Stronger Together: Advancing a Global Bioarchaeology

Abstract

Bioarchaeology is a burgeoning, integrative field that spans the globe. Bioarchaeology is often thought to encompass the study of only the human remains found within archaeological sites, frequently divorced from the contexts in which they were found. The physical remains of people store a record of their biological attributes, providing information on illnesses or trauma they survived or that may have contributed to their deaths, their daily activities, biological affinities, and more. Equally informative are the different ways that people were treated in death by those who survived them. Rather than investigating only the biological remains or studying material culture alone, integrating these components permits a more complete understanding of how people experienced an array of circumstances over the course of their own lives and through multiple generations. Differing subsistence practices, access to resources, exposure to hazards, and changes in economic, political, religious, or environmental factors over time and across vast areas of the world are topics explored by bioarchaeologists. Learning how past peoples were affected by pathogens, climate change, and immigration, for example, provides insight into contemporary issues and ABSTRACTBioarchaeology is a relatively young field that aims to improve our understanding of life, death, and interrelationships among past humans around the globe. The discipline grew out of 1960s American processual archaeology and biological anthropology and emerged as human osteoarchaeology in the UK. Today, bioarchaeology is a vibrant, interdisciplinary field of study that cross-cuts biological anthropology, archaeology, and social theory to situate past peoples within their biological, cultural, and environmental circumstances. The field emphasizes not only the study of human remains but the integrative analysis and interpretation of their context, including the archaeological, sociocultural, and political milieu and the environmental setting in which people lived. The growing interest in bio archae ol o gi cal research has created the need for a new peer-reviewed journal to help unify and advance this discipline around the globe. In this introduction to Bioarchaeology International, we trace the origins of the field and the different "schools" of bioarchaeology that have developed and are now merging as the discipline has matured. We then delineate the purpose and goals of the journal, highlighting how the articles in the first issue contribute to those goals. Finally, as co-editors in chief, we describe our vision for contemporary and future directions in bioarchaeology. With this overview of the field and journal, we wish to stimulate discussion and promote international submissions. We intend for Bioarchaeology International to strengthen this growing field and help promote scholarly and public interest in our collective research.Keywords: archaeology; biological anthropology; biocultural; funerary archaeology; mortuary behavior; osteology; osteoarchaeology; paleopatholo...

Advancing the understanding of treponemal disease in the past and present

“…Understanding individual lives and tracking co‐morbidities and “lived experiences” is a growing focus in bioarchaeology (Baker & Agarwal, ; Byrnes & Muller ; Hosek, ; Stodder & Byrnes, ), including the care of diseased individuals (Roberts, ; Tilley, , ; Tilley & Cameron, ). While treponemal infection is frequently documented, few scholars explicitly address the impact of the condition on the affected individual or the community.…”

"The dead shall be raised": Multidisciplinary analysis of human skeletons reveals complexity in 19th century immigrant socioeconomic history and identity in New Haven, Connecticut

“…Evidence of structural violence, epidemiology, occupational stress, socioeconomic status and judicial action have been described for skeletal elements recovered from historic contexts [15, 17, 47, 204, 212, 213, 284, 290–292]. The YNH4 provides additional data for this record, using osteological, molecular, geochemical and archival variables to illuminate of immigrant origin, life history and social identity.…”

Paleopathological research in continental China: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…Approaches to this endeavor range from legal frameworks such as NAGPRA, to "autoethnography" of the researcher (Robertson 2018). Less has been written about the decolonization needed to decenter Euro-American perspectives and erode Euro-American dominance in the intellectual discourse of the discipline, and to make its professional and publishing institutions more truly international (Baker and Agarwal 2017). In this special issue, we hope to take a small step towards combatting the under-representation of Chinese paleopathology in the global field.…”