2014, Vol.27, No.1

Anatomy & Biological Anthropology 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.33

pISSN : 2671-5651 / eISSN : 2671-566X
https://journal.kci.go.kr/aba

Due to poor preservation of human skeletons at most of archaeological sites, few specialists havecarried out limited number of analysis of human bones and fossils in Korea. Worship of ancestor remains andpoor development of bioarchaeology in the past may have prevented preservation and analysis of human bones. However, cases of extensive analysis with various methods, including DNA analysis, carbon isotope analysis,pathological analysis etc. have been increased very rapidly in recent years and make meaningful contribution toarchaeological explanations of sites and ancient society. Development and rigorous application of variousmethodologies, in conjunction with related fields such as history and ethnography, to extensive analysis of humanbone remains is highly recommendable even for the human remains excavated previously.

This paper identifies the presence and etiology of maxillary sinusitis in archaeological populationsfrom protohistoric (1500 B.C.) and medieval (around 17th century) India. 339 human skeleton remains found atthe archaeological sites of Chalcolithic Nevasa (1500~600 B.C.), Inamgaon (1000~700 B.C.), Balathal (2000B.C.), Megalithic Kodumanal (400 B.C.~100 A.D.), Early Historic Navdatoli (200 B.C.), Kodumanal (100~300A.D.) and Jotsoma (17th c A.D.) were studied. Macroscopic physical examination revealed that 9 individuals outof 74 observable individuals (12.16%) suffered from inflammation. Of this, 6 were male while 3 were female. Considering the ethnographic aspects, the study reveals that inflammation possibly caused by inhaling pollutedair for a long duration or because of dental disease. Also, apart from pollution in domestic zones, external pollutionbecause of vocation is also discussed in this study using relevant ethnographic parallels.

Tomb with lime-soil mixture barrier (LSMB) was constructed by the people from upper class peopleof Joseon Dynasty. The coffin of LSMB was surrounded by hard concrete barriers, being successfully protectedfrom outside invasions until the archaeological excavation begins. The human remains were extremely preservedwell, providing important information on the health and illness of the people of Joseon dynasty. Recent investigation into human skeletons from LSMB in Yong-in city was another forensic anthropologicalcase that was very meaningful to our research. During the examination on the elderly Joseon female bones, wediscovered unusual saw-marks on the shaft of both tibiae. We could not find any osteological evidences suggestiveof healed bone process. Considering archaeological and anthropological findings altogether, the occurrencetime of saw-marks was considered to be perimortem period. However, as for why such a saw mark was made onthe tibiae, we did not get any information about it. We expect that this report facilitate other researcher to doexplore the usefulness of forensic anthropology examination on the similar human skeleton cases identified invarious archaeological ruins.