• What is the problem/issue being addressed?
The purpose of my project was to investigate the origins of social inequality through a re-evaluation of prehistoric funerary rites in Southwest Asia using advanced archaeological-scientific techniques including Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Micro-CT imaging of human bone.
• Why is it important for society?
The origins of social inequality, a growing topic of concern in our interconnected yet increasingly fragmented world, are rooted in deep prehistory. The point at which these inequalities first begin to emerge, however, and the manner in which they manifest themselves is the subject of much debate among scholars, many of whom typically associate these sociocultural developments with the earliest settled communities of Southwest Asia (between c. 14,500 and 9,000 years ago). My project aimed to investigate the emergence of social inequalities through the analysis of the funerary practices associated with these prehistoric communities. Funerary practices are one of the key archaeological indicators through which social relations and social inequalities may be identified in the deep past.
• What are the overall objectives?
1. Can Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Micro-CT and other analytical techniques accurately identify and differentiate between various post-mortem funerary treatments?
2. By incorporating contextual data from the various study sites, can we identify demographic or other selection biases among these post-mortem treatments suggestive of emergent social distinctions?
3. Are there differences in the pattern of funerary treatments observed between the study sites, and do these differences reflect broader temporal trajectories?
4. What lessons can we take from the ways in which earlier societies chose to organize themselves?
• Conclusions
1. The SEM techniques have proven to be the best imaging method for identifying patterns of microbial alteration in bone. Micro-CT techniques, while preferable due to their non-destructive capacity, do not necessarily provide more information or better resolution.
2. Age differences in terms of bone preservation are the most clearly identifiable demographic biases in this study, although more analysis is required here, and a larger sample size would be ideal. At the moment, it is not possible to identify signs of emergent social ranking/inequality beyond age categorization.
3. Due to delays associated with the COVID pandemic, I have not yet completed my project objectives. However, the results to date indicate substantial variation in terms of bone preservation. This variation may reflect a range of funerary practices in operation at Ba’ja, but further work in terms of contextual analysis (burial contexts/location, etc.) is required in order to confirm patterns associated with social practices and emergent social inequalities.
