Anthropology

The course aims to prepare students in the study of human remains in order to reconstruct the past, ancient and recent. It aims also to give the basic principles for the collection and recovery of remains and preparation of the biological profile of human osteological remains, both single and in larger groups. It also aims to educate on the importance of human remains as cultural heritage and on how to preserve them.

The student is expected to learn the basics of the following topics
- Introduction, evolution and development of anthropology; basics of cultural, biomolecular and biological anthropology
- Macrosopcic and microscopic human osteology and odontology
- Biomolecular diagenesis and biomolecular techniques on bones
- Metric and non metric analyses
- Skeletal taphonomy
- Determination of species
- Determination of sex
- Age estimation
- Determination of ancestry, stature, physiognomy; facial reconstruction
- Palaeopathology; occupational trauma, trauma, infections, metabolic disease, nutritional deficit, neoplastic disease
- Inhumations, cremations and mummies
- Forensic anthropology
- Recovery and restoration of human skeletal remains
- Paleodemography and paleo epidemiology
- Identification of historical characters
- Musealisation of human remains
- Skeletal collections