by Cristina Nuta -

Have you ever felt curiosity to find out some interesting facts about what a tomb and a skeleton can tell us about the person buried there?

Well, the eye of an archeologist can tell us enough clues about the person buried there by just looking at the tomb carefully for a couple of minutes or even at a photo of the tomb. We can take as an example the case of a tomb in the Amerindian cultures observing the tomb of a man, probably a rich important warrior, who didn’t die of natural causes.

How can an archeologist know that the man didn’t die of natural causes? Well, he can give us this information by looking at the line on the side of the skull: that’s where the skull was broken by something very heavy which had probably killed him. If the man had died of natural causes, the skull wouldn’t have that fracture.
Then, from looking at the pelvis, he knows it’s a man: if he had been a woman, the cavity would be larger. Also, in the Amerindian culture the position of the skeleton is like that of a baby in his mother and from here we can deduce the fact that in his culture death was seen as a new birth, the beginning of a new life.
Moreover, how can the archeologist tell the tomb belongs to a rich man? The answer is very easy: the contents of the tomb show this and can help to determine the occupation and even the rank of the person. In some cultures, people used to bury the dead with some of their belongings and sometimes even with dishes of their favourite foods. If the man hadn’t been rich and important, he wouldn’t have owned those fantastic jewels. The large piece of jewellery is in fact something warriors wore over their chests for protection in battle.

Likewise, by analyzing his mouth the archeologist can guess what type of food he used to consume. Therefore, if his teeth are worn this means that his diet probably consisted of meat and hard vegetables: if he had eaten just vegetables his teeth wouldn’t be so worn.

All this is amazing but is only the beginning. Once the archeologists have the information they can get, they pass it on to the computer engineers. Then if you press the correct keys on the keyboard, the screen lights up and the old pyramids, the people and their towns and villages appear before your eyes. It’s really a very exciting new development, the final step towards really bringing the past back to life.
Digging Up the Past written by Cristina Nuta for FamousWhy.com
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Digging Up the Past web.utk.edu

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Tags: digg, past, explore

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Category: Education  - ( Education Archive)

Date Added: 05 February '07

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