bioarchaeology (Other Keyword)
26-50 (296 Records)
Variation in cranial and dental non-metric traits provides a unique method for investigating prehistoric biological variability at Paquimé, Chihuahua, Mexico. Previous biodistance analyses have demonstrated patterns of long-distance gene flow with both Southwestern and frontier Mesoamerican groups, while stable isotope analyses have suggested a pattern of immigration into the site. The primary goal of this study is to determine what the pattern of biological variability tells us about social...
Bioarchaeological Assemblages at Çatalhöyük: A Relational Examination of Porotic Hyperostosis and Cribra Orbitalia Etiologies and Transmissions (2017)
Porotic hyperostosis, manifested as pittings on the outer table of the cranial vault, and cribra orbitalia, the analogous porosities that form on orbital roofs, are two commonly observed pathologies used extensively by bioarchaeologists to understand past health and nutritional conditions. Yet the etiologies of porotic hyperostosis and cribra orbitalia are largely varied and not well understood, with proposed explanations ranging from diet and nutrition to chronic and infectious diseases. This...
A Bioarchaeological Assessment of Diet and Dental Health During the New Kingdom/Napatan Transition in Ancient Nubia (Tombos, Sudan) (2015)
Nubia, once colonized by the Egyptian Empire during the New Kingdom Period (ca. 1550-1070 BCE), became increasingly independent and powerful with the rise of the Napatan State during the Third Intermediate and Napatan Periods (ca. 1070-664 BCE). This research addresses the social impacts of the New Kingdom/Napatan political and economic transition via the bioarchaeological examination of diet (carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis) and dental health (ante-mortem tooth loss, caries). We...
Bioarchaeological Conservation and Ethics in Mainland Southeast Asia (2017)
This paper identifies the ethical and conservation challenges of working with skeletal remains from mainland Southeast Asia, a region including Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar. Due to the increasing political rest experienced over the past decades, researchers have had better opportunities to work in these countries, with relatively easier access to appropriate permissions to excavate archaeological sites. The first-hand accounts of bioarchaeological research conducted by the...
Bioarchaeological Evidence of the African Diaspora in Renaissance Romania (2016)
Little documentary or archaeological information currently exists regarding the presence of people of African descent in Eastern Europe during the historical period. Known to have arrived in Europe with the Romans, free and enslaved Africans were common members of European society by the advent of the Renaissance, especially in the Moorish territories and the Ottoman Empire. In 1952, archaeologists recovered a set of partial remains of 30-35-year-old man during excavations of an Orthodox...
A Bioarchaeological Survey of Skeletal Tuberculosis in Prehistoric Southern Peru (2017)
Recent studies of pre-Columbian Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) genomes identify pinnipeds as a source of human tuberculosis in South America (Bos et al. 2014). These results raise questions regarding the timing of this zoonotic transfer and the subsequent human host adaptation and dissemination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Here we present a survey of skeletal tuberculosis throughout the Osmore Drainage of southern Peru, where the pinniped to human "jump" had occurred by ~AD 1000....
Bioarchaeology and Looting: A Case Study from Sudan (2015)
Disturbing the dead has been considered a criminal activity in the Nile Valley since the trial of Egyptian tomb robbers in 1100 BCE. Looting is one of the most destructive forces at archaeological sites; grave robbing, in particular, leaves human remains and cultural heritage irreparably damaged. During 2007-2008, the Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition (OINE) worked to identify, record, and preserve important archaeological sites that have since been destroyed by the Merowe Dam. Al-Widay, a...
Bioarchaeology at Las Capas: Uniformity and Continuity within the Early Agricultural Period (2015)
Investment in cultigens and early irrigation in the Sonoran Desert (circa 3600 BP) signal a major shift in subsistence strategy identified as the Early Agricultural Period (EAP). The EAP is also recognized as a period of significant social transformation, and Las Capas (LCA) has played a critical part in our redefinition of this period. We examine how biocultural signatures from the LCA mortuary sample compare over the site’s occupation and within broader patterns of the EAP. Our results...
Bioarchaeology in Coastal Ecuador (2016)
Bioarcheology is slowly being integrated into research programs in Ecuador. Ubelaker’s 1981 groundbreaking excavation and analysis of the Ayalán Cemetery, along the southern coast, was the first attempt at incorporating bioarchaeology in this region; however, since then, relatively little work has been done. We seek to investigate human skeletal remains found at different archaeological sites in the Manabí province. The sample comprises diverse burial type, age, and contextual information. Some...
Bioarchaeology of Burials Associated with the Elkins Site (7NC-G-174) (2016)
Bioarchaeological interpretations of five burials from a small family cemetery likely associated with one of the domestic structures at the Elkins Site integrate information from in situ data collection and standard laboratory assessment, as well as DNA and stable isotope analysis. Four of the burials (two adult males and two adult females) were tightly clustered and the fifth burial (a male infant) was spatially separated within the cemetery. Despite craniofacial morphology that could be...
The Bioarchaeology of Colonization and Missionization at San Bernabé, Lake Petén Itzá (2016)
The Spanish established the San Bernabé Mission in the heartland of the Itzá Maya area at Tayasal in the Petén Lakes region around 1710. Census data suggest that the mission was at the center of a multi-cultural community of 126 individuals in 1712, yet within three decades the population size had reduced by 70% potentially due to epidemics and flight. Excavations by the Tayasal Archaeological Project have recovered 46 individuals from 33 graves in the mission’s cemetery that shed light on what...
The Bioarchaeology of Fetuses (2016)
Until relatively recently, fetuses, along with infants and children, were largely overlooked in bioarchaeological research. Over the past 20 years there has been increasing recognition of the importance of research on immature individuals in the archaeological context. However, although fetuses are now sometimes included in analyses of population health and isotopic studies of infant weaning and diet in the past, most research focuses on postnatal individuals. This paper reviews some of the...
The Bioarchaeology of None: Recovery and Analysis of an Historic Coffin from Fort McAllister State Park, Georgia. (2016)
In the spring of 2013, the office of the Georgia State Archaeologist was contacted by personnel from Fort McAllister State Park in Richmond Hill, GA, concerning what appeared to be an historic coffin eroding out of the marsh edge. Emergency salvage excavation was conducted to recover the remaining portions of the coffin. Initial field analysis indicated a sharp shouldered, hexagonal style coffin. Neither the lid nor any mortuary hardware was recovered. The coffin’s location is within the...
The Bioarchaeology of Social Order: Cooperation and Conflict among the Mimbres (AD 550-1300) (2015)
A comprehensive bioarchaeological assessment of Mimbres health, activity, and interpersonal violence was completed using data from a sample of 248 human burials from 17 Late Pithouse (AD 550-1000) and Pueblo (AD 1000-1300) sites in the Mimbres region. The findings presented here demonstrate broader patterns for interpretation of community experiences that have not been as well described in previous case studies from individual site samples. This larger sample of all available adult burials...
Bioarchaeology of the Arabian Bronze Age: Humeral Entheseal Changes and Burial Patterns at Tell Abraq (2015)
Tell Abraq is an archaeological site from the Arabian Bronze Age, located near the Persian Gulf Coast of the modern-day country of the United Arab Emirates. A sealed, two-chamber mud-brick tomb on site, in use from approximately 2200 – 2000 BC, yielded a 1.4-meter-thick matrix of commingled human remains, soil, and artifacts, representing a MNI of 403 individuals, of which nearly three quarters are adults. Although the remains are fragmentary, they still offer rich insights into the biocultural...
The Bioarchaeology of the Cerro de la Cruz Cemetery (2015)
This paper discusses preliminary bioarchaeological findings from the Late Formative cemetery at Cerro de la Cruz in the lower Río Verde Valley on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca. The Cerro de la Cruz cemetery has figured prominently in a long-running debate over the hypothesized conquest of the region by Monte Albán. We discuss the results of detailed bioarchaeological analyses of four individuals from the cemetery in the context of an ongoing regional study. Although taphonomic processes...
Bioarchaeology of the Chincha Kingdom: Life history patterns in a chullpa population from the Late Intermediate Period and Late Horizon mid-Chincha Valley, Peru (2015)
This paper considers evidence for population health and lifestyle in the Chincha polity during the Late Intermediate Period (LIP) (c. 1000-1400 AD) and Late Horizon (LH) (c. 1400-1532 AD). Beginning with the Chroniclers, scholars have described the Chincha as a large complex society with population organized into distinct economic sectors (e.g., coastal fishermen, merchant core, and inland agriculturalists). Previous archaeological studies have demonstrated evidence for fishermen and artisans in...
The Bioarchaeology of the Columbian Harmony Cemetery Collection (51NE049), Washington, D.C. (2016)
The Bioarchaeology of the Columbian Harmony Cemetery Series (51NE049), Washington, D.C. Archaeological investigations on a portion of the Columbian Harmony Cemetery in Washington, D.C. resulted in the identification of 231 grave features, many of which had been disturbed by a cemetery relocation project that took place in 1960. Information obtained from skeletal and dental analyses have provided information on 19th and early 20th century patterns of burial, postmortem treatment (i.e., embalming...
Bioarchaeology, human ecology, and subsistence change in ancient China (2015)
This paper will explore the links between bioarchaeology and human ecology, and how they can contribute to studies of ancient Chinese subsistence. Both fields deal with similar types of data, including measures of nutritional status, fertility, disease burden, food production, and human-environment interaction. However, the two fields differ widely in both the time scale and the resolution of their data. Can models from human ecology inform bioarchaeological research? Can the long time scale...
Bioarcheology of the Tundra Steppe, the Dry Creek Site, Central Alaska
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Biocultural Evolution of the Oral Complex in Coastal Atacama and the Interplay of Selection, Plasticity, and Population Histories (2017)
Indigenous groups have inhabited and exploited the coastal valleys of the Atacama Desert since Paleoindian times. Contact with the altiplano began early on but marine-based diets were eventually supplemented by agricultural adaptations as influence turned to population movement over time. We propose that the oral complex was likely subject to some degree of selection early in the sequence in response to dietary demands, but would have been relaxed as diet diversified and softened. This trend...
A biodistance study of Shang Dynasty human sacrifice (2017)
Ongoing archaeological investigations at the Shang capital of Yin Xu in modern Anyang have contributed much to the understanding of the Shang Dynasty (~1600-1046 BCE) and Bronze Age China. Bioarchaeological investigations of the thousands of sacrificed individuals recovered from the royal cemetery at Yin Xu has historically been somewhat limited, but is becoming an important component of current research at the site. Earlier work focused mainly on collection of craniometric data and the typology...
Biological Diversity in Medieval Uzbekistan: Examining Community Expression under the Qarakhanid State (2017)
This paper examines the expression of community during the Qarakhanid period (9th- 12th century CE) through a study of patterns of phenotypic diversity at medieval sites across Uzbekistan. The Qarakhanid dynasty is argued to be an integral period in the shaping of population, linguistic, and religious frameworks that shaped the social and ethnic landscapes of Central Asia up through the modern day. Historical sources suggest that the Qarakhanid rise to power instigated an in-migration of Turkic...
Black Bodies Matter: Violence Against Black Women Across the Life Course (2021)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Archaeology of Urban Dissonance: Violence, Friction, and Change" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Beginning with the recent movements #BlackLivesMatter and #SayHerName, I consider how bioarchaeology can be used to reveal the long history of violence against black women in the United States. I do so by studying the skeletal and archival remains of 79 black women who were dissected in New York City during the...
Bone Remodeling Behavior Across the Surfaces of the Skeleton as Biographical Windows (2017)
The morphology of the whole skeleton is crafted over the life course by bone remodeling across its skeletal surfaces: the endosteal surface of its trabeculae, and on the periosteal, endocortical, and intracortical surfaces of its cortex. The behavior of each of these surfaces differs between individuals and populations resulting in some understood differences in bone morphology across human groups. But the skeletal surfaces are also differentially influenced during growth, aging, reproduction,...