i

T H E R O U T L E D G E HA N D B O O K
O F T H E B I OA R C HA E O L O G Y
O F C L I M AT E A N D
E N V I R O N M E N TA L C HA N G E

This handbook examines human responses to climatic and environmental changes in the past,
and their impacts on disease patterns, nutritional status, migration, and interpersonal violence.
Bioarchaeology—the study of archaeological human skeletons—provides direct evidence of the
human experience of past climate and environmental changes and serves as an important com-
plement to paleoclimate, historical, and archaeological approaches to changes we may expect
with global warming.
Comprising 27 chapters from experts across a broad range of time periods and geograph-
ical regions, this book addresses hypotheses about how climate and environmental changes
impact human health and well-being, factors that promote resilience, and circumstances that
make migration or interpersonal violence a more likely outcome. The volume highlights the
potential relevance of bioarchaeological analysis to contemporary challenges by organizing the
chapters into a framework outlined by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals for
2030. Planning for a warmer world requires knowledge about humans as biological organisms
with a deep connection to Earth’s ecosystems balanced by an appreciation of how historical
and socio-cultural circumstances, socioeconomic inequality, degrees of urbanization, commu-
nity mobility, and social institutions play a role in shaping long-term outcomes for human
communities.
Containing a wealth of nuanced perspectives about human-environmental relations, the book
is key reading for students of environmental archaeology, bioarchaeology, and the history of
disease. By providing a longer view of contemporary challenges, it may also interest readers in
public health, public policy, and planning.

Gwen Robbins Schug is Professor of Anthropology at Appalachian State University, USA.

9781138492486_pi-510.indd i 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

ii

9781138492486_pi-510.indd ii 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

iii

THE ROUTLEDGE
HA N D B O O K O F T H E
B I OA R C HA E O L O G Y
O F C L I M AT E A N D
E N V I R O N M E N TA L
C HA N G E

Edited by
Gwen Robbins Schug

9781138492486_pi-510.indd iii 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

iv

First published 2021

by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Gwen Robbins Schug; individual chapters,
the contributors
The right of Gwen Robbins Schug to be identified as the authors of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-49248-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-03046-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Newgen Publishing UK

9781138492486_pi-510.indd iv 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

v

To my family and friends.You make life brighter.Thank you for your inspiration, patience, and love.

9781138492486_pi-510.indd v 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

vi

9781138492486_pi-510.indd vi 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

vii

CONTENTS

List of figures xi
List of tables xv
Notes on contributors xviii
Acknowledgements xxvii

1 A bioarchaeology of climate and environmental change 1

Gwen Robbins Schug

PART I
Good health and well-being 17

2 Exploring the third “epidemiological transition”: paleopathology’s

contribution to understanding health and well-being today and
for the future 19
Charlotte A. Roberts

3 Disease in the context of environmental change 43

Molly K. Zuckerman and Ashley C. Dafoe

4 Living on the edge: climate-induced micronutrient famines in the

ancient Atacama Desert? 60
Anne Marie E. Snoddy, Charlotte L. King, Siân E. Halcrow, Andrew R. Millard,
Hallie R. Buckley,Vivien G. Standen, and Bernardo T. Arriaza

5 Climate change and adaptive systems in Bronze Age Gansu, China 83

Elizabeth Berger and Hui Wang

vii

9781138492486_pi-510.indd vii 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

viii

Contents

6 Resources, stress, and response in late Viking Age Iceland 103

Guðný Zoëga and Kimmarie A. Murphy

7 Respiratory disease in the Middle Nile Valley: the impact of

environment and aridification 122
Anna M. Davies-Barrett, Daniel Antoine, and Charlotte A. Roberts

8 Health and disease at the marshes: deciphering human-environmental

interactions at Roman Aventicum, Switzerland (1st–3rd century AD) 141
Chryssa Bourbou

PART II
Socioeconomic and gender equality, no poverty or hunger 157

9 A bioarchaeology of social inequality and environmental change 159

Kenneth C. Nystrom and Gwen Robbins Schug

10 Urban environments: demography, epidemiology, and the role

of climate change in determining health outcomes 189
Sharon N. DeWitte

11 Social variation in an urban environment and its impacts on

stress: preliminary results from ancient Greek Himera (Sicily) 205
Britney Kyle and Laurie Reitsema

12 Biocultural aspects of culture contact, exchange, and population

movements in Cyprus 221
Anna J. Osterholtz

13 Resilience and change: a biocultural view of a Bedouin population

in the emerging modern Middle East 237
Megan A. Perry and Emily Edwards

14 A bioarchaeology of madness: modernity, pellagra, and the rise of the

manicomio system in the Veneto Region of Italy 255
Megan Miller, Gwen Robbins Schug, Luca Pagani, and Nicola Carrara

PART III
Peace, justice, and strong institutions 277

15 Making sense of violence and environmental change in Europe 279

Rebecca Redfern

viii

9781138492486_pi-510.indd viii 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

ix

Contents

16 The climate change–witch execution connection: living with

environmental uncertainty on the Colorado Plateau (AD 800–1350) 301
Debra L. Martin and Ryan P. Harrod

17 Biological and cultural adaptations to climate change in prehistoric

central California 316
Marin A. Pilloud, Al W. Schwitalla, and Kristen A. Broehl

18 Environmental, behavioral, and bodily change: violence in the Late

Intermediate Period (AD 1000–1450), North Chile 332
Christina Torres-Rouff

19 A diachronic view of violent relations and environmental change

in the Titicaca Basin, Bolivia 345
Sara L. Juengst

20 Violence and climate change in the Jōmon period, Japan 364

Hisashi Nakao,Tomomi Nakagawa, Kohei Tamura,Yuji Yamaguchi,
Naoko Matsumoto, and Takehiko Matsugi

PART IV
Life on land 377

21 Slouching toward the Neolithic: complexity, simplification, and

resilience in the Japanese archipelago 379
Mark James Hudson

22 A bioarchaeological perspective on trauma incidence in high-altitude

environments, Nepal 396
Jacqueline T. Eng and Mark Aldenderfer

23 Climate and activity in Middle Holocene Siberia 416

Angela R. Lieverse

24 Aridity and adaptation among Arabian Bronze Age communities:

investigating mobility and climate change using isotope analysis 431
Lesley A. Gregoricka

25 Stable carbon and oxygen isotope evidence for late third millennium
BCE environmental and social change at Titriş Höyük, an Early Bronze
Age urban center in the Lower Turkish Euphrates watershed 453
Adam W. Schneider, Andrew D. Somerville, Ö. Dilek Erdal,Yilmaz S. Erdal,
and Guillermo Algaze

ix

9781138492486_pi-510.indd ix 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

x

Contents

26 Environmental dynamics and stable isotopic signatures in early Inner

Asian Steppe communities 473
Michelle Hrivnyak and Jacqueline T. Eng

27 Human-animal entanglements and climate change: multi-species

approaches in Remote Oceania 493
Judith Littleton, Gina McFarlane, and Melinda S. Allen

Index 511

9781138492486_pi-510.indd x 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xi

FIGURES

1.1 The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2

2.1 Calcified femoral artery (arrowed) next to the femur of a 36–50-year-
old woman from Amara West, Sudan (1300–800 BC) 28
2.2 Air pollution in Beijing, China 29
2.3 New bone formation on the ribs of a prehistoric man from
Northern England 30
2.4 New bone formation and porosity in the maxillary sinus of a
medieval person from Northern England 30
2.5 Soot/microcharcoal particles trapped within dental calculus from
a 17th-century man buried in Durham, England 31
2.6 Left side of the mandible of an early 18th- to mid-19th-century
12–14-year-old child: new bone formation and destruction, likely
the result of phossy jaw 32
3.1 Variations in northern-hemisphere temperature (°C) (relative to
mean temperature from AD 1960–1980), averaged 44
3.2 Linearly detrended average adult human stature (cm) and the number of
infectious disease epidemics per decade in Europe, AD 1500–1800 50
4.1 Paleoenvironmental data showing changes to terrestrial vegetation
abundance (top) and water table (bottom) 63
4.2 Model of environmental changes, health outcomes, and archaeologically
visible effects 66
5.1 Sites mentioned in the text: Huoshaogou (Early Bronze Age) and
Sanjiaocheng (associated with Hamadun and Xigang cemeteries, Late
Bronze Age) 89
6.1 A map showing the locations of Keldudalur and Keflavík cemeteries 104
6.2 A biological stress model showing possible stressors and buffering
mechanisms 108

xi

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xi 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xii

List of figures

6.3 A bar chart showing the distribution of age categories in the Keldudalur
and Keflavík populations 110
7.1 Example of bony changes (spicules) within the maxillary sinus related
to sinusitis, viewed through the damaged medial wall 126
7.2 Top: Map of the Middle Nile Valley depicting the location of sites
analyzed (circular marker) and other sites mentioned in the text
(square marker). Bottom: Inset of the Fourth Cataract region with
the location of analyzed sites 131
7.3 Prevalence of maxillary sinusitis at Sudanese sites according to their
likely subsistence practice, geographic location, and time period 133
8.1 Map of Switzerland showing the location of Aventicum 145
8.2 Aventicum and the surrounding environment 146
8.3 Age-at-death distribution of non-adults (<17.0 years) at the Roman
cemeteries of Aventicum 148
9.1 Depiction of the three primary pathways through which climate
change will impact health: direct environmental impacts, ecosystem
mediated, and human institution mediated 160
9.2 The global multi-dimensional poverty index 161
9.3 The effect of multi-dimensional poverty on children worldwide 162
11.1 Himera and the Mediterranean 207
11.2 Positive correlation between stress index and number of grave goods
(corredo), by burial type 213
12.1 Comparison of colonization and migration models of population
movement 223
12.2 Map of Cyprus with sites used in the present analysis 228
13.1 Map showing the Belqa’ Ottoman administrative region and sites
mentioned in the text 238
13.2 Frequency of pathology observations at Hisban, Khirbat al-Mudayna,
and regional pre-19th-century sites combined 249
14.1 Map of the Veneto region (right) and images of San Servolo (top left)
and Sant’Anna Ospedale (bottom left) 262
14.2 Ventral view of Ferrara 494 (left) demonstrating dental pathology
at the lower end of the scale for this collection and 485 (right)
demonstrating more severe dental conditions 268
14.3 View of the cranial base from the inside of the cranium for individual
479, demonstrating lytic changes to the hypophyseal fossa of the
sphenoid 269
14.4 Individual 477 had an interesting case of pneumosinus dilatans 270
14.5 Individual 413 died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head 270
15.1 Examples of perimortem injuries in Neolithic skeletal remains from
Germany 284
15.2 Images of the Bronze Age Palace complex at Knossos (Crete) 286
15.3 Witchcraft: witches and devils dancing in a circle. Woodcut, 1720 291

xii

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xii 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xiii

List of figures

16.1 Map of the Colorado Plateau with archaeological sites where

processed human remains have been found 302
16.2 Photograph of a Hopi Indian farmer, Lomay Ohungyoma,
carrying corn fodder on his back on his way to the fields, c.1887 303
16.3 A modified version of “Torturing a Sorcerer” 306
16.4 Time line for disarticulated remains 309
17.1 Location map of study area in central California. Black dots represent
archaeological sites with skeletal remains. The shaded counties represent
the three distinct geographic areas: San Francisco Bay (dark gray),
Central Valley (light gray), and the Sierra Nevada (white) 318
17.2 Example of violence from the Middle/Late Transition Period in the
San Francisco Bay area; eight adult males in a prone position with
contextual evidence of perimortem trauma from projectile points 320
17.3 Distribution of blunt force cranial trauma across time and the three
regions of central California (top) and divided by sex and time
period (bottom) 322
17.4 Distribution of sharp force trauma across time and the three
regions of central California (top) and divided by sex and time
period (bottom) 323
17.5 Distribution of porotic hyperostosis across time and the three
regions of central California (top) and divided by sex and time
period (bottom) 324
17.6 Distribution of cribra orbitalia across time and the three regions of
central California (top) and divided by sex and time period (bottom) 325
17.7 Distribution of periostitis across time and the three regions of central
California (top) and divided by sex and time period (bottom) 326
17.8 Skeletal markers of stress and violence over time 327
18.1 Map of the San Pedro de Atacama oases, north Chile 334
18.2 Healed nasal fracture from Yaye 2, San Pedro de Atacama, Individual
1548 338
19.1 Map of modern lake basin and sampled archaeological sites 346
19.2 Patterns of traumatic injury through time 355
20.1 The number of dwellings in the southeastern Kanto area
per 100 years 367
20.2 Sites with injured skeletal remains in the Jōmon period 369
21.1 The Japanese archipelago 381
22.1 Map of the study sample sites 398
22.2 Embedded arrowhead point in the posterior left tibia of an adult male
from Samdzong 408
23.1 The Cis-Baikal region of Siberia and location of relevant cemetery
collections 418
24.1 Map of the Shimal Necropolis, including the location of
Umm an-Nar and Wadi Suq tombs 433

xiii

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xiii 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xiv

List of figures

24.2 Strontium isotope ratios and oxygen isotope values from human
dental enamel from tombs Unar 1, Shimal 95, and Shimal 103 446
25.1 The site of Titriş Höyük. Rectangle is the rough area extent of the
Karababa Basin 457
25.2 All δ13Capa and δ18Oapa values obtained from the analysis of the Titriş
Höyük skeletal samples 464
26.1 Comparative average human δ13C values for each site location and
associated terrestrial biome (left) and annual average precipitation
and average human δ15N values for each site location (right) 476
26.2 Comparison of stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic
results for human and faunal remains from each location 486
27.1 Map of the Pacific showing Near and Remote Oceania 495
27.2 Distribution of carbon and nitrogen isotopes over time at Hanamiai
(Marquesas Islands), Aitutaki (Cook Islands), and Uripiv ( Vanuatu) 499
27.3 Model of species vulnerability relative to environmental change 506

xiv

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xiv 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xv

TABLES

4.1 A summary of paleofaunal, paleobotanical, material culture,

and radiocarbon data on the sites investigated 69
4.2 Sex and age-at-death distribution for Archaic and Formative
Period individuals with evidence of probable and possible scurvy.
f = frequency 72
5.1 Bioarchaeological findings from the Hexi Corridor 94
6.1 References to episodes of hardships in literary sources 106
6.2 Skeletal lesions of stress distributed by sex estimation 113
6.3 Comparison of stature over time for males and females at various
sites in Iceland 114
6.4 Results of t-tests for site differences in tibia and femur lengths 114
6.5 Height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) for males and females and
percent stunted 114
7.1 Approximate dates for the archaeology and time periods of the
Middle Nile Valley 124
7.2 List of cemetery sites containing human skeletons analyzed for
maxillary sinusitis 132
10.1 Temporal trends in linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) 196
10.2 Results of T-tests of temporal trends in tibial length 196
12.1 MNI by site, demography, and time period 230
13.1 Age and sex distribution of the Hisban sample 243
13.2 Frequencies of pathological lesions broken down by age
category at Hisban 243
13.3 Frequencies of pathological lesions at select 12th–19th-century
sites from the southern Levant 245
14.1 Demographic characteristics and official cause of death for
Ferrara crania and skulls included in this study 264
14.2 Dental pathology and skeletal lesions on Ferrara crania and mandibles 266

xv

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xv 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xvi

List of tables

17.1 Total number of blunt force cranial trauma over time 322
17.2 Total number of sharp force trauma over time 323
17.3 Total number of individuals with porotic hyperostosis over time 324
17.4 Total number of individuals with cribra orbitalia over time 325
17.5 Total number of individuals with periostitis over time 326
18.1 Presence of traumatic injury by cemetery for the San Pedro de
Atacama Oases sample 336
18.2 Presence of traumatic injury in San Pedro de Atacama Oases
cemeteries compared to upper Loa River cemeteries 339
19.1 Chronology of the lake basin and associated cultural phases 347
19.2 Age distribution of sample 352
19.3 Sex distribution of sample 353
19.4 Trauma by time period 354
20.1 Koyama’s (1984) population estimation 366
20.2 Estimates of mortality attributable to violence over the
Jōmon period 368
20.3 Estimates of mortality attributable to violence over the
Yayoi period 369
20.4 Numbers of sites on the Atsumi Peninsula used in the
Jōmon period 371
21.1 Neolithicities in Jōmon Japan 384
22.1 Demographic profile of the Nepal study samples 402
22.2 Frequency of fractures among the samples 405
22.3 Cases of fractures in the major long bones of the limbs 406
22.4 Description of traumatic injuries in the study samples 407
22.5 Comparison of cranial fractures in Nepal sites with Andean
highland sites of approximately similar elevation 408
24.1 Radiogenic strontium isotope ratios and stable oxygen and carbon
isotope values for Bronze Age human enamel samples from the
Shimal Necropolis 443
24.2 Descriptive statistics for strontium and carbon isotope
values for Bronze Age faunal enamel samples from the
United Arab Emirates 444
25.1 δ13Capa and δ18Oapa results for all Titriş Höyük human
bioapatite samples 462
25.2 Summary statistics for δ13Capa and δ18Oapa isotopic results by period 464
26.1 Locations and time frame discussed throughout text 475
26.2 Sample composition of adult human and faunal remains from
each location 480
26.3 Summary results of stable carbon (δ13C) isotopic analysis from
each site location 482
26.4 Summary results of stable nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic analysis from
each site location 483

xvi

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xvi 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xvi

List of tables

26.5 (MANOVA) post hoc Tukey HSD tests for significance in mean
differences for adult human δ13C results 484
26.6 (MANOVA) post hoc Tukey HSD tests for significance in mean
differences for adult human δ15N results 485
27.1 Stable isotope analyses (including sample sizes) undertaken in Remote
Oceania and neighboring regions using humans and other species 497
27.2 Changes in hypoplasia defect frequency over time in pigs from the
Marquesas Islands 504

xvii

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xvii 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xvi

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Mark Aldenderfer is the Edward A. Dickson Emeriti Endowed Chair and Distinguished
Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of California, Merced, USA. His research
focuses on the comparative analysis of high-altitude cultural and biological adaptations from an
archaeological perspective. He has worked on the three high-elevation plateaus of the planet—
Ethiopian, Andean, and Tibetan—and currently works in the High Himalayas of Nepal. He has
edited or written numerous books, articles, and book chapters. His research has been featured
widely in the media, including the 2017 documentary film Secrets of the Sky Tombs, which was
produced by PBS/NOVA.

Guillermo Algaze is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Anthropology at UC-

San Diego, USA. He is an archaeologist who specializes in the dynamics of economic inter-
action, early state formation, and colonialism in Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Greater
Mesopotamia, and the director of excavations from 1991 to 1999 at the site of Titriş Höyük in
the Lower Turkish Euphrates Valley.

Melinda S. Allen is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Her research interests are in the area of human paleoecology, with a focus on island colonization,
the development of socio-natural ecosystems, and inter-species relations. Her field studies have
been trans-Pacific but currently involve projects in the Marquesas Islands, the southern Cook
Islands, and Aotearoa New Zealand. She is enthusiastic about interdisciplinary collaborations,
which often lead to novel analytical and conceptual approaches that provide new insights into
long-term human ecodynamics.

Daniel Antoine is the British Museum’s Curator of Bioarchaeology, with responsibility for
the Museum’s collection of human remains. Before joining the Museum in 2009, Daniel was
at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, where he gained his PhD in 2001.
He has published widely on dental anthropology, bioarchaeology, and paleopathology, including
Regarding the Dead: Human Remains in the British Museum (2014) with Alexandra Fletcher and JD
Hill. He is the President of the Dental Anthropology Association (2019–2021) and an Honorary
Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.

xviii

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xviii 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xix

Notes on contributors

Bernardo T. Arriaza is Full Professor at the Instituto de Alta Investigación of the Universidad
de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile. His research focuses on the study of health conditions and cultural
change in pre-Columbian populations through the analysis of cemeteries, mummies, and
skeletons. He has worked extensively on Chinchorro mummies’ bioarchaeology. Bernardo’s
current research focuses on the study of natural pollutants in prehistory, Bioarchaeology of the
Invisible: Unraveling the History of Endemic Natural Pollutants that may have Affected Ancient Chilean
Populations, Fondecyt 1170120 (2017–2020). He has published numerous scientific papers, in
addition to books and book chapters on Andean paleopathology and bioarchaeology. He has
actively engaged in the dissemination of scientific knowledge, participating in television docu-
mentaries for the Discovery Channel and National Geographic, among others.

Elizabeth Berger is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University

of California, Riverside, USA. She received her PhD from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Her research in the bioarchaeology of China concerns prehistoric human adapta-
tion and human-environment interaction, particularly during mid-Holocene climate change in
the Northwest of China.

Chryssa Bourbou is Bioarchaeologist at the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chania, Hellenic

Ministry of Culture, Greece, and currently holds a position as a Senior Research Associate at
the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Among her research interests is the study of Greco-
Roman and Byzantine populations, focusing on aspects of childhood mortality, disease patterns,
and reconstruction of diet through stable isotope analysis. She is the author of Health and Disease
in Byzantine Crete (7th–12th c. AD) and the co-editor of New Directions in the Skeletal Biology of
Greece.

Kristen A. Broehl is a doctoral student at the University of Nevada, Reno, USA, and she
holds a master’s degree in anthropology from California State University, Chico, USA. She has
archaeological experience in California, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, and Poland.
Her research focuses on the bioarchaeology of California, particularly regarding the biological
structure, relationships, and social roles of prehistoric societies. She also researches commingling
and alternative methods for estimating the biological profile in forensic anthropology.

Hallie R. Buckley is Professor in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Otago,

New Zealand. Her research focuses on biosocial aspects of health and disease in the Asia Pacific
region, particularly during periods of initial colonization and social change. She has led field-
based bioarchaeology projects in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea,Thailand, Indonesia, and Historic
period New Zealand. Hallie’s research is funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden
Fund and she is a recipient of the Royal Society of New Zealand James Cook Fellowship.

Nicola Carrara is Curator of the Museum of Anthropology of the University of Padua, Italy, a
position he has held since 2000. He is trained as a biologist and works in physical anthropology
for the Museum, in many archaeological excavations, and in the forensic field. As the Museum
curator, he reorganizes, studies, catalogues, and valorizes the anthropological collections.

Ashley C. Dafoe is an MA student in Applied Anthropology at Mississippi State University,

USA. She has completed two internships at the Smithsonian’s NMNH, one of which was
an NSF-funded REU. She is the Senior Co-Chair for the Paleopathology Student Group,
a branch of the Paleopathology Association. Her MA thesis presents research on skeletal

xix

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xix 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xx

Notes on contributors

frailty and resilience in the Mississippi State Asylum. Her interests include paleopathology,
paleoepidemiology, non-infectious and chronic diseases, the Developmental Origins of Health
and Disease, ecosocial theory, and the biocultural approach. She earned her BA in Anthropology
from the University of Wyoming, USA.

Anna M. Davies-Barrett is Lecturer in Later Prehistory and Osteoarchaeology at Cardiff

University, UK. She has worked as a bioarchaeologist at the British Museum, where she
conducted an osteological and paleopathological analysis of ancient Sudanese skeletons curated
by the Museum. It was here that she also completed her PhD, in collaboration with Durham
University, UK, focusing on evidence for respiratory disease in the Middle Nile Valley. Based
on this research, she has published on more accurate methods for recording respiratory disease.
Anna is particularly interested in the impact of different environments and living conditions on
health and disease in the past.

Sharon N. DeWitte is Professor of Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia,

USA. Dr. DeWitte’s research specialties are bioarchaeology, paleoepidemiology, and paleo-
demography. She engages in the reconstruction of life, health, disease, and demography in the
past using assemblages of human skeletal remains, and is ultimately interested in how research on
past populations informs our understanding of and promotes health among living people. For
the last 15 years, her research has primarily centered on the Black Death (c. 1346–1353), one of
the most devastating and influential epidemics in human history.

Emily Edwards received her MA in Anthropology from East Carolina University, USA, and
her BA in Anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin, USA.

Jacqueline T. Eng is Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Western

Michigan University, USA. Her research focuses on bioarchaeological and paleopathological
studies of early populations from China, Mongolia, and Nepal. She has published several col-
laborative papers on high-altitude adaptations among early communities in the High Himalayas
of Nepal, as well as papers examining the biological health consequences of subsistence change,
increasing socioeconomic complexity, and interregional interaction among steppe and agrarian
populations in Inner Asia. In addition to her work in Asia, she has researched Medieval and
later-period skeletal assemblages in Iceland and Romania.

O. Dilek Erdal is Professor in the Anthropology Department at Hacettepe University, Turkey.

She is a bioarchaeologist who specializes in the study of human osteology, paleopathology, and
the paleodemography of ancient Near Eastern populations.

Yilmaz S. Erdal is Professor in the Anthropology Department at Hacettepe University,Turkey.

He is a bioarchaeologist who specializes in the study of human osteology, paleopathology, and
the paleodemography of ancient Near Eastern populations.

Lesley A. Gregoricka is Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology,

Anthropology, and Social Work at the University of South Alabama, USA. She received her BA
from the University of Notre Dame and her MA and PhD from The Ohio State University. Her
research focuses on prehistoric mortuary practices and the biogeochemistry of ancient human
skeletal remains to examine changing patterns of mobility and social complexity across Arabia
and the Levant.

xx

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xx 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xxi

Notes on contributors

Siân E. Halcrow is Associate Professor at the University of Otago, New Zealand, with a
research focus on infant and child stress and disease in the past and social aspects of childhood.
She manages the skeletal analyses on several international archaeological projects in Thailand,
Laos, Cambodia, China, and Chile. Siân’s research is funded through sources including the
NZ Royal Society Marsden Fund, Fulbright NZ, and National Geographic. She has published
extensively on infant and child bioarchaeology and teaches undergraduate and postgraduate
science and biological anthropology courses.

Ryan P. Harrod is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Alaska, Anchorage.

He is a biological anthropologist with research interests focused on bioarchaeology, paleopath-
ology, and forensic anthropology. Working primarily with ancient and historic human remains,
he is interested in questions about identity, health and disease, conflict and violence, social
inequality, ethics, and repatriation. He authored The Bioarchaeology of Social Control and co-
edited The Bioarchaeology of Violence and Bioarchaeology: An Integrated Approach to Working with
Human Remains. He serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology
and Landscapes of Violence.

Michelle Hrivnyak is Faculty Specialist at the Institute for Intercultural and Anthropological
Studies, Western Michigan University, USA. Her research focuses broadly on human-
environment interactions, and more specifically on reconstructing diet, health, and mobility
patterns through isotopic and bioarchaeological analyses. She has worked on a variety of field-
work and analytical projects in south-west Siberia, the central Eurasian steppe region, and
North America.

Mark James Hudson is a researcher in the Eurasia3angle Research Group, Max Planck
Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany. He previously taught archaeology
and anthropology in Japan for more than 20 years. His current research focuses on long-term
social change in Northeast Asia from the Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age. His publications
include Ruins of Identity: Ethnogenesis in the Japanese Islands (1999) and, as co-editor,Volume 1 of
the Cambridge World History of Violence (2020).

Sara L. Juengst is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at

Charlotte, USA. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, USA, in 2015. She is a bioarchaeologist and conducts fieldwork in Bolivia and
Ecuador, in addition to short-term projects in highland Peru, the southeastern United States,
and western Kenya. Her research focuses on the connections between social change, identity,
and power, as shown by skeletal indicators of diet, stress, trauma, and migration, and cultural
modifications of the body.

Charlotte L. King is Research Fellow in the Department of Anatomy at the University of

Otago, New Zealand. Her research focuses on the use of isotopic analysis to look at the rela-
tionship between diet, mobility, environment, and health. Charlotte began trying to untangle
these factors during her PhD research at Durham University, UK, where she examined the rise
of social inequality in prehistoric northeast Thailand. Since then she has studied biosocial effects
on human health in a variety of different archaeological contexts, including the Atacama Desert
of northern Chile and colonial New Zealand.

xxi

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xxi 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xxi

Notes on contributors

Britney Kyle is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at the
University of Northern Colorado, USA. She is a bioarchaeologist whose research uses human
skeletal remains from archaeological contexts to identify how past peoples respond biologic-
ally and culturally to major social transitions. She directs the Bioarchaeology of Mediterranean
Colonies Project (BMCP) with Laurie Reitsema. The BMCP explores interactions between
Mediterranean peoples and Greek colonizers in the eighth through fourth centuries BCE and
has implications for understanding culture contact in a variety of contexts.

Angela R. Lieverse is Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Saskatchewan,

Canada. She received her PhD from Cornell University in 2005. Her research focuses predom-
inantly on middle Holocene (9000–3000 BP) foragers of the Circumpolar North. For over
20 years, she has conducted research in the Baikal region of Siberia (Russia), reconstructing
“health,” activity, and lifeways from skeletal and dental remains. Lieverse was an associate editor
of the International Journal of Paleopathology for six years (2012–2018). In 2016, she was named a
member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, Royal Society of Canada.

Judith Littleton is Professor in Biological Anthropology at the University of Auckland, New

Zealand. She researches and supervises in the field of bioarchaeology, leading externally funded
research programs in the Middle East and Australia, has been part of international research teams
in Mongolia and provides human osteology expertise to New Zealand authorities and Māori
Iwi. Her focus is on developing concepts and methods that allow us to understand the inter-
action of biology and culture while paying attention to the nature of the archaeological record
and the samples available, hence her interest in multi-species approaches to ecological change.

Debra L. Martin is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Nevada,

Las Vegas, USA. She is co-editor of The Bioarchaeology of Violence and Massacres: Bioarchaeology
and Forensic Approaches. Her interests include violence in small-scale societies and the effects
of all forms of marginalization and inequality on morbidity and mortality. She is currently
working on a re-evaluation of mass graves prior to contact in the American Southwest, as well
as conducting a field project on the recovery and conservation of a colonial mission cemetery
in Belen, New Mexico.

Takehiko Matsugi is Professor at the National Museum of Japanese History, Japan. He received
his PhD (2005) from Osaka University, Japan. He specializes in weapons, Kofun, and warfare of
the Yayoi and Kofun period in Japan.

Naoko Matsumoto is Professor in the Graduate school of Humanities and Social Sciences at
Okayama University, Japan. She received her PhD (1998) from Kyushu University, Japan. She is
one of the pioneers of cognitive and gender archaeology in Japan. Her recent articles include
Changing relationship between the dead and the living in Japanese prehistory (2018) and Subsistence,
sedentism, and social complexity among Jomon hunter-gatherers of the Japanese archipelago (with Junko
Habu and Akira Matsui, 2017).

Gina McFarlane is a Leverhulme Trust Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Kent,

UK, where she is part of a team investigating biorhythms evident in dental enamel. She studied
at the University of Auckland where she received an MA (2011) and PhD (2018) in Biological
Anthropology. Her research interests include skeletal and dental indicators of disease, with a par-
ticular fondness for dental histology and non-specific stress indicators in teeth.

xxii

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xxii 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xxi

Notes on contributors

Andrew R. Millard is Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Durham, UK.

His expertise is in isotopic analysis, dating, and quantitative methods in archaeology. He has
a particular interest in isotopic methods for investigating the weaning process in humans. He
has worked on sites and materials from around the globe, including Chile, China, Jordan, Italy,
and Ukraine as well as the UK. One of his recent major projects has been the Scottish Soldiers
project, conducting an integrated analysis of isotopic, osteological and historical data on 17th-
century skeletons excavated in Durham.

Megan Miller is an undergraduate (BS student) in the Anthropology Department at Appalachian

State University in Boone, NC, USA. She is interested in pursuing graduate studies in anthro-
pology focused on bioarchaeological approaches to mental health, biocultural stress, nutritional
sufficiency, and violence in Europe.

Kimmarie A. Murphy is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Kenyon College in Ohio,

USA. She holds a PhD in biological anthropology from Indiana University, USA. Trained as a
biocultural anthropologist, she is interested in understanding contemporary patterns of health
and nutrition as a way of interpreting diet and disease in the past. Her research focuses on human
osteology with an emphasis on paleopathology and stable isotope analysis. She has worked in
southern Africa, North America, and Europe looking at health and diet in past populations.
Most recently she has begun working in Iceland as a Senior Specialist in osteology for the
Skagafjörður Church and Settlement Survey (SCASS), a regional survey examining the pattern
of colonization, settlement development, and establishment of early Christian cemeteries and
the processes leading to the institutionalization of Christianity, in Iceland AD 870–1300.

Tomomi Nakagawa is a postdoctoral researcher in the Anthropological Institute at Nanzan

University, Japan. She received her BA (2014) from Ryukoku University and MA (2016) and
PhD (2020) from Okayama University, Japan. She combines paleoanthropological and arch-
aeological research to examine cultural contexts of violence and warfare in the Yayoi period of
Japan. Her recent publications are Violence and warfare in the prehistoric Japan (with Hisashi Nakao
et al., 2017) and Prehistoric warfare in the middle phase of the Yayoi period in Japan: Human skeletal
remains and demography (with Hisashi Nakao et al., 2019, in Japanese).

Hisashi Nakao is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Philosophy

and research fellow in the Anthropological Institute at Nanzan University, Japan. He received
his BA (2005), MA (2007), and PhD (2013) from Kyoto University, Japan. His research focuses
on the evolution of human behavior, especially on the evolution of violence and altruism. His
recent articles include Violence in the prehistoric period of Japan (with Tomomi Nakagawa et al.,
2016) and Ready to learn or ready to teach: A critique to the natural pedagogy theory (with Kristin
Andrews, 2014).

Kenneth C. Nystrom is Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the State University

of New York at New Paltz, USA. He received his PhD from the University of New Mexico,
USA, in 2005. Nystrom’s research has covered a wide range of topics including the recon-
struction of mortuary behavior, trepanation and trauma, dental health, sex-specific post-
manumission migration patterns, long-bone cross-sectional geometry, post-marital residence
patterns, and the impact of conquest on regional-level genetic homogeneity. Most recently,
his focus has been on how bioarchaeology can speak to social inequality in the past and its
connection to the present.

xxiii

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xxiii 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xxvi

Notes on contributors

Anna J. Osterholtz is Assistant Professor of Bioanthropology in the Department of

Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures at Mississippi State University, USA. She has
conducted fieldwork and/or analysis of remains from the USA, Cyprus, Jordan, the UAE,
Guam, Romania, and Croatia and currently conducts field studies at the site of Ðurđevac-Sošice
in Croatia focused on understanding identity formation in frontier areas during the Medieval
period and the time of the Ottoman-Turkish invasions. She is also examining the social role of
violence and how poetics models can be applied to both violence and treatment of the dead.

Luca Pagani is Associate Professor in Molecular Anthropology at the University of Padova,

Italy, where he is one of the scientists responsible for the Anthropology Museum collection. His
research interests cover human population genetics and demographic inference from modern
and ancient DNA in populations from all over the world. He has an active research project at
the University of Tartu, Estonia, aimed at characterizing adaptive consequences of the post-
Neolithic population movements on the genome of Estonians.

Megan A. Perry is Professor of Anthropology at East Carolina University, USA. Her primary
research interests involve investigating human skeletal remains to assess ancient disease, diet, and
mobility patterns, in addition to mortuary practices of ancient populations in first- to sixth-
century AD Jordan. Professor Perry has been working on archaeological projects in Jordan for
over 25 years, and she is on the Board of the American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR)
in Amman, Jordan.

Marin A. Pilloud is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Nevada, Reno,

USA. Before this appointment, she was a forensic anthropologist with the Defense POW/
MIA Accounting Agency, USA. She is a board-certified forensic anthropologist and a registered
professional archaeologist. Her research is focused on California, Neolithic Anatolia, and refine-
ment of the biological profile in forensic anthropology. She is currently the editor of Dental
Anthropology and serves on the editorial boards of Scientific Reports and California Archaeology. She
has numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals, edited book chapters, co-edited a volume
(Biological Distance Analysis: Forensic and Bioarchaeological Perspectives), and has co-authored a book
(Ethics and Professionalism in Forensic Anthropology).

Rebecca Redfern is Curator of Human Osteology at the Museum of London, UK, and
a Research Fellow at Newcastle University, UK. Her current research focuses on violence
and ancestry, using a web of violence approach to explore these bioarchaeological data. She
is currently researching migration, enslavement, and injury patterns in Iron Age, Roman, and
Medieval populations. These themes were brought together in her book, Injury and Trauma in
Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Violence in Past Lives (2017). She has also published widely in peer-
reviewed journals on ethics, museum curation, diet, and origins using stable isotopes and ancient
DNA data, evidence for disease, and culture change

Laurie Reitsema is a bioarchaeologist and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University

of Georgia, USA, where she directs the Bioarchaeology and Biochemistry Laboratory. She
researches diet and health patterns among human populations in Europe and North America.
Her recent research focuses on Greek colonization in the Mediterranean region through the
Bioarchaeology of Mediterranean Colonies Project directed with Britney Kyle, and Spanish
Missionization in the southeastern United States, using stable isotope evidence to assess migra-
tion and diet change.

xxiv

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xxiv 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xxv

Notes on contributors

Gwen Robbins Schug is Professor of Anthropology at Appalachian State University, USA,

and a Visiting Professor at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, USA (2020–2021).
Her research focuses on adaptive challenges for human communities, including human-
environmental interactions and climate change throughout the Holocene in South Asia and
more recently, in Bronze Age Oman and modern Italy. Her work has been funded by Wenner
Gren, Fulbright, and the American Institute of Indian Studies. She is the author of Bioarchaeology
of Climate Change (2011) and co-editor of A Companion to South Asia in the Past (2016), as well
as 30 published journal articles and book chapters. She currently serves as an Academic Editor
of PLoS One and co-Editor-in-Chief of Bioarchaeology International.

Charlotte A. Roberts is Professor in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University,

UK. She has a background in nursing and archaeology and has been a bioarchaeologist for
35 years. She explores the interaction of people with their environments through paleopath-
ology, and especially common health problems today. Elected Fellow of the British Academy
(2014), she has engaged public audiences with her research, authoring around 200 journal
papers/book chapters, and authored/edited nine books including The Backbone of Europe (2019),
Human remains in archaeology (2018), Global History of Paleopathology (2012), Archaeology of Disease
(2005), Bioarchaeology of Tuberculosis (2003), Health and Disease in Britain (2003), and The Past and
Present of Leprosy (2002). Webpage: www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/?id=163.

Adam W. Schneider is an environmental archaeologist/paleoclimatologist who specializes

in the interdisciplinary study of the complex dynamics of climate-society relationships in the
premodern Near East, North Africa, and Mediterranean Europe. He is currently a CIRES
Research Affiliate at the University of Colorado-Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research
in Environmental Sciences.

Al W. Schwitalla is a registered professional archaeologist and artifact reproduction specialist

with more than 29 years of archaeological experience in the western United States. He earned
both a BA and an MA in anthropology from California State University, Sacramento, USA. His
research interests include Native American health and behavioral trends and artifact analyses in
central California. Al is best recognized for his archaeological site-specific artifact and feature
reproductions in cooperation with the wishes of tribal groups throughout California.

Andrew D. Somerville is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Iowa

State University, USA. He a bioarchaeologist who specializes in paleodietary and paleoenviron-
mental reconstruction using archaeological stable isotope analysis and in ancient climate-society
relationships in Mesoamerica and the American Southwest.

Anne Marie E. Snoddy is Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anatomy at the

University of Otago, New Zealand. Her research focuses on macroscopic and microscopic
markers of metabolic bone disease in archaeological human remains. Anne Marie’s doctoral
research explored changes in nutritional stress and infectious disease across the agricultural
transition in the ancient Atacama Desert, Chile. Her recent work explores the impact of trans-
pacific migration on disease patterns in colonial New Zealand using paleopathological and
paleohistological techniques.

Kohei Tamura is Assistant Professor at the Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary
Sciences,Tohoku University, Japan. He received his BA (2008) from Nagoya University and MA

xxv

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xxv 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xxvi

Notes on contributors

(2010) and PhD (2013) from the University of Tokyo. His research topics include mathematical
models and quantitative analysis of cultural dynamics, with a particular focus on cultural evolu-
tion. He has recently published Quantifying cultural macro-evolution: A case study of the Hinoeuma
fertility drop (with Yasuo Ihara, 2017) and Modelling the emergence of an egalitarian society in the n-
player game framework (with Hiroki Takikawa, 2019).

Christina Torres-Rouff is Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Heritage Studies

at UC Merced, USA. Her collaborative research is focused on a contextualized bioarchaeology
and engages primarily with questions concerning prehistoric human social interactions and the
manifestation of these interactions on human bodies. Dr. Torres-Rouff conducts fieldwork and
museum-based research in northern Chile and the surrounding regions, exploring the way the
body is used to convey a multiplicity of lived identities in death. Specifically, she engages three
themes in her work: the production of social identity, the emergence of inequality, and the
human aspects of exchange and mobility.

Dr. Hui Wang is a researcher at Fudan University, China, with affiliations in the Department
of Cultural Heritage and Museology, the Institute of Archaeological Science, and the Research
Center for “One Belt One Road” Archaeology and Ancient Civilizations. He received his PhD
from the Department of Cultural Studies, Kobe University, Japan, and previously served as the
Director of the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. He has long been
engaged in archaeological research on the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, early Qin and
Xirong cultures, and the early Silk Road in Northwest China.

Yuji Yamaguchi is Assistant Professor in the Archaeological Research Center, Okayama

University, Japan. He received his BA (2005) from Tokai University, and his MA (2007) and
PhD (2010) from Okayama University, Japan. His research focuses mainly on Jomon settlements
by using GIS. His recent articles include Cultural change from Jomon hunter-gatherer to Yayoi farmer
in western Japan (2019 in Japanese) and Geo-archaeological approach for evaluating site location in
Okayama plain using borehole (with Etsuyo Yamamoto et al., 2018, 2019 in Japanese).

Guðný Zoëga is Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Rural Tourism, Hólar University, Iceland.
She holds a PhD in archaeology from Oslo University, Norway. She has worked extensively in Iceland
on a variety of archaeological sites, in both an archaeological and osteological capacity. Recently her
focus has been on settlement history, mortuary archaeology, early Christian households, and house-
hold cemeteries. She is a co-PI on the NSF-funded project Skagafjörður Church and Settlement
Survey (SCASS), a multi-year regional project examining the relationship between settlement his-
tory and the development of early Christianity in North Iceland AD 870–1300.

Molly K. Zuckerman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology

and Middle Eastern Cultures, Mississippi State University, USA. She earned BA degrees
(Anthropology, Women’s Studies) from Pennsylvania State University, completed post-BA
training at the Smithsonian’s NMNH, earned MA and PhD degrees (Anthropology) from
Emory University, and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of South Carolina
(paleoepidemiology, bioarchaeology), all USA. Her interests include the evolution of infec-
tious disease (treponematosis), bioethics, social identity and health, the biocultural approach,
paleopathological diagnostics, and ancient oral microbiomes. She has edited two volumes,
published multiple articles and book chapters, and received grants from the National Science
Foundation.

xxvi

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xxvi 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xxvi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank all of the authors for their time, energy, and patience.This volume obviously
would not be possible without their efforts and I appreciate their dedication. Many of the
authors are also friends, who have provided support and encouragement over the years. I also
want to thank all of my other colleagues who have supported my scholarship, spent time
exchanging ideas, or even just provided general encouragement, including Jane Buikstra, who
might not realize that the idea for this volume came from her work and conversations with her
over the years. I particularly want to thank my colleagues and collaborators in India, Oman, and
Italy for allowing me to access collections but, more importantly, for helping me to learn about
the past and provide some interpretations, even if they might be incomplete or incorrect. Finally,
I want to thank all of the agencies who have funded my research: Wenner Gren, Fulbright,
American Institute of Indian Studies, and the George Franklin Dales Foundation. I appreciate
and am deeply grateful for all of you.

xxvii

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xxvii 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM

xxvi

9781138492486_pi-510.indd xxviii 06-Aug-20 6:07:09 PM