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Monday, April 2nd, 1990. The last few days have been absorbed with the Burial 1, bone inventory, and a number of interesting observations have resulted. It will be seen that many of the bones of the right side are complete, this suspect shows certainly that the body was buried on its right side, facing west, and therefore the right side bones have been better preserved (less liable to accidental disruption). In further reference to the body's position, I have today noticed a very interesting detail. Having recovered from the rain washed soil excavations some further fragments, I was attempting to place a small skull fragment and in as much as the fragment refused to fit where it properly belonged, I resorted to examining the interior of the skull with a magnifying glass. In the process of examining the differences in surface colour within the skull I noticed that a distinct line of colour demarkation extended from the artificial hole (see page 28) in the parietal bone of the right side. This I had not noticed whilst assembling the skull piece by piece but was now obvious looking at the fully assembled interior. This amazing detail confirms that the hole was in fact probably there at the time of the burial and that the cause of death may be due to to what ever caused the hole. The added benefit of this discovery is that it demonstrates how the skull was situated, as it would appear that with the passage of time the interior of the skull filled with sand up to the level of the hole. The upper part of the interior which was not so protected with a layer of sand, discoloured, leaving a horizontal boundary that probably gives a fairly good fix on the skulls orientation. The interior of the right parietal bone is exceptionally clean and must have been on the bottom and protected with a layer of sand from an early period. This is in corroboration with the above data and the observations made during the later part of the excavations. The head was then, facing west with the knees directly in front, the hands and the feet together, close to the pelvis. While illustrating the clavicle and indeed most of the other bones I have had to refer to various anatomical works. By far the most useful being a book entitled Anatomie Artistique by Arnould Moreaux. On page 38 he has illustrated a clavicle which I assume to be a typical European example, in comparing this with the Burial 1, clavicle (see page 37) it is immediately obvious that the Polynesian clavicle is much more robust, proportionately thicker and showing much more wear. The 'S' curve of this bone also seems more accentuated and this may be another point of diagnostic importance. |
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