科研之友
微信
新浪微博
Facebook
分享链接
摘要
While damage to the human skeleton due to vertical pressure exerted by overlying soil is a common observation at archaeological excavations, comparatively few studies have attempted to quantify the magnitude of this pressure. As part of a suite of taphonomic studies of a nineteenth-century cemetery located in Brisbane, Australia, a soil loading calculation equation usually employed in civil engineering is used to calculate soil vertical pressure at various depths for both child and adult graves. This cemetery was characterised by extreme vertical compression of coffin burials to the extent that human remains were sandwiched between the coffin base and lid to a thickness of just a few centimetres. Calculations determined that, because of their narrower grave shafts, the burials of children experienced between 40% (1.83 m depth) and 27% (0.91 m depth) less vertical soil pressure than those of adults buried at similar depths. Further calculations for different soil types showed that coarser grained soils such as gravel and sand exerted less vertical pressure than a similar volume of saturated clay due to the amount of air trapped between the coarser grains. It is anticipated that the equation utilised in this study could find widespread applications in the fields of archaeology, physical anthropology, forensic archaeology and cultural heritage management.
- 出版日期2015-1
