Digital Marine Osteoarchaeology : The problematization of bodies and bones in water

Sammanfattning: This master's thesis is intended as a foundation for further development of methods for digital marine osteoarchaeology. The main purpose of this thesis was to examine and problematise the process of locating, documenting, and analyzing skeletal remains in marine archaeological, and other hard to reach sites. Three forms of osteological analysis' was performed and assessed: one based on analysis of physical skeletal remains, another based on 2D documented skeletal remains, and a third on analysis on 3D reconstructed skeletal remains. The secondary purpose of this thesis was to problematise the taphonomic effects on bodies, body parts, and bones in marine environments, necessary for the evaluation of the different methods. The analysis' has been conducted on source material provided by the research projects for the naval ships Mars and Gribshunden, the National Maritime Museum of Sweden, the Sandby Borg project, and the Çatalhöyük project. In addition, a test was carried out, with eight volunteer osteology students at Campus Gotland, Uppsala University, during a seminar exercise. The results collected through the osteological analysis' performed on the three different formats and the students osteology exercise could be used in order to highlight a variation of data available in the different formats. The results was then used in order to create a basis for future digital documentation methods that may be applied in the field. The secondary aim of this thesis was addressed through the use of the naval ships Mars and Gribshunden as case examples in order to address the limited amount of skeletal remains located so far at the marine archaeological sites.