti geografici e temporali caratterizzati da nicchie ecologiche diverse, la comparsa di comportamenti che possono apparire del tutto inediti nonché anomali, in quanto non codificati ed estranei ai sistemi socio-culturali di riferimento. Alcune pratiche segnalate per la lontana preistoria si ritrovano infatti anche in epoche successive in ambiti anche molto diversi. Dal punto di vista metodologico la documentazione relativa ai resti scheletrici umani assume pari rilevanza rispetto a quella di altre discipline (e.g. etnologiche e storiche) fornendo, pur senza procedere per analogie forzate e attraverso semplificazioni statistiche, suggestioni, modelli e confronti per l’interpretazione dei contesti archeologici
Il carattere del progetto di restauro
No full textIl progetto di architettura che si tratti del restauro di un edificio o di una nuova fabbrica, richiede l’individuazione di un tema, di una idea che lo sostenga, richiede la definizione del carattere e della sua finalità (non lo scopo, che riguarda più la funzione).
Il momento della formalizzazione del tema o dei temi di progetto attiene il processo mentale e ordinatorio dunque la composizione.
Il progetto di restauro, come qualsiasi altro progetto architettonico, riguarda quindi la composizione architettonica, mi riferisco alla tecnica della composizione, che appartiene a tutti quelli che si occupano di architettura. Il comporre ha come obiettivo la produzione della forma
A muscular imprint on the anterolateral surface of the proximal femurs of the Krapina Neandertal collection
No full textObjectives: The purpose of this study is to report and interpret a feature on the anterolateral surface
of the proximal femurs of the Krapina hominid collection that we briefly described in 2006
(Periodicum Biologorum, 108, 319–329).
Materials and Methods: We recorded the presence or absence of the feature in all the proximal
femurs of the Krapina collection (six specimens recordable) and in 622 modern human adult femurs.
Results: The feature consists in a series of crests delimitating three raised or depressed areas. This
feature has been found in three out of four adult Neandertal femurs observable. The two observable
subadult Neandertal femurs do not show this character. None of the modern femurs
displayed the feature.
Conclusion: We interpret this feature as a muscular imprint, probably representing the m. vastus
intermedius origin and discuss a possible interpretation. We did not find any other references for
such imprint in the existing literature regarding the Neandertal femurs
New insights into the funerary rituals of the Neolithic site of Passo di Corvo (Apulia, Italy): The study of the human remains
No full textIn the present study we analyse the human skeletal remains of 10 of the 12 inhumations brought to light in the
Neolithic ditched village of Passo di Corvo (VI millennium B.C., Foggia, Apulia, Italy), excavated between 1966
and 1980. The burials were identified as primary inhumations during the excavations, but we observed intentional
peri mortem lesions (cut, chop and scrape marks) on some of the bones, attesting practices of defleshing and
possibly of dismemberment. These findings indicate that the funerary rituals of the Neolithic people of Passo di
Corvo included cadaver treatment practices that were impossible to postulate without a careful observation of
the bones. This study highlights the importance of anthropological analysis even in the case of apparently clear
contexts
Proposal of a data collection form to record dento-alveolar features. Application to two Roman skeltal samples from Italy.
No full textBones and teeth are an important source of information about the lifestyle, health status and dietary habits of past populations. Modifications and lesions of the periodontal tissues also provide information about the health status and behavior of an individual or of an ancient population. In this paper a method to record some dento-alveolar features of both deciduous and permanent teeth is described. The forms that we propose make it easy to record the data in a Microsoft ® Excel sheet. The form for adults has been applied to two Roman Imperial age skeletal samples from northern Italy - Casalecchio di Reno (Bologna, II-V c. AD) (data not published) - and central Italy - Quadrella (I-IV c. AD, Isernia, Molise)
Variation of skeletal degenerative joint disease features in an identified Italian modern skeletal collection
No full textObjectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship of degenerative joint disease (DJD) features
(marginal lipping, porosity, surface osteophytes, eburnation, and loss of joint morphology) with sex, age, and
occupation.
Materials and Methods: We devised a recording method for scoring the single features in the shoulder, elbow,
wrist, hip, knee, and ankle of an Italian skeletal sample of 332 individuals (males5161, females5171) of known
sex, age, and occupation from the Frassetto collection (Sassari, Sardinia, 19th–20th century).
Results: Our data revealed that: (1) the frequency of all features increases with age; (2) porosity is the first feature
to appear, being in general the most frequent feature in young adults; (3) sex differences are especially found
in the upper limbs of mature and elderly adults; (4) marginal lipping and surface osteophytes show a lesser age correlation
and, in general, higher frequencies in the left lower limb; (5) no differences were found among different
occupations.
Discussion: We explain these results in light of different metabolic and adaptive processes in relation to age and
sex. Static (weight-bearing) rather than dynamic mechanical stress could play a pivotal role in the distribution of
the features observed in the lower limbs. The considerable increase in marginal lipping and surface osteophytes in
elderly adults may be an adaptation for sustaining mechanical loading, balancing the loss of bone tissue which is
characteristic of ageing processes (osteopenia, osteoporosis)
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