front cover of Bioarchaeology of the American Southeast
Bioarchaeology of the American Southeast
Approaches to Bridging Health and Identity in the Past
Edited by Shannon Chappell Hodge and Kristrina A. Shuler
University of Alabama Press, 2018
A timely update on the state of bioarchaeological research, offering contributions to the archaeology, prehistory, and history of the southeastern United States.
 
Building on the 1991 publication What Mean These Bones? Studies in Southeastern Bioarchaeology, this new edited collection from Shannon Chappell Hodge and Kristrina A. Shuler marks steady advances over the past three decades in the theory, methodology, and purpose of bioarchaeology in the southeastern United States and across the discipline. With a geographic scope that ranges from Louisiana to South Carolina and a temporal span from early prehistory through the nineteenth century, the coverage aims to be holistic.
 
Bioarchaeology of the American Southeast: Approaches to Bridging Health and Identity in the Past is organized into two main parts. The first, “Context and Culture History in Bioarchaeology,” focuses on the fundamentals of archaeology—figuring out who lived at an archaeological site, when they lived there, what they did, and how they lived their lives.
 
This builds the framework that allows archaeologists to answer deeper questions, such as the ones addressed in the second part, “Social Identities in Bioarchaeology.” Here contributors explore questions of identity, ethnicity, gender and the status of women, social status, class, power and exploitation, migration, and conflict. These chapters implement and contribute to anthropological theory and showcase improved methods, such as innovative statistical analyses, and incorporate newer technology, including a DNA and geographic information system applications.
[more]

front cover of Bones of the Maya
Bones of the Maya
Studies of Ancient Skeletons
Edited by Stephen L. Whittington and David M. Reed
University of Alabama Press, 2006
Brings together for the first time a broad spectrum of bioarchaeologists and reveals remarkable data on Maya genetic relationship, demographic, and diseases

New techniques in osteology have yielded findings on Maya diet and health that challenge the ecological model of collapse. This benchmark collection of essays defined the state of Mayan skeletal studies. Its coverage spans the formative through colonial periods, with a geographic focus on the Maya lowlands of northern Guatemala, Belize, and western Honduras. Bringing together for the first time a broad spectrum of bioarchaeologists and revealing remarkable data on Maya genetic relationship, demographic, and diseases, the collection covers divers topics such as osteological, dental, bone chemistry, and DNA analyses. The diet and health status of Maya populations is a major theme, especially in relation to social status, gender, and the historical problem of the "collapse." 
[more]

front cover of Transforming the Dead
Transforming the Dead
Culturally Modified Bone in the Prehistoric Midwest
Eve A. Hargrave
University of Alabama Press, 2015
Transforming the Dead is a collection of essays that examines culturally modified human bones and their roles as “cultural and ritual objects” among prehistoric Eastern Woodland cultures. Previous scholarship has explored the role of human body parts in Native American cultures as trophies of war and revered ancestors. This collection discusses new evidence that human elements were also important components of daily and ritual activities across the Eastern Woodlands. The contributors to this volume discuss each case study within the unique regional and temporal contexts of the material, rather than seeking universal answers to how these objects were used.
 
Most research addressing modified human bone has focused on cut marks and trauma associated with warfare, trophy taking, and burial practices. The editors and contributors of Transforming the Dead document the varied and often overlooked ways that human bone was intentionally modified through drilling, incising, cutting, and polishing for utilitarian, ornamental, spiritual, or ritual use. Examples include bracelets and gorgets to be worn, as well as musical rasps, pipe stems, masks, and protective talismans. The form and function of these objects are not unusual; their construction from the remains of “another” sets them apart.
 
Through a flexible but systematic analysis of the archaeological record, the contributors bring into focus how the careful selection, modification, and retention of particular bones or body parts of an individual after death offer insights into concepts of personhood, the body, life, and death among the prehistoric Native Americans in the Midwest.
 

[more]


Send via email Share on Facebook Share on Twitter