Rebecca Gowland
I am a bioarchaeologist at Durham University, teaching and researching human skeletal remains. I also train national and international forensic practitioners in archaeology and anthropology.
Location UK
Activity
-
It would depend on the age of any hormonal interventions and the extent of any other surgical interventions.
-
@ElaineShapiro we have plenty of retired people take the degree ;-)!
-
Week 2- hang on in there!
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Lee Scott
@LeeScott Welcome! Hope you enjoy the course!
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Federico Pedro
@FedericoPedro Welcome!
-
@CynthiaGalloway welcome! I may need to call on YOUR skills in forensic botany some time! Please email directly if you have any questions.
-
@CynthiaGalloway let us know what your student think!
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Imogen Frost
@ImogenFrost Good question! If there are identified living descendants then they would certainly have input but not 'ownership' - nobody owns a body. If bodies are excavated from CoE burial grounds then they have jurisdiction. Outside of this in the UK then bodies are often reburied within 2 years, although extensions can be requested. The remains of people...
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Dotty F
@DottyF welcome and feel free to contact us directly if you have any specific questions.
-
@OluwadamilareIsikalu feel free to email me separately to discuss this further
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Charlie T
@CharlieT and @MelindaSofiaManceboPelacy let me know if you have any questions!
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to lamis mohammad
@lamismohammad I hope the course is useful. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Sarah Derby
@SarahDerby what a great thing to do together! Enjoy!
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Lauren Kemp
@LaurenKemp welcome! I hope you enjoy the course!
-
@LisaN but some cultures believe that how we treat the dead can hurt them. And if we treat their ancestors poorly it also harms the living descendants, many of whom have experienced marginalisation. As a scientist, I would always argue that ethics comes first, then science. Do no harm.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Karen Hutton
@JanK I'm so awful that you had such horrific experiences. I hope you're okay.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Lucy Pryce-Rattle
@LucyPryce-Rattle feel free to email me directly if you want to discuss it further.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Rebecca Gowland
@ElinorVanDyck hi, yes it'll be here for a while yet. It will just run on demand now I believe.
-
@ChristinaNikopoulou feel free to email me directly if you want information on our MSc courses at Durham
-
@ThomasEdwardOsorio welcome. Do tag me into questions if you have any, otherwise I don't always see them.
-
@NormanMalcolmMacLeod different cultural and religious beliefs should be respected whether you agree with them or not. I'm pleased that archaeologists in Australia took steps to avoid further offense to the Aboriginal people.
-
@MacarenaAriasAravena sorry I've had to remove the link as our open access permissions must have run out.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Askar Asgarli
Excavation experience on fieldschools, or better still being paid to excavate can help. Also MSc degrees should offer practical hands-on experience.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Stephen Dedman
@StephenDedman welcome- we have had a number of crime writers do the course. I'd love to hear feedback at the end as to whether any of this learning makes it into your books!
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Mahmood Mhaefod
@MahmoodMhaefod hello and welcome to the course. We offer 12 month programmes, but I don't know any 6 month programmes I'm afraid. I know that Cranfield University offer MSc block training and perhaps this would help you.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Nancy Williams
Welcome @NancyWilliams
-
@ElinorVanDyck archaeologists looking at longer term environmental changes certainly do use differences in pollen types etc to map this over time.
-
@SharonHowe a lot if techniques are the same. It's the context that differs.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Karen O
@KarenO can you email Future Learn to let them know. I have no control over these things from my end I'm afraid.
-
@Sherrill-AnnWilmot thank you!
-
@SusanKerr the technique is still being tested, so more research is required in order to establish the limits of accuracy. It could certainly assist, alongside other anthropological techniques - e.g. pair matching, etc.
-
@JanAnderson I'm pleased you enjoyed the course and congratulations on passing the test! I'm so sorry to hear of this tragic case. I hope the relevant experts are being deployed.
-
@JanAnderson Y pestis isn't a problem - it doesn't survive.
-
@MichaelBeith if a body is wrapped in some man-made material, it may inhibit some scavengers and other taphonomic processes acting on the body. Metal objects adjacent to the body can create a microenvironment in the vicinity which can preserve organic material. For example, textile may be preserved against a brooch. If a body is contained within a sealed lead...
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Helen Collier
Welcome @HelenCollier ! We have trained a number of CSIs at Durham - I hope you enjoy the course!
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Etner Bassal
@EtnerBassal welcome!
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to David Adeyemi
@DavidAdeyemi welcome!
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Hayley Campbell
@HayleyCampbell we offer one at Durham if you feel like travelling to the other side of the World!
-
@MacarenaAriasAravena welcome!
-
@DonnaS for diagnosing a disease you need to look very carefully at the characteristics of the lesions and the pattern of distribution throughout the skeleton as these can be disease-specific. You would provide what's known as a differential diagnosis in which you would describe the characteristics of the lesions in relations to a number of possible causes,...
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Candy Welch
@CandyWelch it is a lot, but well done for sticking with it.
-
In some environments - particularly humid and warm - it can be very rapid.
-
@LyndaEllis thanks for sharing.
-
Rebecca Gowland made a comment
Well many of you seem to be very identifiable from your dentition! Really interesting dental procedures and pathology.
-
@JudithFinney that's really interesting to know - thank you for sharing.
-
@ClaireDickson interesting, thanks for sharing.
-
@MichaelBoyton A good point!
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Barry Haig
@BarryHaig thanks for sharing.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Lynda Ellis
@LyndaEllis yes, I agree. Thank goodness for these organisations.
-
Rebecca Gowland made a comment
Really excellent observations here. You're doing brilliantly and I'm so impressed by how much information you've been able to absorb and put into practice within such a short time. Very well done!
-
Rebecca Gowland made a comment
Wow, what great (and gory!) stories you all have. Wishing you good bone health in the future!
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Lynda Ellis
Oh that sounds nasty.
-
@LyndaEllis It is shocking to see.
-
@LouiseBeilby that is very sad. If she had a primary bone tumour - i.e. one that hasn't metastasized from elsewhere then this tends to look different - often takes the form of proliferative bone growth rather than the destruction seen here.
-
@MichaelBoyton yes, a lot. Horrible to think of without modern pain relief.
-
@PaulineHey thanks for sharing. Yes, this is an interesting disease and we must be careful not to mix these lesions up with those produced by TB, which can also cause destructive lesions in the spine.
-
@CaterinaKeri for individual 2 this is the end stages of the disease.
-
@AmyLucas good work!
-
Rebecca Gowland made a comment
Great work here- your observational and descriptive skills have been really good- well done all!
-
@PaulineHey good work!
-
@AmyLucas well done!
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Karen O
@KarenO I'm not sure I'm afraid- sorry to hear this.
-
@SueFlipping sorry I've just seen this question. Please tag us in to questions otherwise I'm afraid it's easy for us to mix them! The answer is that these differences can even be seen after 100s of years. You may have seen the aerial photographs from the very dry summer several years ago. The drought revealed many subsurface archaeological features.
-
Rebecca Gowland made a comment
Thanks so much to all the learners who've shared their thoughts, knowledge and interest with other learners. It's been great to hear your insights and perspectives!
-
It's a common misconception
-
You will enjoy it!
-
@RohanGawali thank you for sharing
-
@JillSluman thanks for posting
-
Thanks for sharing
-
@MandyMeikle thanks for letting is know. We will look into it.
-
Good question. I'm assuming so.
-
The emphasis was not on assigning blame or prosecution but on identification as an important step towards political reconciliation as well as closure for families.
-
Yes, many will pass away without ever knowing what happened to their loved ones.
-
Rebecca Gowland made a comment
Thank you all for your thoughtful comments on this highly emotive and difficult subject.
-
@HannahRison I look forward to talking to you soon.
-
@Sofie-KristinSchendzielorz feel free to email me directly and I'd be happy to chat to you about it further. I think it would mostly depend on whether you key interests are in learning about the past or the present. Many of the core techniques and training are similar but the degrees vary in their context-specific skills.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Jan Anderson
@JanAnderson it's always worth looking at the author's webpages- as they often have the pre-publication draft available for free.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Ann Rhodes
@AnnRhodes great work!
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Derek Deegan
@DerekDeegan great to hear!
-
Not as far as I know, but I'm not sure about the laws in different countries.
-
@HannahRison good question. Yes, it's possible that if those with Covid19 suffered chronic lung inflammation then we would see this reactive change to the ribs and healed/remodelled lesions in those who have survived.
-
@ElizabethBetts yes, easily treated now, but if left untreated this is what can happen in the tertiary stages.
-
It will vary depending on the individual.
-
Rebecca Gowland made a comment
Fabulous job everyone! I'm really impressed by the way you've considered the differen features of ante-, peri- and post-mortem trauma.
As most people have described, this is an example of blunt force trauma to the head, resulting in the visible concentric fracture lines. The ‘hole’ in the skull is a result of medical intervention, or trepanning to relieve...
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to John Connell
@MandyMeikle it's tricky as there are many decapitation burials from Roman Britain and there often doesn't seem to be any discernible logic/patter in terms of head placement. Women and children are also buried in this manner. It's fascinating though
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Wayne I
Yes, there are issues of consent that would need to be addressed.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to David R
@DavidR yes there can be issues regarding Sulphur, for example. Mostly, it's different isotopes being observed for diet/geography. However, Oxygen can also be affected by the brewing and boiling processes so this can cause confusion.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Nina Brooks
@NinaBrooks yes of course.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Nalini Ambiavagar
@NaliniAmbiavagar yes, it's very challenges and this area has certainly received less attention than child abuse
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Derek Deegan
@DerekDeegan thanks for sharing.
-
@MandyMeikle it's only the discussion sections that have the answers - these should be straightforward to find.
-
@MandyMeikle I have added and pinned the answers for each discussion section.
-
Rebecca Gowland made a comment
Hello everyone and thank you for your hard work on this! The age estimate based on the auricular surface and pubic symphysis for this individual is a middle adult (30-40 years of age).
As many of you correctly pointed out, all of the late-fusing epiphyses have been fused, indicating a fully mature individual. Both the auricular surface and the pubic...
-
Great work everyone! So this non-adult is aged approximately 4.5-5.5 years, using the AlQahtani 2010 method.
Both the first and second deciduous molars are present and erupted giving a minimum of approximately 2.5 years. The first permanent molars are behind them - these haven't quite started erupting yet but are not far off. A big thank you to everyone who...
-
Rebecca Gowland made a comment
Now that people have had a chance to view the image and 3D model, I am happy to reveal that this is a MALE individual. Well done to everyone who participated!
As many of you have already identified, we can identify this as a male through the lack of a preauricular sulcus or ventral arc, the shape of the composite arc, shape of the pubis with a narrow 'v'...
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to John Colenutt
@JohnColenutt Yes, you're right and we will cover this a little more next week.
-
Rebecca Gowland replied to Frances Togneri
@FrancesTogneri I hope you're doing well. Caring for a loved one who is confused and/or in pain can be unbelievably hard. Take care
-
Rebecca Gowland made a comment
You're all doing brilliantly! I will post the answers in due course!
-
@FrancesTogneri how interesting. Yes, it's likely that their skeletons also showed such changes when it was so advanced.
-
@NinaBrooks yes, remodelling and quite dense sclerotic bone.
