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Welcome to the last module of this course! This week is all about mobility and migration, so people moving through the landscape. How much did people relocate, and where did they go? We can answer these questions by looking at the shape of longbones, and by studying the isotopes and the DNA that can be found in human bones. Stick with us to find out how exactly these methods work, and what they reveal about population movements in the past.

This course is about what we can learn from examining the human skeleton, and how we can use this knowledge to reconstruct the lives of people who lived in the past. In archaeology and anthropology, human skeletal remains can provide unique insights into the past and the present; insights that cannot be gained otherwise. These insights are explored in five main themes spread out over five weeks of learning. First, it is shown how age-at-death, sex and stature can be estimated by the close examination of (archaeological) skeletal remains. In subsequent modules it is shown how human bones can provide information about the diseases and injuries that people suffered from and what they ate. Also, it is shown how the human skeleton provides information about the kinds of activities that people engaged in and about how they migrated and moved around their landscapes. In this course, you will examine all aspects of the human skeleton that can provide us with information about these different facets of life. Together we will explore the scientific field that is known as human osteoarchaeology. - Human, because it is about us and our ancestors, - Osteo, because it is about our bones, - Archaeology, because we use this information to better understand the behaviors and events experienced by past people. During the course, you will decipher the clues left behind in the skeletons of past peoples with the methods and techniques that are presented. You may also discover some clues hidden in your own skeleton and what they reveal about the life that you are living. Want to know more? You can take a look at the course trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJi22TxzpRw

Impartido por:

Andrea Waters-Rist
Assistant Professor

Transcripción

Congratulations, you made it.

This is really, truly the last video of this MOOC.

The truth in our bones, how human skeletal remains tell us about past people.

Thank you for participating.

We hope that you really enjoyed learning about the human skeleton and

all of the things that we osteoarchaeologists can learn

about past humans by studying their bones.

First, you learned about basic osteology,

about how we can estimate the age at death of adults and subadults.

How we can estimate if someone was a man or

a woman based on the shape of their skull and pelvis, and

how we can reconstruct how tall someone was from their bones.

Then, we studied some of the diseases that can leave marks in the skeleton and

how these are related to our bone biology.

Specifically, we talked about trauma, including gunshot wounds,

the marks that are left by the infectious disease leprosy,

as well as the metabolic disease rickets, which is caused by a lack of Vitamin D.

In the third module, we showed you how we can determine what people in the past ate

by studying different aspects of their bones.

Stable isotopes can give us clues about the consumption of different kinds of

plants and animal protein.

Caries can tell us the amount and type of carbohydrates that were consumed, and

enamel hypoplasia defects in the teeth can inform us about episodes

of nutritional stress that past people experience during infancy and childhood.

In Module 4, we showed you how physical activity can be reconstructed from

the bones using musculoskeletal markers, especially emphyseal changes.

Also, joint degeneration, including osteoarthritis and intervertebral

disc disease, can inform us about the activity patterns of past people.

Marks left on the teeth can show us how people used their teeth and

their mouth as a third hand during certain activities.

Finally, in the fifth module, we showed you how we can reconstruct the mobility

and migration of past peoples using the shape of their long bones, isotopes,

and ancient DNA.

The shape of long bones can inform us about how much people are moving and

about terrestrial or aquatic mobility.

Strontium isotopes can show us from where to where people moved.

Ancient DNA can help us reconstruct how people have moved on worldwide,

continental, and more local scales.

So, you have learned a lot, well done.

You're probably not surprised to hear that there's a lot we

didn't cover in this course.

Many more methods we didn't introduce you to, many more concepts and

questions that we explore that we didn't mention, and especially, there's so

many more past populations that were not considered in this course.

It really is enough to keep someone learning for

their entire life, as I am fortunate enough to do.

Anthropology and this archaeology in human osteoarchaeology within it

is the study of human kind and all its wonderful diversity and

complexity and this leaves a tremendous range of biological and

cultural behaviour of phenomena to be studied.

What you should do if you want to learn more about anthropology, archaeology or

aosteoarchaeology?

Well on the online forum we provide you with some links to free

websites to might find interesting

as well of information about other sources that you can look into.

There are many academic journals and books worth reading.

Feel free to run a title by us on the online discussion

forum if you want feedback about whether the article or

the book will give you the information you are seeking.

And check out courses offered at the colleges and universities in your area.

Most have at least introductory level anthropology or archaeology courses.

And as the value of osteoarchaeology becomes more apparent,

more universities are including human osteoarchaeology or biological or

physical anthropology courses in their curriculum.

Medical schools offer a human skeletal system or musculoskeletal

system course and that would markedly improve your anatomical knowledge.

And those of you interested in the biochemical methods discussed in this MOOC

for example, the stable isotope and

ancient DNA research, while we encourage you to take Biochemistry courses,

this particular specializations have become quite high-tech and

students entering them with a solid natural sciences background are

at a considerable advantage.

More than anything though we help this course has demonstrated to you

the importance of adopting a deep temporal framework in a wide

geographic perspective in understanding what it means to be human.

In considering what aspects of our existence, of our nature,

may be somewhat biologically based or innate, and

what other aspects appear to be more influenced by culture.

Think about it when looking at the society that you live in today.

With the knowledge you've learned in this course,

you're entering the fray of a biocultural, holistic, culturally relativistic and

multidisciplinary perspective on the state of human kind.

Those are some big important words to throw around.

But on a less serious note,

osteoarchaeologists can also be a lot of fun at parties.

As we can sometimes be convinced to feel around on people's skulls,

to them what sex we'd estimate them to be, We have great little factoids,

such as babies lacking bony kneecaps.

And we love hearing about the injuries and broken bones that you've sustained.

This MOOC is the product of a lot of people,

many of whom were behind the camera.

Those folks are owed a huge thank you.

So to the entire team at the online learning lab of Leiden University thank you.

Especially to the two Thomas's, Inought, Nester, and Ameek and Leontine.

We offer you many thanks for your time, expertise, patience and care and for

really going above and beyond I'd like to thank all the interviewees for

so willingly enthusiastically sharing their expertise with us.

And the Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University for letting us use the room for

filming and for really being the impetus behind the generation of this MOOC.

I'd also like to thank those individuals, mostly former and

current students who are serving as moderators on the online discussion forum.

Speaking of going above and beyond, I'd like to most gratefully acknowledge

the two teaching assistants for this course, Anna-Marijn and

Christine, who have done so much and have been absolutely the best TAs I could have

wished to undertake this rather monumental task with.

So ladies on behalf of myself and

the many users of this course who will benefit from your hard work, thank you.

And then the final note of thanks goes to you, the user.

Thank you for joining us and for participating.

Many of you will contribute in meaningful ways on the online discussion forum and

that enriches the contents and

enriches becoming a part of the online learning community.

So it's very much appreciated and we hope it's an aspect of

the course that you'll find particularly valuable going forward.

So on that note this is Doctor Andrea Waters-Rist saying goodbye.

Spread the word about the value of human osteoarchaeology research.

Remember the clues, the truths hidden in your bones and

in the bones of all of our ancestors.

And how the truth in our bones can tell us not only about past people but

also about what it means to be a human being, living today.

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