bioarchaeology (Other Keyword)
101-125 (296 Records)
Dermatoglyphic impressions - the patterns of ridges and furrows, whorls, loops, and arches present on human hands and feet - are recognized by forensic scientists as having sexually dimorphic characteristics. Sex and age can be estimated from these impressions achieving rates of accuracy similar to other metric methods utilized in physical anthropology and bioarchaeology (Marasco et al. 2014, Mundorff et al. 2014). Despite this potential, analysis of dermatoglpyphic impressions left on plastic...
The Elite Meroitic Necropolis of Sai Island, Part II: Bioarchaeological Interpretations (2017)
Five Meroitic necropoli have been identified on Sai Island, located in northern Sudan between the 2nd and 3rd Nile cataracts. Recent archaeological excavations conducted by the French Unit of the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums have focused on a small elite Meroitic necropolis (300BC-350AD). Although the archaeology of this necropolis is complicated by interments from other periods and looting, here we present the initial analyses of the Meroitic elite skeletal remains in...
Engendering the Bioarchaeology of the Viking Age (2017)
The emergence of sexual orientation stigma or "queerphobia" within Christianity has a deep history that can be traced through historical and archaeological sources. Previous researchers in Mesopotamia argued that "queerphobia" did not exist in ancient times, yet biases against non-normative sexual orientations are continuously debated among contemporary theologians. This paper explores how sexual orientation stigma came to exist in modernity, arguing that the emergence of this phobia parallels...
Entheseal changes as a reflection of activity patterns at 1st century BC./A.D. Petra (2016)
The residents of the Nabataean capital city of Petra (Jordan) remain an enigmatic element of Near Eastern history. Most research has focused on the site’s architecture rather than the inhabitants living amongst the city’s spectacular structures. Excavations of 1st century B.C./A.D. tombs from Petra’s North Ridge in 2012 and 2014 recovered a sizeable sample (N=113) of Petra’s non-elite inhabitants. This project explores entheses to understand physical activity levels and patterns within this...
Environmental fluctuation in Neolithic coastal central Thailand: a human story (2016)
As a continuously occupied Neolithic (~2,000-1,500 B.C.) site in coastal central Thailand, Khok Phanom Di yielded abundant artifacts and biological remains providing detailed insights to its environmental patterns and human biology. Core studies and faunal diversity analyses suggested the existence of an episode of receding coastal margin between 1,750 and 1,650 B.C., exposing marsh and freshwater areas that were previously inaccessible. The transition from a marine/estuarine site to a...
Ethnic Disparity and Stress in Prehispanic Peru: A contextualized analysis of Cranial Pathology and Facial Asymmetry (2015)
This study evaluates the effects of stress on a prehistoric population from the south-central highlands of Andahuaylas, Peru during the Late Intermediate Period (LIP: AD 1000 - AD 1400). This era was characterized by skyrocketing violence, resource competition, and increasing social inequality. We test the impact of these phenomena by examining cranial lesions and fluctuating facial asymmetry--both indicators of non-specific stress-- among different ethnic groups, identified by the absence,...
Evaluating the Utility of Using Stable Oxygen Isotope Analysis to Study Ancient Migration and Climate Reconstruction in the Ayacucho Basin of Peru (2016)
This study examines whether oxygen isotope analysis can be used to study ancient human migration in the central, highland Andes of Peru (Ayacucho Basin). Although strontium isotope analysis is a reliable way of exploring questions of migration, oxygen isotope analysis, which is significantly less expensive, may offer preliminary insights regarding the possible presence of migrants at a site. This approach has not yet been used in the Ayacucho Basin where the Wari empire was centered, so we...
The Evolution of Mortuary Artifact Assemblages from Historic Cemeteries in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States (2023)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Mortuary artifact assemblages, including materials used to mark grave locations, hardware used in the construction of coffins and caskets, and items used to clothe and decorate the dead, range temporally, geographically, and culturally based on a variety of factors, including manufacturing advancements, access to goods, and...
Examination of Mortuary Ritual Associated with Construction Events in peripheral sites of the Motul de San Jose polity, Peten, Guatemala (2015)
This poster presents preliminary mortuary and human osteological data from the Proyecto Arqueologico Periferia de Motul de San Jose 2013 and 2014 field seasons, examining several aspects of mortuary ritual associated with periods of construction and site expansion at the sites of Kante’t’u’ul and Chachaklu’um, located approximately 2 and 5km from the core of the Motul de San Jose polity, respectively. Occupation at Kante’t’u’ul ranged from the Late Preclassic to the Early Post-Classic, while...
An Exercise in Raw Power: A Bioarchaeological Perspective on American Violence & Westward Expansion (2016)
Bioarchaeologists have rarely marshalled data from historic American burial assemblages to explore the dynamics of violence in the borderlands West. This paper considers the social dynamics of American violence under Manifest Destiny through an exploration of ballistic trauma patterns documented in extant historical bioarchaeology literature. This study examines the lives of 42 individuals whose remains exhibit fatal gunshot wounds from across the mid-17th and early 20th century America. Trauma...
Explorations in LEXT Image and Profile Capture for Dental Enamel Surface Morphology (2016)
The field of bioarchaeology is leading to significant advances in our understanding of the lives of past populations. A particular area of interest in this field lies in the consideration of the early life determinants of later life conditions. The consideration of non-specific skeletal stress markers has been at the forefront of this research. Dental enamel grows incrementally, and because it does not remodel once formed, a permanent record of growth disruption is preserved. Traditionally,...
Exploring Intersectionality through Osteobiography: A Case Study from Early Medieval Ireland (2017)
Over the last decade, social identity has become well established as an area of bioarchaeological research. Although bioarchaeologists now examine a variety of identities in past societies (such as gender, age, and disability), it remains challenging to discuss the ways in which multiple identities intersect in the creation of individual lives. The construction of osteobiographies provides a means of investigating these intersections, in particular the interrelation of age with other aspects of...
Exploring Social Differences as Evidenced by Measures of Physical Activity and Skeletal Health in a Muisca Population (950-1400 AD, Soacha, Colombia) (2016)
The human skeleton is a dynamic tissue that changes over the lifetime in response to particular variables such as an individual’s diet, health, sex, and physical activity. Studying human long bones, such as femurs and humerii, for measures of bone quantity and shape can provide insights into the ways that the skeleton reflects the amounts and types of work performed during life. The Muisca, from northern Colombia, are often characterized as highly stratified societies where social differences...
Exploring the Effects of Endemic Warfare and Violence on Women and Children at Casas Grandes (2015)
Bioarcheologists have consistently explored the role that males play in warfare and raiding but the impact of warfare on women and children has been less of a focus. Other studies have shown that women sometimes play a role in fighting, and that women and children suffer from things such as declining resources, losing males from the household, and forced relocation. Casas Grandes provides a case study for the examination of women and children during what was likely to have been a period of...
Fifty-Seven Years of Bioarchaeological Research in Central and Southern Texas: the Changing Nature of Data Base and the Theoretical Orientation (1987)
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Fire and Death: Cremation as a Ritualised Funerary Practice in the Southern Brazilian Highlands (2017)
Archaeological evidence from southern Jê mound and enclosure complexes in the southern Brazilian highlands points to the development of a complex funerary ritual focused on the practice of cremation from 1000 BP onwards. Drawing upon bioarchaeological, ethnographic and ethnohistorical analysis, this paper discusses the role of cremation as a ritualised practice aimed at transforming the dead, their body and their relations with society. Patterns of similarities and differences in such practice...
Fire and smoke in Postclassic Petén: human remains, deity effigies, and codices (2015)
Fire and smoke were fundamental ritual forces in Mesoamerican religious worldview. Found in varied contexts (funerary processing, animation ceremonies, and desecratory rituals), fire and smoke were applied to multiple media (human bodies, architecture, and ceramics). In the Postclassic (AD 950–1524) Maya lowlands, burning both processed honored ancestors’ remains and violated enemies’ remains. Ceramic incense burners with deity effigies were used to burn resins to communicate with supernaturals....
First Contact: Friend or Foe? (2015)
Native Andeans’ first contacts with foreigners were not necessarily with the Spanish foreigners themselves, but with the foreign pathogens that were introduced prior to the arrival of the Spaniards through trade networks and early incursions in the northern extent of the Inca Empire. Violent encounters with indigenous peoples followed the Spaniards as they made their way down the northwestern half of the Central Andes, such as the fateful battle in Cajamarca.Yet not all native Andeans perished...
Formation and Transformation of Identities in the Andes: The Constructions of Childhood among the Tiwanaku (2016)
Despite their importance, little attention has been paid to childhood and the roles of children in the ancient Andes. Here, we focus our case study on the Tiwanaku polity of the South Central Andes, which expanded through migration and culture contact across parts of Bolivia, Peru, Chile and Argentina between ca. 500-1100AD. The way the lives of children are structured and shaped are fundamental to understanding the formation and maintenance of states and their impact on the life experiences of...
Foundations of Childhood: Bioarchaeology of Subadults at the Late Shang Capital of Yinxu (2017)
Oracle-bone inscriptions and pre-Han texts say little about children, making bioarchaeology the best available method to study childhood during earlier periods. In 2004, extensive excavations were carried out on building foundations in Dasikong Village, a Late Shang (c.1200-1046 BC) lineage neighborhood found on the outskirts of modern-day Anyang, Henan Province, China. This led to a uniquely high recovery of subadult remains as younger subadults are often found in and around foundations. For...
Fragmented Bodies and Splintered Coffins: What can they tell us about Ancient Egyptian Mortuary Practices? (2015)
Intrusions into the burial chamber directly impact the mortuary assemblage, often erasing the purposeful placement of grave goods and destroying the peaceful preservation of the body. So what can these palimpsests of havoc actually tell us about original mortuary practices? In this talk, I answer this question through analysis of Theban Tomb 290, the ancient Egyptian tomb of Iry-Nefer. This tomb, studied in 2013-14 as part of the French Institute mission at Deir el-Medina, contains up to 70...
From Biochemistry to Bone: Exploring the Stress Response in Archaeological Skeletal Remains (2017)
Bone is the foundation of the human body. In an archaeological context, the skeleton is the primary piece of evidence with which to explore past peoples and cultures. Because the skeleton adapts and changes over the life course, bone acts as a record-keeper, capturing specific periods of skeletal disturbance that we are able to observe and interpret. While the research potential using skeletal remains seems limitless, the primary challenge is that changes associated with poor health take time to...
From Life History to Large Scale: Osteobiography as Microhistory (2017)
Osteobiography, like other types of biographies, extends beyond the individual through entanglements with objects, landscapes, and social phenomena. The approach requires a multi-scalar analysis to understand how bodies both emerge from and create historical process. Osteobiographies are developed by tacking between an individual’s remains and the wider skeletal population to establish a contextualized life history. Conceptualizing osteobiography as a microhistory of human remains is one way in...
From the Ground, Up: The Looting of Vườn Chuối in Archeological and Criminological Context (2017)
The exact nature of the illicit antiquities trade from ground to market in Southeast Asia remains poorly known outside of Thailand and Cambodia, where most research has been focused. This paper helps to address this imbalance by documenting and contextualizing looting activities at the Bronze and Iron Age site of Vườn Chuối, located within urban Hanoi. We provide a brief excavation history so as to place looting into archaeological and bioarchaeological contexts, and discuss current and future...
Funerary Practice and Local Interaction on the Imperial frontier, 1st century AD: a case study in the Serur Valley, Azerbaijan. (2016)
Military campaigns and conflict defined the years leading to the 1st century AD in the South Caucasus. This mountainous frontier region acted as a buffer zone between the Roman and Parthian Empires competing for territorial expansion. Local alliances were cyclically forged, broken, and mended for territorial control. Yet, little archaeological evidence remains of these interactions. How are military campaigns being conducted in the eastern frontier? How are foreign forces interacting with local...