Thursday, April 16, 2009

What was the archaeological significance of roman teeth and human remains discovered in pompeii?

Romans practiced cremation instead of burrying the body, so before pompeii was covered by volcanic ash, there was none samples of Roman human remains ever, until they discovered some teeth and remains at the pompeii site. But why are the teeth and remains significant to archaeologists? was it used to tell the age, the sex or the race?

What was the archaeological significance of roman teeth and human remains discovered in pompeii?
Skeletal remains, including teeth, can tell us a great deal about the lives of people. We can establish population profiles of average age, health, nutrition, etc. Certain diseases will leave marks on skeletal remains, allowing an analysis of what sort of diseases affected population.


Chemical analysis of bones can also provide further information about nutrition and diet including, in some cases, what sort of foods were favored.





Race is a cultural construct, not a biological reality. While biological anthropologists who study bones do make %26quot;racial%26quot; determinations based on certain stereotypical features, it tends to be on more of a continuum, and is usually also based on what one expects to find in a certain region.
Reply:They want to see how their health was in general. Dental care, nutrition, etc.
Reply:As I recall, they can tell age, sex and race. They say there was warning that Pompeii was going to erupt and the able-bodied adults got out of town while they left slaves/servants to guard their homes; the remains of children and elderly were found in the ruins of Pompeii.





You can tell a lot about people%26#039;s nutrition and longevity by studying the remains.



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