Pia Bennike

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Juan Antonio Quirós Castillo

University of the Basque Country, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

Roe Fremstedal

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

Iain Davidson

University of New England - Australia

Leonardo García Sanjuán

Universidad de Sevilla

Olaf Jöris

Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie

Sonja B . Grimm

Independent Researcher

Eszter Banffy

Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Paweł Napiórkowski

Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy, Poland

Fabian Haack

Landesmuseum Württemberg

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Papers by Pia Bennike

Fibiger, L., Ahlstrom, T., Bennike, P. & Schulting, R.J. 2013. Patterns of violence-related skull trauma in Neolithic southern Scandinavia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 150: 190-202.

by Rick Schulting, Linda Fibiger, and Pia Bennike

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Feb 2013

This article examines evidence for violence as reflected in skull injuries in 378 individuals fro... more This article examines evidence for violence as reflected in skull injuries in 378 individuals from Neolithic Denmark and Sweden (3,900–1,700 BC). It is the first large-scale crossregional study of skull trauma in southern Scandinavia, documenting skeletal evidence of violence at a population level. We also investigate the widely assumed hypothesis that Neolithic violence is male-dominated and results in primarily male injuries and fatalities. Considering crude prevalence and prevalence for individual bones of the skull allows for a more comprehensive understanding of interpersonal violence in the region, which is characterized by endemic levels of mostly nonlethal violence that affected both men and women. Crude prevalence for skull trauma reaches 9.4% in the Swedish and 16.9% in the Danish sample, whereas element-based prevalence varies between 6.2% for the right frontal and 0.6% for the left maxilla, with higher figures in the Danish sample. Significantly more males are affected by healed injuries but perimortem injuries affect males and females equally. These results suggest habitual male involvement in nonfatal violence but similar risks for both sexes for sustaining fatal injuries. In the Danish sample, a bias toward front and left-side injuries and right-side injuries in females support this scenario of differential involvement in habitual interpersonal violence, suggesting gendered differences in active engagement in conflict. It highlights the importance of large-scale studies for investigating the scale and context of violence in early agricultural societies, and the existence of varied regional patterns for overall injury prevalence as well as gendered differences in violence-related injuries.

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Isotopic investigation of human provenience at the eleventh century cemetery of Ndr. Grødbygård, Bornholm, Denmark

by Karin M Frei and Pia Bennike

Danish Journal of Archaeology, 2012

Bornholm is a Danish island almost in the center of the southern Baltic Sea. The strategic locati... more Bornholm is a Danish island almost in the center of the southern Baltic Sea. The strategic location of the island, its rich archeology, and its complex geology make it an intriguing location for the isotopic study of past human mobility. The focus of this study is on the large cemetery of Ndr. Grødbygård in the southern part of the island, which dates to the eleventh century AD and contains 553 individuals in 516 graves. The majority of the burials were in a supine position oriented westeast, with the heads to the west, following the tradition of that time. In contrast to the Christian traditions, however, the graves at Grødbygård were richly equipped by Scandinavian standards and some of the burial practices more closely resembled those from the Western Slavic region of the south (present day northeastern Germany and Poland). We have used isotopic analyses to examine the external relations and potential places of origin of the inhabitants of the cemetery. Strontium and oxygen isotope ratios in human tooth enamel provide a signature of place of origin and can be compared to the ratios of the place of burial to determine local or non-local origins. In the case of Bornholm, the local geology is quite complex, with a variety of rocks of different age and composition, resulting in a wide range of strontium isotope sources on the island, complicating the issue of identifying migrants. At the same time, Grødbygård provides an important example of the application of such methods in less than ideal conditions.

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Paleopathology in Denmark

Pioneers and Prospects, 2012

Trauma

Advances in Human Palaeopathology, 2007

Fysisk antropologi og human evolution-stadier i den historiske udvikling af studierne i Danmark og det øvrige Skandinavien

... dog, i samklang med sociale udviklingstanker, at de »vilde« med den mest »primitive« kultur, ... more

Denmark/Danmark

An international guide to laws and practice in the excavation and treatment of archaeological human remains, 2010

Transverse--Harris--lines in a skeletal population from the 1711 Danish plague site

Anthropologischer Anzeiger; Bericht über die biologisch-anthropologische Literatur, 2008

This study examines the occurrence and distribution of transverse lines in skeletal remains from ... more This study examines the occurrence and distribution of transverse lines in skeletal remains from the Copenhagen site, a plague cemetery dated 1711 AD. A relatively low frequency for evidence of line formation was observed in the individuals comprising the total sample and no transverse lines were present in the subadult category. This paper addresses the pattern of transverse line occurrence and cohort-specific distribution in a plague sample in light of the multiple factors influencing line formation and resorption and discusses the significance of transverse lines as measures of non-specific acute stress in archaeologically derived populations.

Patterns of violence-related skull trauma in neolithic southern scandinavia

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2013

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Author/Session Index

Arya

Decimal numbers represent poster numbers within a poster session (eg," 13.14" is poster... more Decimal numbers represent poster numbers within a poster session (eg," 13.14" is poster number 14 within Poster Session 13). Brackets represent time on a 24 hour clock within a podium session (eg," 32 [16: 45]" is a paper at 4: 45 pm within Podium Session 32). A number followed by a" C" indicates a chair for a session, while a number followed by a" D" indicates a discussant for a session.

Early neolithic skeletons from Bolkilde bog, Denmark

Antiquity, 1986

The Archaeology of Medicine: Papers Given at a Session of the Annual Conference of the Theoretical Archaeology Group held at the University of Birmingham on 20 December 1998. Robert Arnott(ed). BAR International Series 1046, 2002. 129pp. ISBN 1 84171 434 8. ?42.00

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2004

According to the list of contributors only British colleagues have published presentations. This ... more According to the list of contributors only British colleagues have published presentations. This may be why most of the articles on current and past states of research, in various disciplines only refer to the situation in Britain. Despite some complaints by the authors of past studies, I think that British research has been and is doing very well. Many researchers now have full-time positions which provide them with the opportunity to accumulate vast experience in our field of research and to the modern technical equipment and facilities which are far superior to those previous generations dared dream of. Many contributions in the book clearly show that interdisciplinary studies are rare. In future, an attempt to establish collaboration across scientific disciplines could become the best tool for enhancing our understanding of subjects like The Archaeology of Medicine.

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Who was in Harold Bluetooth’s army? Strontium isotope investigation of the cemetery at the Viking Age fortress at Trelleborg, Denmark

by Pia Bennike, Andres (Minos) Dobat, and Niels Lynnerup

The circular fortress of Trelleborg on Zealand in Denmark is well known as a military camp with a... more The circular fortress of Trelleborg on Zealand in Denmark is well known as a military camp with a key role in the formation of the Danish state under Harald Bluetooth in the tenth century AD. Taking a sample of 48 burials from the fort, strontium isotope analysis once again demonstrates its ability to eavesdrop on a community: at Trelleborg, the young men in its cemetery were largely recruited from outside Denmark, perhaps from Norway or the Slavic regions. Even persons buried together proved to have different origins, and the three females sampled were all from overseas, including a wealthy woman with a silver casket. Trelleborg, home of Harald Bluetooth’s army, was a fortress of foreigners
with vivid implications for the nature of his political mission.
Keywords: southern Scandinavia, strontium isotopes, migration, bioarchaeology

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Ninth Congress of the European Anthropology Association University of Copenhagen, August 24–27 1994

International Journal of Anthropology, 1994

ABSTRACT

Determination of mineral and organic matrix in bone samples using dual photon absorptiometry

International Journal of Anthropology

ABSTRACT

Dislocation and/or congenital malformation of the shoulder joint. Observations on a Mediaeval skeleton from Denmark

Anthropologischer Anzeiger

The purpose of this paper is to present a Mediaeval skeleton of an approximately 16 year old boy,... more The purpose of this paper is to present a Mediaeval skeleton of an approximately 16 year old boy, which was excavated at a Danish cemetery containing ca. 150 graves. The skeleton reveals several pathologic changes, probably due to congenital malformation. The most intriguing find is seen at both scapulae, and the changes are bilateral symmetric. Both the glenoid cavities are placed posterior but at the normal height of the bone. The joints are almost perpendicular to their normal direction. The size of the glenoid cavities is normal and the shape is rather flat in accordance to the development stage of the skeleton, where the epiphysis of the rim has not yet appeared to form the gently concave fossa as normally seen in adults. Both the surface and the borderlines of the glenoid cavities are, however, more irregular than normally at that age. The position of the joints may be caused by dislocation and/or congenital malformation which is discussed. Due to the shape of the cavities, to the symmetric bilaterality, and to the minor congenital malformations, it is primarily believed to be caused by congenital malformation. Probably the young man was not much affected by the malformation of the shoulder joints, which is indicated by the normal form and size of the humeri and the well-developed muscle attachments of the bones. The claviculae seem shorter and more twisted than normal, which may be caused by a twisting of the scapulae. So the glenoid cavities may have pointed almost in the normal direction in spite of the malformation. Other minor malformations are spina bifida of the atlas and the 5. lumbar vertebra, multiple minor changes of the joints of both feet and malformations of one metatarsal bone in both feet. Agenesi of the praemolars is also seen. Although our study of the literature, we have not succeeded in correlation our finds with any known congenital syndrome, and as far as we know no similar case has been described in clinical observation or in skeletal finds.

[Dental treatment in antiquity]

Dansk medicinhistorisk årbog

[Dental treatment in the Stone Age]

Tandlaegebladet

Chronology of the Danish Bronze age based on 14C dating of cremated bone remains

Radiocarbon

The relative Bronze Age chronology for Scandinavia was established as early as 1885. It is tradit... more

Chemical Analyses of Archaeological Bone-Samples: Evidence for High Lead Exposure on the Faroe Islands

Human Remains from the Grøfte Dolmen

Fibiger, L., Ahlstrom, T., Bennike, P. & Schulting, R.J. 2013. Patterns of violence-related skull trauma in Neolithic southern Scandinavia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 150: 190-202.

by Rick Schulting, Linda Fibiger, and Pia Bennike

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Feb 2013