This module is an introduction to bioarchaeology, a subject which includes both molecular and other biological techniques applied to archaeological material.

This module provides a broad understanding of the principles and methods of biochemistry, isotope chemistry and molecular biology to the study of archaeology. The lectures introduce: the uses of stable isotopes to examine ancient diets and migration, and methods to analyse and interpret food residues; the uses and abuses of ancient DNA and its integration with modern genetics and considers the interplay between forensic science and biomolecular archaeology. Finally the emerging discipline of proteomics – using distinctive patterns of proteins to identify species is also introduced. 

The course will introduce the scientific principles on which such work relies and will assess the utility and applications of such methods in present day archaeology. The benefits of integrating all aspects or archaeological information will be stressed and the general philosophical principles of scientific and archaeological investigations will be considered, for example the relationship between the scientific analysis of diet and the archaeological reconstruction of food will be explored.  The module aims to give students basic practical experience in some of the scientific techniques involved, and the opportunity to see the techniques of dietary reconstruction applied. The module is assessed by essay and coursework, and includes a journal club that allows students to explore a current debate in bioarchaeology. 

• Demonstrate practical abilities required to carry out simple bioarchaeological experiments
• Describe the concepts underpinning bioarchaeological sampling, analysis and reporting
• Use appropriate language to report bioarchaeological analytical procedures
• Complete and follow H&S requirements
• Link observation to theory
• Produce graphical images to illustrate observations
• Critically evaluate outcomes of bioarchaeological analysis and identify their personal role in achieving these outcomes

A series of introductory lectures and demonstrations provide an overview of the techniques and applications of bioarchaeoloy.  Teaching centres on implanting the thought patterns of bioarchaeological analysis into students, using discussion of both theory and practical techniques. Underpinning theory is translated into practice via demonstration and student exercises, including student work on bioarchaeological assemblages and datasets.  There is an element of team work within the module.

Lectures will be balanced with supervised practical classes where students will learn bioarchaeological techniques and then develop skills in analysis and reporting on biological materials.

Each 10 credit module is regarded by the university as requiring 100 study hours, so for this 20 credit module you should expect to complete at least 200 study hours.

Lectures

10 x 50 minute sessions              

Workshops and Laboratory Classes

10 x 180 minute sessions      

Students will develop their ability to identify appropriate recording and interpretation options for bioarchaeological materials. They will also develop their analytical skills, ability to critically assess the bioarchaeologcial literature and the evaluation and communication of bioarchaeological analyses.

On completion of the module the typical student should know:

• The nature of bioarchaeological analysis
• How to synthesise observation and research
• The basic introductory texts in bioarchaeological literature
• The basic terms and conventions employed in bioarchaeological.
• The H&S regulations applicable to bioarchaeological  analysis

On completion of the module the typical student should understand :

• The aims of bioarchaeological bone analysis
• A range of techniques for the analysis and interpretation of bioarchaeological in archaeology
• The concepts and structure of bioarchaeological research.

• The H&S procedure for bioarchaeological laboratories

On completion of the module the typical student be able to do the following:

• Have a competent overview of the use and acquisition of bioarchaeological practical data.
• Describe the concepts underpinning bioarchaeological analysis  
• Critically compare data sets of bioarchaeological material from archaeological sites
• Prepare and interpret primary bioarchaeological data under guidance
• Interpret a variety of information forms and assimilate/manage numerical and graphical data;
• Deploy data from technical reports.
• To observe and visually discriminate between the different elements of bioarchaeological data
• Use appropriate language to report bioarchaeological procedures
• Link observation to theory
• Complete and follow H&S requirements
• Contribute to group discussions, ask pertinent questions and co-operate with and learn from peers.

Summative assessment - 100% Coursework – One essay (2000 words) to compare and contrast different methods of bioarchaeological investigation (50%).  One report on laboratory preparation, analysis and interpretation of stable isotope datasets.  Marks are awarded on the basis of your laboratory notebook, write up, presentation and interpretation of data (50%).

Formative assessment - Journal Club presentation – you will be allocated a paper to read as a group. After discussing the paper you will present your response to it in a 10 minute presentation in Week 4. 

The potential for reassessment in this module Supplementary Coursework - Reassessment will take the form of coursework undertaken before the summer exam board.

Syllabus content

Methods, techniques and interpretative approaches involved in studying biological materials from archaeological sites.  The module will introduce the major bioarchaeological methodologies employed, provide practical experience in laboratory and analytical skills and in the presentation of data. The full range of potential bioarchaeological information available from archaeological sites will be described and students will be instructed in the selection of appropriate techniques and the importance of integrating all sets of data.  Students are taught the full range of analytical techniques available to provide information on the lives and deaths of living organisms (plants, animal and human).  Students will develop their analytical, practical and critical skills supported by the production of a short report on a bioarchaeological data set.

Semester 1

Week 1 

Lecture Title -  Introducing Bioarchaeology

Lecture Content - What is it? How does bioarchaeology relate to archaeology?   An introduction to traditional and novel approaches

Workshop/Laboratory Class - Health and Safety in the Laboratory Finding Scientific papers, how to read a paper

Self-guided study - Read a scientific paper

Week 2

Lecture Title -  Diet and Subsistence

Lecture Content - What are the essentials needed for survival? Traditional ‘indirect’ methods of diet reconstruction.  Physical anthropology: what are the skeletal indicators of nutrition and diet? Human and animal diets

Workshop/Laboratory Class - Practical: Biomolecular analysis: The methodologies and sampling strategies in stable isotope analysis. Drilling, sandblasting and de-minerlisation.

Self-guided study - Journal Club: You will be put into small groups and allocated a paper.  You should read the paper and in your group discuss it.  You will be required to present your ideas in Week 4.  A room will be available for you to begin group work during the afternoon session, when you are not taking part in the stable isotope analysis.

Week 3

Lecture Title -  Stable isotopes I:

Lecture Content - What are they? Dietary reconstruction: Carbon and nitrogen isotopes.  Trophic levels, marine and terrestrial diets.   Main UK researchers Hedges, Richards, Mays, O’Connor and Schulting critiqued by Milner and Craig. 

Workshop/Laboratory Class - Practical: Biomolecular analysis: Drilling, sandblasting and de-minerlisation

Self-guided study - You will discuss your paper and how you are going to present it.  Presentations should be approximately 10 mins long.

Week 4

Lecture Title -  Stable isotopes II:

Lecture Content - Location and climate. Lead, oxygen, strontium and sulphur.  Geological mapping, climatic reconstructions.   Main researchers Budd, Montgomery, Price and Evans.

Workshop/Laboratory Class - Practical: Biomolecular analysis: Drilling, sandblasting and de-mineralisation

Self-guided study - Your Journal Club presentations 14.10-17.00 room TBA

Week 5

Lecture Title -  Ancient DNA 1:

Lecture Content - An introduction to aDNA and the genetics of inheritance.

Workshop/Laboratory Class - Practical: Sample washing, Gelatinisation

Self-guided study - Write up laboratory notes

Week 6

READING WEEK

Week 7

Lecture Title -  Ancient DNA 2:

Lecture Content - Ancient DNA 2: Issues in aDNA Main researchers Sykes, Brown, Cooper, Bradley, Willeslev.

Workshop/Laboratory Class - Practical: Conclusion of collagen extraction.

Self-guided study - Write up laboratory note

Week 8

Lecture Title -  Residues: :

Lecture Content - Residues: Lipids and alkaloids. Main researchers Evershed, Heron and Stern.

Workshop/Laboratory Class - Visit to aDNA laboratory

Self-guided study - Essay Hand in 3.30pm Thursday

Week 9

Lecture Title -  Proteomics

Lecture Content - Using proteins and peptides Main researchers Collins and Craig. 

Workshop/Laboratory Class - Seminar: Stable Isotope Results I. In small groups you will consider the results from stable isotope analysis and what they mean.  You will need to have an understanding of what stable isotopes represent and how they work in order to be able to interpret the results.  You will be provided with a set of results of from isotopic analyses.  You will be expected to generate graphs from this data using either Excel or SPSS Enter the data, graphs and your conclusion from the seminar, into your laboratory notebook

Self-guided study - Write up laboratory notes

Week 10

Lecture Title -  Problems and challenges

Lecture Content - The integration of bioarchaeological evidence in archaeology I.  Case studies

Workshop/Laboratory Class - Seminar: Stable Isotope Results II. You will be expected to generate graphs from this data using either Excel or SPSS Enter the data, graphs and your conclusion from the seminar, into your laboratory notebook.

Self-guided study - Write up laboratory note

Week 11

Lecture Title - Problems and challenges

Lecture Content - The integration of bioarchaeological evidence in archaeology II.  Case studies

Workshop/Laboratory Class - Essay feedback workshops- in these 15 minute appointments you will be able to ask for clarification of comments from your feedback form and to obtain your grade. 

Brothwell, D.R. Pollard A.M. 2008 Handbook of Archaeological Sciences (ISBN: 9780470014769)

Brown, T Gene Cloning and DNA Analysis: An Introduction, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.

Malainey, Mary E. 2011 A Consumer's Guide to Archaeological Science. Manuals in Archaeological Method, Theory and Technique Analytical Techniques. Springer

As this research area is rapidly evolving, this course will demonstrate the use of internet resources. There are some useful books on DNA and sections on bioarchaeology in other textbooks e.g. Brothwell see above, however students are expected to read PAPERS. Many of these are available on-line via the library.  For example journals in which many core papers are published e.g. Journal of Archaeological Science, Archaeometry and Antiquity all are available on-line via the library websites. There are also a number of good GOVERNMENTAL, UNIVERSITY or UNIT hosted websites that can provide information on staff, new research, previous projects and publications.  Simply google the name of the key researchers (given in your notes) and visit their university web-sites where you will find an up to date list of their publications. For example: the work of Martin Richards (University of Leeds and Huddersfield) and Mark Jobling (University of Leicester) is a good starting point for DNA see http://www.fbs.leeds.ac.uk/staff/profile.php?tag=Richards or   http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/genetics/people/jobling/publications

This course tends to focus on British and European Holocence archaeology, if your interests lie elsewhere (e.g. early hominids in Africa) you should be able to find papers relating to these topics on the web (see Lee-Thorpe for Africa) or ask for advice.

Bibliography

On-line journals; these can be easily accessed via your university account e.g.

Antiquity http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/toc.htm

Journal of Archaeological Science http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03054403

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02784165

Examples of Useful Papers

Ambrose S.H.; Krigbaum J. 2003 Bone chemistry and bioarchaeology. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology   vol. 22, no. 3,   pp. 193-199(7)

Balaresque, P., Bowden, G.R., Adams, S.M., Leung, H.-Y., King, T.E., Rosser, Z.H., Goodwin, J., Moisan, J.-P., Richard, C., Millward, A., Demaine, A.G., Barbujani, G., Previderè, C., Wilson, I.J., Tyler-Smith, C. and JOBLING, M.A. (2010) A predominantly Neolithic origin for European paternal lineages. PLoS Biol., 8

Boric, D., Grupe, G., Peters, J., and Mikic, Z. Is the Mesolithic-Neolithic Subsistence Dichotomy Real? New Stable Isotope Evidence from the Danube Gorges European Journal of Archaeology December 2004 7: 221-248, doi:10.1177/1461957104056500

Bourbou, C. & Richards, M.P. 2007. The Middle Byzantine menu: Palaeodietary information from isotopic analysis of humans and fauna from Kastella, Crete. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 17: 63-72.

Brown K 2000 ‘Ancient DNA applications in human osteology: achievements, problems and potential,’ in Cox, M and Mays, S (eds) Human Osteology in Archaeology and Forensic Science. London: Greenwich Medical Media, 455-73

Brown, F., Howard-Davis, C., Brennand, M., Boyle, A., Evans, T., O'Connor, S., Spence, A., Heawood, R. & Lupton, A. Lancaster: Oxford Archaeology North.

Brown, T. Ancient DNA and the archaeologist’ Antiquity 66 10-23

Budd, P. Millard, A. Chenery, C. Lucy, S., Roberts, C. 2004 Investigating population movement by stable isotope analysis: a report from Britain.  Antiquity 78, 309, 127-141

Cattaneo, C, Gelsthorpe, K., Phillips, P and Sokol, R J 1993 ‘Blood residues on stone tools’. World Archaeology 25 No 1, 29-43

Coltrain, Joan B., M. G. Hayes, and Dennis H. O'Rourke 2004 Sealing, whaling and caribou: the skeletal isotope chemistry of Eastern Arctic foragers. Journal of Archaeological Science 31(1):39-57.

Copley, M. S., et al. 2005 Dairying in Antiquity III: Evidence from absorbed lipid residues dating to the British Neolithic. Journal of Archaeological Science 32(4):523-546.

Copley, M. S., et al. 2005 Dairying in antiquity. I. Evidence from absorbed lipid residues dating to the British Iron Age . Journal of Archaeological Science 32(4):485-503.

Copley, M. S., et al. 2005 Dairying in antiquity. II. Evidence from absorbed lipid residues dating to the British Bronze Age. Journal of Archaeological Science 32(4):505-521.

Craig, O, Mulville, J, Parker Pearson, M, Sokol, R, Gelsthorp, K and Collins, M 2000 ‘Detecting milk proteins in ancient pots’. Nature 410, 6810

Craig, O. E., M. Forster, S. H. Andersen, E. Koch, P. Crombé, N. J. Milner, B. Stern, G. N. Bailey & C. P. Heron 2007. Molecular and isotopic demonstration of the processing of aquatic products in northern European prehistoric pottery. Archaeometry 49: 135-152.

Dudd, S, N and Evershed, R.P 1998 Direct demonstration of milk as an element of archaeological economies. Science 282, 1998, 1478-1481.

E. W. Hill, M. A. Jobling and D. G. Bradley, Y-chromosome variation and Irish origins, Nature, 404, (6776), 2000, p351-2

Eleanora A. Reber, Stephanie N. Dudd, Nikolaas J. van der Merwe & Richard P. Evershed 2004 Direct detection of maize in pottery residues via compound specific stable carbon isotope analysis. Antiquity, 78, 301.

Eriksson, Gunilla 2004 Part-time farmers or hard-core sealers? Västerbjers studied by means of stable isotope analysis. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 23(3):135-162.

Evershed, R P, Dudd, S N, Lockheart, M J and Jim, S 2001 ‘Lipids in archaeology’, in  Brothwell, D R and Pollard, A M (eds) Handbook of Archaeological Sciences, Chichester: Wiley, 331-49

Goodacre, S; Helgason, A; Nicholson, J; Southam, L; Ferguson, L; Hickey, E; Vega, E; Stefánsson, K; Ward, R; Sykes, B (2005). "Genetic evidence for a family-based Scandinavian settlement of Shetland and Orkney during the Viking periods". Heredity 95 (2): 129–135.

Hedges, R.E.M 2004. Isotopes and red herrings: comments on Milner et al. and Liden et al. (Research). Antiquity 78, 309, 34 -7.

Herman, B and Hummel, S. (eds) 1994 Ancient DNA.  New York; Springer-Verlag

Jay, M. & Richards, M. P. 2006. Diet in the Iron Age cemetery population at Wetwang Slack, East Yorkshire, UK: carbon and nitrogen stable isotope evidence. Journal of Archaeological Science 33(5): 653-662. (Additional information) (View publication online)

Jay, M. & Richards, M. P. 2007. British Iron Age Diet: stable isotopes and other evidence. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 73.

Jay, M. & Richards, M. P. 2007. The Beaker People Project: progress and prospects for the carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopic analysis of collagen. In From Stonehenge to the Baltic: Living with cultural diversity in the third millennium BC. Larsson, M. & Parker Pearson, M. Oxford: Archaeopress, BAR International 1692

Jay, M., Montgomery, J., Nehlich, O., Towers, J. & Evans, J. (2013). British Iron Age chariot burials of the Arras culture: a multi-isotope approach to investigating mobility levels and subsistence practices. World Archaeology 45(3): 473-491.

Jones, J. R. and Mulville, J. and McGill, R. A. R. and Evershed, R. P. 2012. Palaeoenvironmental modelling of δ13C and δ15N values in the North Atlantic Islands: understanding past marine resource use. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 26 (20) , pp. 2399-2406. DOI: 10.1002/RCM.6319

Katzenberg, M A 2000 ‘Stable isotope analysis: a tool for studying past diet, demography and life history’, in Katzenberg, M A and Saunders, S R (eds) Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton. New York: Wiley-Liss, 305-27

Larsen, 2000 Biomolecules.  Cambridge University Press

Liden, K. Eriksson, G, Nordqvist, B.,  Gotherstrom, A., Bendixen, E 2004 ."The wet and the wild followed by the dry and the tame"--or did they occur at the same time? Diet in Mesolithic--Neolithic southern Sweden.  Antiquity 78, 209, 23-33

M. Buckley, S. Fraser, J. Herman, N.D. Melton, J. Mulville, A. Palsdottir, 2013 Species identification of archaeological marine mammals using collagen fingerprinting, Journal of Archaeological Science, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.08.021.

Madgwick, R., Mulville, J. and Evans, J., 2012. Investigating diagenesis and the suitability of porcine enamel for strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isotope analysis Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry. 27, 733-742 DOI: 10.1039/C2JA10356G

Madgwick, R., Mulville, J. and Stevens, R., 2011. Raising Pigs (and other animals) in Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Britain PAST. 69, 13-15

Madgwick, R., Mulville, J. and Stevens, R., 2012 Diversity in Foddering Strategy and Herd Management in Late Bronze Age Britain: An Isotopic Investigation of Pigs and other Fauna from Two Midden Sites. Association for Environmental Archaeology.

 Mays, S. 2000 ‘New directions in the analysis of stable isotopes in excavated bones and teeth’, in Cox, M and Mays, S (eds) Human Osteology in Archaeology and Forensic Science. London: Greenwich Medical Media, 425-38

Milner, N. Craig, O.E., Bailey, G.N., Pedersen, K. Andersen S.H. 2004. Something fishy in the Neolithic? A re-evaluation of stable isotope analysis of Mesolithic and Neolithic coastal populations.  Antiquity 78, 299  9-22

Minniti, C., Valenzuela-Lamas, S., Evans, J., & Albarella, U. (2014). Widening the market. Strontium isotope analysis on cattle teeth from Owslebury (Hampshire, UK) highlights changes in livestock supply between the Iron Age and the Roman period. Journal of Archaeological Science, 42, 305-314.

Müldner, G. & Richards, M.P. 2007. Diet and diversity at later Medieval Fishergate: The isotopic evidence. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 134: 162-174.

Parker-Pearson. M. Cleal, R., Marshall, P., Needham, S., Pollard, J., Richards, C., Ruggles, C., Sheridan, A., Thomas, J., Tilley, C., Welham, K., Chamberlain, A., Chenery, C., Evans, J., Knüsel, C., Linford, N., Martin, L., Montgomery, J., Payne, A. & Richards, M.P. 2007. The age of Stonehenge. Antiquity 81: 617-639.

Price, T.D., Burton, J.H., Bentley, R. A. 2002, The charecterisation of biologically available Strontium Isotope Ratios for the study of Prehistoric Migration. Archaeometry

Richards, M.P. & Schulting, R. 2006. Against the Grain? Response to Milner et al., (2004). Antiquity 80: 444-456.

Richards, M.P., Fuller, B.T. & Molleson, T.I. 2006. Stable isotope palaeodiet study of humans and fauna from the multi-period (Iron Age, Viking and Late Medieval) site of Newark Bay, Orkney. Journal of Archaeological Science 33: 122-131. (Additional information)

Richards, M.P., Jacobi, R., Stringer, C., Pettitt, P.B. & Cook, J. 2006. Marine diets in the European Late Upper Palaeolithic: A Reply to Bocherens and Drucker (2006). Journal of Human Evolution 51: 443-444.

Richards, M.P., Pearson, J.A., Molleson, T.I., Russell, N. and Martin, L. 2003. Stable isotope evidence of diet at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Journal of Archaeological Science 30(1), 67-76.

Schulting, Rick J. and Michael P. Richards 2002 The wet, the wild, and the domesticated: The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition on the west coast of Scotland. European Journal of Archaeology 5(2):147-189.

Sealy, J 2001 ‘Body tissue chemistry and palaeodiet’, in Brothwell, D R and Pollard, A M (eds) Handbook of Archaeological Sciences. Chichester: Wiley, 269-79

Simpson, I A, van Bergen, P F, Perret, V, Elhmmali, M M, Roberts, D J and Evershed, R P 1999a ‘Lipid biomarkers of manuring practice in relict anthropogenic soils’. The Holocene 9, 223-9

Soares P; Achilli A; Semino O; Davies W; Macaulays V; Bandelt HJ; Torroni A; Richards MB The Archaeogenetics of Europe CURR BIOL 20 R174-R183, 2010 DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2009.11.054

Stone, A C 2000 ‘Ancient DNA from skeletal remains’, in Katzenberg, M A and Saunders, S R (eds) Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton. New York: Wiley-Liss, 351-71

von Holstein, Isabella CC, et al. "Searching for Scandinavians in pre-Viking Scotland: molecular fingerprinting of Early Medieval combs." Journal of Archaeological Science 41 (2014): 1-6.

Wilson, A.S., Taylor, T., Ceruti, M.C., Chavez, J.A., Reinhard, J., Grimes, V., Meier-Augenstein, W., Cartmell, L., Stern, B., Richards, M.P., Worobey, M., Barnes, I. & Gilbert, T.P. 2007. Stable isotope and DNA evidence for ritual sequences in Inca child sacrifice. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104: 16456-16461.