Anat Biol Anthropol.  2023 Dec;36(4):197-207. 10.11637/aba.2023.36.4.197.

Differential Aspects of Skeletal Preservation from the Sacrificial Burials of Three Kingdoms Period (5~6^th Century AD) and Their Meaning

• Seo MW
• Kim DW
• Woo EJ

• KMID: 2551291
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.11637/aba.2023.36.4.197

Abstract

Skeletal preservation from archaeological sites can differ by various factors including biological, natural-environmental, and sociocultural features. For this reason, differential skeletal preservation can offer a key to reconstruct the state of ancient society. The purpose of this study is to identify differential skeletal preservation patterns by sex, age, and the context of buried individuals from the sacrificial burials of Three Kingdoms period (5~6^th Century AD). Especially, we tested the hypothesis that the owners and sacrificial victims would be differently treated based on ancient burial customs by the individual’s social class. In this study, we calculated the preservation score for the 55 individuals (13 owners and 42 sacrificial victims) from Imdang site, Gyeongsan. The preservation score was calculated for the 80 skeletal landmarks, consisting of 35 paired and 10 unpaired cranial and postcranial features, following the method of Stojanowski et al. (2002). The difference of preservation score by sex and age was compared by using nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney test. The difference of preservation score by the individual’s social class was compared by using nonparametric MannWhitney test. The result show that the average preservation score for the entire Imdang population was 0.169.Skeletal preservation score for female (0.254) was the highest compared to male (0.219) and undeterminable (0.122). By age, adolescent (0.334) were the most well preserved group among child (0.147) and adult (0.152). By the context of buried individuals, preservation score for the sacrificial victims was 0.172, which was relatively higher than the owners (0.160). Especially in Joyeong ancient burials, there was a notable difference between the owners (0.076) and the sacrificial victims (0.178), which was statistically significant (p<0.05). These findings suggest the possibility that the differential skeletal preservation between two groups may be related to ancient Korean burial customs of placing the owners in a specific place during funeral preparation. It can be considered that the owners are even more poorly preserved because of their longer exposure to natural environment than the sacrificial victims, who would have been sacrificed just before the burial was covered.

Keyword

Skeletal remains; Bone preservation; Funeral ritual; Human sacrifice; Sacrificial burial