For the past five years the Centre for Forensic Anthropology has taken a group of keen participants to Venice for invaluable hands-on experience in excavating human remains. The 17th century plague-grave provides participants with an opportunity to excavate human burials and experience the continuous two-way flow of information between the field and on-site laboratory. The field season includes exhumation (locating, cleaning, documenting and lifting skeletal remains) and site recording (mapping and drawing). In addition, daily laboratory sessions to undertake a detailed study of the skeleton (biological sex, age, stature, pathologies and individuating characteristics) as well as personal items associated with the burials. Preliminary results from the past four field seasons will be presented in this seminar as will the structure and organisation of the fieldschool.
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