Egyptian Bioarchaeology

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Since the discovery of the pyramid workers' cemetery at the Giza plateau in 1990, a full assessment of the individuals inhumed has never been conducted. The cemetery is divided into two sections; the upper cemetery (largely reserved for artisans) containing 43 tombs, and the lower cemetery (for low-status labourers) with over 600 tombs (Hawass 1998a). From these skeletons we can assess characteristics of the population and understand how they lived. Yet, there remains significant gaps in our knowledge; apart from a 'sample' (see Hawass 2009), the workers' skeletons have never been studied and the exact number of skeletons has not been published. The primary aim of this research is to perform activity reconstructions using osteological data: entheseal change ( osseous changes at the attachment sites of muscles or ligaments as a result of biomechanical stress), osteoarthritis (damage to synovial joints in the form of osteophytes, joint erosion, and ebumation), and geometric morphometric analysis of humeri and tibiae (changes in the shape, robusticity, and cross-section of the bone) (see Jurmain et al 2012 for discussion). The secondary aim of this research is to create osteobiographical profiles of the population to facilitate understanding of what work was conducted and by whom, social divisions, sexual dimorphism, pathology, and dis/ability and impairment. This will incorporate:Osteological analysis (age, sex, pathology, entheseal change, osteoarthritis, geometric morphometrics)Demographic data (age, sex, social class)Funerary archaeology (tomb art, tomb positioning, body positioning, taphonomy).