Medicine and Healing in the Americas: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Perspectives

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Medicine and Healing in the Americas: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Perspectives," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Ancient medicine and healing is a robust field of study which, in many parts of the world, combines archaeological data with the analysis of ancient texts from contemporaneous periods. In the Americas, however, archaeologists often rely on the work of ethnohistorians, ethnographers, and colonial historians to interpret archaeological data related to medicine and healing. The aim of this session is to foster a dialogue among archaeologists and ethnohistorians who study diseases, healing, and medical care in past societies. It is our hope that such discussion will reinforce the mutually beneficial potential of archaeological and ethnohistorical collaboration on the topic of ancient medicine. Topics of interest include the relationship between the healer and the healed, the material culture of healing and its interface with the human body, the etiology of disease and sickness, and indigenous cosmologies and perspectives on healing and medicine. This multi-regional and interdisciplinary session will also critically appraise the multiple meanings attributed to "healing" at both macro and micro social scales. Although Pre-Columbian and historic periods in the Americas are the primary focus, the diversity of perspectives, methods, and theories applied here impacts understandings of illness, its treatment, the human body, and healing-based practices across the globe.