bioarchaeology (Other Keyword)
1-25 (263 Records)
The goal of this research project is to examine differences in overall health between two groups that have been characterized in the literature as Romans and “barbarians”. The research questions addressed using skeletal remains are about how the daily life of people under Roman-Byzantine control compared to that of their neighbors, the “barbarians” to the north. Comparing two contemporaneous populations from the territory of modern Romania—and dating to the 4th-6th centuries CE, the study will...
Advanced GIS applications for bioarchaeology: methods and case studies (2016)
New computer technologies have become indispensable components in Human Sciences. Archaeology has a long history of adopting and using these technologies to document the site and the excavation process, to record the location of excavated artifacts and materials, and to assist in interpretations and analysis of the excavation and recovered finds. However, despite the constant and ever-developing applications in archaeology, the specialization of bioarchaeology has not yet developed unique...
Always facing east…except when they’re not: Preliminary analysis of mortuary trends at Cahal Pech, Cayo, Belize (2015)
Mortuary patterns and practices change over time and it is the goal of this poster to present preliminary analysis of the evolution of mortuary behavior of the Maya. This poster examines different variables pertaining to mortuary practices of the Maya throughout the Classic and Terminal Classic time periods at the core site of Cahal Pech in San Ignacio, Cayo District, Belize. The analysis focuses on burial position, orientation, presence or absence of grave goods, temporal period, burial type,...
The Analysis of Late Antiquity (c. 4th to 6th century AD) Human Remains from Veii-Campetti, Italy (2016)
Veii was a prominent ancient Etruscan city, which eventually fell to Roman rule in 396 BC. After its fall, Veii was abandoned and then turned into a municipality during the rule of Augustus. Within the site of Veii, is the Campetti complex south-west, which houses several different structures. In the earlier periods of occupation (circa the late 7th to 4th century BC), the archaeological area functioned as an urban sanctuary, in which water played a major role. When Augustus turned it into a...
Analyzing Skeletal Manifestations of Pre-Columbian Tuberculosis in the Northeastern highlands of Peru (2016)
The current understanding of Pre-Columbian tuberculosis is unclear, and in several geographic areas very little is known. To date most knowledge of ancient tuberculosis comes from isolated case studies. These studies are informative as they consider the individual in question but they offer little insight into the demographic or social impact of tuberculosis. This population-based study describes osteological lesions consistent with possible tuberculosis in 15 individual skeletons excavated from...
Ancient DNA Studies in Tropical Environments: A Study into the Genetics of the Pre-Columbian Indigenous Population of Puerto Rico (2017)
Studies into ancient DNA have advanced significantly in the last few years, but these have largely been absent in tropical environments. In the Caribbean, a number of questions still pertain as to the bioarchaeology of the indigenous pre-Columbian populations and the exact origin of these early inhabitants. Focusing on the skeletal remains of a late Saladoid population from Punta Candelero site (AD 640-1200), three correlated and simultaneous studies have been coordinated with the aim to...
An Application of Geospatial Technology to the Collection and Analysis of Human Skeletal Remains (2017)
Documenting the spatial distribution of scattered and commingled skeletal elements is an important aspect of forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology. While existing methods of documentation may effectively represent scattered and commingled human skeletal remains, they do not facilitate further spatial analysis that may be useful in reconstructing taphonomic processes. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have recently been leveraged as a method of inventorying human remains, but their capacity...
An archaeological investigation of gender on the late prehistoric steppe (2015)
In 1954, Hawkes warned that the intangible aspects of social life are the most difficult for archaeologists to comment on due to distance between object and ideology, the material and the mental world. Certainly, there is an epistemological slippage that can occur when moving between categories of social life that rely on objects to legitimize claims or complete tasks, and those aspects of society which can be veiled within larger, and immaterial, structures or norms—religious beliefs,...
Archaeology and Paleoecology of the Tundra-Steppe: the Dry Creek Research Project, Central Alaska: Research Proposal
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The archaeology of dogs at the precontact Yup’ik site of Nunalleq, Western Alaska (2017)
Historically and ethnographically dogs have played a prominent role in the lifeways and lifeworlds of many Arctic and sub-Arctic peoples, and are considered to be a vital aspect of adaptation to living in these regions, providing protection, fur and meat, as well as aiding hunting and transportation. Excavations at the precontact site of Nunalleq in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in coastal Western Alaska have uncovered a significant proportion of dog bones amongst the faunal assemblage. The presence...
Assessing the Population History of the Atacama Desert using 3D Geometric Morphometric Methods (2017)
Many scholarly debates in South American archaeology have centered on the discovery and cranial morphology of the earliest inhabitants known as Paleoamericans that predate 8,000 years BP. Although it was initially hypothesized that cranial differences between Paleoamericans and later populations may reflect distinct biological populations or migration patterns that occurred after the initial colonization of South America, recent genetic data show biological continuity throughout the Holocene in...
An Atlas of Rare Lost and Forgotten Physical Signs (2009)
A field manual of disease signs for archaeologists working with human remains and medical anthropologists and clinicians working with indigenous cultures. Compiled over twenty years of forensic investigation at some of the world’s most sensitive archaeological sites in Asia - including Russia, China, India and Turkey, the Middle East, North and Sub-Sahara Africa, England, Scotland, Ireland, Twelve additional countries in Europe, North and Central America, and South America including the Amazon...
Beyond Broken Bones: The Value of Creating an Osteobiography when Analyzing Violence in the Past (2017)
Population level analyses of violence that are focused on quantifying and comparing traumatic injuries on human skeletal remains recovered from an archaeological context are crucial for understanding violent interactions through time and across regions. However, these types of studies are also limited because, by design, they place less emphasis on individuals and their lived experience. In contrast, when researchers create what Frank and Julie Saul called an osteobiography for each set of...
Beyond trauma and disease: Examining the growth and potential of bioarchaeological research in Iberian medieval archaeology. (2016)
With the advancement of inter-disciplinary research in medieval archaeology in recent decades, much progress has been made in the integration of bioarchaeological data into larger archaeological and historical questions. This growth may be seen in the increase in publications, professional associations, and programs of study focusing upon bioarchaeological research of the medieval period. Yet, particularly in Iberian medieval studies, the contribution of bioarchaeological research largely has...
Bioanthropological Investigations of Historic Cemeteries: What Can We Learn From Biological, Cultural, and Mortuary Remains (2003)
Fueled primarily by urban development, the recent past has seen an increasing demand for the relocation of historic and modern cemeteries. These cemeteries hold clues to the past lives of America's earliest populations, the free and enslaved, the wealthy and poor, and the healthy and diseased. Bioanthropological investigations of historic cemeteries have the potential to provide a variety of information on the biological, cultural, and mortuary aspects of these populations. On a personal level,...
Bioarchaeological analysis of an ancient Maya ancestral context at Cahal Pech, San Ignacio, Belize (2015)
Interaction of the living with the bones of the deceased is a tradition practiced in various forms throughout ancient and modern Mesoamerica. Among the ancient Maya the manipulation of the deceased body is associated with powerful ancestral rituals likely carried out to reinforce and legitimate sociopolitical power. Structures placed on the eastern perimeter of plaza groups often contain multiple inhumations and are interpreted as ancestral locations. Structure B1 at Cahal Pech, located within...
Bioarchaeological Analysis of Human Skeletal Remains from Site 15Wa916, Warren County, Kentucky (2016)
Site 15Wa916 is a prehistoric burial ground in northern Bowling Green is located immediately south of the pumping station on Barren River along Highway 957 opposite Beech Bend Park. Dr. Jack Schock of Western Kentucky University excavated several prehistoric grave features at the site in May 1973. One uncalibrated radiocarbon date of 910 BC indicates the site dates to the early part of the Early Woodland period. Schock’s excavation yielded, among other artifacts, hundreds of human bones and bone...
Bioarchaeological and Archival Investigations of the Milwaukee County Institution Grounds Cemetery Collection: A Progress Report (2013)
Continuing bioarchaeological and archival research on the Milwaukee County Institution Grounds Cemetery collection is presented. As reported elsewhere, the beginning stages of a multidisciplinary analysis of this late 19th and early 20th century institutional cemetery has led to the identification of a number of the 1,649 individuals excavated. Included in this discussion will be new case studies that continue to demonstrate not only the interpretive potential of an integrated archaeological,...
A Bioarchaeological Approach to Diversity and Complexity of Ancient Maya Society at Copan: Results from New Strontium and Biodistance Data (2015)
The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Copan is uniquely situated to address the question of migration and culture contact in ancient Mesoamerica. The city is nestled at the southeastern frontier of the Maya region and the western edge of culturally diverse Honduras. Copan was a dynamic urban city populated by peoples of various places of origin, affiliations, and identities. Research focused on the Copan human skeletal collection, the largest yet recovered in Mesoamerica, to explore the lives of...
Bioarchaeological Approaches to Kinship and Social Organization at Paquimé (2017)
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....