I am a bioarchaeologist, meaning I study human skeletal remains from archaeological sites as a source of evidence about the past. The majority of my work is focused on understanding human health and biocultural adaptations during periods of climate and environmental change. I am very interested in addressing questions of contemporary relevance using archaeological sources of evidence and have primarily worked in South Asia but recently, I have done some work in Oman and Italy. Supervisors: John Lukacs
Planetary Health and climate change: Understanding the impacts of climate change to the well-being of our planet, 2025
Planning for global warming requires an understanding of past climate change events, their impact... more Planning for global warming requires an understanding of past climate change events, their impacts, and human strategies for resilience. From small-scale societies to urban civilizations, human communities have reorganized in the face of environmental change in a wide variety of typically unappreciated ways, which had diverse consequences for health. This chapter provides case studies of past Rapid Climate Change events, the social factors that shaped risk and responses, and the long-term impact of different choices on human health and well-being. The cases are focused on a One Health—or One Paleopathology—perspective on vector borne infections, focused on malaria. Archaeological data on malaria in the past demonstrate the full range of human diversity, the promise of communication, cooperation, Indigenous leadership, and stewardship in the pursuit of an equitable, sustainable, healthy future. ISBN: 978-3-031-72739-9
Bone Histology: A biological anthropological perspective, 2024
Throughout childhood, adolescence, and into early adulthood, our bones undergo dramatic changes i... more Throughout childhood, adolescence, and into early adulthood, our bones undergo dramatic changes in size, shape, and organization through modeling and remodeling. These processes work in concert to allow the individual to attain and maintain a skeleton that can withstand normal physiological loads. The quantity and quality of the bone we acquire as children have long-lasting consequences for adult bone structure and function, potentially either protecting or predisposing an individual to bone fragility and increased fracture risk later in life (Proia et al., 2021). Research has shown how adequate bone accrual during growth is dependent on functional loading (Currey, 1984; Lanyon, 1984; Biewener et al., 1996; Lanyon, 1996, Rizzoli et al., 2010), with genetics also playing a key role in the determination of bone architecture (Bachrach, 2001, Pocock et al., 1987, Heaney et al., 2000). Environmental, nutritional, and metabolic influences are significant factors affecting modeling and remodeling processes as well, resulting in a complex interplay of factors influencing bone accrual that reflects an individual’s life history, and affects bone health through development and as we age.
The obvious clinical implications of the complex interplay between mechanics, genetics and environment have spurred extensive research using clinical imaging techniques (Chevalley et al, 2017, Digby et al., 2016, Levine, 2012, Gabel et al., 2018, Mata-Mbemba et al., 2019). Unfortunately, these in-vivo techniques do not allow for the visualization of underlying cellular and histomorphology that directly reflects modeling and remodeling processes. The examination of histomorphology of juvenile skeletal remains from archaeological contexts provides a unique opportunity to shed light on functional adaptation from a life history perspective, to better understand the impact of nutrition, environment, and biocultural factors on bone architecture. From a bioarchaeological perspective this is important as researchers seek to shed light on the health and lifeways of past populations (Agarwal, 2016). From a modern bone health perspective such studies can not only provide clues about the factors affecting fracture risk, but also about issues that could face populations today due to effects of modern climate change and environmental issues.
In this chapter, we will begin with a brief review of the processes of bone modeling and remodeling as well as the genetic and functional determinants of bone architecture that are more extensively reviewed in previous chapters of this volume. We then explore the literature focused on the potential effects that biocultural and environmental stresses can have on these bone growth processes, how such effects can be linked to climate and environmental changes in the past, and why it may be important for our understanding of bone health and adaptation in current and future populations.
Climate change is an indisputable threat to human health, especially for societies already confro... more Climate change is an indisputable threat to human health, especially for societies already confronted with rising social inequality, political and economic uncertainty, and a cascade of concurrent environmental challenges. Archaeological data about past climate and environment provide an important source of evidence about the potential challenges humans face and the long-term outcomes of alternative short-term adaptive strategies. Evidence from well-dated archaeological human skeletons and mummified remains speaks directly to patterns of human health over time through changing circumstances. Here, we describe variation in human epidemiological patterns in the context of past rapid climate change (RCC) events and other periods of past environmental change. Case studies confirm that human communities responded to environmental changes in diverse ways depending on historical, sociocultural, and biological contingencies. Certain factors, such as social inequality and disproportionate access to resources in large, complex societies may influence the probability of major sociopolitical disruptions and reorganizations—commonly known as “collapse.” This survey of Holocene human–environmental relations demonstrates how flexibility, variation, and maintenance of Indigenous knowledge can be mitigating factors in the face of environmental challenges. Although contemporary climate change is more rapid and of greater magnitude than the RCC events and other environmental changes we discuss here, these lessons from the past provide clarity about potential priorities for equitable, sustainable development and the constraints of modernity we must address.
Research on infant and child paleopathology is central to understand the human condition. This ch... more Research on infant and child paleopathology is central to understand the human condition. This chapter demonstrates how structural violence is useful for exploring the multivocality of infancy and childhood in paleopathology. We highlight relevant examples from the paleopathological literature, beginning with a brief description of the framework of structural violence. We review some of the work that has been conducted on traumatic injuries and explore debates about applying the concept of structural violence to evidence for past violence. Next, we briefly examine the recent focus in paleopathology on the maternal-fetal nexus as a contributor to infant and child health and lifelong experience, and how this approach can be extended using the structural violence framework. Finally, we highlight research on the varied and adaptive nature of family relationships and structures and how these support systems may be constrained and/or provide resilience in the face of structural violence.
This article presents outcomes from a Workshop entitled “Bioarchaeology: Taking Stock and Moving ... more This article presents outcomes from a Workshop entitled “Bioarchaeology: Taking Stock and Moving Forward,” which was held at Arizona State University (ASU) on March 6–8, 2020. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the School of Human Evolution and Social Change (ASU), and the Center for Bioarchaeological Research (CBR, ASU), the Workshop's overall goal was to explore reasons why research proposals submitted by bioarchaeologists, both graduate students and established scholars, fared disproportionately poorly within recent NSF Anthropology Program competitions and to offer advice for increasing success. Therefore, this Workshop comprised 43 international scholars and four advanced graduate students with a history of successful grant acquisition, primarily from the United States. Ultimately, we focused on two related aims: (1) best practices for improving research designs and training and (2) evaluating topics of contemporary significance that reverberate through history and beyond as promising trajectories for bioarchaeological research. Among the former were contextual grounding, research question/hypothesis generation, statistical procedures appropriate for small samples and mixed qualitative/ quantitative data, the salience of Bayesian methods, and training program content. Topical foci included ethics, social inequality, identity (including intersectionality), climate change, migration, violence, epidemic disease, adaptability/plasticity, the osteological paradox, and the developmental origins of health and disease. Given the profound changes required globally to address decolonization in the 21st century, this concern also entered many formal and informal discussions.
As we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the scientific community has met the SARS-Co... more As we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the scientific community has met the SARS-CoV-2 virus with efficient and effective responses in epidemiology, molecular biology, genetics, vaccine development, and new treatment options. Yet the toll of the virus on public health has been uneven globally and within nations to an extent that has led STEM professionals to inevitably conclude that a truly effective response requires insights and mobilization from across the social sciences and humanities. It is hard to express how much the pandemic has impacted almost every aspect of life in human communities and how it has laid bare longstanding social problems, like social inequalities. The pandemic has also illuminated the extent of more recent pernicious social forces, such as disaster capitalism, and provides an ominous window into how some governments and societies will meet challenges such as climate change. This introduction presents six commissioned articles that demonstrate the power of an anthropological approach to the biocultural and evolutionary aspects of pandemic and epidemic diseases in the past. In this article, we also frame a path for bioarchaeologists to contribute to incredibly important questions and debates about the global pandemic by situating the articles into holistic theoretical approaches.
This commentary debunks the poor scholarship in Repatriation and Erasing the Past by Elizabeth We... more This commentary debunks the poor scholarship in Repatriation and Erasing the Past by Elizabeth Weiss and James Springer. We show that modern bioarchaeological practice with Indigenous remains places ethics, partnership, and collaboration at the fore and that the authors' misconstructed dichotomous fallacy between "objective science" and Indigenous knowledge and repatriation hinders the very argument they are espousing. We demonstrate that bioarchaeology, when conducted in collaboration with stakeholders, enriches research, with concepts and methodologies brought forward to address common questions, and builds a richer historical and archaeological context. As anthropologists, we need to acknowledge anti-Indigenous (and anti-Black) ideology and the insidious trauma and civil rights violations that have been afflicted and re-afflicted through Indigenous remains being illegally or unethically obtained, curated, transferred, and used for research and teaching in museums and universities. If we could go so far as to say that anything good has come out of this book, it has been the stimulation in countering these beliefs and developing and strengthening ethical approaches and standards in our field.
Humans have interacted with the remains of our dead for aesthetic and ritual purposes for millenn... more Humans have interacted with the remains of our dead for aesthetic and ritual purposes for millennia, and we have utilized them for medical, educational, and scholarly pursuits for several centuries. Recently, it has become possible to use digital technologies such as 3D scanners and printers for reconstructing, representing, and dis- seminating bodies. At the same time, there is growing interest among academics and curators in taking a more reflexive approach to the ethical and social dimensions of conservation. This paper considers theoretical and practical aspects of ethics as they apply to the 3D scanning and printing of human skeletal remains for curation or dissemination, provides case studies from our work in the United States, and suggests guidelines for best practices.
Culture, Continuity and Tradition: Disquisitions in Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde, 2021
Archaeologists and anthropologists have long been interested in mortuary and other ritual behavio... more Archaeologists and anthropologists have long been interested in mortuary and other ritual behavior as a window into the symbolic, social, and political lives of past people. It goes without saying that the interpretation of mortuary behavior provides an opportunity to examine spiritual and secular meaning; it contains elements of collective and individual identity, memory, tradition, ritual performance, and ideas about the afterlife (Rappaport, 1999). This window into the social relations of the past, provides a vision of structure refracted through agency (Inomata & Coben, 2006; Turner, 1982). Mortuary tradition is enacted to transform; we interact with the dead to remember but also to renegotiate and finally, to separate (Duncan et al., 2005; Van Gennep, 1960). In this process, power relations are both reified and renegotiated (Bell, 1997). The material symbolism of the burial and the body provides a rich field for anthropological ventures...
The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Climate and Environmental Change, 2021
This handbook examines human responses to climatic and environmental changes in the past,and thei... more This handbook examines human responses to climatic and environmental changes in the past,and their impacts on disease patterns, nutritional status, migration, and interpersonal violence. Bioarchaeology—the study of archaeological human skeletons—provides direct evidence of the human experience of past climate and environmental changes and serves as an important complement to paleoclimate, historical, and archaeological approaches to changes we may expect with global warming.
Comprising 27 chapters from experts across a broad range of time periods and geographical regions, this book addresses hypotheses about how climate and environmental changes impact human health and well-being, factors that promote resilience, and circumstances that make migration or interpersonal violence a more likely outcome. The volume highlights the potential relevance of bioarchaeological analysis to contemporary challenges by organizing the chapters into a framework outlined by the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. Planning for a warmer world requires knowledge about humans as biological organisms with a deep connection to Earth's ecosystems balanced by an appreciation of how historical and socio-cultural circumstances, socioeconomic inequality, degrees of urbanization, community mobility, and social institutions play a role in shaping long-term outcomes for human communities.
Containing a wealth of nuanced perspectives about human-environmental relations, book is key reading for students of environmental archaeology, bioarchaeology, and the history of disease. By providing a longer view of contemporary challenges, it may also interest readers in public health, public policy, and planning.
Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Climate and Environmental Change, 2021
Climate change is already having an impact on global public health, human security (including foo... more Climate change is already having an impact on global public health, human security (including food and water security), and migration flows (IPCC, 2014). Governments and non-governmental organizations are considering potential future impacts and creating plans for managing natural disasters, global warming, and associated environmental changes (DoD, 2015; EPA 2016a; b; c; d). The ability to understand global warming and predict and plan for the future relies on historical sciences. Paleoclimate science uses proxies to infer climatic and environmental fluctuations in the past, examining correlations among CO 2 levels, mean global surface temperatures, ice coverage, sea-level rise, and paleoecology to develop models for prediction (Bender, 2013).
Historical social sciences, including anthropology and archaeology, are also uniquely situated to contribute to these conversations based on our examinations of past human perceptions of and responses to climate and environmental change. For many decades, archaeologists and bioarchaeologists--who study human remains as a source of archaeological evidence--have been conducting scientific research on human-environmental interactions in the past and studying phenomena that will be highly valuable for contemporary planning and policymaking. Our scholarship addresses the socio-cultural-political dimensions of climate change over the last 12,000 years. Our data allow for nuanced interpretations of short-term strategies and long-term trajectories of human responses to environmental change.
The 27 chapters in this volume demonstrate there are no grand narratives in the arc of human history; however, these chapters also demonstrate a historical perspective on four major challenges facing contemporary human communities. Anthropogenic climate and environmental changes are occurring at a scale and magnitude unprecedented in human history and they are already a significant threat to health and well-being. However, it is critical we recognize humans are biological organisms, enmeshed within an ecological system, and completely interdependent on other species across the Kingdoms of life. Global warming is accompanied by the sixth mass extinction, which threatens the maintenance of life on Earth. We are also in the midst of an epidemiological transition, where modernity has brought sedentism, poor diets, obesity, and a rise in morbidity due to degenerative conditions. Unfortunately, we are also facing powerful challenges from emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases as we increasingly disturb wild spaces, interact with other species in detrimental new ways, and have misused antibiotic therapies....
Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Climate and Environmental Change, 2021
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies three avenues through which clima... more The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies three avenues through which climate change will impact human health: directly through the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, indirectly through changes in the ecosystem, and as they are mediated through human institutions. Bioarchaeology takes an evolutionary and biocultural approach to human health that puts these scholars in a unique position to provide nuanced perspectives on human behavioral responses in the face of these challenges; this is particularly true in the recognition that social inequality represents a significant risk factor for human health in the context of climate and culture change. Despite its potential, bioarchaeological research has not played a visible role in the scholarly or popular discourse regarding behavioral responses to climate change. In the hopes of generating further discussion and research, this chapter offers a framework—structured by these IPCC categories—for understanding the human impact of climate change in the past, highlighting potentials and acknowledging limitations for making predictions about its impacts in the future.
Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Climate and Environmental Change, 2021
Human environments in the Modern period are characterized by a complex set of political, economic... more Human environments in the Modern period are characterized by a complex set of political, economic, social, cultural, ecological, co-evolutionary, and biocultural interactions. This chapter uses historical and bioarchaeological evidence to understand the human experience of pellagra at the intersection of these forces in the 19th and 20th century in the Veneto region of Italy. As new foods were imported from across the Atlantic, socio-political and economic forces conspired to make a growing class of people particularly vulnerable to micronutrient deficiency and disease. In the context of Enlightenment and positivist values, medicalization and institutionalization were also a growing force for understanding and coping with strange, inconvenient, or disturbing differences in human health and behavior. These combined forces shaped the reality for sufferers of pellagrous mania. This chapter considers the human skeletal material from pellagra sufferers confined to Sant' Anna Ospedale in the century between 1850–1950 and situates them in the context of asylum records from two nearby manicomio to trace the embodiment of disease ideology and treatment in the context of a changing social environment. These data have implications for understanding how environmental change opens a space for changing disease landscapes, which in cases of highly disfiguring conditions or deeply disturbing behavioral changes, creates an opening for deepening marginalization, social division, and social control.
Human skeletal material from archaeological sites is the most important source of evidence about ... more Human skeletal material from archaeological sites is the most important source of evidence about embodied experience, habitual behaviors, and aspects of health in past people. Within bioarchaeology's broad area of inquiry, analysis of mortuary behavior (particularly when combined with paleopathology) is potentially the most critical tool for archaeologists to reconstruct ritual and meaning in the past. This work typically combines embodiment and practice theory to examine the importance of ritual, its contours, and its social function. This chapter asks what we mean by "ritual" and how "ritual" emerges from mortuary artifacts and features. This chapter seeks to move away from mortuary ritual as a distinct category of behavior in the Indus context, separate from a secular life in the urban environment. I argue that mortuary behavior for individuals in the Indus civilization varies because of the nature of the heterogeneous populations that occupied these urban settlements in the Indus Age but perhaps also that mortuary and other ritual behaviors in the Indus civilization were entangled, enmeshed, and interacted with the everyday heterogeneity of people's life in the urban environment. While there is no common tradition apparent within or among all Indus cities, what is clear is that the urban lifestyle and environment participated in creating diverse rituals that were performed here in a funerary context and that participation would contribute to memories of the cities long after their decline. Evidence is drawn from mortuary archaeology and objects, bodies and emergent behaviors, pathophysiology and health. These ritual and everyday dimensions of life in South Asia's first urban period speak to the deepest anthropological questions we can ask about the past and how it was lived in the urban context.
The Mother-Infant Nexus in Anthropology: Small Beginnings, Significant Outcomes, 2020
In biology, the maternal-fetal interface refers specifically to the hemochorial, immunological, a... more In biology, the maternal-fetal interface refers specifically to the hemochorial, immunological, and hormonal relations between mother and offspring in placental mammals. Anthropologists broaden the definition to include sociocultural, behavioral, and emotional aspects of the developmental environment. This chapter describes the differential diagnosis and bioarchaeological interpretation of crania from two children, approximately five years old at death, interred in an ossuary (Area G) at the prehistoric city of Harappa, Pakistan (2000-1900 BCE). Both children were affected by variation in cranial shape known as plagiocephaly; viewed from above, the crania are asymmetrically distorted by flattening on one side of the frontal or occipital region. This striking variation in shape results from postnatal deformation or in cases where cartilaginous sutures that typically separate the bones of the cranial vault fail to form or prematurely close. This paper describes a biomedical method to tease apart intrauterine and post-natal etiological factors that result in plagiocephaly—genetics, epigenetic factors, intrauterine constraints, plural birth, prolonged vertex molding, post-natal sleeping posture, supine positioning, and/or conditions that limit movement in young infants and children, such as torticollis—and then describes a biocultural interpretation of these two individuals using a theoretical approach rooted in an archaeology of emotion to explore social identity, motherhood, and the emotional response to childhood plagiocephaly at Harappa. Introduction Philosophers have long explored the connection between perception, sensation, emotion, memory, and time. Sensation (e.g., seeing, hearing, etc.) and sensory modalities (e.g., thermoception, proprioception, nociception, etc.) are the basis for human interactions with the world and each other. If archaeologists can identify a material signature of sensation and emotion in the past, we can imagine how these processes drive the constitution of daily existence and social life (
The deterministic view that climate change invariably causes migration, competition, violence, an... more The deterministic view that climate change invariably causes migration, competition, violence, and collapse is overly simplistic. Bioarchaeology shows us that human responses are far more complex and diverse.
Human skeletal material from archaeological sites is the most important source of evidence about ... more Human skeletal material from archaeological sites is the most important source of evidence about the health of past peoples. More than that, analysis of paleo-pathology (study of trauma and disease in the past) and mortuary behavior is critical data for reconstructing meaning in the past. Evidence for traumatic injuries has been demonstrated at six Harappan sites. We have also found that stigmatized infectious diseases appear in the subcontinent at this time. Patho-physiological variations, including congenital differences, dental diseases, arthritis, and nutritional insufficiency, have also been discovered in the remains from Harappan cities. These human experiences, contextualized within mortuary treatment, have revitalized research into the socio-cultural dimensions of life in South Asia’s first urban period. This chapter demonstrates the evidence from some of the major Harappan cities that have been thoroughly studied—Harappa, Rakhigarhi, Farmana—and for some of the Harappan cities that deserve more thorough attention--Mohenjo Daro, Kalibangan, and Sanauli. I provide details about the skeletal evidence and its interpretation with the goal of encouraging the burgeoning field of bioarchaeological research in the subcontinent.
Environmentally transformative human use of land accelerated with the emergence of agriculture, b... more Environmentally transformative human use of land accelerated with the emergence of agriculture, but the extent, trajectory, and implications of these early changes are not well understood. An empirical global assessment of land use from 10,000 years before the present (yr B.P.) to 1850 CE reveals a planet largely transformed by hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists by 3000 years ago, considerably earlier than the dates in the land-use reconstructions commonly used by Earth scientists. Synthesis of knowledge contributed by more than 250 archaeologists highlighted gaps in archaeological expertise and data quality, which peaked for 2000 yr B.P. and in traditionally studied and wealthier regions. Archaeological reconstruction of global land-use history illuminates the deep roots of Earth’s transformation and challenges the emerging Anthropocene paradigm that large-scale anthropogenic global environmental change is mostly a recent phenomenon.
Bioarchaeologists Speak Out: Deep Time Perspectives on Contemporary Issues, 2018
As members of the global public become increasingly concerned about climate change, popular press... more As members of the global public become increasingly concerned about climate change, popular presses promote " scientific " narratives about the success or failure of past societies (e.g., Diamond 2011), human security literature perpetuates a narrative that violence is a " natural " outcome of increased competition in such circumstances (e.g., Barnett 2007), and generally, neither the public nor policy-makers are exposed to information about the topic of human-environmental interactions from those who know it best, anthropologists. This chapter explores the development of the human security field and the development of pseudo-evolutionary, ahistorical, adaptationist narratives about human behavior in the face of changing climates. The chapter also demonstrates implications of these narratives as they have been adopted by policy-makers at the EPA and DoD. Finally, the chapter provides an example of a bioarchaeological approach to research on human-environmental relations in the past and the complex dynamics that shaped the human experience of climate, social, and economic changes in the first and second millennium BCE in South Asia. Human security literature is the basis for planning for a warmer world. Anthropological perspectives are the necessary antidote to narratives of competition and violence that promote a governmental agenda to prevail at all costs.
Planetary Health and climate change: Understanding the impacts of climate change to the well-being of our planet, 2025
Planning for global warming requires an understanding of past climate change events, their impact... more Planning for global warming requires an understanding of past climate change events, their impacts, and human strategies for resilience. From small-scale societies to urban civilizations, human communities have reorganized in the face of environmental change in a wide variety of typically unappreciated ways, which had diverse consequences for health. This chapter provides case studies of past Rapid Climate Change events, the social factors that shaped risk and responses, and the long-term impact of different choices on human health and well-being. The cases are focused on a One Health—or One Paleopathology—perspective on vector borne infections, focused on malaria. Archaeological data on malaria in the past demonstrate the full range of human diversity, the promise of communication, cooperation, Indigenous leadership, and stewardship in the pursuit of an equitable, sustainable, healthy future. ISBN: 978-3-031-72739-9
Bone Histology: A biological anthropological perspective, 2024
Throughout childhood, adolescence, and into early adulthood, our bones undergo dramatic changes i... more Throughout childhood, adolescence, and into early adulthood, our bones undergo dramatic changes in size, shape, and organization through modeling and remodeling. These processes work in concert to allow the individual to attain and maintain a skeleton that can withstand normal physiological loads. The quantity and quality of the bone we acquire as children have long-lasting consequences for adult bone structure and function, potentially either protecting or predisposing an individual to bone fragility and increased fracture risk later in life (Proia et al., 2021). Research has shown how adequate bone accrual during growth is dependent on functional loading (Currey, 1984; Lanyon, 1984; Biewener et al., 1996; Lanyon, 1996, Rizzoli et al., 2010), with genetics also playing a key role in the determination of bone architecture (Bachrach, 2001, Pocock et al., 1987, Heaney et al., 2000). Environmental, nutritional, and metabolic influences are significant factors affecting modeling and remodeling processes as well, resulting in a complex interplay of factors influencing bone accrual that reflects an individual’s life history, and affects bone health through development and as we age.
The obvious clinical implications of the complex interplay between mechanics, genetics and environment have spurred extensive research using clinical imaging techniques (Chevalley et al, 2017, Digby et al., 2016, Levine, 2012, Gabel et al., 2018, Mata-Mbemba et al., 2019). Unfortunately, these in-vivo techniques do not allow for the visualization of underlying cellular and histomorphology that directly reflects modeling and remodeling processes. The examination of histomorphology of juvenile skeletal remains from archaeological contexts provides a unique opportunity to shed light on functional adaptation from a life history perspective, to better understand the impact of nutrition, environment, and biocultural factors on bone architecture. From a bioarchaeological perspective this is important as researchers seek to shed light on the health and lifeways of past populations (Agarwal, 2016). From a modern bone health perspective such studies can not only provide clues about the factors affecting fracture risk, but also about issues that could face populations today due to effects of modern climate change and environmental issues.
In this chapter, we will begin with a brief review of the processes of bone modeling and remodeling as well as the genetic and functional determinants of bone architecture that are more extensively reviewed in previous chapters of this volume. We then explore the literature focused on the potential effects that biocultural and environmental stresses can have on these bone growth processes, how such effects can be linked to climate and environmental changes in the past, and why it may be important for our understanding of bone health and adaptation in current and future populations.
Climate change is an indisputable threat to human health, especially for societies already confro... more Climate change is an indisputable threat to human health, especially for societies already confronted with rising social inequality, political and economic uncertainty, and a cascade of concurrent environmental challenges. Archaeological data about past climate and environment provide an important source of evidence about the potential challenges humans face and the long-term outcomes of alternative short-term adaptive strategies. Evidence from well-dated archaeological human skeletons and mummified remains speaks directly to patterns of human health over time through changing circumstances. Here, we describe variation in human epidemiological patterns in the context of past rapid climate change (RCC) events and other periods of past environmental change. Case studies confirm that human communities responded to environmental changes in diverse ways depending on historical, sociocultural, and biological contingencies. Certain factors, such as social inequality and disproportionate access to resources in large, complex societies may influence the probability of major sociopolitical disruptions and reorganizations—commonly known as “collapse.” This survey of Holocene human–environmental relations demonstrates how flexibility, variation, and maintenance of Indigenous knowledge can be mitigating factors in the face of environmental challenges. Although contemporary climate change is more rapid and of greater magnitude than the RCC events and other environmental changes we discuss here, these lessons from the past provide clarity about potential priorities for equitable, sustainable development and the constraints of modernity we must address.
Research on infant and child paleopathology is central to understand the human condition. This ch... more Research on infant and child paleopathology is central to understand the human condition. This chapter demonstrates how structural violence is useful for exploring the multivocality of infancy and childhood in paleopathology. We highlight relevant examples from the paleopathological literature, beginning with a brief description of the framework of structural violence. We review some of the work that has been conducted on traumatic injuries and explore debates about applying the concept of structural violence to evidence for past violence. Next, we briefly examine the recent focus in paleopathology on the maternal-fetal nexus as a contributor to infant and child health and lifelong experience, and how this approach can be extended using the structural violence framework. Finally, we highlight research on the varied and adaptive nature of family relationships and structures and how these support systems may be constrained and/or provide resilience in the face of structural violence.
This article presents outcomes from a Workshop entitled “Bioarchaeology: Taking Stock and Moving ... more This article presents outcomes from a Workshop entitled “Bioarchaeology: Taking Stock and Moving Forward,” which was held at Arizona State University (ASU) on March 6–8, 2020. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the School of Human Evolution and Social Change (ASU), and the Center for Bioarchaeological Research (CBR, ASU), the Workshop's overall goal was to explore reasons why research proposals submitted by bioarchaeologists, both graduate students and established scholars, fared disproportionately poorly within recent NSF Anthropology Program competitions and to offer advice for increasing success. Therefore, this Workshop comprised 43 international scholars and four advanced graduate students with a history of successful grant acquisition, primarily from the United States. Ultimately, we focused on two related aims: (1) best practices for improving research designs and training and (2) evaluating topics of contemporary significance that reverberate through history and beyond as promising trajectories for bioarchaeological research. Among the former were contextual grounding, research question/hypothesis generation, statistical procedures appropriate for small samples and mixed qualitative/ quantitative data, the salience of Bayesian methods, and training program content. Topical foci included ethics, social inequality, identity (including intersectionality), climate change, migration, violence, epidemic disease, adaptability/plasticity, the osteological paradox, and the developmental origins of health and disease. Given the profound changes required globally to address decolonization in the 21st century, this concern also entered many formal and informal discussions.
As we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the scientific community has met the SARS-Co... more As we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the scientific community has met the SARS-CoV-2 virus with efficient and effective responses in epidemiology, molecular biology, genetics, vaccine development, and new treatment options. Yet the toll of the virus on public health has been uneven globally and within nations to an extent that has led STEM professionals to inevitably conclude that a truly effective response requires insights and mobilization from across the social sciences and humanities. It is hard to express how much the pandemic has impacted almost every aspect of life in human communities and how it has laid bare longstanding social problems, like social inequalities. The pandemic has also illuminated the extent of more recent pernicious social forces, such as disaster capitalism, and provides an ominous window into how some governments and societies will meet challenges such as climate change. This introduction presents six commissioned articles that demonstrate the power of an anthropological approach to the biocultural and evolutionary aspects of pandemic and epidemic diseases in the past. In this article, we also frame a path for bioarchaeologists to contribute to incredibly important questions and debates about the global pandemic by situating the articles into holistic theoretical approaches.
This commentary debunks the poor scholarship in Repatriation and Erasing the Past by Elizabeth We... more This commentary debunks the poor scholarship in Repatriation and Erasing the Past by Elizabeth Weiss and James Springer. We show that modern bioarchaeological practice with Indigenous remains places ethics, partnership, and collaboration at the fore and that the authors' misconstructed dichotomous fallacy between "objective science" and Indigenous knowledge and repatriation hinders the very argument they are espousing. We demonstrate that bioarchaeology, when conducted in collaboration with stakeholders, enriches research, with concepts and methodologies brought forward to address common questions, and builds a richer historical and archaeological context. As anthropologists, we need to acknowledge anti-Indigenous (and anti-Black) ideology and the insidious trauma and civil rights violations that have been afflicted and re-afflicted through Indigenous remains being illegally or unethically obtained, curated, transferred, and used for research and teaching in museums and universities. If we could go so far as to say that anything good has come out of this book, it has been the stimulation in countering these beliefs and developing and strengthening ethical approaches and standards in our field.
Humans have interacted with the remains of our dead for aesthetic and ritual purposes for millenn... more Humans have interacted with the remains of our dead for aesthetic and ritual purposes for millennia, and we have utilized them for medical, educational, and scholarly pursuits for several centuries. Recently, it has become possible to use digital technologies such as 3D scanners and printers for reconstructing, representing, and dis- seminating bodies. At the same time, there is growing interest among academics and curators in taking a more reflexive approach to the ethical and social dimensions of conservation. This paper considers theoretical and practical aspects of ethics as they apply to the 3D scanning and printing of human skeletal remains for curation or dissemination, provides case studies from our work in the United States, and suggests guidelines for best practices.
Culture, Continuity and Tradition: Disquisitions in Honour of Prof. Vasant Shinde, 2021
Archaeologists and anthropologists have long been interested in mortuary and other ritual behavio... more Archaeologists and anthropologists have long been interested in mortuary and other ritual behavior as a window into the symbolic, social, and political lives of past people. It goes without saying that the interpretation of mortuary behavior provides an opportunity to examine spiritual and secular meaning; it contains elements of collective and individual identity, memory, tradition, ritual performance, and ideas about the afterlife (Rappaport, 1999). This window into the social relations of the past, provides a vision of structure refracted through agency (Inomata & Coben, 2006; Turner, 1982). Mortuary tradition is enacted to transform; we interact with the dead to remember but also to renegotiate and finally, to separate (Duncan et al., 2005; Van Gennep, 1960). In this process, power relations are both reified and renegotiated (Bell, 1997). The material symbolism of the burial and the body provides a rich field for anthropological ventures...
The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Climate and Environmental Change, 2021
This handbook examines human responses to climatic and environmental changes in the past,and thei... more This handbook examines human responses to climatic and environmental changes in the past,and their impacts on disease patterns, nutritional status, migration, and interpersonal violence. Bioarchaeology—the study of archaeological human skeletons—provides direct evidence of the human experience of past climate and environmental changes and serves as an important complement to paleoclimate, historical, and archaeological approaches to changes we may expect with global warming.
Comprising 27 chapters from experts across a broad range of time periods and geographical regions, this book addresses hypotheses about how climate and environmental changes impact human health and well-being, factors that promote resilience, and circumstances that make migration or interpersonal violence a more likely outcome. The volume highlights the potential relevance of bioarchaeological analysis to contemporary challenges by organizing the chapters into a framework outlined by the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. Planning for a warmer world requires knowledge about humans as biological organisms with a deep connection to Earth's ecosystems balanced by an appreciation of how historical and socio-cultural circumstances, socioeconomic inequality, degrees of urbanization, community mobility, and social institutions play a role in shaping long-term outcomes for human communities.
Containing a wealth of nuanced perspectives about human-environmental relations, book is key reading for students of environmental archaeology, bioarchaeology, and the history of disease. By providing a longer view of contemporary challenges, it may also interest readers in public health, public policy, and planning.
Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Climate and Environmental Change, 2021
Climate change is already having an impact on global public health, human security (including foo... more Climate change is already having an impact on global public health, human security (including food and water security), and migration flows (IPCC, 2014). Governments and non-governmental organizations are considering potential future impacts and creating plans for managing natural disasters, global warming, and associated environmental changes (DoD, 2015; EPA 2016a; b; c; d). The ability to understand global warming and predict and plan for the future relies on historical sciences. Paleoclimate science uses proxies to infer climatic and environmental fluctuations in the past, examining correlations among CO 2 levels, mean global surface temperatures, ice coverage, sea-level rise, and paleoecology to develop models for prediction (Bender, 2013).
Historical social sciences, including anthropology and archaeology, are also uniquely situated to contribute to these conversations based on our examinations of past human perceptions of and responses to climate and environmental change. For many decades, archaeologists and bioarchaeologists--who study human remains as a source of archaeological evidence--have been conducting scientific research on human-environmental interactions in the past and studying phenomena that will be highly valuable for contemporary planning and policymaking. Our scholarship addresses the socio-cultural-political dimensions of climate change over the last 12,000 years. Our data allow for nuanced interpretations of short-term strategies and long-term trajectories of human responses to environmental change.
The 27 chapters in this volume demonstrate there are no grand narratives in the arc of human history; however, these chapters also demonstrate a historical perspective on four major challenges facing contemporary human communities. Anthropogenic climate and environmental changes are occurring at a scale and magnitude unprecedented in human history and they are already a significant threat to health and well-being. However, it is critical we recognize humans are biological organisms, enmeshed within an ecological system, and completely interdependent on other species across the Kingdoms of life. Global warming is accompanied by the sixth mass extinction, which threatens the maintenance of life on Earth. We are also in the midst of an epidemiological transition, where modernity has brought sedentism, poor diets, obesity, and a rise in morbidity due to degenerative conditions. Unfortunately, we are also facing powerful challenges from emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases as we increasingly disturb wild spaces, interact with other species in detrimental new ways, and have misused antibiotic therapies....
Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Climate and Environmental Change, 2021
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies three avenues through which clima... more The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies three avenues through which climate change will impact human health: directly through the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, indirectly through changes in the ecosystem, and as they are mediated through human institutions. Bioarchaeology takes an evolutionary and biocultural approach to human health that puts these scholars in a unique position to provide nuanced perspectives on human behavioral responses in the face of these challenges; this is particularly true in the recognition that social inequality represents a significant risk factor for human health in the context of climate and culture change. Despite its potential, bioarchaeological research has not played a visible role in the scholarly or popular discourse regarding behavioral responses to climate change. In the hopes of generating further discussion and research, this chapter offers a framework—structured by these IPCC categories—for understanding the human impact of climate change in the past, highlighting potentials and acknowledging limitations for making predictions about its impacts in the future.
Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Climate and Environmental Change, 2021
Human environments in the Modern period are characterized by a complex set of political, economic... more Human environments in the Modern period are characterized by a complex set of political, economic, social, cultural, ecological, co-evolutionary, and biocultural interactions. This chapter uses historical and bioarchaeological evidence to understand the human experience of pellagra at the intersection of these forces in the 19th and 20th century in the Veneto region of Italy. As new foods were imported from across the Atlantic, socio-political and economic forces conspired to make a growing class of people particularly vulnerable to micronutrient deficiency and disease. In the context of Enlightenment and positivist values, medicalization and institutionalization were also a growing force for understanding and coping with strange, inconvenient, or disturbing differences in human health and behavior. These combined forces shaped the reality for sufferers of pellagrous mania. This chapter considers the human skeletal material from pellagra sufferers confined to Sant' Anna Ospedale in the century between 1850–1950 and situates them in the context of asylum records from two nearby manicomio to trace the embodiment of disease ideology and treatment in the context of a changing social environment. These data have implications for understanding how environmental change opens a space for changing disease landscapes, which in cases of highly disfiguring conditions or deeply disturbing behavioral changes, creates an opening for deepening marginalization, social division, and social control.
Human skeletal material from archaeological sites is the most important source of evidence about ... more Human skeletal material from archaeological sites is the most important source of evidence about embodied experience, habitual behaviors, and aspects of health in past people. Within bioarchaeology's broad area of inquiry, analysis of mortuary behavior (particularly when combined with paleopathology) is potentially the most critical tool for archaeologists to reconstruct ritual and meaning in the past. This work typically combines embodiment and practice theory to examine the importance of ritual, its contours, and its social function. This chapter asks what we mean by "ritual" and how "ritual" emerges from mortuary artifacts and features. This chapter seeks to move away from mortuary ritual as a distinct category of behavior in the Indus context, separate from a secular life in the urban environment. I argue that mortuary behavior for individuals in the Indus civilization varies because of the nature of the heterogeneous populations that occupied these urban settlements in the Indus Age but perhaps also that mortuary and other ritual behaviors in the Indus civilization were entangled, enmeshed, and interacted with the everyday heterogeneity of people's life in the urban environment. While there is no common tradition apparent within or among all Indus cities, what is clear is that the urban lifestyle and environment participated in creating diverse rituals that were performed here in a funerary context and that participation would contribute to memories of the cities long after their decline. Evidence is drawn from mortuary archaeology and objects, bodies and emergent behaviors, pathophysiology and health. These ritual and everyday dimensions of life in South Asia's first urban period speak to the deepest anthropological questions we can ask about the past and how it was lived in the urban context.
The Mother-Infant Nexus in Anthropology: Small Beginnings, Significant Outcomes, 2020
In biology, the maternal-fetal interface refers specifically to the hemochorial, immunological, a... more In biology, the maternal-fetal interface refers specifically to the hemochorial, immunological, and hormonal relations between mother and offspring in placental mammals. Anthropologists broaden the definition to include sociocultural, behavioral, and emotional aspects of the developmental environment. This chapter describes the differential diagnosis and bioarchaeological interpretation of crania from two children, approximately five years old at death, interred in an ossuary (Area G) at the prehistoric city of Harappa, Pakistan (2000-1900 BCE). Both children were affected by variation in cranial shape known as plagiocephaly; viewed from above, the crania are asymmetrically distorted by flattening on one side of the frontal or occipital region. This striking variation in shape results from postnatal deformation or in cases where cartilaginous sutures that typically separate the bones of the cranial vault fail to form or prematurely close. This paper describes a biomedical method to tease apart intrauterine and post-natal etiological factors that result in plagiocephaly—genetics, epigenetic factors, intrauterine constraints, plural birth, prolonged vertex molding, post-natal sleeping posture, supine positioning, and/or conditions that limit movement in young infants and children, such as torticollis—and then describes a biocultural interpretation of these two individuals using a theoretical approach rooted in an archaeology of emotion to explore social identity, motherhood, and the emotional response to childhood plagiocephaly at Harappa. Introduction Philosophers have long explored the connection between perception, sensation, emotion, memory, and time. Sensation (e.g., seeing, hearing, etc.) and sensory modalities (e.g., thermoception, proprioception, nociception, etc.) are the basis for human interactions with the world and each other. If archaeologists can identify a material signature of sensation and emotion in the past, we can imagine how these processes drive the constitution of daily existence and social life (
The deterministic view that climate change invariably causes migration, competition, violence, an... more The deterministic view that climate change invariably causes migration, competition, violence, and collapse is overly simplistic. Bioarchaeology shows us that human responses are far more complex and diverse.
Human skeletal material from archaeological sites is the most important source of evidence about ... more Human skeletal material from archaeological sites is the most important source of evidence about the health of past peoples. More than that, analysis of paleo-pathology (study of trauma and disease in the past) and mortuary behavior is critical data for reconstructing meaning in the past. Evidence for traumatic injuries has been demonstrated at six Harappan sites. We have also found that stigmatized infectious diseases appear in the subcontinent at this time. Patho-physiological variations, including congenital differences, dental diseases, arthritis, and nutritional insufficiency, have also been discovered in the remains from Harappan cities. These human experiences, contextualized within mortuary treatment, have revitalized research into the socio-cultural dimensions of life in South Asia’s first urban period. This chapter demonstrates the evidence from some of the major Harappan cities that have been thoroughly studied—Harappa, Rakhigarhi, Farmana—and for some of the Harappan cities that deserve more thorough attention--Mohenjo Daro, Kalibangan, and Sanauli. I provide details about the skeletal evidence and its interpretation with the goal of encouraging the burgeoning field of bioarchaeological research in the subcontinent.
Environmentally transformative human use of land accelerated with the emergence of agriculture, b... more Environmentally transformative human use of land accelerated with the emergence of agriculture, but the extent, trajectory, and implications of these early changes are not well understood. An empirical global assessment of land use from 10,000 years before the present (yr B.P.) to 1850 CE reveals a planet largely transformed by hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists by 3000 years ago, considerably earlier than the dates in the land-use reconstructions commonly used by Earth scientists. Synthesis of knowledge contributed by more than 250 archaeologists highlighted gaps in archaeological expertise and data quality, which peaked for 2000 yr B.P. and in traditionally studied and wealthier regions. Archaeological reconstruction of global land-use history illuminates the deep roots of Earth’s transformation and challenges the emerging Anthropocene paradigm that large-scale anthropogenic global environmental change is mostly a recent phenomenon.
Bioarchaeologists Speak Out: Deep Time Perspectives on Contemporary Issues, 2018
As members of the global public become increasingly concerned about climate change, popular press... more As members of the global public become increasingly concerned about climate change, popular presses promote " scientific " narratives about the success or failure of past societies (e.g., Diamond 2011), human security literature perpetuates a narrative that violence is a " natural " outcome of increased competition in such circumstances (e.g., Barnett 2007), and generally, neither the public nor policy-makers are exposed to information about the topic of human-environmental interactions from those who know it best, anthropologists. This chapter explores the development of the human security field and the development of pseudo-evolutionary, ahistorical, adaptationist narratives about human behavior in the face of changing climates. The chapter also demonstrates implications of these narratives as they have been adopted by policy-makers at the EPA and DoD. Finally, the chapter provides an example of a bioarchaeological approach to research on human-environmental relations in the past and the complex dynamics that shaped the human experience of climate, social, and economic changes in the first and second millennium BCE in South Asia. Human security literature is the basis for planning for a warmer world. Anthropological perspectives are the necessary antidote to narratives of competition and violence that promote a governmental agenda to prevail at all costs.
At its best, research in bioarchaeology-the study of human remains and their use as a source of a... more At its best, research in bioarchaeology-the study of human remains and their use as a source of archaeological evidence-is deeply infused with biocultural, archaeological, and critical social theory. The concept of the bioarchaeology of care emerged in 2011 to suggest that insights from nursing practice be applied to bioarchaeological analysis. The strength of the present volume lies in its contributors, who used this framework in the contextualized analysis of injury, disease, and caregiving in the past, but who also brought the anthropology q1 . These chapters demonstrate the deep integration of the care perspective with established theory-embodiment, identity construction, agency, and mortuary archaeology-to meet the stated goal of teasing out the "values, traditions, experience, knowledge, beliefs, skills, resources, politics, economy, and organization of a society in which care occurs" (p. 12).
. The human skeletons from archeological sites are artifacts that contain information about the p... more . The human skeletons from archeological sites are artifacts that contain information about the physical and the social worlds of the past. Bioarcheologists often take an epidemiological approach to skeletons; we address processual questions about human populations, their behavioral and biological adaptations. This scientific framework often leaves little room for the lived experience of individuals. Social bioarcheology is a move away from privileging science above anthropology; this theoretical framework allows for an empirically grounded reading of ancient bodies as an inscription of social forces. Because the body is more than a unit of population, the osteobiography too can become more than a case study. By integrating osteobiographical, epidemiological, and social bioarcheological approaches to human skeletons, The Bioarcheology of Individuals demonstrates a new framework for exploring the tension between social structure and individual agency; dynamic and static; process and event; science, interpretation, and representation. In this review, I chose to highlight a few of the stories I found most compelling for their interdisciplinarity and deeply social approach, but all of the contributions succeed at portraying past people as actors, creators, leaders, resistors, and "others." In 16 expertly crafted chapters, the skeletal biology of "parents, children, farmers, masons, artisans, immigrants, nomads, warriors, healers" (pg. 1) is described. Each author pulls in ethnography, history, legend, archeology, biography, architecture, and art to understand the physical, chemical, and molecular evidence from the bones and teeth. In an analysis of two historic period burials from Belize, Wrobel demonstrates the biological consequences of colonialism. More interestingly, the author argues convincingly that evidence for syncretism in burial practices can be interpreted in light of Maya cooperation and resistance to Spanish colonialism. Lozada and colleagues use ethnography, history, isotopic analysis, paleopathology, mortuary treatment, and funerary artifacts to understand how ancient Chirabaya viewed curandero, charismatic itinerant figures associated with healing and ritual power in the Andean highlands. Their question is an interesting one: given that these individuals could use their power to help or to harm, is it possible to see those choices in the mortuary treatment accorded to individual curanderos? An 18-20-year-old female from Bronze Age Tell Abraq with evidence for neuromuscular disease is described by Martin and Potts. This chapter provides the reader with an inside look at bioarcheological work: invoking the emotional responses that can occasionally occur in the excavation of human remains; the affinity we feel for some of our skeletal colleagues; and the troubling, arduous labor of differential diagnosis. The authors do a nice job of describing the impact of poliomyelitis and other neuromuscular conditions on an individual's health and functioning. Powell and colleagues present an intriguing mystery of an "African Queen" in Portugal, one that problematizes racial and ethnic determination in skeletal remains. By approaching the question from almost every angle, the authors demonstrate how historical, anthropological, and molecular approaches can converge to reveal a very complex story for an historic era skeleton. Walker and colleagues' description of the Axed Man of Mosfell's death is visceral, reminding the reader that acts of violence are social. The authors consider the remains of an Icelandic Viking and they draw from sagas depicting ax-wielding warriors, women, and resulting feuds to contextualize the experiences of the victim, the perpetrator, and the witnesses to violence. The concept of agency is implicit in the consideration of whether he was executed for criminal behavior. Similarly, Heathcote and colleagues use body size, robusticity, and musculoskeletal markers to understand the materiality of Chamorro work and the semiotics of Chamorro Giants. In an original chapter about a Syrian burial from Bronze Age Alalakh, Boutin creates a fictional narrative from the skeletal data, with the goal of making archeology "more relevant" to the modern world. This problematizing approach asks students and general readers to consider the politics of representation in a new light. This book offers up many more excellent stories of seamstresses, artisans, craftsmen, women, healers, mothers, and children. The social relevance of these burials and the people who were buried is inferred from a variety of perspectives. As a whole, The Bioarcheology of Individuals succeeds in reconstructing personhood and intention using an osteobiographical approach. For experts in the field, this is an entertaining read, akin to gathering with colleagues and talking shop in an informal setting like a campfire. The volume has an intelligent but casual, almost conversational tone and the stories, while compelling, are also empirically grounded and thus enjoyable. The editors wanted to create an accessible resource for students and nonexpert readers interested in bioarcheology. Intuitively, osteobiography is an obvious choice for reaching a broad audience. Undergraduate students are often ready to take a forensic approach to human remains; they are interested in reconstructing the life course of an individual. Story-telling is a familiar language, much more familiar and accessible than anthropological discourses about violence, health, social status, work, power, political resistance, structural violence, and marginalization. By reading these chapters, a popular or student audience can see how we move from an osteobiography of an individual to a population-level, contextual, and deeply social analysis; from an anecdote to a theoretically informed, scientifically grounded, anthropological investigation. The strength of this book is in this transformative potential, making bioarcheology public, comprehensible, and relevant.
Article by Lizzie Wade in Science Magazine (May 15, 2020) covering bioarchaeological and historic... more Article by Lizzie Wade in Science Magazine (May 15, 2020) covering bioarchaeological and historical research on social inequality and past pandemics. (With a quote from Gwen Robbins Schug.)
Archaeologists worldwide pooled their knowledge of past land use — and pushed back the date when ... more Archaeologists worldwide pooled their knowledge of past land use — and pushed back the date when human farming and other practices began altering the planet.
Archaeological evidence shows anthropogenic changes began earlier and spread faster than previous... more Archaeological evidence shows anthropogenic changes began earlier and spread faster than previously estimated
. The lesions included porosity, alveolar resorption, abscessing at the right canine and third pr... more . The lesions included porosity, alveolar resorption, abscessing at the right canine and third premolar, and antemortem tooth loss (a = right ventral view). This individual also had inflammatory changes to the palatine process of the maxilla leading to localized bone destruction and perforation (b = inferior view of palate). There is evidence for porosity and inflammation at the inferior margin of the pyriform aperture, porosity and deformation of the infraorbital foramen caused by infection of the left maxillary sinus (c: ventral view).
Hallmarks. The bone erosion seen in these photographs of a 4000-year-old skeleton are consistent ... more Hallmarks. The bone erosion seen in these photographs of a 4000-year-old skeleton are consistent with leprosy.
Anthropologists require methods for accurately estimating stature and body mass from the human sk... more Anthropologists require methods for accurately estimating stature and body mass from the human skeleton. Age-structured, generalized Least Squares (LS) regression formulas have been developed to predict stature from femoral length and to predict body mass in immature human remains using the width of the distal metaphysis, midshaft femoral geometry (J), and femoral head diameter. This paper tests the hypothesis that panel regression is an appropriate statistical method for regression modeling of longitudinal growth data, with longitudinal and cross-sectional effects on variance. Reference data were derived from the Denver Growth Study; panel regression was used to create one formula for estimating stature (for individuals 0.5e11.5 years old); two formulas for estimating body mass from the femur in infants and children (0.5e12.5 years old); and one formula for estimating body mass from the femoral head in older subadults (7e17.5 years old). The formulas were applied to an independent target sample of cadavers from Franklin County, Ohio and a large sample of immature individuals from diverse global populations. Results indicate panel regression formulas accurately estimate stature and body mass in immature skeletons, without reference to an independent estimate for age at death. Thus, using panel regression formulas to estimate stature and body mass in forensic and archaeological specimens may reduce second stage errors associated with inaccurate age estimates.
Recently, the value of cementum annulations (TCA) for age-at-death determination was confirmed fo... more Recently, the value of cementum annulations (TCA) for age-at-death determination was confirmed for bioarchaeological research. Use of TCA for early Holocene specimens from India demonstrated systematic biases in the morphological methods, had a demonstrable impact on the age pyramid, and significantly changed paleodemographic statistics. While TCA may provide greater accuracy and precision for age estimation of skeletally healthy specimens, it is unclear the magnitude to which specific pathologies affect the accuracy of different techniques for age determination. We hypothesized that age determination methods based on gross morphological changes in the skeleton will not accurately predict age-at-death for individuals with bone growth pathologies (achondroplasia, osteomalacia, osteogenesis imperfecta). Conversely, for adult individuals with chronic and severe rhino-maxillary infections, acellular cementum formation may be disrupted and thus morphological methods should be preferred. We compared age estimates from TCA with estimates made using standards for determination from the pelvis, fourth rib, dental attrition, and cranial stenosis. Results demonstrated significant differences among age estimates obtained using morphological and histological techniques that confirm the utility of TCA for pathological specimens in archaeology. Our results confirm the utility of cementum annulations for age estimation in bioarchaeology and suggest directions for additional research on the effects of pathology on the accuracy of various aging techniques.
Climate change is an indisputable threat to human health, especially for societies already co... more Climate change is an indisputable threat to human health, especially for societies already confronted with rising social inequality, political and economic uncertainty, and a cascade of concurrent environmental challenges. Archaeological data about past climate and environment provide an important source of evidence about the potential challenges humans face and the long-term outcomes of alternative short-term adaptive strategies. Evidence from well-dated archaeological human skeletons and mummified remains speaks directly to patterns of human health over time through changing circumstances. Here, we describe variation in human epidemiological patterns in the context of past rapid climate change (RCC) events and other periods of past environmental change. Case studies confirm that human communities responded to environmental changes in diverse ways depending on historical, sociocultural, and biological contingencies. Certain factors, such as social inequality and disproportionate access to resources in large, complex societies may influence the probability of major sociopolitical disruptions and reorganizations—commonly known as “collapse.” This survey of Holocene human–environmental relations demonstrates how flexibility, variation, and maintenance of Indigenous knowledge can be mitigating factors in the face of environmental challenges. Although contemporary climate change is more rapid and of greater magnitude than the RCC events and other environmental changes we discuss here, these lessons from the past provide clarity about potential priorities for equitable, sustainable development and the constraints of modernity we must address.
Anthropologists require methods for accurately estimating stature and body mass from the human sk... more Anthropologists require methods for accurately estimating stature and body mass from the human skeleton. Age-structured, generalized Least Squares (LS) regression formulas have been developed to predict stature from femoral length and to predict body mass in immature human remains using the width of the distal metaphysis, midshaft femoral geometry (J), and femoral head diameter. This paper tests the hypothesis that panel regression is an appropriate statistical method for regression modeling of longitudinal growth data, with longitudinal and cross-sectional effects on variance. Reference data were derived from the Denver Growth Study; panel regression was used to create one formula for estimating stature (for individuals 0.5e11.5 years old); two formulas for estimating body mass from the femur in infants and children (0.5e12.5 years old); and one formula for estimating body mass from the femoral head in older subadults (7e17.5 years old). The formulas were applied to an independent target sample of cadavers from Franklin County, Ohio and a large sample of immature individuals from diverse global populations. Results indicate panel regression formulas accurately estimate stature and body mass in immature skeletons, without reference to an independent estimate for age at death. Thus, using panel regression formulas to estimate stature and body mass in forensic and archaeological specimens may reduce second stage errors associated with inaccurate age estimates.
Archaeologists have long been interested in mortuary and other ritual behavior as a window into t... more Archaeologists have long been interested in mortuary and other ritual behavior as a window into the symbolic, social, and political lives of past people. It goes without saying that the interpretation of mortuary behavior provides an opportunity to examine spiritual and secular meaning; it contains elements of collective and individual identity, memory, tradition, ritual performance, and ideas about the afterlife (Rappaport, 1999). This window into the social relations of the past, provides a vision of structure refracted through agency (Inomata and Cohen, 2006; Turner, 1982). Mortuary tradition is enacted to transform; we interact with the dead to remember but also to renegotiate and finally, to separate (Duncan et al., 2005; Van Gennep, 1960). In this process power relations are both reified and renegotiated (Bell, 1997). The material symbolism of the burial and the body provides a rich field for anthropological ventures. Nomothetic approaches to archaeological mortuary data use inter-individual variation to define common rules or generalizations that can then be applied to interpret social structure from death assemblages (Binford, 1972; Saxe, 1970). This approach has been widely criticized in the anthropological literature (see for example Pearson, 1982; Rakita et al., 2005) yet still predominate because there is value in initially approaching these data in this way. However, heterogeneity in burial treatment may be best understood as a coherent, meaningful mortuary program that reflects social structure, politics, status, and power relations. Variants reflect different community identities and biographical contingencies; they are predicated upon historical, social and cultural ideas of the body (Robb, 2007:287). Normative Indus mortuary practice has been portrayed as consisting of primary, secondary, and 'symbolic' single burials of adults, interred within formal cemeteries. In fact there is a tremendous amount of variation in mortuary behavior across the mature (2600-2000 BCE) and the post-urban (2000-1800 BCE) periods. Consideration of the full range of variation in mortuary traditions demonstrates the heterogeneity of the Bronze Age urban population in South Asia and ties with other Bronze Age societies across the exchange network. Conclusion and Discussion Archaeologists have often noted that many Mature Period Indus cities were built on sterile soil. These huge settlements of tens of thousands of people were built from the ground up, often in fewer than 150 years. Indus exchange relationships stretched across the Arabian peninsula and the civilization flourished for more than 500 years. The prime motivation for moving to the cities was economic (Wright, 2010). Isotopic analyses of human remains from Harappa (Price et al., 2013) suggested most of the males buried in the urban period cemetery (R-37) were not local. Additional analyses on material from Farmana, Rakhigarhi, and Sanauli suggested that immigrants came to the cities early in life, traveling from the hinterlands of Indus territory and as far away as Mesopotamia, typically between the ages of 3-5 years (Valentine, 2016) to settle and perhaps to apprentice in manufacturing and mercantilism in the urban centers. Despite the standardization for which this civilization is famous-in the layout of their settlements, weights and measures, brick sizes, script and seals-the Indus cities also contain a diverse set of mortuary behaviors. A survey of treatment of the dead in Indus settlements demonstrates incredible diversity across time and space. Single, extended, supine, primary inhumations of adults, secondary, and 'symbolic' burials are not the normative tradition. Infants and children are present. Cenotaphs, ossuaries, double and multiple burials, prone burial, and many other traditions are present. Acknowledgement of these diverse practices better represents the heterogeneous communities that lived and worked in these cities. Osteobiographical and isotopic studies are required to better understand the heterogeneity that is deeply part of the urban phenomenon and perhaps to demonstrate that there was no common 'Indus identity'. GIS1
Humans have interacted with the remains of our dead for aesthetic and ritual purposes for millenn... more Humans have interacted with the remains of our dead for aesthetic and ritual purposes for millennia, and we have utilized them for medical, educational, and scholarly pursuits for several centuries. Recently, it has become possible to use digital technologies such as 3D scanners and printers for reconstructing, representing, and disseminating bodies. At the same time, there is growing interest among academics and curators in taking a more reflexive approach to the ethical and social dimensions of conservation. This paper considers theoretical and practical aspects of ethics as they apply to the 3D scanning and printing of human skeletal remains for curation or dissemination, provides case studies from our work in the United States, and suggests guidelines for best practices. Los seres humanos hemos interactuado con los restos humanos de nuestros muertos por razones estéticas y rituales por milenios. Asimismo, estos restos han sido utilizados para conducir investigaciones médicas, ...
Under the long shadow of Rousseau and Hobbes, scientists debate whether civilization spurred or i... more Under the long shadow of Rousseau and Hobbes, scientists debate whether civilization spurred or inhibited warfare—and whether we have the data to know.
The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Climate and Environmental Change, 2020
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies three avenues through which clima... more The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies three avenues through which climate change will impact human health: directly through the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, indirectly through changes in the ecosystem, and as they are mediated through human institutions. Bioarchaeology takes an evolutionary and biocultural approach to human health that puts these scholars in a unique position to provide nuanced perspectives on human behavioral responses in the face of these challenges; this is particularly true in the recognition that social inequality represents a significant risk factor for human health in the context of climate and culture change. Despite its potential, bioarchaeological research has not played a visible role in the scholarly or popular discourse regarding behavioral responses to climate change. In the hopes of generating further discussion and research, this chapter offers a framework—structured by these IPCC categories—for understanding the human impact of climate change in the past, highlighting potentials and acknowledging limitations for making predictions about its impacts in the future.
A Companion to South Asia in the Past provides the definitive overview of research and knowledge ... more A Companion to South Asia in the Past provides the definitive overview of research and knowledge about South Asia's past, from the Pleistocene to the historic era in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, provided by a truly global team of experts. • The most comprehensive and detailed scholarly treatment of South Asian archaeology and biological anthropology, providing groundbreaking new ideas and future challenges • Provides an in-depth and broad view of the current state of knowledge about South Asia's past, from the Pleistocene to the historic era in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal • A comprehensive treatment of research in a crucial region for human evolution and biocultural adaptation • A global team of scholars together present a varied set of perspectives on South Asian pre-and proto-history
When this formula is applied to the skeletal populations from the Health in the Western Hemispher... more When this formula is applied to the skeletal populations from the Health in the Western Hemisphere project, Gross Reproductive Rate (GRR) estimates differed from those made using the Bocquet–Appel (1982) ratio on average by 0.98 off-spring (range was 0 to 2.7).
Methods for estimating body mass from the human skeleton are often required for research in biolo... more Methods for estimating body mass from the human skeleton are often required for research in biological or forensic anthropology. There are currently only two methods for estimating body mass in subadults: the width of the distal femur metaphysis is useful for individuals 1-12 years of age and the femoral head is useful for older subadults. This article provides agestructured formulas for estimating subadult body mass using midshaft femur cross-sectional geometry (polar second moments of area). The formulas were developed using data from the Denver Growth Study and their accuracy was examined using an independent sample from Franklin County, Ohio. Body mass estimates from the midshaft were compared with estimates from the width Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this article.
Background: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae that affects a... more Background: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae that affects almost 250,000 people worldwide. The timing of first infection, geographic origin, and pattern of transmission of the disease are still under investigation. Comparative genomics research has suggested M. leprae evolved either in East Africa or South Asia during the Late Pleistocene before spreading to Europe and the rest of the World. The earliest widely accepted evidence for leprosy is in Asian texts dated to 600 B.C. Methodology/Principal Findings: We report an analysis of pathological conditions in skeletal remains from the second millennium B.C. in India. A middle aged adult male skeleton demonstrates pathological changes in the rhinomaxillary region, degenerative joint disease, infectious involvement of the tibia (periostitis), and injury to the peripheral skeleton. The presence and patterning of lesions was subject to a process of differential diagnosis for leprosy including trepone...
In the third millennium B.C., the Indus Civilization flourished in northwest India and Pakistan. ... more In the third millennium B.C., the Indus Civilization flourished in northwest India and Pakistan. The late mature phase (2200-1900 B.C.) was characterized by long-distance exchange networks, planned urban settlements, sanitation facilities, standardized weights and measures, and a sphere of influence over 1,000,000 square kilometers of territory. Recent paleoclimate reconstructions from the Beas River Valley demonstrate hydro-climatic stress due to a weakened monsoon system may have impacted urban centers like Harappa by the end of the third millennium B.C. the impact of environmental change was compounded by concurrent disruptions to the regional interaction sphere. Climate, economic, and social changes contributed to the disintegration of this civilization after 1900 B.C. We assess evidence for paleopathology to infer the biological consequences of climate change and socio-economic disruption in the post-urban period at Harappa, one of the largest urban centers in the Indus Civiliz...
Ayres, Wozniak, Robbins and Suafo'a Archaeology in American Samoa: Maloatã, Malaeimi and... more Ayres, Wozniak, Robbins and Suafo'a Archaeology in American Samoa: Maloatã, Malaeimi and Malaeloa William S. Ayres, Joan A. Wozniak, Gwen Robbins and Epi Suafo'a Introduction Archaeological field studies carried out on Tutuila, American Samoa, in research and historic ...
Routledge Handbook of the Bioarchaeology of Climate and Environmental Change, 2020
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies three avenues through which clima... more The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies three avenues through which climate change will impact human health: directly through the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, indirectly through changes in the ecosystem, and as they are mediated through human institutions. Bioarchaeology takes an evolutionary and biocultural approach to human health that puts these scholars in a unique position to provide nuanced perspectives on human behavioral responses in the face of these challenges; this is particularly true in the recognition that social inequality represents a significant risk factor for human health in the context of climate and culture change. Despite its potential, bioarchaeological research has not played a visible role in the scholarly or popular discourse regarding behavioral responses to climate change. In the hopes of generating further discussion and research, this chapter offers a framework—structured by these IPCC categories—f...
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae that affects almost 500,00... more Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae that affects almost 500,000 people worldwide^1^. The timing of first infection, geographic origin, and pattern of transmission of the disease are unknown^1-3^. Comparative genomics research has recently suggested M. leprae evolved in East Africa or South Asia before spreading to Europe and the rest of the World^4-5^. The earliest accepted textual evidence indicates that leprosy existed in India by at least 600 B.C. and was known in Europe by 400 B.C.^6-7^. The earliest skeletal evidence was dated 300-200 B.C. in Egypt^8^ and Thailand^9^. Here, we report the presence of lepromatous leprosy in skeletal remains from Balathal, a Chalcolithic site (2300-1550 B.C.) in India^10-11^. A middle aged adult male skeleton demonstrates manifestations of facies leprosa and rhinomaxillary syndrome, degenerative joint disease, infectious involvement of the tibia (periostitis), and injury to the peripheral skeleton, often the resu...
Environmentally transformative human use of land accelerated with the emergence of 5 agriculture,... more Environmentally transformative human use of land accelerated with the emergence of 5 agriculture, but the extent, trajectory, and implications of these early changes are not well understood. An empirical global assessment of land use from 10,000 BP to 1850 CE reveals a planet largely transformed by hunter-gatherers, farmers and pastoralists by 3,000 years ago, significantly earlier than land-use reconstructions commonly used by Earth scientists. Synthesis of knowledge contributed by over 250 archaeologists highlighted gaps in archaeological 10 expertise and data quality, which peaked at 2000 BP and in traditionally studied and wealthier regions. Archaeological reconstruction of global land-use history illuminates the deep roots of Earth's transformation through millennia of increasingly intensive land use, challenging the emerging Anthropocene paradigm that anthropogenic global environmental change is mostly recent. 15 One Sentence Summary: A map of synthesized archaeological knowledge on land use reveals a planet transformed by hunter-gatherers, farmers and pastoralists by 3,000 years ago.
Authors not found on Academia:
Torben Rick, Tim Denham, Jonathan Driver, Heather Thakar, Amber L. Johnson, R. Alan Covey, Jason Herrmann, Carrie Hritz, Catherine Kearns, Dan Lawrence, Michael Morrison, Robert J. Speakman, Martina L. Steffen, Keir M. Strickland, M. Cemre Ustunkaya, Jeremy Powell, Alexa Thornton.
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Publications by Gwen Robbins Schug
The obvious clinical implications of the complex interplay between mechanics, genetics and environment have spurred extensive research using clinical imaging techniques (Chevalley et al, 2017, Digby et al., 2016, Levine, 2012, Gabel et al., 2018, Mata-Mbemba et al., 2019). Unfortunately, these in-vivo techniques do not allow for the visualization of underlying cellular and histomorphology that directly reflects modeling and remodeling processes. The examination of histomorphology of juvenile skeletal remains from archaeological contexts provides a unique opportunity to shed light on functional adaptation from a life history perspective, to better understand the impact of nutrition, environment, and biocultural factors on bone architecture. From a bioarchaeological perspective this is important as researchers seek to shed light on the health and lifeways of past populations (Agarwal, 2016). From a modern bone health perspective such studies can not only provide clues about the factors affecting fracture risk, but also about issues that could face populations today due to effects of modern climate change and environmental issues.
In this chapter, we will begin with a brief review of the processes of bone modeling and remodeling as well as the genetic and functional determinants of bone architecture that are more extensively reviewed in previous chapters of this volume. We then explore the literature focused on the potential effects that biocultural and environmental stresses can have on these bone growth processes, how such effects can be linked to climate and environmental changes in the past, and why it may be important for our understanding of bone health and adaptation in current and future populations.
quantitative data, the salience of Bayesian methods, and training program content. Topical foci included ethics, social inequality, identity (including intersectionality), climate change, migration, violence, epidemic disease, adaptability/plasticity, the osteological paradox, and the developmental origins of health and disease. Given the profound changes required globally to address decolonization in the 21st century, this concern also entered many formal and informal discussions.
people. It goes without saying that the interpretation of mortuary behavior provides an opportunity to examine spiritual and secular meaning; it contains elements of collective and individual identity, memory, tradition, ritual performance, and ideas about the afterlife (Rappaport, 1999). This window into the social relations of the past, provides a vision of structure refracted through agency (Inomata & Coben, 2006; Turner, 1982). Mortuary tradition is enacted to transform; we interact with the dead to remember but also to renegotiate and finally, to separate (Duncan et al., 2005; Van Gennep, 1960). In this process, power relations are both reified and renegotiated (Bell, 1997). The material
symbolism of the burial and the body provides a rich field for anthropological ventures...
Comprising 27 chapters from experts across a broad range of time periods and geographical regions, this book addresses hypotheses about how climate and environmental changes impact human health and well-being, factors that promote resilience, and circumstances that make migration or interpersonal violence a more likely outcome. The volume highlights the potential relevance of bioarchaeological analysis to contemporary challenges by organizing the chapters into a framework outlined by the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. Planning for a warmer world requires knowledge about humans as biological organisms with a deep connection to Earth's ecosystems balanced by an appreciation of how historical and socio-cultural circumstances, socioeconomic inequality, degrees of urbanization, community mobility, and social institutions play a role in shaping long-term outcomes for human communities.
Containing a wealth of nuanced perspectives about human-environmental relations, book is key reading for students of environmental archaeology, bioarchaeology, and the history of disease. By providing a longer view of contemporary challenges, it may also interest readers in public health, public policy, and planning.
Historical social sciences, including anthropology and archaeology, are also uniquely situated to contribute to these conversations based on our examinations of past human perceptions of and responses to climate and environmental change. For many decades, archaeologists and bioarchaeologists--who study human remains as a source of archaeological evidence--have been conducting scientific research on human-environmental interactions in the past and studying phenomena that will be highly valuable for contemporary planning and policymaking. Our scholarship addresses the socio-cultural-political dimensions of climate change over the last 12,000 years. Our data allow for nuanced interpretations of short-term strategies and long-term trajectories of human responses to environmental change.
The 27 chapters in this volume demonstrate there are no grand narratives in the arc of human history; however, these chapters also demonstrate a historical perspective on four major challenges facing contemporary human communities. Anthropogenic climate and environmental changes are occurring at a scale and magnitude unprecedented in human history and they are already a significant threat to health and well-being. However, it is critical we recognize humans are biological organisms, enmeshed within an ecological system, and completely interdependent on other species across the Kingdoms of life. Global warming is accompanied by the sixth mass extinction, which threatens the maintenance of life on Earth. We are also in the midst of an epidemiological transition, where modernity has brought sedentism, poor diets, obesity, and a rise in morbidity due to degenerative conditions. Unfortunately, we are also facing powerful challenges from emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases as we increasingly disturb wild spaces, interact with other species in detrimental new ways, and have misused antibiotic therapies....
https://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2020/04/22/the-long-view-of-climate-change-and-human-health/?fbclid=IwAR3CnSM-KDVDPqSmZ-w4xfDO5h3jap9gDzXZD79-N2UFUgF-jdOsOBo56BY
infectious diseases appear in the subcontinent at this time. Patho-physiological variations, including congenital differences, dental diseases, arthritis, and nutritional insufficiency, have also been discovered in the remains from Harappan cities. These human experiences, contextualized within mortuary treatment, have revitalized research into the socio-cultural dimensions of life in South Asia’s first urban period. This chapter demonstrates the evidence from some of the major Harappan cities that have been thoroughly studied—Harappa, Rakhigarhi, Farmana—and for some of the Harappan cities that deserve more thorough attention--Mohenjo Daro, Kalibangan, and Sanauli. I provide details about the skeletal evidence and its interpretation with the goal of encouraging the burgeoning field of bioarchaeological research in the subcontinent.
10,000 years before the present (yr B.P.) to 1850 CE reveals a planet largely transformed by hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists by 3000 years ago, considerably earlier than the dates in the land-use reconstructions commonly
used by Earth scientists. Synthesis of knowledge contributed by more than
250 archaeologists highlighted gaps in archaeological expertise and data quality, which peaked for 2000 yr B.P. and in traditionally studied and wealthier regions. Archaeological reconstruction of global land-use history illuminates the deep roots of Earth’s transformation and challenges the emerging Anthropocene paradigm that large-scale anthropogenic global environmental change is mostly a recent phenomenon.
The obvious clinical implications of the complex interplay between mechanics, genetics and environment have spurred extensive research using clinical imaging techniques (Chevalley et al, 2017, Digby et al., 2016, Levine, 2012, Gabel et al., 2018, Mata-Mbemba et al., 2019). Unfortunately, these in-vivo techniques do not allow for the visualization of underlying cellular and histomorphology that directly reflects modeling and remodeling processes. The examination of histomorphology of juvenile skeletal remains from archaeological contexts provides a unique opportunity to shed light on functional adaptation from a life history perspective, to better understand the impact of nutrition, environment, and biocultural factors on bone architecture. From a bioarchaeological perspective this is important as researchers seek to shed light on the health and lifeways of past populations (Agarwal, 2016). From a modern bone health perspective such studies can not only provide clues about the factors affecting fracture risk, but also about issues that could face populations today due to effects of modern climate change and environmental issues.
In this chapter, we will begin with a brief review of the processes of bone modeling and remodeling as well as the genetic and functional determinants of bone architecture that are more extensively reviewed in previous chapters of this volume. We then explore the literature focused on the potential effects that biocultural and environmental stresses can have on these bone growth processes, how such effects can be linked to climate and environmental changes in the past, and why it may be important for our understanding of bone health and adaptation in current and future populations.
quantitative data, the salience of Bayesian methods, and training program content. Topical foci included ethics, social inequality, identity (including intersectionality), climate change, migration, violence, epidemic disease, adaptability/plasticity, the osteological paradox, and the developmental origins of health and disease. Given the profound changes required globally to address decolonization in the 21st century, this concern also entered many formal and informal discussions.
people. It goes without saying that the interpretation of mortuary behavior provides an opportunity to examine spiritual and secular meaning; it contains elements of collective and individual identity, memory, tradition, ritual performance, and ideas about the afterlife (Rappaport, 1999). This window into the social relations of the past, provides a vision of structure refracted through agency (Inomata & Coben, 2006; Turner, 1982). Mortuary tradition is enacted to transform; we interact with the dead to remember but also to renegotiate and finally, to separate (Duncan et al., 2005; Van Gennep, 1960). In this process, power relations are both reified and renegotiated (Bell, 1997). The material
symbolism of the burial and the body provides a rich field for anthropological ventures...
Comprising 27 chapters from experts across a broad range of time periods and geographical regions, this book addresses hypotheses about how climate and environmental changes impact human health and well-being, factors that promote resilience, and circumstances that make migration or interpersonal violence a more likely outcome. The volume highlights the potential relevance of bioarchaeological analysis to contemporary challenges by organizing the chapters into a framework outlined by the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. Planning for a warmer world requires knowledge about humans as biological organisms with a deep connection to Earth's ecosystems balanced by an appreciation of how historical and socio-cultural circumstances, socioeconomic inequality, degrees of urbanization, community mobility, and social institutions play a role in shaping long-term outcomes for human communities.
Containing a wealth of nuanced perspectives about human-environmental relations, book is key reading for students of environmental archaeology, bioarchaeology, and the history of disease. By providing a longer view of contemporary challenges, it may also interest readers in public health, public policy, and planning.
Historical social sciences, including anthropology and archaeology, are also uniquely situated to contribute to these conversations based on our examinations of past human perceptions of and responses to climate and environmental change. For many decades, archaeologists and bioarchaeologists--who study human remains as a source of archaeological evidence--have been conducting scientific research on human-environmental interactions in the past and studying phenomena that will be highly valuable for contemporary planning and policymaking. Our scholarship addresses the socio-cultural-political dimensions of climate change over the last 12,000 years. Our data allow for nuanced interpretations of short-term strategies and long-term trajectories of human responses to environmental change.
The 27 chapters in this volume demonstrate there are no grand narratives in the arc of human history; however, these chapters also demonstrate a historical perspective on four major challenges facing contemporary human communities. Anthropogenic climate and environmental changes are occurring at a scale and magnitude unprecedented in human history and they are already a significant threat to health and well-being. However, it is critical we recognize humans are biological organisms, enmeshed within an ecological system, and completely interdependent on other species across the Kingdoms of life. Global warming is accompanied by the sixth mass extinction, which threatens the maintenance of life on Earth. We are also in the midst of an epidemiological transition, where modernity has brought sedentism, poor diets, obesity, and a rise in morbidity due to degenerative conditions. Unfortunately, we are also facing powerful challenges from emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases as we increasingly disturb wild spaces, interact with other species in detrimental new ways, and have misused antibiotic therapies....
https://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2020/04/22/the-long-view-of-climate-change-and-human-health/?fbclid=IwAR3CnSM-KDVDPqSmZ-w4xfDO5h3jap9gDzXZD79-N2UFUgF-jdOsOBo56BY
infectious diseases appear in the subcontinent at this time. Patho-physiological variations, including congenital differences, dental diseases, arthritis, and nutritional insufficiency, have also been discovered in the remains from Harappan cities. These human experiences, contextualized within mortuary treatment, have revitalized research into the socio-cultural dimensions of life in South Asia’s first urban period. This chapter demonstrates the evidence from some of the major Harappan cities that have been thoroughly studied—Harappa, Rakhigarhi, Farmana—and for some of the Harappan cities that deserve more thorough attention--Mohenjo Daro, Kalibangan, and Sanauli. I provide details about the skeletal evidence and its interpretation with the goal of encouraging the burgeoning field of bioarchaeological research in the subcontinent.
10,000 years before the present (yr B.P.) to 1850 CE reveals a planet largely transformed by hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists by 3000 years ago, considerably earlier than the dates in the land-use reconstructions commonly
used by Earth scientists. Synthesis of knowledge contributed by more than
250 archaeologists highlighted gaps in archaeological expertise and data quality, which peaked for 2000 yr B.P. and in traditionally studied and wealthier regions. Archaeological reconstruction of global land-use history illuminates the deep roots of Earth’s transformation and challenges the emerging Anthropocene paradigm that large-scale anthropogenic global environmental change is mostly a recent phenomenon.
Authors not found on Academia:
Torben Rick, Tim Denham, Jonathan Driver, Heather Thakar, Amber L. Johnson, R. Alan Covey, Jason Herrmann, Carrie Hritz, Catherine Kearns, Dan Lawrence, Michael Morrison, Robert J. Speakman, Martina L. Steffen, Keir M. Strickland, M. Cemre Ustunkaya, Jeremy Powell, Alexa Thornton.