The Post‐Mortem Pressure Distortion of Human Crania Uncovered in an Early Medieval Pohansko (Czech Republic) Graveyard

Bibliographic Data

ID7809685
AuthorsMikoláš Jurda (0000-0003-1733-3226, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kotlářská 2 611 37 Brno Czech Republic, corresponding author), Petra Urbanová (0000-0001-9321-3360, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kotlářská 2 611 37 Brno Czech Republic), Miroslav Králík (0000-0002-2077-4068, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kotlářská 2 611 37 Brno Czech Republic)
Year2015
Volume25
Issue4
Pages539-549
Publication date2015-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1047-482X • E-ISSN: 1099-1212
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/oa.2321
OpenAlexW2168007952
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited29

Post‐mortem distortion resulting from the pressure of overlying sediments (i.e. grave backfill) is one of the taphonomic factors capable of altering the geometry of buried and subsequently recovered skeletal remains. If pressure distortion is a frequent occurrence, it could systematically flaw the outcome of an anthropological examination. To study the patterns of post‐mortem distortion in buried crania and shape alterations associated with a specimen's in situ position, 46 male crania recovered from an Old Slavic graveyard (Pohansko, Czech Republic) were analysed together with control specimens from four modern European osteological collections (N = 207) using geometric morphometrics. The results indicate a common pattern of shape change in buried skulls associated with their in situ orientation. However, as the overall shape variation between the Old Slavic crania (which, with their tendency towards longer, narrower shapes differed markedly from the modern Czech crania) oriented in situ on their back and side reflects the duality of dolichocranial and brachycranial forms, it seems likely that the in situ positioning of the crania stemmed from their original morphology. The lack of substantial effect of the in situ orientation on the cranial morphology is associated with a larger cranial size and a tendency for sturdiness in the Old Slavic subsample. Both of these characteristics are likely to be contributing to the resistance of these crania to taphonomic alterations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Archaeology · Biology · Crania · Czech · Geography · Osteology · Slavic languages · Taphonomy · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · History · Morphological variations and asymmetry · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Anatomy · Geology

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