Human, All Too Human: Differentiating Non-Human from Human Bones in Protohistoric Cremation Contexts from Northern Italy

Abstract

Differentiating cremated non-human bones from human ones in archaeological contexts is a challenging task. This analysis aims at proposing a rather solid criterion based on an osteoarchaeological sample. In this work, the main issues of taxonomic identification of cremated remains are analysed and a research methodology tested on an Italian protohistoric sample is proposed. The 314 subjects composing the sample come from 298 tombs of the Golasecca Civilization (1st millennium BC in north-eastern Italy). On a morphological basis, 246 bone fragments were selected from which as many thin sections were obtained for a histomorphological evaluation. From the analyses, we identified the presence of animals in burials, whereas a mere morphometric analysis was not able to recognize them. Furthermore, the taxonomic identification has allowed us to propose new hypotheses on the funerary rite of Golasecca linked to the zooarchaeological remains.

Keywords

• cremation
• protohistory
• taxonomic identification
• non-human
• Golasecca Civilisation
• thin section