Resources available at the Centre for Human Bioarchaeology
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The Centre for Human Bioarchaeology is based at the Museum of London and is actively involved in the continued curation and osteological analysis of the large assemblages of human skeletal remains from archaeological excavations within the City of London and Greater London area.
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The Centre has access to a valuable resource of data and actively encourages researchers and students to use the facilities and available resources. Personal laptops may be brought in but not plugged into the museum network.
Facilities
- Facility of a good size osteological lab with work benches to enable the anatomical laying out of skeletons and one other small lab for research
- Access to the Wellcome Osteological Research Database (WORD)
- Access to the London Archaeological Archive Centre (LAARC)
- Rotunda store with archived assemblages- Rotunda inventory
- On site senior curator and osteologists
Equipment available
Standard equipment listed below is available, as is access to the reference collection. However, researchers must provide their own coordinate, or specialist dental- callipers, mandibulometer, goniometer etc.
- Osteometric boards
- Callipers
- Cranial callipers
- Library
- Os Pubis ageing casts
- Comparative cast skeleton
- Cast skull
- Exploded skulls
- Cast hand and foot
X-ray facilities
At present we cannot offer radiography facilities. If scholars can arrange X-raying or the required level of scanning at recognised institutions in England and Wales we may allow short-term loans of the requisite bone specimens in order to accomplish this but we do not permit movement of bones from London across international borders.
Teaching collection
The teaching collection consists of a life size plastic cast human articulated skeleton, articulated plastic cast human hand and foot, life size plastic cast human skull with cut away section to reveal dentition, two ‘exploded’ skulls with coloured sections for individual bone identification, casts for ageing using the Os Pubis.
The collection also includes disarticulated remains from archaeological sites that provide good examples for sexing, ageing, dentition and pathology.
A number of skeletons from different sites and time periods have been marked for individual identification so that they may be used for teaching or open days.
Reference collection
The Centre has a rich and varied pathological reference collection of both skeletal elements and complete skeletons. Including healed fractures, non united fractures, infectious diseases such as syphilis, tuberculosis and osteomyelitus, neoplasms, joint disease, congenital abnormalities, dental disease and dental anomalies.
Space for research
The Centre for Human Bioarchaeology is based in a large lab in the Museum of London with work benches for five people and the facility of a smaller lab with room for two researchers.
Computers
There are five operational computers available for use that all link to the Oracle Wellcome Osteological Research Database. There is the provision of a printer connected to all the computers and one computer with the facility for Adobe Photoshop.