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Are the traces of damage visible on human remains always a proof of acts of violence? How to distinguish changes occurring before the death from those that appeared already after burial? These and many other questions Dr Dorota Lorkiewicz-Muszyńska, Dr Joanna Rogóż and MD Julia Sobol were answering these and many other questions during the meeting that was held yesterday in the Łambinowice seat of our Museum.

The meeting offered an opportunity of making the participants familiar with methods of working applied by anthropologists and forensic medical personnel, as well as showing how significant the role of their research is in interpretation of archaeological discoveries. The starting point of the discussion was the latest discovery made during this year’s archaeological research carried out by the team led by Dr Dawida Kobiałka in the Site of Remembrance in Łambinowice.

The women-experts taking part in the meeting were explaining, among others, that the damage visible on the discovered remains of humans are not always an effect of injuries sustained while being alive; neither are they a direct cause of their deaths. Some of them occurred post mortem – under the influence of processes going on in the soil, as a result of operation of moisture, plants or laws of physics. It is taphomony, which allows proper reading of the history of human remains, that deals with examination of these phenomena.

An interesting motif in the meeting was also a discussion of the role of new technologies, such as photogrammetry and 3D scanning. Owing to them, on the basis of the skulls found, it is possible to create a hypothetical, digital model of the face of the deceased person. An analysis of anatomical features can make a valuable support in the process of the person’s identification.

The talk proved how important cooperation of representatives of different scientific disciplines is in archaeological research. The knowledge applied by anthropologists and forensic doctors allows understanding in a much fuller way the circumstances of the burial, distinguish natural processes from traces of human activity as well as properly interpreting discoveries made during field works.

We want to very much thank our speakers for their most interesting presentations and talks which they delivered and the participants, who came in a large number, for their presence and active taking part in the discussion.

The project “In search of the graves of Poles in the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice” was financed additionally with the means of the Local Government of Opole Voivodeship.