Customer Reviews

Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland (Exceptional Social Studies Titles for Intermediate Grades)

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Sally Walker brings science to life on the page in every book she's ever written - and this latest one is not only an incredible achievement in terms of her writing prowess, it is also beautifully illustrated. Walker's meticulous research and her amazing ability to explain (in this case the complexities of the science of forensic archeology) are virtually unparalleled.

As an armchair archaeologist, homeschooling mom, and former librarian, this book pushes absolutely all my buttons! The marriage of fantastic photos and diagrams with engaging, intelligent, and accessible text pulls readers into the science of forensic anthropology effortlessly. One of the things I appreciated most is Walker's expert ability to unfold the story of each set of remains and the detective work involved in studying them so that the reader experiences each discovery and step along with the researchers. She also offers clear explanations of each forensic technique used and its applications. It is obvious that she has a passion for her subject and a deep respect for those people whose stories are all but lost to time. By the end of the book, the reader learns a surprising number of forensic techniques, both technological and intellectual. Other books may offer this same information, but few will involve the reader so personally in the subject matter. I only hope I can make it to the Smithsonian to view the exhibit upon which this book is based!

Have you ever watched an archaeology dig on the Discovery Channel and thought that it would be something you just might be interested in as a career? If so, you will be fascinated by this book. When we think of archaeology, we mostly tend to think of places like Egypt, but the archaeological digs in this book were conducted right here in the United States. The author, Sally Walker, was fortunate enough to be able to gaze down into the graves of Colonial Americans as they were unearthed. She was standing by the side of Dr. Douglas Owsley, who could often determine the cause of death just by taking a close look at the bones!

Many times when going into the past "archaeologists try to fill in the gaps in the historical record." Owsley, a "leading forensic anthropologist," was an essential member of the Jamestown Rediscovery and other similar projects. In this marvelous book we follow him in his quest to discover our American heritage through bones. He would examine the skeletons "in situ" (in place) before removing them from their graves. In this book we rediscover important men and women like Sir Lionel Copley, the "first royal governor of Maryland," and his wife Anne who were buried in extremely rare lead coffins. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we find a young teen who was buried in a trash pit underneath William Neale's house. Now his bones told the tale of a life of hard labor and from the look of things he may have been murdered. Hmmmm, where's Owsley?

I was utterly entranced by this book. There are numerous "unsolved" mysteries in this book, until Douglas Owsley takes a look that is. The writing is excellent. The book is peppered with photographs, sidebars and diagrams that grace almost every page. In the back there is a timeline, a bibliography and additional recommended books and websites. In one of these graves even the archaeologists were shocked to see who was in there. As they say, "expect the unexpected," but I would say you can expect to love this book!

It's said that history is the most hated subject taught in school. To the extent that's true, it's probably because it tends to be taught in a very dry way as just a list of names, dates and facts to be memorized long enough to be regurgitated on the test. To be truly interesting and memorable, history needs to be brought alive as the story of actual people - people who went before us and made the world what it is today, for better or worse. It also needs to be connected to other subjects, not just studied in a vacuum. This book accomplishes both objectives.

Author Sally Walker follows a team of scientists led by forensic anthropologist Doug Owsley as they excavate and study ancient gravesites around the Chesapeake Bay area - the site of the early Jamestown colony. The team couldn't know for certain, but they hoped to find the remains of some of the earliest settlers in the "New World" in order to add to the very sparse written record available.

Working meticulously, archeologists plot areas for excavation and begin to dig, sifting the soil for even tiny artifacts that may provide clues about the identity of any human remains found and the time in which it was buried. Geologists study the soil looking for different types of soil and "soil stains" which add more clues. Forensic anthropologists study the skeleton to look for clues to the gender, age and height of the person, as well as signs of illness and the type of life he or she led. Other scientists use various instruments and tests to determine other aspects of the person's life. For instance, carbon-13 testing can determine how long the person was likely living in the New World based on the difference in emissions between the wheat and barley based diet of England and the corn based diet of the New World.

Piece by piece the various team members assemble information about the person to give a real sense of who he or she was, what his or her place in society was and what type of life he or she led. Historians can then cross-check this information with the available written record to possibly identify the person by name and thus combine historical and scientific knowledge.

Using this painstaking, suspenseful method, we meet a teenage boy who likely fought and died at or near James Fort, one of the earliest colonial structures in the New World; a ship captain, possibly Bartholomew Gosnold; a teenage indentured servant boy hastily buried and hidden in the basement trash dump of his master's house; prominent colonial citizens Phillip and Anne Wolsey Calvert who were luxuriously buried in rare lead coffins, and a young woman of African descent buried in a long-forgotten cemetery.

Reading about these discoveries and excavations is as enthralling as a good episode of CSI or other crime scene TV show or movie. Kids who think history is "boring" will probably be riveted by this book. The book is also beautifully made. It's a nice, large hardcover book with thick, glossy pages made to look like ancient parchment. Each page has at least one, often several pictures showing actual photos of the discovery process and other images related to the text.

I read this book in just three nights (less than an hour each night). In fact, I was annoyed when I had to put the book down - I wanted to just keep reading and find out more. This book has given me a taste to find out more about colonial life and more about archeology in general. Hopefully, it will have the same effect on kids, especially those not otherwise interested in history. I highly recommend this book for high school and possibly even junior high students, not to mention adults.

The author does a masterful job of making a technical and possibly ghoulish kind of archaeology accessible to lay and young readers. Though many adults are used to this kind of forensic detective work from TV crime scenes and Patricia Cornwell's heroine, it might not appear so benign to some. I suggest that anyone who is put off by the idea of digging up old skeletons of people buried (some reverently)300 years ago should read the last few pages of the book where these archaeologists reveal a sensitivity to these individuals who lived so long ago. I am blown away by how much can be learned about the lives of our earliest settlers from this kind of forensic examination of their bones. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is going ot visit either Jamestown, VA. or St. Mary's City in MD.

Although I haven't seen this particular book yet, her first was amazing. I've seen her at the Iowa Reading Conference several times and book talks don't get any better. I believe her research in the past has been done on location and she'd even worked with the Smithsonian. I'm way pumped to get this book for our library at school. The kids will love it.

We have a family of very visual boys, and we get a lot out of the exceptional photography in this book. This book is a profoundly good teaching tool on forensic analysis of human gaves and settlements; in addition, it teaches about Colonial America, and what can be learned from ongoing excavations.

Things that your family will learn about:

+soil staining
+why skeletons buried in clay soil deteriorate
+why skeletons buried in sandy soil are better preserved
+how and why bones and artifacts are examined in situ
+how scientists can determine the age of the deceased through bones, teeth, skulls
+how scientists can determine male or female, diet, national origin
+how can you detect tooth decay after 400 years? what do infected teeth look like?
+how copper discolors bone and soil
+how a hasty basement burial may indicate mistreatment of one deceased colonist
+how does heavy manual labor manifest itself in the bones?
+how does rickets manifest itself in the bones?
+how do scientists use ground penetrating radar? What can it show, and what can it not?
+when and why do scientitsts make guesses, and how do they confirm their hypotheses?
+how can scientists and artists work together to reconstruct a person's face, using a skull found in a grave?

This book, with its extraordinary photography and in-depth, careful scientific explanations, makes for compelling reading.

If your family enjoys this type of book, consider reading "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman.

The school library in which I work has a copy of this book, so I knew what I was buying. Forensic archaeology is fascinating to me, and this volume taught me more than I expected about the history of Jamestown and the people who lived there. There is even a facial reconstruction (I really enjoy these) of an African-born person. I hadn't realized there were African Americans that early in our history. Wonderful for budding archaeologists and anyone else interested in forensic archaeology and/or American colonial history. Highly recommended.

I think that _Written in Bone_ is a very timely/current read because of the popularity of forensics -- CSI, NCIS, Bones, etc etc. Kids watch these shows, too, and that might be a hook to get them to delve deeper into history.

If a kid is already into history, they would definitely appreciate this book, and the medical and scientific facts might be something new. There is a good bit of medical information.

I winced more than once at the graphic descriptions of teeth decayed down to the root (ouch!), and the hair on the skull gave me the heebie jeebies. However, none of this was sensational. It added to the text, and if you are a tween or teen, it would probably add to the overall appeal.

Kids may feel like the early Jamestown settlements are boring and uninteresting or that they've studied it all in school before. They haven't studied THIS Jamestown. The painstaking scientific process of uncovering bones and then analyzing the bones to pinpoint to a person who they might have been is absolutely fascinating.

My favorite thing about this book is the wide range of topics it covers, from archeology to anthropology to history to science to medicine.

I ordered this book for the library without seeing it in person. When it came, I picked it up. I took it home because it was so wonderful I wanted to be able to read it in relative peace. The photographs and other images are just awesome, and worth studying longer than something that appears on a tv screen (love those Nat Geo and Discovery and Nova episodes). The book has mystery and suspense because it tells the stories of the digs that found these bodies. You do not know how it will turn out until you have read it all. Which makes it a wonderful introduction to archeaology. I remember when these books were dull, but this is the exact opposite!