Unequal in life? Human remains from the Danish excavations of Tylos tombs JUDITH LITTLETON Dept. of Anthropology, University of Auckland, New Zealand The Danish excavations in Bahrain of Tylos graves at Sar and from Pylon T158 resulted in the recovery of seventeen skeletons. Apart from a single infant, all remains were of adults with females dying, on average, at a younger age than males. Among the pathological conditions identified, porotic hyperostosis (frequently linked to anaemia) was common. Infectious lesions were observed including two cases tentatively diagnosed as tuberculosis. The only other pathological condition noted was a possible case of skeletal fluorosis. This range of disease is comparable to other skeletal samples dating to the Tylos period. Measurements also indicate that these samples are similar to other Tylos remains from Bahrain. A feature of this period is the disparity in health between males and females, evidenced by differences in robusticity and height. This disparity is more marked than in other periods and it is argued that it is evidence of a greater inequality on the island during this period. The Tylos period (c.300 BC – AD 250) in Bahrain is the best represented in terms of well-preserved human remains. It is poss- ible, therefore, to address not only broad correlations between population and envi- ronment, but more specific issues of intra- and inter-population variability on the island within one, albeit broad, period of time. While only four skeletons have been recovered from the Danish excavations in Sar (referred to here as Sar-DK) and thirteen from Pylon T158 (probably S ˇ akura/Abu Saybi), they add to this broader corpus. In this report the individual remains from each grave are described in the appendix, the text focuses upon comparison of these remains with others from the same period. What is proposed is that during the Tylos period there is evidence for inequality both between genders and between areas of the island. While this inequality can partly be explained by environmental differences from preceding periods, the extent of the environmental change and its effect upon individuals was mediated by a social sys- tem acting in response to changes in polit- ical economy. Methods The human remains were examined by the author in 1995 at Aarhus. Remains not recorded at that time were recorded in 1998 at the Australian National University. The percentage of graves containing human remains is 78% at Pylon T158 and 100% Arab. arch. epig. 2003: 14: 164–193 (2003) Printed in Denmark. All rights reserved 164