BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS in ANCIENT KITION

Talia Sankari, PhD student at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University

This summer, I had the privilege of traveling to Nicosia, Cyprus with the support of the AIA-NYS Archaeological Research Scholarship to participate in the bioarchaeological analysis of human remains excavated from ancient Kition (modern-day Larnaca) at the laboratory of the Cyprus Department of Antiquities. Under the leadership of Dr. Efthymia Nikita of the Cyprus Institute and Dr. Nicholas Hermann of Texas State University, I worked on sorting commingled remains which were removed during a salvage excavation. Because the cemetery from which the remains come appears to have been in use for centuries with frequent re-purposing of tombs over the years, the context and exact dating of the remains was unknown. Additionally, the graves were very badly waterlogged, contributing to the very poor preservation of the bones themselves.

Fortunately for me, the highly fragmented and fragile condition of the remains presented the perfect challenge as a student of bioarchaeology looking to hone her osteology skills! My work in the laboratory involved cleaning, identifying, sorting, and reassembling commingled bone fragments – including re-fitting together any pieces that might be from the same bone – before finally entering each one into a database. By logging each individual item, we were able to estimate the Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) of each box and account for other observations including taphonomy, specific measurements (which could be used to estimate age or height), and presence of pathology.

I would like to once again express my gratitude to the AIA-NYS for the opportunity to travel to Cyprus for this experience. Hands-on osteological training in an archaeological setting is a crucial aspect of my education as a student of bioarchaeology and this scholarship made the entire project possible. Participating in the AIA-NYS Scholars Program opened countless doors for me and was an experience for which I will forever be thankful!