Systems of Care in Times of Violence

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Systems of Care in Times of Violence," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Injury and impairment caused by non-lethal violence requires a different form of healthcare than disease. Cultures require different healthcare systems for aiding the recovery of individuals who suffered a non-lethal attack. Bioarchaeological analysis of ancient skeletal remains has demonstrated that past peoples can survive extreme trauma. Likewise, the Bioarchaeology of Care approach provides a systematic method for empirically testing the possibility of healthcare in the past. This session aims to explore how the Bioarchaeology of Care model can be applied to individuals who have survived non-lethal violence and what can be revealed about the healthcare provisioning systems that were integrated within lager political-economic spheres in past cultures. Papers in this session cover a range of topics and analyses, such as endemic raiding and warfare, female warriors, and cranial trauma. Examination of healthcare provisioning for individuals who suffered non-lethal violence provides a deeper understanding of the range of human violence and healthcare behaviors.

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  • Documents (4)

Documents
  • Care Provision for Victims of Violence in Late Prehistoric Tennessee (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Heather Worne.

    This is an abstract from the "Systems of Care in Times of Violence" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper addresses care provision for victims of violent trauma during the Mississippian period in the Middle Cumberland Region of Tennessee. Previous research in the region has identified several cases of individuals surviving incidents of intentional violence. However, there has been little attention given to whether healthcare provisioning would...

  • Neanderthal Communities of Care: How & Why Did Non-modern Hominins Care for Victims of Interpersonal Violence? (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kathryn Lauria.

    This is an abstract from the "Systems of Care in Times of Violence" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Within the constantly evolving field of human origins, researchers are looking for new methods and theories to infer behavior from the paleoanthropological record. Here, Shanidar 3, a Neanderthal specimen with evidence of partially healed sharp force trauma, is examined using the Bioarchaeology of Care approach. Based on a comparison with...

  • Surviving Violence: Healthcare in the Danish Viking Age (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Chelsi Slotten.

    This is an abstract from the "Systems of Care in Times of Violence" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Viking Era has been characterized as a time of great violence in both modern and historical accounts, however, little work has been done to analyze the cultural norms and practical considerations surrounding healthcare during the Viking Age. If Viking Age society was as violent as purported, it would have needed to have well-honed systems of care...

  • What Happened to the Victims? Constructing a Model of Care for Cranial Trauma from Non-lethal Violence at Carrier Mills, Illinois (8000 – 2500 BP) (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alecia Schrenk.

    This is an abstract from the "Systems of Care in Times of Violence" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A different model of care is required for trauma resulting from non-lethal violence. In the prehistoric Midwest, raiding and warfare were endemic, making trauma from non-lethal violence a part of everyday life. As such, the peoples living in this region would have needed a model of care specifically designed to treat individuals suffering from...