Ongoing Research on Artifacts and Human Remains From HMS Swift (1770), Argentina

ELKIN, D., M. GROSSO, G. BARRIENTOS AND N. CIARLO

Toronto

Congreso; 42 Annual Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology; 2009

Society for Historical Archaeology

This paper focuses on the research conducted in the latest two years in relation to the HMS Swift wrecksite, lost off the Patagonian coast (Argentina) in 1770. The archaeological evidence on which this presentation is based is mainly composed by ceramic, metal and wooden artefacts, as well as by human skeletal remains. The study of the artefacts consists of the characterization of materials, including chemical, radiological, and optical analyses. The ongoing bioarchaeological investigation is primarily concerned with sex and age-at-death estimation, morphometrics, pathology, bone chemical composition (C and N stable isotopes) and genetics (mtDNA markers).