Early Grave Research Articles

Recently discovered early medieval grave from Serbin

An early medieval burial was found in Serbin (Krasnodar Krai, Slaviansk-na-Kubani District, Russia) in 2023. The grave contained a battle knife, analogies to which are known not only from Eastern Europe but also Inner Asia and Southern Siberia, emphasizing the vivid connections maintained throughout the Eurasian steppe in the second half of the first millennium AD. Grave 2023/3 of Serbin could be dated to the second half or last third of the 7th century AD.

The Early Iron Age elite grave from the Kapiteljska njiva barrow cemetery (Novo mesto, Slovenia): an approach to dental profiling through non-invasive and minimally-invasive techniques.

Kapiteljska njiva is a prehistoric cemetery located in the town of Novo mesto in southern Slovenia. There is a long history of archaeological research at this site, as the first investigations date back to the end of the 19th century. In 2004, an Early Iron Age barrow XVI was investigated. The oldest surviving grave in the barrow is the central grave, numbered XVI/34, which according to its position and the richness of the grave goods, belongs to a woman of higher status. Most likely, she was the first member or initiator of a family that continued to bury its dead in the barrow for the next 300 years. There were no preserved skeletal elements; however, in the head part of the grave, remains of human teeth, mostly the tooth crowns and the shells of enamel from the tooth crowns, were found among the scattered amber beads of a necklace. Moreover, these tooth remains are one of the few human biological materials (mostly fragments of skull and long limb bones) unearthed in this cemetery, reflecting the influence of acidic soil from the burial site. This study aimed to create a dental profile of the deceased in a similar way as during a forensic investigation. The remains were examined macroscopically and stereo-microscopically. The morphological traits were scored following the ASUDAS protocol. Ancestry was estimated by entering these scores into a beta version of the web-based application rASUDAS. Brothwell's system was used for age at death estimation from occlusal attrition. Identification of sex was based on the analysis of sex-specific amelogenin isoforms in dental enamel by nanoflow liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (nanoLC-MS/MS). The present study reveals that the dental remains from Kapiteljska njiva belong to the permanent dentition of a single individual and that only the right upper central incisor and third molar are completely absent. The remains of teeth exhibit a simple external morphology, characterised by the absence of morphological dental traits, with a notable exception of the two-rooted left lower canine. The probability of assigning this individual to the Western Eurasian ancestry group is 98%. According to the degree of dentine exposure on the occlusal surfaces of molars, the estimated age range is 17-25 years. Another line of evidence comes from the observation that the first signs of approximal attrition are present in lower third molars but absent in the only preserved upper counterpart, indicating that the age at which the lower third molars entered into occlusion represents a proxy of the individual's age at death. Data on the chronology of the lower third molar development and eruption in present-day European populations from forensic literature (Brkić et al. 2011; Olze et al. 2008; Selmanagić et al. 2013) and The London Atlas confirm the above age-range estimate. Caution is, however, needed in the interpretation of results, because reference data are not based on the population of the individual's origin. Proteomic analysis classified the individual as a female, which is in line with the archaeological evidence. No pathological lesions or indicators of systemic stress were identified; however, the absence of approximal attrition facets in upper anterior teeth indicates interdental spacing. The results of dental profiling are discussed in the context of historical background, today's clinical knowledge, and epidemiological data.

Graves of the early medieval nomads from the eastern Azov region

AbstractDescribed and discussed here are the “nomadic” burials of two sites, Serbin and Udarnyi (Krasnodar Krai, Russia). A total of four graves were found at the former Serbin site, while an early medieval grave dug into a prehistoric kurgan was excavated at Udarnyi. The burials broadly date from the fourth–seventh centuries AD on the basis of their poor grave inventories and are culturally related to the so-called post-Hunnic- and Sivashovka-type burials. Three burials contained the skulls and limbs of various domestic animals, indicating that the animals had been skinned. “Head and hooves” deposits were quite common in early medieval Eastern Europe. There are several different traditions of skinning, indicating different cultural traditions. The study describes the burials and their finds, and presents their regional parallels.

Protecting the Unsung Heroes

Black lung: the scourge that used to send coal miners into an early grave. We thought modern technology had largely defeated it. But black lung is back. How can that be? And how can we protect these hard-working people who are still essential to our economies?

Improving kinship probability in analysis of ancient skeletons using identity SNPs and MPS technology.

In forensic kinship analysis and human identification cases, analysis of STRs is the gold standard. When badly preserved ancient DNA is used for kinship analysis, short identity SNPs are more promising for successful amplification. In this work, kinship analysis was performed on two skeletons from the Early Middle Ages. The surface contaminants of petrous bones were removed by chemical cleaning and UV irradiation; DNA was isolated through full demineralization and purified in an EZ1 Advanced XL machine. The PowerQuant kit was used to analyze DNA yield and degradation, and on average, 17 ng DNA/g of petrous bone was obtained. Both skeletons were typed in duplicate for STR markers using the Investigator EssplexPlus SE QS kit, and comparison of partial consensus genotypes showed shared allelic variants at most loci amplified, indicating close kinship. After statistical calculation, the full-sibling kinship probability was too low for kinship confirmation, and additional analyses were performed with PCR-MPS using the Precision ID Identity Panel. The HID Ion Chef Instrument was used to prepare the libraries and for templating and the Ion GeneStudio S5 System for sequencing. Analysis of identity SNPs produced full genetic profiles from both skeletons. For combined likelihood ratio (LR) calculation, the product rule was used, combining LR for STRs and LR for SNPs, and a combined LR of 3.3 × 107 (corresponding to a full-sibling probability of 99.999997%) was calculated. Through the SNP PCR-MPS that followed the STR analysis, full-sibling kinship between the ancient skeletons excavated from an early medieval grave was confirmed.

Assault on salt Intake

Assault on salt Intake

Internal Control System and Financial Statement Fraud of Quoted Banks in Nigeria

The menace of financial statement fraud which has sent notable and reputable corporate entities to their unimaginable early grave soon after the publication of juicy profits has continuing posing catastrophic threats and bleeding the global economy into a state of comma. This dreaded phenomenon around the globe may be demystified through effective internal control system to provide managers with the means to increase accountability for their programs and to obtain reasonable assurance that the programs they direct meet established goals and objectives. Intuitively, an effective system is not only restricted to a digital one but to one that is able to deter, prevent and detect fraudulent activities frontally. The main aim of this study is to develop an internal control system that will help in reducing financial statement fraud of quoted banks in Nigeria through not only its deterrent, predictive and detective properties; but also, the recommended internal control procedures and policies which the accounting profession should adopt. Deterrent control mechanism, and preventive control mechanism were the proxies of internal control system while improper revenue recognition, overstatement of assets were the sub-constructs of the financial statements fraud. The researchers adopted correlational survey design for the study and used primary data via structured questionnaire. The null hypotheses test and other data were analyzed by Pearson Product Moment Correlation and simple linear regression tools with the aid of Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences version 25. The study found that all the internal control system proxies; deterrent control mechanism, and preventive control mechanism positively and significantly related to improper revenue recognition and overstatement of assets of quoted banks in Nigeria in the period of this study. The study concludes that internal control system effectively and significantly related with the financial statement fraud. Based on the empirical findings, the study recommends the need for banks as a matter of necessity to continue to reinvigorate and maintain the tone at the top culture with effective risk management, energizes segregation of duties and job rotation with mandatory annual leave policies for the purposes of rooting out financial statement fraud in Nigeria banks.

Древневенгерское погребение у с. Глиное на левобережье Нижнего Днестра

The article analyzes the early medieval grave Glinoe 13/2 investigated in 2008 on the left bank of the Lower Dniester. The burial was sunk into the Scythian barrow. The inventory included a knife, an earring, an awl and a fireflint. The sheep femur lay behind the skull of the buried. An analysis of the funerary rite and inventory made it possible to date the Glinoe 13/2 grave to the 9th—10th centuries. Radiocarbon dating of human and sheep bones made it possible to specify the time of the internment until the end of the 9th — the first half of the 10th century. An analysis of the peculiarities of the placement of sacrificial food remains and the composition of species in it in the medieval burials of the North Black Sea region confirms the Early Hungarian attribution of the published grave. This burial is included in the group of Early Hungarian graves near the Glinoe village, which reflects the presence of a large family in this microregion. These circumstances, together with the date of the Frumusica graves and evidence from the written sources, allow us to state the presence of the Early Hungarians in the Lower Dniester region at the beginning of the 10 th century.

Women in Whistler’s Images of Chelsea and the Thames

Women are an active, if often low-key, presence in Whistler’s Thames images, from ghostly figures of models and fashionable strolling women to the small traders who populated the streets near his home in Chelsea. Women shopped for their families; they worked outside the home as servants, nursemaids, shop assistants, and in family trades. They travelled along the river daily and criss-crossed its banks in a changing cityscape in which new spaces for leisure were being opened up. They sought a living in a night-time world of entertainment venues like Vauxhall Gardens and Cremorne that could lead to exploitation, disease, and an early grave. This world beyond Whistler’s Chelsea homes, overseen during the 1860s by his model and partner, Joanna Hiffernan (and by his mother, Anna Whistler for a time), is often overlooked. Moreover, Whistler’s suggestion that the presence of tiny, anonymised female figures in works like Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea and Cremorne Gardens, No. 2 was merely about colour and establishing a balance of decorative elements invites fresh analysis. This essay takes as its starting point women’s presences in Whistler’s riverside home and family circle before venturing outdoors to explore the world they inhabited along the Thames at Chelsea. It considers such questions as: how did women experience the contemporary redevelopment of the river? How did they occupy its adjacent streets and public spaces? Drawing upon examples of Whistler’s Thames subjects from the 1870s and the work of chroniclers of social change like Chelsea photographer James Hedderly (1815–1885), it examines the world of women along the river in the context of visual, literary, and socio-economic discourses of the period. It seeks to give voice to their presence beneath the quiet surface of Whistler’s images and how, as “involuntary neighbours”, they made sense of the watery, arterial world of London’s celebrated river.

Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment of Leigh Syndrome Based on SURF1: Genotype and Phenotype.

SURF1 encodes the assembly factor for maintaining the antioxidant of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) stability in the human electron respiratory chain. Mutations in SURF1 can cause Leigh syndrome (LS), a subacute neurodegenerative encephalopathy, characterized by early onset (infancy), grave prognosis, and predominant symptoms presenting in the basal ganglia, thalamus, brainstem, cerebellum, and peripheral nerves. To date, more than sixty different SURF1 mutations have been found to cause SURF1-associated LS; however, the relationship between genotype and phenotype is still unclear. Most SURF1-associated LS courses present as typical LS and cause early mortality (before the age of ten years). However, 10% of the cases present with atypical courses with milder symptoms and increased life expectancy. One reason for this inconsistency may be due to specific duplications or mutations close to the C-terminus of the SURF1 protein appearing to cause less protein decay. Furthermore, the treatment for SURF1-associated LS is unsatisfactory. A ketogenic diet is most often prescribed and has proven to be effective. Supplementing with coenzyme Q and other cofactors is also a common treatment option; however, the results are inconsistent. Importantly, anti-epileptic drugs such as valproate—which cause mitochondrial dysfunction—should be avoided in patients with SURF1-associated LS presenting with seizures.

An Overview of the Cure of HIV/AIDS Harbal Therapy Containing Natural Antioxidant, Vitamins and Minerals

Purposes: The unprecedented and sequence through which an estimate of 25 million lives have gone to their early grave yard through Acquired Immune-deficiency Syndrome HIV/AIDS can never be quantified; since, when it was first describes in 1981. In 2017/2018 by (UNAIDS) it was estimated globally for about 36.9millions people were living with Human, Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) so to say. Henceforth the progress made in the field of treatment in the form of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) disease has not been fully ascertain for the cure of HIV/AIDS; except, perpetual clinical suppressions. Thus, the current challenges that man kinds faces with the used of perpetual intake of antiretroviral therapy (clinical suppression)/artificial vaccine is un-justifiable. However, search for HIV therapy have open a new chapter in the search for novel drugs from Kaduna Polytechnic procedure. This review focuses on vitamins, antioxidant, mineral and supplement as sources of in-hibitors or eradications for human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV) reverse transcriptase. Objective: To assess whether vitamins, antioxidant, minerals supplement are effective and safe in eradicating mortality and morbidity among populace with HIV infection. Selection criteria: Randomized control trials were selected that compared the effect of vitamins (A, C, D, E, K,), antioxidant, minerals and supplement with regard to treatment measures in HIV infected persons. Methods: To prevent authors bias, based on a systematic search of literature; anti-HIV reverse transcriptase activity of some plant’s species like those of Eucalyptus leaves, Garlic fresh fruits, Baobab leaves, aloe vera, neem leaves, moringa leaves, bitter leaves etc. respectively. Thus, these medicinal plants contain an appreciable or above values antioxidant compound or photochemical like those of Phenolic, anthraquinone, tannin, falconoid, terpenoid, lignin, coumarins etc. respectively. Contrarywise, these phytochemical compounds have been exploited traditionally for the cure of many diseases as well as inhibition of viral replication/transcription. Further investigations have shared more light through which phytochemicals compounds inhibit virus replication either during the viral entry inside the host cell or during their replication. Originality: in view of the current investigation or to accelerate drug discovery and innovation, this review recommends the urgent need to tap into the enrich locally available endogenous knowledge of putative anti- HIV/AIDS, photochemical and their derivatives, (reverse pharmacology, determine pan assay, interferences compounds, microbial enzyme metabolites relationship and their mechanisms to treat virial diseases.

Fra grænselandet mellem to kulturer

Fra grænselandet mellem to kulturer

UNUSUAL BURIAL IN THE BARROW OF SCYTHIAN AGE NEAR ZHABOTIN VILLAGE

The funeral rite is a complex ritual process. It combines traditional worldview norms and rituals, includes various stages — the preparatory, process of burial and post-funeral actions as the funeral fest etc. From the archaeological point of view, the funeral rite is considered as the system of interrelated features which includes the funeral method, type of burial, form of the burial structure, grave goods and the remains of the buried people or animals.
 Mostly the reconstruction of the funeral rite is quite simple. However, there are the burials, practically having no analogies in archaeological culture and literature. Unusual postmortem transformations on the bones that appear during the preparation process or at the time of burial are sometimes hard to be seen, even more difficult to interpret. Recently, thanks to the spread of research methods, gaining the experience and opportunities to international consultations as well as fruitful cooperation with archaeologists we began (albeit very slowly) to collect the database of «unusual» cases of rites. The vast majority of such cases can be traced at the populations of Scythian Age. The examples are decapitated accompanying persons; skull fragments with signs of scalping and deliberate destruction; possibly boiled human bones found on the ash hills of the Bielsk hill-fort etc.
 From this point of view the Early Scythian grave in the barrow 524 near Zhabotin village in the basin of the Tyasmin River is undoubtedly interesting. The primary burial (N 1) was completely destroyed and has no traces of any skeleton. Our paper is focused on the anthropological study of human remains from the other grave.
 This is the burial of teenager aged 13—15 with the body of very gracile structure. Features on the skeleton indicate poor health from early childhood. The teenager suffered from frequent prolonged illnesses or starvation.
 The process of preparing the body for burial in this case is very complicated. The body and a wooden platform located near grave were exposed to low-temperature fire (100—200 °C). One can assume that the body was placed on the platform. There are no reasons yet to determine the motive of such rite — the ritual cleaning the wooden structure or body by fire or the purposeful process of mummification by low-temperature drying of the body on a smoldering fire. Spectrometric analysis of the black plaque on the skull fragments confirms the presence of mummified organic tissues of the human body. Cases of this type of mummification are known from ethnographic sources. The incision in the skull may have been caused by a procedure to clean the bones of soft tissue or by cutting certain tendons before burial.
 Until other similar cases would be found in similar cultural milieu the purpose and exact nature of the manipulation with the child’s body in the barrow near Zhabotin remain unknown.

All together now.

Growing up in 1960s East End of Glasgow, our family GP was straight from the pages of AJ Cronin. Chain-smoking, single-handed and practising from a lean-to garage; his craggy smile, partly obscured by an ashtray mountainous with fag-ends, became visible at 5 yards through a thick carcinogenic pall. Rumour had it he’d once been a fine middle-distance runner but his face was hardly Seb Coe; more Glencoe really. My mother lived by the dedicated doctor’s word. The only advice I recall her ever declining was his suggestion that — being a rather introverted child — I would benefit from the close companionship of a pet. He prescribed a dog. No animal lover, mum compromised on a goldfish. My equally solitary Goldie survived just a fortnight, taken to an early grave courtesy of my older brother in that awkward phase of tormenting younger siblings and torturing innocent creatures (he went on to excel …

The South Stoa at Corinth: New Evidence and Interpretations

The first modern systematic excavations in the South Stoa at Corinth in 2015 revealed much about the history of this area of the later Forum and about the stoa itself prior to the installation of the Eutychia mosaic in room C (the so-called Agonotheteion) around A.D. 150. Neolithic pottery, an Early Protogeometric grave, an Archaic votive pit, and a possible industrial installation cut into the bedrock give insights into the landscape before the construction of the stoa. Construction trenches and a foundation deposit provide a date in the 280s B.C. for the first building activities at the stoa's east end. Roman-era finds shed light on the history of room C from the later 1st to the 5th century A.D.

The presumed Early Bronze Age grave from the Radom Plain

In the area of Mokrzec village a human bones were accidentally discovered, along with the accompanying artefacts: small mug, products made of copper – bracelet, blade of a dagger, five tongues, bone fabricator, flint tools and blanks. It is probably a tomb from the beginning of the Bronze Age, which can be related to the early phase of the Mierzanowice culture. The inventory of the grave indicate the importance and rank of the buried man.

Thyroid scintigraphy in the management of benign thyroid disease

Thyrotoxicosis as a clinical entity has varied aetiologies. Accurate distinction of the underlying aetiology is important to guide therapy. Clinical findings are not always accurate in identifying the underlying aetiology. There is considerable overlap between the various aetiologies when using serum T3/T4 ratio. Although ultrasound is widely available and has reasonable sensitivity, it is operator dependent and misses many cases of early Grave's disease. 99mTc scintigraphy is a simple and accurate modality for assessing the functional status of the thyroid gland and delineating the aetiology of thyrotoxicosis. This paper seeks to inform on the use of thyroid scintigraphy in the management of benign thyroid disorders. Funding: None Keywords: Scintigraphy, thyroid gland, functional imaging, Grave’s disease, Ghana

Grafheuvels bij Arnhem. Opgravingen op het landgoed Warnsborn 1947-’48

Barrows near Arnhem; excavations on the Warnsborn estate, 1947-’48.In 1947 and 1948 six barrows were excavated on the Warnsborn estate, to the west of Arnhem. Although seemingly initiated for purely scientific purposes, no report was ever published, only some very short notes. This paper gives an account of the organization, the procedures followed and a critical (re)interpretation of the findings, on the basis of the field drawings and the field journal. The conclusion differs in many respects from the excavators’ original interpretations. It may be viewed as a cautionary tale for those relying on records of earlier investigations of this kind. The research was initiated and supervised by prof. Van Giffen, but in fact executed rather independently by his experienced field technician and draughtsman, assisted by two students, who some years later were to be appointed university professors and as such shaped post-war archaeology in the Netherlands. It was the period in which the State Service (ROB, now RCE) was founded, which, headed by Van Giffen, ultimately must have been the responsible institution. The barrows to be excavated were an arbitrary selection from the numerous mounds in the shallow valleys of the Heelsum and Wolfheze brooks: four dating to the Bronze Age, along the valley floor, and two from the Beaker period, slightly apart. All six appear to be part of a long row, as found in many regions across the country, comprising19 barrows. One of the Beaker burials (IV) had a characteristic early Single Grave inventory and was surrounded by a narrow palisaded ditch. The reliability of the observation of a corpse silhouette must however be doubted. The other Beaker barrow (V) was dated only on the basis of its appearance and the fossil soil conditions. It only shows some features that are hard to interpret. The group of four Bronze Age burials offers us a glimpse of the changing burial customs among a small local community. They are characterized by the absence of cremations and the exclusive practice of inhumation in all 27 burials documented. All recorded bodies were supine, with only one exception, a slightly flexed burial. None of these were equipped with any imperishable grave goods. It is remarkable that this small community in the interaction zone of the southern and northern burial traditions had exclusively followed the northern practice of extended inhumation. In the absence of radiocarbon dates and artifacts, dating had to be based purely on circumstantial evidence; with Middle Bronze Age A as the result, with a possible extension into MBA-B, i.e. 1800-1400 cal BC. Two of the Bronze Age barrows (I and II) are relatively small, simple and one-phased, with a single, supine central inhumation, one of these accompanied by a subsequent child burial. The two others (III and the large, so-called ‘Meelworstenberg’) had started similarly, but had grown to larger dimensions, up to 15 and 18 m in diameter, by the addition of new construction phases linked with new central graves. The larger one incorporated a small and low sand dune already present. The barrows became more complex and significantly different also by the introduction of secondary burials, in the form of 6 and 15 shaft graves respectively, orientated tangentially all along the barrows’ margins, and the raising of surrounding post circles. In one case this circle was only partially preserved and documented, but it was of quite impressive dimensions around the larger barrow, and seemingly not connected with a central burial, but with the secondary burials only. In both cases we observe a fundamental shift from a function as an exclusive tomb for selected individuals from the local community, as customary in earlier times, to a communal cemetery for numerous members of the community. This change in burial custom may serve as an argument for the contemporaneity of the last phase of both barrows, the simple barrows representing the earlier stage only.

En grav med smedverktøy fra tidlig vikingtid på Nordheim i Sogndal. En analyse av gravgods, handlingsrekker og symbolikk

A grave with tools for metalworking from early Viking age at Nordheim in Sogndal. An analysis of grave goods, chains of actions and symbolismA recently excavated early Viking-age grave from Sogndal in Sogn and Fjordane County in Western Norway contained numerous tools. The excavation revealed detailed information about the cremation and burial sequences. Weapons and numerous tools for metalworking were among the deposited objects. In this article, we describe the observable chains of actions in the cremation- and post-cremation rituals. We review the identified objects deposited in the grave and suggest some preliminary interpretations about the grave goods and location of the grave in its local context in Sogn and Fjordane County. Finally, we discuss the so-called Norwegian «smiths’ graves» and suggest a more nuanced interpretation.

Archaeological study of face beads excavated from an Early Sarmatian grave

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