Osteobiography of Skeletal Remains from the Archaeological Site of Pella, Jordan

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Pella at Wooster Project is an ongoing effort to catalogue and digitally publicize an archaeological collection from the site of Pella, Jordan, near modern day Tabqet Fahel. The College of Wooster excavated in Pella between 1967 and 1985, and brought a collection of artifacts to the United States. This poster showcases the analysis of a series of human remains from Pella, and employs osteobiography to better understand the life narratives of those individuals with an emphasis on paleopathology. This is achieved by integrating published articles, unpublished reports, and original osteological analysis of the remains. The data is put in context with associated archaeological artifacts from the collection, and with a paleoenvironmental reconstruction highlighting ancient climatic trends in the region. The paleopathological analysis of the remains evaluates older accounts describing osteophytosis, degenerative joint disease, anemia, healed fractures, and trephination surgery with updated literature and methodology. This project is important because it records and publicizes osteological data from a largely unpublished archaeological collection through an interdisciplinary approach. It uses osteological data to highlight individual life experiences while connecting them with the wider sociocultural and climatic context of their environment. ***This presentation will include images of human remains.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53007