Best For
Grades 9-12+ (Ages 14+)
Subjects
Geography, Social Studies, Science
Duration
2 minutes, 56 seconds
Appropriate For
T I S
For bio archaeologist, Dr. Jackie Eng, when an ancient communal grave is uncovered, her first job it to identify the number of individuals in the burial context. She does this by counting the number of left femurs. This way she won’t double count an individual, especially if some of the skulls are missing. Bones hold important information about an individual’s age, sex, and their lifestyle. By looking at their crania, for example, a fracture be evidence of violence in the culture or of environmental perils. From the bones, Eng can create a sort of character narrative for each individual discovered inside the caves, further illustrating what life might have been like hundreds of years ago in this high mountain environment. For Dr. Aldenderfer, finding ancient human bones is exciting, but what he’s really after are teeth. Most of the critical information held in the human body can be found in a single molar: analysis of dentine determines ancient DNA, while radiocarbon dating, and carbon and nitrogen isotopes in tooth enamel provide information about diet during childhood. Remarkably, strontium isotope analysis of tooth enamel, which forms during the neonatal period, can now tell us the birthplace of each individual.