The Harappan Civilization, one of the earliest complex societies in the world, flourished on the Indian subcontinent. Although many additional Harappan settlements and cemeteries have been discovered and investigated, no coupled burials at Harappan cemeteries have been reported to date. In 2013–2016, we excavated the cemetery of the Rakhigarhi site (Haryana), the largest city of the Harappan Civilization. At the site, we found a grave that turned out to be a coupled (joint) burial of the primary type. This report is the first anthropologically confirmed case of coupled burial from a Harappan cemetery.
Anthropology ; Burial ; Cemeteries* ; Civilization*

Excavation (2008–2014) carried out under the Uffizi Gallery (Florence, Italy) led to the discovery of 75 individuals, mostly buried in multiple graves. Based on Roman minted coins, the graves were preliminarily dated between the second half of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th centuries CE. Taphonomy showed that this was an emergency burial site associated with a catastrophic event, possibly an epidemic of unknown etiology with high mortality rates. In this perspective, paleoparasitological investigations were performed on 18 individuals exhumed from 9 multiple graves to assess the burden of gastrointestinal parasitism. Five out of eighteen individuals (27.7%) tested positive for ascarid-type remains; these are considered as “decorticated” Ascaris eggs, which have lost their outer mammillated coat. Roundworms (genus Ascaris) commonly infest human populations under dire sanitary conditions. Archaeological and historical evidence indicates that Florentia suffered a period of economic crisis between the end of 4th and the beginning of the 5th centuries CE, and that the aqueduct was severely damaged at the beginning of the 4th century CE, possibly during the siege of the Goths (406 CE). It is more than plausible that the epidemic, possibly coupled with the disruption of the aqueduct, deeply affected the living conditions of these individuals. A 27.7% frequency suggests that ascariasis was widespread in this population. This investigation exemplifies how paleoparasitological information can be retrieved from the analysis of sediments sampled in cemeteries, thus allowing a better assessment of the varying frequency of parasitic infections among ancient populations.
Ascariasis ; Ascaris ; Burial ; Cemeteries ; Eggs ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Italy ; Mentha ; Mortality ; Numismatics ; Ovum ; Social Conditions

Sixty years after the massacre took place at Jeju, authors carried out a series of exhumations. The exhumation based on anthropological and archaeological method allowed for the interpretation of events occurring during the burial of the body and provided data for crime scene investigation, the evidence.
Burial ; Crime ; Exhumation

The loss of penile skin, either traumatic or iatrogenic, is sometimes difficult to treat. The classical modes of surgical treatment are a thick split thickness graft and burial beneath the scrotal skin. Apron method, one stage penoplasty using the scrotal skin flap in the treatment of penile denudation, is reported herein.
Burial ; Male ; Penis* ; Skin ; Transplants

Harappan Civilization is well known for highly sophisticated urban society, having been flourished in extensive regions of northwestern part of Pakistan and northeastern part of Afghanistan as its heyday around 4500 years ago. Most archaeologists agree on the periodization of this civilization as three different phases (Early, Mature and Late), which represent its cultural process of origin, development and decline. From the Harappan sites, one can note that there were about more than fifty burial sites discovered so far related with the civilization. In this article, we are trying to introduce the brief picture of the Harappan burials from the archaeological as well as anthropological perspectives.
Afghanistan ; Anthropology ; Archaeology ; Burial* ; Civilization* ; Humans ; India* ; Pakistan

This study was undertaken to investigate the morphological changes of scalp hair according to weathering after burial and to offer basic data for forensic science. To examine the effect of weathering degree, the 51 human scalp hairs buried after death were taken from deceased individuals in tombs in Korea. The morphological changes in weathering hair shafts of the scalp were investigated using the transmission electron microscopes (TEM). There were little morphological differences of weathering depending on the burial period. The weathering changes includes detachment of cuticle layer, aggregation of macrofibril and hollow formation in the cortex according to the burial period. These results could provide basic data to the field of forensic medicine.
Burial ; Electrons ; Forensic Medicine ; Forensic Sciences ; Hair ; Humans ; Korea ; Scalp ; Weather

This study was undertaken to investigate the morphological changes of scalp hair according to weathering after burial and to offer basic data for forensic science. To examine the effect of weathering degree, the 51 human scalp hairs buried after death were taken from deceased individuals in tombs in Korea. The morphological changes in weathering hair shafts of the scalp were investigated using the transmission electron microscopes (TEM). There were little morphological differences of weathering depending on the burial period. The weathering changes includes detachment of cuticle layer, aggregation of macrofibril and hollow formation in the cortex according to the burial period. These results could provide basic data to the field of forensic medicine.
Burial ; Electrons ; Forensic Medicine ; Forensic Sciences ; Hair ; Humans ; Korea ; Scalp ; Weather

GyeongGi Cultural Foundation was requested the identification of eight excavated human skeletons from Neunggok residential development district within Siheung-si. Those were measured for distinguishing sex, stature, and age at death using metric and non-metric methods. The identification of eight human remains was not easy because the excavated bones were destroyed partly and totally. Six skeletons were excavated from the limed-soiled mixture tomb; five remains among 8 were buried in same grave and 2 skeletons were excavated from the earthen tomb. Four remains were determined female skeletons. One skeleton was assumed adolescence, three skeletons were estimated 40's~50's years old and others couldn't be done. Four among eight remain skeletons, the stature of female remains was around 150~157 cm and male's stature was around 165 cm. Most bones were damaged and destroyed, and the remaining teeth on the maxilla and mandible were not enough for identification. We couldn't identify through metric and non-metric methods. If the human skeletal remains were not found with artifact, those couldn't determine the period. So we couldn't know the relationship between the period of burial and condition of bones. For this reason, we will study the identification using the small and damaged bones. Anthropologists and archeaologists need to work together to make database to determine identification and period.
Adolescent ; Anthropology, Physical ; Archaeology ; Artifacts ; Burial ; Female ; Humans ; Mandible ; Maxilla ; Skeleton ; Tooth

Commercial kits usually recommend certain range of the amount of DNA without PCR inhibitors for optimal results. If proper DNA is not used in STR amplification, undesirable results such as enhanced stutter effects, split peaks, allele dropout and poor peak balance could be shown. This phenomenon would happen more frequently in case of bone typing. Therefore, we checked effect of DNA concentration and PCR inhibitors on conventional STR typing results using QuantifilerTM Human DNA Quantification Kit. The 54 bone samples over a 60-year burial period were used in this study. In all samples, the DNA concentration ranged from 0.8 pg/ul to 748 pg/ul and Ct values of IPC that indicates residue of PCR inhibitors ranged from 26.69 to 35.59. The DNA concentration and the number of amplified loci showed positive correlation. The number of loci amplified using Minifiler kit was much more than using Y filer kit. Samples with high Ct value of IPC were not almost amplified with Y filer kit. These results suggested that QuantifilerTM Kit is useful to obtain information for DNA typing.
Alleles ; Burial ; DNA ; DNA Fingerprinting ; Forensic Sciences ; Humans ; Patient Dropouts ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

An average height of adult males of Joseon period was estimated by utilizing excavated skeletal remains of the era. The height estimation formula for Mongoloid males by Trotter and Gleser (1958) was applied to the maximum femur lengths from 85 individuals' skeletal remains identified as grown-up males by the author of this paper. Individual estimations were obtained first, and then the mean of the central numbers of the individual estimations was taken as the group average. The average height of the 85 individuals was estimated 164.49 cm. When the sample was divided by the burial type, a presumed indicator of the socioeconomic status of the buried, those buried in the lime-mortar type burials were generally taller than those buried in the earth-pit type burials. When the Eunpyeong site was examined separately, those excavated from the earth-pit type burials were shorter about 1.5 cm than those excavated from the lime-mortar type burials. Because it is presumed that the earth-pit type burials were mostly used by commoners during the Joseon period, the mean height of the adult males from the earth-pit type burials can be considered as a mean height of adult male commoners of the era. The mean height of those from the earth-pit type burials was 164.09 cm when the total sample was analyzed and 163.19 cm when only those from Eunpyeong were analyzed. When estimated from skeletal remains, the adult Korean male commoners from middle and southern Korea of Joseon period were as tall as or a little taller than those adult Korean males from middle Korea measured by Westerners or Japanese in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Burial ; Femur ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Social Class