Hello everyone,
I’m doing a Summer research project with Gillian based around the Iron Age skull found near Fiskerton (near Lincoln). I’ve been tasked with both cleaning it up and analysing it. I’ve been working with Dan and Sophie while we learn the skills and techniques we need in order to carry out our projects, here’s a basic list of what we did last week:
Day 1 – We met with Gillian and Clare to discuss the kind of things we need to do over the 6 weeks. Next we checked the inventory of 4 skeletons and filled out the appropriate sheets. We then spent the rest of the day constructing another skeleton in order to familiarise ourselves with the bones in the body.
Day 2 – First we analysed the skeletons in the lab, working out their height, age (using the teeth and pubic symphysis ) and gender (using various features of the skull). We also learnt and revised the bones in the hands and feet. Finally we went though the collection of bones, noting down which needed to be cleaned.
Day 3 – We carried on going though the collection (as there was over 100 boxes it took a long time). After this I made preliminary notes on the Fiskerton skull and made a basic plan of action on how to carry out the analysis.
Day 4 – We went to St. Katherine’s, a musem converted from a church. However, it had very little information about what we were doing.
Day 5 – We revised what we had learnt so far with Gillian.
I’ll most likely update this every week, there’ll be much more information once the project really starts going.