Your skull can tell a lot about you

Agata Bisiecka, who's doing her PhD at the UPWr Doctoral School in Wrocław in the discipline of biological sciences, focuses on the macroscopic examination of human skeletal remains. During her doctorate she wants to research the existence and metric properties of the Wormian bones of the human skull in context of them being possible determinants of physiological stress.

The Wormian bones are located in the course of the cranial sutures, and although their existence is described in literature, it’s not exactly known why they appear and what their presence means. Therefore, Agata wants to see if they can be perceived as a bioarchaeological tool for assessing physiological stress.

What do bones tell us?

Determining the physiological stress to which humans were subjected during their lifetime helps to reconstruct the living conditions and health of past populations. Changes caused by past physiological stress can show, among others, their diet, food shortages, hygiene conditions or health. This information, in turn, creates a picture of the biological condition of the examined people.

The changes that tell us a lot are, for example, porous hypertrophy or enamel hypoplasia (i.e. defects in the formation of tooth enamel), which indicate periods of temporary hunger or other stressful conditions, such as suffering from an infectious disease. Scientists are able to quite accurately date and precisely indicate in which period of a human’s life such stress occurred. For example, the moment of weaning is clearly visible in the enamel. In the past, switching to solid food was one of the greatest stresses a child would experience. Many did not survive this period.

Interestingly, it's not just the bones that are examined in "bone research". Seemingly insignificant samples, such as tartar, also turn out to be useful. Phytolites, i.e. silica formations formed and remaining in plant tissues, specific for the species, can be preserved in it. Once isolated, they give scientists more information about the way the people ate their food.

Road to UPWr Doctoral School

– Contrary to the stereotype, my interest in anthropology did not start by watching "Bones" – laughs Agata, admitting that it was many factors that made her interested in it: – I come from the west of Poland, where as children we’d often hear about accidental discoveries of post-war burials. In the area where I lived, there were graves of victims of totalitarian crimes which I visited with my parents, so this influenced my interest in this field. I was also inspired by the fact that although it becomes more difficult to identify a skeleton as years go by, science makes it possible nonetheless.

The choice of continuing studies at the UPWr Doctoral School was obvious for Agata. Earlier, she completed first-cycle studies in human biology and second-cycle studies in biology, specialising in human biology. Agata's supervisors, with whom she had been associated since the beginning of her studies, were also an obvious choice. – Professor Barbara Kwiatkowska, who has been my supervisor since my BA thesis, directed me towards "bone" work.  And Dr. Agnieszka Tomaszewska, my second supervisor, has always supported me in choosing the appropriate scientific methods and techniques. So our work together developed naturally and I am very pleased with it – says the PhD student.

Archaeological research at Kom el–Dikka

Part of Agata’s PhD research is located at the Kom el–Dikka archaeological site in Alexandria, Egypt. – This is my first archaeological site that is also an open tourist attraction. I’m surrounded by ruins of the oldest university known to science, an amphitheater, auditorium, theater, baths, and residential houses ... We work in a no-entry zone at the back of the building, but tourists walk all around the rest of the grounds – says Agata.

The remains that she is researching for her doctoral dissertation come from an early-medieval Muslim cemetery, whose tombs were underneath almost the entire area covered by the archaeological research.

Scholarships and successes

In Alexandria, the PhD student is under the supervision of Dr. Robert Mahler from the expedition of the Center of Mediterranean Archeology of the University of Warsaw led by Dr. Grzegorz Majcherek. She carries out her research on Kom el–Dikka as part of the CAŚ scholarship project, which she obtained, among others, for the odontological analysis of the material gathered there. Odontology is the study of teeth – Agata, in addition to examining the wormian bones, also examines the teeth of people buried there.

During her doctorate, Agata Bisiecka has also received a Gerhard Bersu scholarship from the Pro Archaeologia Saxoniae Foundation. Her research funded by the Saxon foundation also focuses on odontological analysis of the enamel hypoplasia, as well as obtaining phytolites from tartar. However, this time the material she's researching comes, not from Egypt, but from Libkovice in West Bohemia, Czechia. – We have been exploring this archaeological site with a team from our university for three years now. I was very interested in the odontology aspect of our research, so I applied for a scholarchip. Luckily I got it, so from next year I will be able to focus my research in this direction. On the basis of my research, I will be able to determine what kind of plants were eaten by the inhabitants of these areas, whether they were local, or maybe they were able to import food from far away – says Agata.

In addition to the scholarships, Agata has also received her own research project as part of the Innovative Doctorate competition. She will be studying Lithuanian skeleton materials at the Medical Faculty of the Vilnius University. 

Anthropology in contemporary crimes

Most Polish anthropologists work with the police force along conducting research at archaeological sites, because in Poland there are not many specialists who focus solely on crime victims. Agata Bisiecka is no different, having even had the opportunity to cooperate with the prosecutor from the Institute of National Remembrance. She admits, however, that work for the judiciary system constitutes a small percentage of her research.

As the PhD student highlights: – The possibility of assigning a name to a Jane or John Doe is extremely satisfying. Of course it takes a whole team to identify a body, it’s not only down to the anthropologist. So I always share the credit with an entire interdisciplinary team. By helping the law, our knowledge and research are rightly put into practice. It enables us to help families find out what happened to their loved ones. Anthropology truly is a field that solves both past and present mysteries.

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