Scales of Analysis and Modes of Interpretation in Osteobiography: An Example from the Dilmun Bioarchaeology Project

Summary

Bioarchaeologists have traditionally prioritized statistically significant patterns in large skeletal assemblages to document major biocultural trends in human populations. But in the last 15-20 years, the osteobiography approach has returned to favor, encouraging bioarchaeologists to focus on the specifics of the human scale, reconstruct an experiential prehistory, and restore an identity to those "genderless, faceless blobs" (Tringham 1991: 97) who people so many traditional interpretations of the past. My "Bioarchaeology of Personhood" model argues that alternative modes of interpreting osteobiographical data can provide a more humanizing view of past personhoods and can communicate effectively and accessibly with a broad range of academic and public audiences. Unlike the outlier-oriented, case study approach of decades past, osteobiographies should draw from – not substitute for – the context provided by population-based approaches. To illustrate these points, I will present a fictive osteobiographical narrative about a subject from ancient Bahrain, whose remains are studied by the Dilmun Bioarchaeology Project.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Bodies as Narratives: Revisiting Osteobiography as a Conceptual Tool

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14826