Papers by ana seabra
Bioarchaeology Module Loading... Please Hold Recording Human bioarchaeological data from Portugue... more Bioarchaeology Module Loading... Please Hold Recording Human bioarchaeological data from Portuguese archaeological field reports.
Poster Presentation at the CAA conference held in Oslo 2016
The individuals exhumed from the Convent of Loios from Porto, which was object to intervention by... more The individuals exhumed from the Convent of Loios from Porto, which was object to intervention by rescue archaeology prior to the construction of the Intercontinental Hotel and the requalification of the Cardosas block, were partially studied in a master dissertation. They are presented within a wider context of funerary practices from the Lower Middle Ages to Modern Period, serving as a starting point to explore the importance of historical records combined with bioarchaeological data in order to reconstruct mortuary behaviour for the aforementioned timeline. The study of the individuals exhumed show some similarities with individuals exhumed from contemporaneous sites, as well as raising questions pertaining data preservation of historical and bioarchaeological information pertaining to funerary contexts.
Poster presentation in the session What Do My Data Signify? How Can This Theory Be Supported? Int... more Poster presentation in the session What Do My Data Signify? How Can This Theory Be Supported? Interrogating Connections between Science and Theory in Funerary Archaeology EAA 2021 Widening Horizons 8-11 Setember Kiel.
Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Historica, 2018
The proposed paper aims to present a preliminary framework for an ongoing research within the sco... more The proposed paper aims to present a preliminary framework for an ongoing research within the scope of a Doctoral Thesis regarding the mortuary practices in Mediaeval/Modern Portugal. The assumption that Christian burial practices are completely standardized has often been contradicted by bioarcheologists on-field, however, most observations and results are kept on site-specific level and confined to grey literature. Differences have been observed in other areas such as Art History and History. They can pertain to differences in the representation of deceased women in funerary art – with different positions and goods, while expressions of piety have been noted for both genders. Historical documentary sources show women as active members, financing the construction of religious buildings, and carefully stipulating their own funeral rites with astounding detail, from what will be worn, the offerings to be bestowed and the number of days of mourning. Some scholars studying testaments and pious donations have already pointed out differences related to gender: in the choice of the burial place – beside the husband or back with their own family line, and the increase likelihood to wish to be buried wearing religious attire, often from mendicant orders. The bodies themselves have been mostly kept out of the discussion where Christian Portuguese Medieval and Modern burials are concerned. As such, we aim to explore a bioarcheological perspective based on anthropological field reports, to outline differences in mortuary practice between female and male adults, and children in Portugal from burial sites instituted after 1297. In the present paper we aim to present the preliminary framework of our ongoing study, a theoretical state of the art and the methodology to be employed throughout our research. We believe that comprehensive statistical inter-site comparisons will underline possible trends not visible at intra-site level or highlight the geographical or chronological specificity of these trends.
The General Directorate of Cultural Heritage (DGPC) central administration service with responsib... more The General Directorate of Cultural Heritage (DGPC) central administration service with responsibilities of management, salvage, rescue and valorization of cultural heritage assets, has the underlining obligation of maintaining an up to date inventory of archaeological materials. As such the DGPC develops and updates an archaeological heritage information system – Endovélico, ensuring the recommendations upheld by the La Valletta Convention (Malta, 1992). Thus, besides constituting an inventory of heritage records based on archaeological field reports, it works as well as an integrated system, indispensable for the development of national politics for heritage defense and value. Given the high quantity of archaeological reports (from both salvage and research) containing biological and funerary data, a specific recording model was developed as a means to manage and potentiate this information. This way the systematization of this data intends to enable their access to researchers an...
Recent data has shown that there is a great diversity of vocabulary related with bioarchaeology a... more Recent data has shown that there is a great diversity of vocabulary related with bioarchaeology and funerary archaeology employed both in technical and scientific documents produced in Portugal. This phenomenon reflects, the lack of an uniform criteria in the application of concepts reflecting the circumstances and scientific preferences of the author, and as such revealing the subjectivity associated with the gathering of on field information during archaeological work. The lack of a standard framework limits data interpretation, by restricting a systematic approach to the information gathered and, consequently, impairing the comparisons amongst bio-demographic and sociocultural main features of Past Populations. Identifying this problem and its consequences led to the work that is currently being developed and that comprises the standpoint of reference authors in this matter, considering their contribution and presenting a proposal for the definition of the selected concepts. This...
Estrat Critic Revista D Arqueologia, 2011
is officially founded, in the city of Porto, becoming the 6th convent belonging to the order of S... more is officially founded, in the city of Porto, becoming the 6th convent belonging to the order of Saint John Evangelist in Portugal. Although relatively small, it soon became one of the most important convents of this order in Portugal, having gone through some stages of renovation to increase its dimensions. By the year 1788 it is already considered one of the wealthiest convents of the city. A few years after the Liberal Revolution, it is demolished and the sold area was turned into a Palace. The convent was located in the Largo das Cardosas in downtown Porto, an area which is being object of a rehabilitation project that aims to promote residence and tourism through the renovation and construction of new facilities. A Preliminary report was done during the exhumation of the remains, based solely on the skeletal material removed from the ossuaries and coffins. The site held evidence of Christian burial practice with multiple reuse of the graves, and the materials recovered placed made possible to place the site in a 18th century timeline.
A N N A L E S U N I V E R S I T A T I S A P U L E N S I S , SERIES HISTORICA 22/I Archaeology of Women Mortuary Practices and Bioarchaeological Reconstruction, 2018
The proposed paper aims to present a preliminary framework for an ongoing research within the sco... more The proposed paper aims to present a preliminary framework for an ongoing research within the scope of a Doctoral Thesis regarding the mortuary practices in Mediaeval/Modern Portugal.
The assumption that Christian burial practices are completely standardized has often been contradicted by bioarcheologists on-field, however, most observations and results are kept on site-specific level and confined to grey literature.
Differences have been observed in other areas such as Art History and History. They can pertain to differences in the representation of deceased women in funerary art – with different positions and goods, while expressions of piety have been noted for both genders.
Historical documentary sources show women as active members, financing the construction of religious buildings, and carefully stipulating their own funeral rites with astounding detail, from what will be worn, the offerings to be bestowed and the number of days of mourning. Some scholars studying testaments and pious donations have already pointed out differences related to gender: in the choice of the burial place – beside the husband or back with their own family line, and the increase likelihood to wish to be buried wearing religious attire, often from mendicant orders.
The bodies themselves have been mostly kept out of the discussion where Christian Portuguese Medieval and Modern burials are concerned. As such, we aim to explore a bioarcheological perspective based on anthropological field reports, to outline differences in mortuary practice between female and male adults, and children in Portugal from burial sites instituted after 1297.
In the present paper we aim to present the preliminary framework of our ongoing study, a theoretical state of the art and the methodology to be employed throughout our research. We believe that comprehensive statistical inter-site comparisons will underline possible trends not visible at intra-site level or highlight the geographical or chronological specificity of these trends.
Oceans of Data Proceedings of the 44th Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, 2018
Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies 2014
Recent data has shown that there is a great diversity of vocabulary related with bioarchaeology a... more Recent data has shown that there is a great diversity of vocabulary related with bioarchaeology and funerary archaeology employed both in technical and scientific documents produced in Portugal. This phenomenon reflects, the lack of an uniform criteria in the application of concepts reflecting the circumstances and scientific preferences of the author, and as such revealing the subjectivity associated with the gathering of on field information during archaeological work.
The lack of a standard framework limits data interpretation, by restricting a systematic approach to the information gathered and, consequently, impairing the comparisons amongst biodemographic and sociocultural main features of Past Populations.
Identifying this problem and its consequences led to the work that is currently being developed and that comprises the standpoint of reference authors in this matter, considering their contribution and presenting a proposal for the definition of the selected concepts. This strategy intends to produce a uniform language to
be adopted in technical reports. It’s our hope that this approach could lead to a better understanding of archaeological field reports, increasing their informative potential that could later feed a bioarchaeological database.
Thus it is our aim, with the present communication, to present the first effort of an ongoing project, to establish a common standard of main concepts on bioarchaeology.
Conference Presentations by ana seabra
Bioarqueologia-disciplina que estabelece a ponte entre as ciências sociais e biológicas, colocand... more Bioarqueologia-disciplina que estabelece a ponte entre as ciências sociais e biológicas, colocando o estudo de restos humanos provenientes de sítios arqueológicos (Knudson, e Stojanowski, 2008; Halcrow e Ward, 2017). Constitui-se como uma área que se presta particularmente ao estudo da Identidade em populações passadas (Knudson, e Stojanowski, 2008:398). Bodyscape-conjunto integrado de vários aspectos identitários assumido pelo individuo e/ou atribuído pela sociedade que que este se encontra inserido que contribuem para construir a Identidade individual e colectiva
POSTER at EAA Kiel, 2021
Poster presentation in the session What Do My Data Signify? How Can This Theory Be Supported? Int... more Poster presentation in the session What Do My Data Signify? How Can This Theory Be Supported? Interrogating Connections between Science and Theory in Funerary Archaeology EAA 2021 Widening Horizons 8-11 Setember Kiel.
O contexto Apresenta-se um estudo em curso que constitui o tema de tese de Doutoramento em Bioarq... more O contexto Apresenta-se um estudo em curso que constitui o tema de tese de Doutoramento em Bioarqueologia sobre práticas funerárias em Portugal. O período em foco inicia-se em finais do século XIII, nomeadamente em1297, data do Tratado de Alcanizes que consolidou as fronteiras definitivas de Portugal 1 e estende-se, por constrangimentos inerentes à prática arqueológica 2 , até 1834, data da expulsão das Ordens Religiosas em Portugal. O trabalho que se te vindo a desenvolver centra-se no estudo das práticas funerárias enquanto janela para a vivência da morte. As práticas funerárias podem ser entendidas como produto da relação entre o corpo/cadáver e a comunidade enlutada (Carr, 1995), transferindo o indivíduo na sua perceção biossocial do "mundo dos vivos" para o "mundo dos mortos" (Knudson e Stojanowiski, 2008; Geller, 2009). É neste sentido que traduzem no campo material e ideológico os valores fundamentais dominantes na sociedade e, consequentemente, variações e desvios da norma poderão refletir mudanças de mentalidades (Ariés, 1988; Rebay-Salisbury, 2012), crenças, preceitos religiosos e/ou sociais.
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Papers by ana seabra
Poster Presentation at the CAA conference held in Oslo 2016
The assumption that Christian burial practices are completely standardized has often been contradicted by bioarcheologists on-field, however, most observations and results are kept on site-specific level and confined to grey literature.
Differences have been observed in other areas such as Art History and History. They can pertain to differences in the representation of deceased women in funerary art – with different positions and goods, while expressions of piety have been noted for both genders.
Historical documentary sources show women as active members, financing the construction of religious buildings, and carefully stipulating their own funeral rites with astounding detail, from what will be worn, the offerings to be bestowed and the number of days of mourning. Some scholars studying testaments and pious donations have already pointed out differences related to gender: in the choice of the burial place – beside the husband or back with their own family line, and the increase likelihood to wish to be buried wearing religious attire, often from mendicant orders.
The bodies themselves have been mostly kept out of the discussion where Christian Portuguese Medieval and Modern burials are concerned. As such, we aim to explore a bioarcheological perspective based on anthropological field reports, to outline differences in mortuary practice between female and male adults, and children in Portugal from burial sites instituted after 1297.
In the present paper we aim to present the preliminary framework of our ongoing study, a theoretical state of the art and the methodology to be employed throughout our research. We believe that comprehensive statistical inter-site comparisons will underline possible trends not visible at intra-site level or highlight the geographical or chronological specificity of these trends.
The lack of a standard framework limits data interpretation, by restricting a systematic approach to the information gathered and, consequently, impairing the comparisons amongst biodemographic and sociocultural main features of Past Populations.
Identifying this problem and its consequences led to the work that is currently being developed and that comprises the standpoint of reference authors in this matter, considering their contribution and presenting a proposal for the definition of the selected concepts. This strategy intends to produce a uniform language to
be adopted in technical reports. It’s our hope that this approach could lead to a better understanding of archaeological field reports, increasing their informative potential that could later feed a bioarchaeological database.
Thus it is our aim, with the present communication, to present the first effort of an ongoing project, to establish a common standard of main concepts on bioarchaeology.
Conference Presentations by ana seabra
Poster Presentation at the CAA conference held in Oslo 2016
The assumption that Christian burial practices are completely standardized has often been contradicted by bioarcheologists on-field, however, most observations and results are kept on site-specific level and confined to grey literature.
Differences have been observed in other areas such as Art History and History. They can pertain to differences in the representation of deceased women in funerary art – with different positions and goods, while expressions of piety have been noted for both genders.
Historical documentary sources show women as active members, financing the construction of religious buildings, and carefully stipulating their own funeral rites with astounding detail, from what will be worn, the offerings to be bestowed and the number of days of mourning. Some scholars studying testaments and pious donations have already pointed out differences related to gender: in the choice of the burial place – beside the husband or back with their own family line, and the increase likelihood to wish to be buried wearing religious attire, often from mendicant orders.
The bodies themselves have been mostly kept out of the discussion where Christian Portuguese Medieval and Modern burials are concerned. As such, we aim to explore a bioarcheological perspective based on anthropological field reports, to outline differences in mortuary practice between female and male adults, and children in Portugal from burial sites instituted after 1297.
In the present paper we aim to present the preliminary framework of our ongoing study, a theoretical state of the art and the methodology to be employed throughout our research. We believe that comprehensive statistical inter-site comparisons will underline possible trends not visible at intra-site level or highlight the geographical or chronological specificity of these trends.
The lack of a standard framework limits data interpretation, by restricting a systematic approach to the information gathered and, consequently, impairing the comparisons amongst biodemographic and sociocultural main features of Past Populations.
Identifying this problem and its consequences led to the work that is currently being developed and that comprises the standpoint of reference authors in this matter, considering their contribution and presenting a proposal for the definition of the selected concepts. This strategy intends to produce a uniform language to
be adopted in technical reports. It’s our hope that this approach could lead to a better understanding of archaeological field reports, increasing their informative potential that could later feed a bioarchaeological database.
Thus it is our aim, with the present communication, to present the first effort of an ongoing project, to establish a common standard of main concepts on bioarchaeology.
This project started to be defined between 2013 and 2014, with the intention to reinforce the premises originally presented in the first edition of this meeting, and aims to constitute an answer to the absence of an epistemological reflection in this field in terms of the terminology in use. This lack is reflected in the use of a diversity of terms, which are often similar or competing between them, both in academic and technical-scientific production, thus impairing the use of the paleobiological data gathered in the sequence of archaeological fieldwork.
The implementation of this project implies an interdisciplinary approach – anthropology, archaeology and linguistics – and is inspired in terminology normalization methodologies already established in other scientific and technical areas. The main goal of the project is to construct a terminological vocabulary in interaction with the scientific community with aims to its recognition, appropriation and utilization by the specialists of this area.
In this presentation, we will specify the strategy and process to be adopted, from the constitution of a representative documental archive (corpus), the gathering and selection of terms, their description by the bioarchaeological scientific community and a subsequent return of the vocabulary normalized to its users.
The lack of a standard framework limits data interpretation, by restricting a systematic approach to the information gathered and, consequently, impairing the comparisons amongst bio-demographic and socio-cultural main features of Past Populations.
Identifying this problem and its consequences led to the work that is currently being developed and that comprises the standpoint of reference authors in this matter, considering their contribution and presenting a proposal for the definition of the selected concepts. This strategy intends to produce a uniform language to be adopted in technical reports. It's our hope that this approach could lead to a better understanding of archaeological field reports, increasing their informative potential, that could later feed a bioarchaeological database.
Thus it is our aim, with the present communication, to present the first effort of an ongoing project, to establish a common standard of main concepts on bioarchaeology.
(DGPC) holds the record of archaeological and bioanthropological data. While primarily directed towards heritage management
it has the potential to become a valuable tool to research by constituting a complementary record to the written archaeological
field reports, making them more accessible for research.
The poster communication aimed to expose the particular case of entering data into a database pertaining to information concerning archaeological human remains in archived Anthropological and Bioarchaeological Reports. These not only cover a wide
scope of chronological periods and territorial space but also, as the main archaeological archive of Portuguese archaeological
grey literature, it has a diverse collection of documentation from early 20th century reports to the present day. We explore the
issues brought on by terminology, data and the reports themselves and explore how these might be addressed.