Human remains are the subject of a postgraduate short-course in Orkney this week, with students travelling from across the UK and USA to take part.
The five-day optional course is part of the Human Remains in Archaeology module and gives students a hands-on experience of human skeletal anatomy, working with both real osteological specimens and museum quality models.
Module leader Dr Jen Miller explained: “The students are really enjoying practising their skills in identification of biological sex, assigning age range in both juvenile – infants to teenage – and adult skeletal material and gaining familiarity with disease and trauma recognition.
“They also have the unique opportunity to study our 28 ancient hominin skull models – museum-quality casts that are exact replicas of ancient specimens. These range from the 33 million-year-old Proconsul africanus to a 50,000-year-old juvenile Homo neanderthalis and many key species in between, including the very famous 3.8 million year old Australopithicus afarensis – perhaps better known as ‘Lucy’.
“This is the first year we have offered this course and feedback has been that it’s a fantastic opportunity, so we will certainly be repeating it next year!”
If you are interested in studying archaeology with us, either at undergraduate or postgraduate level, click here for details. Our MLitt in Archaeological Studies is accepting applications now for a January 2026 start.
