Human Life in Early Bronze Age I Jericho: A Study of the Fragmented Human Skeletal Remains from Tomb A61

Abstract

This Honours research thesis takes an in-depth look at the human skeletal remains from an Early Bronze Age I Jericho tomb, excavated by Kathleen Kenyon in the 1950’s. Tomb A61 contains highly fragmented and commingled human bones, and has remained unstudied until this year. A sample of the tomb has been analysed in order to study the demographics and health of the occupants. In doing so, it is not only the intention to create a picture of human life in Jericho at this time, but also tie the human skeletal remains back into the archaeology of Jericho, and the Southern Levant. The Southern Levant in the Early Bronze Age I is a region undergoing socioeconomic transition. The non-urban Chalcolithic period makes way for the fortified and walled settlements of the Early Bronze Age II. The impact of this transition on the populations of the Early Bronze Age I is so far understood from the archaeology of the architecture and artefacts from settlements and corresponding funerary structures. Yet there is little study of the human remains themselves, and the stories they can tell about the populations of the Early Bronze Age Southern Levant. This lack of study is just a branch of a greater problem, however, which is the little uniformity across the study of human remains on an international level. Issues include varying global approaches to ancient human remains in the 19th and 20th Centuries, as well as the compromised state of fragmented and commingled human remains. This osteoarchaeological study of a tomb from Jericho, which is representative of the Early Bronze Age I Southern Levant, aims to contribute to these discussions and debates, whilst providing further published data for human skeletal remains for future research.