Szczątki ludzkie
Authors: Jaskulska Elżbieta 
Published: December 2022

Human remains discovered during excavations at the Pasym stronghold consisted of unburned and cremated fragments. Although the bones were mostly fragmented, skeletal remains that did not undergo fire exposure were identified during archaeozoological analysis. Therefore, the aim of the analysis was to confirm the presence of human remains in bones collected on site. The skeletal remains consisted of a small amount (8.5 g; see tab. 11.2) of relatively well-preserved fragments, mostly belonging to adult individuals, except for the right scapula of a subadult. The age-at-death assessment has been presented in table 3. There were no elements allowing for the determination of biological sex. The only pathology recognised was a caries cavity observed on the only recovered tooth (LM2). The scattered character of the finds suggests that even though the MNI should be established as two, the adult remains could originate from different individuals. Cremated remains collected during the excavation were mixed with a significant number of other materials, representing only about 44% of the analysed elements (60.9 g; see tab. 11 2). This amount is not close to the expected weight of the cremated remains of a single adult human, and most of the archaeological findings will be closer to the average of around 800 g. The remains show a high oxidation level, as white and greyish-blue fragments dominate in observed colouration. The maximum lengths of the fragments usually do not exceed 4 cm. Nonetheless, sieving through a set of calibrated sieves resulted in a significantly low number of elements smaller than 10 mm, with nearly no smallest fragments of less than 5 mm in length (see fig. 11.2 and 11.3). This characteristic significantly differs from other sites previously analysed by the author (see fig. 11.4). Interestingly, the Rate of Anatomical Identification (RAI; ratio of weight of identified elements to the total weight of the remains collected in the feature) shows values similar to other sites (see table 11.6). Atypical properties of the finds from the Pasym site, together with finding the human remains within the unusual context of the settlement, pose an interesting question on the character of the finds. The small amount of the remains found and the context of the archaeological features they belonged to seem to preclude their being interpreted as typical burials placed unusually within the settlement. The recent discussion on the analysis of cremated remains seems to indicate that the observed absence of oxidized remains within cremation burials, when compared to modern experimental data, might be attributable to the intentional exclusion of portions of the remains from burial rites. They may have been removed for other ritualistic purposes, which could explain why only more prominent and easier-collected elements were found within the settlement. It is interesting to note that the same practice is also present in the case of the unburned remains. This theory requires further research at other settlement sites and identification of the state of preservation of human remains within cemetery burials of this period.