Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 12:32
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Kuril Islands Biocomplexity 08

Have you found any human skeletons in the house pits?

by: Gregory Lindeman

Mon, 08/11/2008 - 13:08

KBP Team

Because we've only been sampling the house pits with thesoil probe, we are very unlikely to find any human skeletons in any of the house pits we've examined (and in fact, we have not). I have never excavated a house pit in the Kuril Islands, so am unsure of how likely it would even be. But I do know that in many parts of the world, it was very common for people to bury their dead in their house floors. Keep in mind that the Western European cultural values surrounding death and dying, as well as treatment of the dead, are NOT universally held values. In fact, in most of the places I have worked I usually anticipate finding at least some human skeletal material mixed in with the shell and animal bones from the midden deposits. The human remains are NOT there as food refuse: middens are just another place that some cultural groups chose to place the remains of their deceased friends and relatives.--Dr. E.