Alexandra Ion
I am an (osteo)archaeologist and anthropologist telling stories about human remains and the scientists who study them:
I am interested in the study of cultural practices which deal with fragmented bodies with dynamic postmortem itineraries: from Neolithic multi-stage funerary practices to the curation & exhibiting of human remains in museums.
Past research projects
Member in the "State, Communities and Nature of the Lower Danube Islands: An Environmental History (1830-2020)" project financed by UEFISCDI through PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020 and hosted by the “Francisc I. Rainer” Institute of Anthropology. An interdisciplinary & multispecies long term perspective on human-animal-environment entanglements.
https://danislandsproject.wordpress.com/
'Exploring the Archaeological Migration Narrative: The Introduction of Farming and Animal Husbandry in Southern Norway' at the Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (Oslo).
- “DivMeanBody: Divergent Meanings: understanding the postmortem fate of human bodies found in Neolithic settlements from the Balkan area in light of interdisciplinary data” (https://divmeanbody.wordpress.com/ ): a Marie Słodowska-Curie Fellowship at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.
- "And then they were Bodies: Medieval Royalties, from DNA Analysis to a Nation's Identity", part of the 'Rex Nunquam moritur. Comparative Approaches to Political Theologies from the Middle Ages to the Present’ international project (an analysis of political anatomies and bodies: the symbolic value ascribed to Medieval bodies in contemporary contexts) - http://rexnunquammoritur.al.uw.edu.pl/
- Anatomical/Anthropological collections:
• contributor to the Human anatomy virtual museum, University of Cambridge - http://www.pdn.cam.ac.uk/research/groups/human-anatomy-teaching-group/human-anatomy-virtual-museum
• "The human body in the research of the first Romanian (physical) anthropologists. The birth of Romanian anthropology in European context" (the construction of anthropological bodies in 19th-early 20th c. museum collections, with a focus on the collection of the Romanian anthropologist and anatomist Francisc I. Rainer (1874-1944).
PhD University of Bucharest, History Faculty, topic: "The body and its limits. Approaches of human remains in the Archaeology and Osteoarchaeology from Romania"
MSc Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology, University of Sheffield, topic: "Is the body in pieces at peace? An analysis of the practice of Osteoarchaeology"
Blog: bodiesandacademia.wordpress.com
I am interested in the study of cultural practices which deal with fragmented bodies with dynamic postmortem itineraries: from Neolithic multi-stage funerary practices to the curation & exhibiting of human remains in museums.
Past research projects
Member in the "State, Communities and Nature of the Lower Danube Islands: An Environmental History (1830-2020)" project financed by UEFISCDI through PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020 and hosted by the “Francisc I. Rainer” Institute of Anthropology. An interdisciplinary & multispecies long term perspective on human-animal-environment entanglements.
https://danislandsproject.wordpress.com/
'Exploring the Archaeological Migration Narrative: The Introduction of Farming and Animal Husbandry in Southern Norway' at the Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (Oslo).
- “DivMeanBody: Divergent Meanings: understanding the postmortem fate of human bodies found in Neolithic settlements from the Balkan area in light of interdisciplinary data” (https://divmeanbody.wordpress.com/ ): a Marie Słodowska-Curie Fellowship at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.
- "And then they were Bodies: Medieval Royalties, from DNA Analysis to a Nation's Identity", part of the 'Rex Nunquam moritur. Comparative Approaches to Political Theologies from the Middle Ages to the Present’ international project (an analysis of political anatomies and bodies: the symbolic value ascribed to Medieval bodies in contemporary contexts) - http://rexnunquammoritur.al.uw.edu.pl/
- Anatomical/Anthropological collections:
• contributor to the Human anatomy virtual museum, University of Cambridge - http://www.pdn.cam.ac.uk/research/groups/human-anatomy-teaching-group/human-anatomy-virtual-museum
• "The human body in the research of the first Romanian (physical) anthropologists. The birth of Romanian anthropology in European context" (the construction of anthropological bodies in 19th-early 20th c. museum collections, with a focus on the collection of the Romanian anthropologist and anatomist Francisc I. Rainer (1874-1944).
PhD University of Bucharest, History Faculty, topic: "The body and its limits. Approaches of human remains in the Archaeology and Osteoarchaeology from Romania"
MSc Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology, University of Sheffield, topic: "Is the body in pieces at peace? An analysis of the practice of Osteoarchaeology"
Blog: bodiesandacademia.wordpress.com
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Books by Alexandra Ion
Sociologul si filosoful francez Bruno Latour compara procesul științific cu o poveste, în care obiectul de studiu și cercetătorii, asemenea unor eroi, trec prin mai multe încercări (pașii analizei științifice), iar la final ies altfel decât au intrat în poveste. Datele științifice pe care le considerăm un fapt, date obiective, sunt în realitate rezultatul unui proces de traducere: arheologii sau antropologii decupează realitatea prin prisma propriilor „prejudecăți” academice și dau un sens materialelor pe care le studiază. La final, ei propun un anumit răspuns la întrebarea cine suntem noi ca ființe istorice. Cum variază însă acest răspuns în funcție de contextul istoric, sau de cel personal?
„mumiile nu putrezesc de la viermi: ele mor după ce sunt transplantate dintr-o ordine a simbolicului, stăpână peste putrefacție și moarte, într-o ordine a istoriei, științei și a muzeelor, ordinea noastră, care nu mai stăpânește nimic și care încearcă să le reînvie prin știință” (Baudrillard 1994, 10-11).
Detalii si introducerea disponibile la: https://www.cetateadescaun.ro/produs/regi-sfinti-si-anonimi-cercetatori-si-oseminte-umane-in-arheologia-din-romania/
Papers Death, theory & the body by Alexandra Ion
Please email me if you want a copy of the text.
You can order the volume here: https://www.oxbowbooks.com/dbbc/far-from-equilibrium.html
Instead, I think that these dead played an important part in the life of communities: they contributed to the creation and manipulation of collective identities, marked a community's presence in space, they fixed time and were meant to create powerful ancestors who could intervene in the present.
In a settlement in the Danube plains, at Vidra (Gumelnita culture), 6500 years ago someone carefully placed an adult individual in a crouched position in a pit. On their shoulder they placed another skull and a few ribs, "some displaying cutmarks, and near their left knee, three vertebrae; in their right palm and on all the limbs were small red pebbles, while near the legs were two silex blades" (Rosetti 1934.20,21,38; Comsa 1960.11). Afterwards, life continued in the community. This extraordinary discovery gives us an insight into the relationship the community from Vidra had with death and the dead. It is a telling example of the complexity of Neolithic and Eneolithic funerary rituals in the Balkan area, which were intertwined with place-making strategies, memory, and expressions of individual and communal identities. At the same time, it brings into view the challenges in interpreting such multi-layered discoveries in the absence of careful taphonomic observations
or well-considered theoretical frameworks.
The bodies of kings, princes and political rulers have always represented more than just biological clumps of matter. They have been viewed as the very being and power of the ruler, and such bodies have continued to act as an index of the person even beyond their death. As Katherine Verdery rightly pointed out, the materiality of the body can be linked strongly to ‘its symbolic efficacy;’ the corporeality of these bodies ‘makes them important means of localizing a claim,’ as their very own materiality has embedded in it the values and images associated with these kings. It is for this reason that such bodies can become, in the words of Pierre Nora, lieux de mémoire, places through which memories are enacted and located, flesh and bone gaining symbolic value and political power. It is the goal of this text to explore how the agency of such royal bodies has been framed in the context of the contemporary (osteo)archaeological narratives which have been constructed around them.
The bodies of certain rulers experienced disturbing afterlives, with different political regimes or leaders manipulating them in order to make political statements. These remains of once-important figures are still half-alive, in so far as they bear post-mortem agency and determine the creation of contemporary projects in which they still take center stage.
In the present times, the bodies of these rulers have lost none of their fascination, as several recent exhumation projects reveal. By following research into the afterlives of these contentious human remains and their symbolic power, it is the goal of this chapter to explore an original line of inquiry, namely the role which such remains play in redefining identity for the contemporary academic discipline of archaeology and its related sciences. How are these bodies framed at the crossroads of public and scientific debates, in multiple networks of experts and ontological perspectives? The claim of this study is that, within the field of archaeology, human remains of important political figures have become important objects of study, and projects designed around them present a series of fascinating issues: they contribute to redefining connections between science, history and the public, they have been used in scientific battles to settle what constitutes stronger and legitimate evidence in writing the past, have been used to redefine notions of objectivity regarding the past and ways of becoming visible in the public eye. In the following study I will highlight the political, religious and academic treatment of such relics. The question of whether or not the identification processes employed by the scientists yield valid results falls beyond the scope of the present analysis; rather it is the understanding of the scientists themselves which forms the focus of our examination.
It is not a paper about the knowledge osteoarchaeologists claim to have about the human body. Rather, I propose a reflective approach that follows step by step scientists in their work to obtain that knowledge and I will critically deconstruct their actions. In the laboratory, scientists describe, measure, quantify the human bones, in the end turning them into data that become the topic of anthropological reports or articles. Through this process, the dead human body looses the link with the former living individual, by taking on the identity of a specimen that can be displayed, manipulated, and reconfigured according to the adopted scientific paradigm."
Dissertation supervised by Prof John C Barrett
MSc Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology
Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield
Papers History of anatomical/anthrop. collections by Alexandra Ion
all of these were collected and turned into scientific specimens by the anatomist
and physical anthropologist Francisc I. Rainer in Interwar Bucharest
(Romania). It is the purpose of this study to explore how this collection came
into being, to understand Rainer’s treatment of bodies in a wider disciplinary
context and ultimately to prompt reflection on the ethical dimension of such
endeavours.
Francisc J. Rainer collection has an important potential for future research.
Methods used to teach anatomy at medical schools have varied considerably over the years, particularly with an increasing provision of information technology. The anatomical collection at the University of Cambridge contains a plethora of specimens dating back to the nineteenth century, among which some valuable Beauchene skulls and a rare specimen of a bound foot—yet they remain within the confines of the human dissection room. The Virtual Museum project is a solution we put forward in order to bring these specimens closer to contemporary audiences – whether they be they students in medical training or the general public. 9072 images were taken of various osteological specimens, with an array of normal and pathological features—including tumours, fractures and evidence of operative intervention. These were labelled with the most salient features and uploaded for display on the University website, along with captions that contextualise the presented specimens. Complex specimens were enhanced with techniques that enabled viewing in 360-degrees. Care was made to ensure the design of the website was in concordance with well-recognised principles of multimedia learning. By emphasising the unique history and exemplifying pathology through the ages, the Virtual Museum project will foster interest in anatomy and the history of the collection amongst students, trainees and the general public alike.
(http://www.pdn.cam.ac.uk/research/groups/human-anatomy-teaching-group/human-anatomy-virtual-museum)
Sociologul si filosoful francez Bruno Latour compara procesul științific cu o poveste, în care obiectul de studiu și cercetătorii, asemenea unor eroi, trec prin mai multe încercări (pașii analizei științifice), iar la final ies altfel decât au intrat în poveste. Datele științifice pe care le considerăm un fapt, date obiective, sunt în realitate rezultatul unui proces de traducere: arheologii sau antropologii decupează realitatea prin prisma propriilor „prejudecăți” academice și dau un sens materialelor pe care le studiază. La final, ei propun un anumit răspuns la întrebarea cine suntem noi ca ființe istorice. Cum variază însă acest răspuns în funcție de contextul istoric, sau de cel personal?
„mumiile nu putrezesc de la viermi: ele mor după ce sunt transplantate dintr-o ordine a simbolicului, stăpână peste putrefacție și moarte, într-o ordine a istoriei, științei și a muzeelor, ordinea noastră, care nu mai stăpânește nimic și care încearcă să le reînvie prin știință” (Baudrillard 1994, 10-11).
Detalii si introducerea disponibile la: https://www.cetateadescaun.ro/produs/regi-sfinti-si-anonimi-cercetatori-si-oseminte-umane-in-arheologia-din-romania/
Please email me if you want a copy of the text.
You can order the volume here: https://www.oxbowbooks.com/dbbc/far-from-equilibrium.html
Instead, I think that these dead played an important part in the life of communities: they contributed to the creation and manipulation of collective identities, marked a community's presence in space, they fixed time and were meant to create powerful ancestors who could intervene in the present.
In a settlement in the Danube plains, at Vidra (Gumelnita culture), 6500 years ago someone carefully placed an adult individual in a crouched position in a pit. On their shoulder they placed another skull and a few ribs, "some displaying cutmarks, and near their left knee, three vertebrae; in their right palm and on all the limbs were small red pebbles, while near the legs were two silex blades" (Rosetti 1934.20,21,38; Comsa 1960.11). Afterwards, life continued in the community. This extraordinary discovery gives us an insight into the relationship the community from Vidra had with death and the dead. It is a telling example of the complexity of Neolithic and Eneolithic funerary rituals in the Balkan area, which were intertwined with place-making strategies, memory, and expressions of individual and communal identities. At the same time, it brings into view the challenges in interpreting such multi-layered discoveries in the absence of careful taphonomic observations
or well-considered theoretical frameworks.
The bodies of kings, princes and political rulers have always represented more than just biological clumps of matter. They have been viewed as the very being and power of the ruler, and such bodies have continued to act as an index of the person even beyond their death. As Katherine Verdery rightly pointed out, the materiality of the body can be linked strongly to ‘its symbolic efficacy;’ the corporeality of these bodies ‘makes them important means of localizing a claim,’ as their very own materiality has embedded in it the values and images associated with these kings. It is for this reason that such bodies can become, in the words of Pierre Nora, lieux de mémoire, places through which memories are enacted and located, flesh and bone gaining symbolic value and political power. It is the goal of this text to explore how the agency of such royal bodies has been framed in the context of the contemporary (osteo)archaeological narratives which have been constructed around them.
The bodies of certain rulers experienced disturbing afterlives, with different political regimes or leaders manipulating them in order to make political statements. These remains of once-important figures are still half-alive, in so far as they bear post-mortem agency and determine the creation of contemporary projects in which they still take center stage.
In the present times, the bodies of these rulers have lost none of their fascination, as several recent exhumation projects reveal. By following research into the afterlives of these contentious human remains and their symbolic power, it is the goal of this chapter to explore an original line of inquiry, namely the role which such remains play in redefining identity for the contemporary academic discipline of archaeology and its related sciences. How are these bodies framed at the crossroads of public and scientific debates, in multiple networks of experts and ontological perspectives? The claim of this study is that, within the field of archaeology, human remains of important political figures have become important objects of study, and projects designed around them present a series of fascinating issues: they contribute to redefining connections between science, history and the public, they have been used in scientific battles to settle what constitutes stronger and legitimate evidence in writing the past, have been used to redefine notions of objectivity regarding the past and ways of becoming visible in the public eye. In the following study I will highlight the political, religious and academic treatment of such relics. The question of whether or not the identification processes employed by the scientists yield valid results falls beyond the scope of the present analysis; rather it is the understanding of the scientists themselves which forms the focus of our examination.
It is not a paper about the knowledge osteoarchaeologists claim to have about the human body. Rather, I propose a reflective approach that follows step by step scientists in their work to obtain that knowledge and I will critically deconstruct their actions. In the laboratory, scientists describe, measure, quantify the human bones, in the end turning them into data that become the topic of anthropological reports or articles. Through this process, the dead human body looses the link with the former living individual, by taking on the identity of a specimen that can be displayed, manipulated, and reconfigured according to the adopted scientific paradigm."
Dissertation supervised by Prof John C Barrett
MSc Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology
Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield
all of these were collected and turned into scientific specimens by the anatomist
and physical anthropologist Francisc I. Rainer in Interwar Bucharest
(Romania). It is the purpose of this study to explore how this collection came
into being, to understand Rainer’s treatment of bodies in a wider disciplinary
context and ultimately to prompt reflection on the ethical dimension of such
endeavours.
Francisc J. Rainer collection has an important potential for future research.
Methods used to teach anatomy at medical schools have varied considerably over the years, particularly with an increasing provision of information technology. The anatomical collection at the University of Cambridge contains a plethora of specimens dating back to the nineteenth century, among which some valuable Beauchene skulls and a rare specimen of a bound foot—yet they remain within the confines of the human dissection room. The Virtual Museum project is a solution we put forward in order to bring these specimens closer to contemporary audiences – whether they be they students in medical training or the general public. 9072 images were taken of various osteological specimens, with an array of normal and pathological features—including tumours, fractures and evidence of operative intervention. These were labelled with the most salient features and uploaded for display on the University website, along with captions that contextualise the presented specimens. Complex specimens were enhanced with techniques that enabled viewing in 360-degrees. Care was made to ensure the design of the website was in concordance with well-recognised principles of multimedia learning. By emphasising the unique history and exemplifying pathology through the ages, the Virtual Museum project will foster interest in anatomy and the history of the collection amongst students, trainees and the general public alike.
(http://www.pdn.cam.ac.uk/research/groups/human-anatomy-teaching-group/human-anatomy-virtual-museum)
Abstract: This article presents the results of an archaeological intervention carried out in 2010 involving the exhumation of the remains of Bishop Vasile Aftenie (1899-1950). The intervention took place as part of the efforts of the Greek Catholic Church of Romania to beatify said bishop, who, from a Christian perspective, died a martyr's death: he was arrested in 1948 by the Securitate (the Romanian secret police under communism), tortured and pressured into renouncing his faith. The inventory items discovered (fragments of clothing, a collar), the stature of the deceased as computed using anthropological analysis (and in keeping with witness statements), as well as circumstancial evidence confirms the oral testimony relating to the site of the bishop's burial. Among the material used to fill the grave we found many coins as well as a glass phial with a metal lid containing some strands of hair and a slip of paper containing a prayer for the lifting of curses. The coins and phial, together with the candles from the grave, represent the material expression of the homage and prayers offered up by the faithful to the bishop. The results of our archaeological research rendered material expression to the relationship existing between the bishop's remains and the faithful, confirming the fact that, long before the Romanian Greek Catholic Church began considering the bishop for beatification, some people had already begun honouring him as a saint of their own accord. Rezumat: Articolul prezintă rezultatele intervenţiei arheologice din anul 2010 prilejuită de exhumarea osemintelor Episco-pului Vasile Aftenie (1899-1950). Intervenţia s-a desfășurat ca parte a demersurilor efectuate de Biserica Greco-Catolică din România în vederea beatificării episcopului care, din perspectivă creștină, a avut o moarte martirică: acesta a fost arestat în anul 1948 de Secu-ritate, torturat și supus presiunilor pentru a se dezice de credinţa sa. Elementele de inventar descoperite (fragmente din veşminte, un colar), statura decedatului stabilită de expertiza antropologică (conforme cu informaţiile martorilor), cât și datele generale confirmă mărturiile orale legate de locul de înmormântare al episcopului. În umplutura gropii funerare am descoperit mai multe monede, dar şi un flacon de sticlă cu capac metalic având în interior fire de păr şi un bilet ce conţinea o rugăciune pentru dezlegarea blestemelor. Monedele şi flaconul, împreună cu lumânările de pe mormânt, constituie împreună materialitatea cinstirii şi rugilor pe care credincioşii le-au adus episcopului Vasile Aftenie. Rezultatele cercetării arheologice oferă materialitate relaţiei stabilite între corpul episcopului şi credincioşi, confirmând faptul că mult înainte ca Biserica Greco-Catolică din România să-şi fi propus a-l beatifica, unii oameni l-au cinstit în mod spontan ca pe un sfânt.
baza urmelor lăsate pe schelet. Însă arheologii, în special în ultimele decenii, se feresc să intre pe un teritoriu care pare subiectiv şi scapă metodologiei cuantificabile. Există însă o întreagă subramură a arheologiei care este preocupată de capacităţi cognitive şi de înţelegerea umanităţii prin studiul creierului în paradigma neo-evoluţionistă. Această situaţie însă spune mai mult despre cercetători şi ce cred ei că putem şti despre trecut, decât despre limitele subiectului. Aşa că este cu atât mai necesar şi lăudabil un asemenea volum, unde autorul îşi ia inima în dinţi să vorbească despre dragoste pe baza urmelor arheologice. În plus, ce mod mai bun de a introduce publicul larg în culisele domeniului decât printr-un asemenea subiect?
body of the martyr. Between an archival exercise and the recovery of his suffering. The need for a recovery of humanity in osteoarchaeology. Arch. Dialogues 23, 2016, 158–174).
With this book, Jennifer Kerner moves precisely in this direction. Written at the intersection of archaeothanatology and ethnoarchaeology, this volume takes the reader on a comparative journey from the deep past to present day, from Paleolithic France to the Chinese Neolithic, or to contemporary relics sold at auctions. The guiding question throughout is: when is one dead for society (‘quand le mort est-il mort pour la société?’, p. 18). By looking at the ways in which people and cultures have manipulated the bodies post-mortem, J. Kerner ultimately aims to discuss the processes through which the dead (body) becomes the Other – ‘creation d’un Autre’ (p. 20).
Ultimately, this book provokes us, its readers, to contemplate ritual time, gestures, absences, and ruptures opened by the death of an individual. This is a journey towards confronting our own mortality, and the peoples’ of the past. As the motto chosen for the conclusion highlights: Death that closes our eyes, opens our spirit (‘La mort qui nous ferme les yeux, nous ouvre l’esprit’, Malebranche, p. 325). So where do we want to take our explorations next?
'I love this turf-face, it's black incisions, the cooped secrets of process and ritual'
https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/jca-book-reviews-studies-forensic-biohistory-anthropological-perspectives-edited-christopher-m-stojanowski-william-n-duncan/
Published in: European Journal of Archaeology Volume 19, Issue 3, 2016 Special Issue: Special Issue: Mortuary Citations: Death and Memory in the Viking World
for the modern eye, and it is the task of the historian of science to attempt to understand their creation, use and reception. With this volume, Marieke Hendriksen, a historian of medicine from the Utrecht
University, follows in the line of studies concerned with the history and composition of anatomical collections (e.g. Alberti 2011; Hallam 2016; Knoeff and Zwijnenberg 2015)1, but takes an original line of inquiry by focusing on the very materiality of the specimens. Placed at the intersection of material culture studies, history of science, art and philosophy, Hendriksen’s approach aims at shifting the focus of the analysis from the creators of such collections, to the materiality of the
specimens in order to answer questions such as why they look the way they do, why they were created in the first place, or how they were viewed.
Currie rightly claims that historical scientists in general –, and here he includes geologists, palaeontologists, and archaeologists- have plenty of reasons to be more optimistic about their epistemic success. Especially when the record we are dealing with is heterogenous, and fragmentary we should be ‘wild, messy, and creative’ (p. 290), as this is what will eventually lead us to a richer, and more robust image of the past. That is because we have several strategies to mitigate against ‘unlucky’ circumstances: we are methodologically omnivores, we can also use non-trace evidence- analogies, models and simulations-, we can improve our middle range theories (historical investigation being scaffolded), and take a pragmatic stance towards hypothesis-making. He then unpacks these strategies throughout the 13 chapters.
(first 50 views free read: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/i8AQM9RdH9AMmYsTacKI/full )
Published in Revista de Cercetari Arheologice si Numismatice a Muzeului Municipiului Bucuresti, Vol.1/2015
Rezumat: Prin acest articol intenționez să introduc conceptul de arheologie publică în cadrul dezbaterilor contemporane din cadrul arheologiei din România. Consider că este necesară o regândire a disciplinei, o deschidere a ei către public pentru a crea o punte de legătură între știință și societate. Există o multitudine de probleme subsumate conceptului de arheologie publică: de la arheologul ca intelectual public, la arheologia înțeleasă ca acțiune politică, de la proiecte pentru comunitate, la protecția patrimoniului. Pe parcursul acestei lucrări, voi realiza o scurtă trecere în revistă a acestor teme principale ale arheologiei publice, a presupozițiilor lor , precum și a motivelor pentru care arheologia din România are nevoie de arheologie publică."
https://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/tema-saptamanii/articol/identitatea-o-istorie-inscrisa-in-oasele-noastre
The project is carried out within the framework of the National Programme for the Development of Humanities (module 2.1).