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Clara Alfsdotter

Clara Alfsdotter
Swedish Police Authority · National Forensic Center

Doctor of Philosophy

About

15
Publications
24,584
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137
Citations
Introduction
Forensic archaeologist & osteologist I Swedish Police Authority, National Forensic Center Researcher in forensic anthropology & taphonomy I National Board of Forensic Medicine Affiliated resaercher I Forensic Anthropology Center, Texas State University 10+ years experience development-led osteology & archaeology
Additional affiliations
April 2013 - present
Bohusläns museum
Position
  • Osteoarchaeologist

Publications

Publications (15)
Article
Full-text available
A massacre took place inside the Sandby borg ringfort, southeast Sweden, at the end of the fifth century. The victims were not buried, but left where they died. In order to understand why the corpses were left unburied, and how they were perceived following the violent event, a theoretical framework is developed and integrated with the results of o...
Article
Full-text available
In the ringfort Sandby borg (A.D. 400–550) on Öland, Sweden, remains of 26 unburied humans were excavated between 2010 and 2016. Several of the skeletons display traces of lethal interpersonal violence. This study pres¬ents taphonomic analyses of unburied bodies, a situation seldom encountered archaeologically. The depositional context allows us to...
Article
Full-text available
Archaeological theories and methods are developed to reconstruct past human behavior from fragmentary material remains. The interrelated discipline of physical anthropology addresses questions related to skeletal remains while acknowledging taphonomic parameters. The benefit of integrating these disciplines in forensic investigations has gained inc...
Article
Full-text available
This paper presents a quantitative retrospective study of gross human decomposition in central and southeastern Sweden. The applicability of methods developed abroad for postmortem interval (PMI) estimation from decomposition morphology and temperature are is evaluated. Ninety-four cases were analyzed (43 terrestrial and 51 aquatic) with a median P...
Article
Full-text available
A qualitative actualistic human taphonomy study was conducted to analyze human decomposition and disarticulation in coffins. Two adult cadavers were placed in rectangular wooden coffins for around two and a half years for the purpose of the study. We used the archaeothanatological methodological framework to situate the actualistic study in a mortu...
Article
Full-text available
The total body score (TBS) is a visual scoring method to scale the succession of decomposition stages. It compares decomposition between cadavers, to connect it with external taphonomic factors and estimate the post-mortem interval. To study decomposition in various climatic environments, pigs are often used as human proxies. Currently, there is on...
Article
In recent years histological analysis has become widely used for reconstructing mortuary treatment in archaeological contexts. Interpretations rely on the degree and nature of microstructural taphonomic changes, particularly bacterial attack, but there is considerable disagreement on how these changes should be interpreted. Some researchers believe...
Article
Full-text available
We investigate a 2,000-year genetic transect through Scandinavia spanning the Iron Age to the present, based on 48 new and 249 published ancient genomes and genotypes from 16,638 modern individuals. We find regional variation in the timing and magnitude of gene flow from three sources: the eastern Baltic, the British-Irish Isles, and southern Europ...
Article
Full-text available
This paper presents the ongoing development of forensic anthropology in Sweden. We discuss the background of the discipline, its application, as well as its current and potential development in Swedish forensic practice. Collaboration with osteoarchaeologists in skeletal forensic cases has a long tradition in Sweden. Analyses of skeletal remains ar...
Article
Full-text available
In this text we discuss how Swedish contract archaeology can develop its socialengagement by creating new areas of relevance to society, beyond the generalactivities of disseminating results. We do so by giving concrete examples of howthis can be done, using archaeological excavations as a starting point. The examplesinclude engaging the local comm...
Article
Full-text available
In this text we discuss how Swedish contract archaeology can develop its socialengagement by creating new areas of relevance to society, beyond the generalactivities of disseminating results. We do so by giving concrete examples of howthis can be done, using archaeological excavations as a starting point. The examplesinclude engaging the local comm...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Submission deadline 18 February! For more information, contact the session organizers. Hope to see you in Bern! Taphonomy has been an emerging field since the 1940s, with an increased focus on method and development from the 1980s onwards. Funerary taphonomy provides taphonomic evidence of the treatment of the dead, yielding exceptionally detailed...
Article
Full-text available
During excavations of the Iron Age ringfort of Sandby borg ( ad 400–550), the remains of twenty-six unburied bodies were encountered inside and outside the buildings. The skeletons and the archaeological record indicate that after the individuals had died the ringfort was deserted. An osteological investigation and trauma analysis were conducted ac...
Article
Full-text available
The Nya Lödöse site, a sixteenth century town buried beneath present-day Gothenburg, is currently undergoing large-scale archaeological excavation. This article presents some aspects on the project as such; organization, cooperation between different actors, documentation methods, and the conservation of the excavated finds.
Article
Full-text available
The European Migration Period (c. AD 400-550) was characterised by political, social and economic instability. Recent excavations at Sandby borg ringfort on the island of Öland in Sweden have revealed indisputable evidence of a massacre which occurred at that time. Osteological, contextual and artefactual evidence strongly suggest that the fort was...

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