Analysis of Ancient Human Remains: Clonycavan Man and Old Croghan Man
Assessment Task #2 - Ancient Human Remains
Clonycaven Man/ Old Croghan Man
1) The site of discovery and the events which brought the remains to light 2) Scientific dating techniques 3) Forensic analysis of the remains to help determines the cause and context of death
New technology, scientific dating and forensic analysis has made an immense impact on the development of and understanding of ancient human remains. This can be seen in the excavation of Clonycaven Man and Old Croghan Man who were discovered in 2003.
Clonycaven Man was the first of the two Irish bog bodies found, he was found on a conveyor belt in Co Meath in February 2003. Clonycaven Man consisted of a head, partial body and arms. He also had hair on his head which was later found to have been coated in an Iron Age type of hair gel. Clonycaven Man has been found to have lived and died between 392 BC and 201 BC through the use of radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon dating has long been used to date old trees or items that have been buried in the ground. There have been significant advances in this procedure and now the age of a corpse can be determined from their eyes using this method. Since the 1960’s and 1970’s large levels of radioactive carbon were high in the atmosphere due to nuclear testing, scientists have to take this into account when testing for a date using this method. This together with carbon in the atmosphere settles within the crystallins of the eyes. Crystallins are microscopic see-through proteins that bind together to form the lens of the human eye. Under an electron microscope they look like crystals and act like crystals by allowing light to pass through them. From the first two years and 9 months of our life, crystallins form in and around the lens of our eyes and then cease to form anymore. When this happens small amounts of carbon from the air are fused in between the crystallins that form the lens of the eyes. While there was no radioactive material in the
Clonycaven Man/ Old Croghan Man
1) The site of discovery and the events which brought the remains to light 2) Scientific dating techniques 3) Forensic analysis of the remains to help determines the cause and context of death
New technology, scientific dating and forensic analysis has made an immense impact on the development of and understanding of ancient human remains. This can be seen in the excavation of Clonycaven Man and Old Croghan Man who were discovered in 2003.
Clonycaven Man was the first of the two Irish bog bodies found, he was found on a conveyor belt in Co Meath in February 2003. Clonycaven Man consisted of a head, partial body and arms. He also had hair on his head which was later found to have been coated in an Iron Age type of hair gel. Clonycaven Man has been found to have lived and died between 392 BC and 201 BC through the use of radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon dating has long been used to date old trees or items that have been buried in the ground. There have been significant advances in this procedure and now the age of a corpse can be determined from their eyes using this method. Since the 1960’s and 1970’s large levels of radioactive carbon were high in the atmosphere due to nuclear testing, scientists have to take this into account when testing for a date using this method. This together with carbon in the atmosphere settles within the crystallins of the eyes. Crystallins are microscopic see-through proteins that bind together to form the lens of the human eye. Under an electron microscope they look like crystals and act like crystals by allowing light to pass through them. From the first two years and 9 months of our life, crystallins form in and around the lens of our eyes and then cease to form anymore. When this happens small amounts of carbon from the air are fused in between the crystallins that form the lens of the eyes. While there was no radioactive material in the