The relationship between biology, culture, and environment has been the subject of growing interest within the field of bioarchaeology. This study seeks to examine the nature of this relationship within the context of the Middle Sicán culture, a pre-Hispanic society which dominated much of the north coast of Peru from 900-1100 CE. A comprehensive osteological analysis of the individuals excavated from the site of Sicán by the Sicán Archaeological Project during the 2008 field season was conducted in August 2013. From this data, the author analyzed the relationship between social status inferred from the mortuary context and health. Skeletal indicators of stress and disease were used as proxies for health. The biocultural consequences of a prolonged drought and subsequent mega-El Niño event, which occurred at the end of the Middle Sicán period, were also examined. The results of this study suggest individuals of lower social status may have experienced worse dental health, possibly as a result of differential access to food resources. Additionally, temporal changes in dental health suggest Middle Sicán elite individuals may have become increasingly stressed at the end of the Middle Sicán period. The combined effects of the prolonged drought and mega-El Niño event may have necessitated a dietary shift which affected the dental health of these individuals.

This study represents a contextualized analysis of the perimortem trauma and postmortem treatment of an assemblage (n=9) of naturally mummified individuals recovered from the Hets Mountain Cave in southern Mongolia. The assemblage dates AD 1434-1651, a period characterized by political instability and widespread conflict. Analysis of the trauma was completed utilizing radiological evaluation of 3D CT data. The perimortem trauma and postmortem treatment are contextualized within documentary and archaeological data on contemporary Mongolian mortuary and cultural practices to understand the social identities of these individuals. The trauma patterns are consistent with execution methods reserved for higher status Mongolians; the mortuary treatment is suggestive of a hybrid of Shamanistic and Lamaistic mortuary practices reserved for higher status Mongolians. These findings speak to the utility of case-study based analyses in complementing more top-down historical studies for understanding the effects of political instability and widespread conflict upon individuals during poorly documented time periods.

Dying produces human remains and is a unique period of human lives that remains poorly understood. The aims of this research were to validate the use of hair cortisol concentration (HCC) analysis in the study of stress at the end of life and to explore the effects of biocultural factors on stress experience in the last months of life. This study examined the dead from the 1st century CE Egypt, 19th-20th century Missouri, and 21st century Florida. A framework of embodiment and the good death was employed to interpret lived experience from HCC and examine the relationships between HCC, death, cause of death, duration of disease, and medical care and treatment. HCC in the dead is higher than in the living, varies considerably between individuals, and can fluctuate across the last months of life. High HCC at the end of life cannot be easily accounted for by medications, serious disease, or decomposition; are within possible biological ranges; and are dynamic. However, leaching of cortisol from the archaeological samples is likely. Duration of disease or presence of multiple medical conditions does not influence HCC. While modern medical advancements do not improve stress levels in the dead, a reduction in stress is observed following hospital entry in the past. HCC is a valid measure of stress at the end of life. The last months of life are periods of significant stress but dying is an inherently personal and dynamic experience that varies between individuals and over many months leading up to death due to the interaction of multiple biocultural factors. These findings contribute to the understanding of a unique period of individual lives, suggest that studies of HCC in bioarchaeology must focus on the dying period and be wary of leaching, and highlight the potential of HCC in palliative care research. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Today, death is often regarded with uncertainty and even fear, yet little is known about the experience of dying, especially in the past. Dying is difficult to study in modern people because of communication challenges and the number of complex factors at play while studies of the past are limited because human remains do not reveal how individuals felt. A better understanding of the dying experience can help bioarchaeologists clarify the relationship between dying, death, and skeletal remains and could help improve the care of dying people today. This research evaluated a new method of stress assessment to study experiences in the last months of life in archaeological, historic, and modern samples. Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) analysis measures stress hormones in human hair to reconstruct stress experience at the time the hair was growing. High levels of HCC in dead individuals from 1st century AD Egypt, 19th-20th century Missouri, and 21st century Florida indicate that dying is stressful across time and place. HCC values from the Egyptian sample were higher than most living people but were lower than other archaeological samples which may be a result of cortisol leaching out of the hair shaft after death. Although higher than living people, HCC levels still differed between individuals and across individual hair shafts, indicating that stress experience can be different between individuals and change over an individual’s final months. These differences are not a result of biological factors such as duration of disease or the presence of certain preexisting conditions suggesting that stress at the end of life is complex. Despite advancements in medicine, the modern sample displayed similar HCC levels to those from earlier historic periods and for a number of individuals from the historic sample, hospital entry led to a temporary reduction in HCC levels. Together, these findings suggest that, while modern medical advancements have not improved stress levels at the end of life, some aspects of care could reduce stress. The results of this study indicate that dying is a stressful, complex, and dynamic phenomenon that modern medical treatment alone may not be able to improve. Furthermore, studies of HCC in archaeology must focus on the effects of dying and be wary of leaching. Ultimately, HCC analysis could contribute to a greater knowledge of the dying experience, the understanding of past peoples, and improvement of the experience of dying.

Umm el-Jimal, Jordan, located along the Syrian border in Norther Jordan, began as a Nabatean caravan station in the 1st century AD. After AD 106, the Roman Empire built a line of forts (Limes Arabicus) along trade routes to Arabia for protection. A Roman fort was constructed along with a small village at the site of Umm el-Jimal. Cultural and political change occurred during Late Antiquity (c. AD 250- 800) when the western Roman Empire, commonly referred to as the Byzantine Empire, took control of the Levant. During this period, residents at Umm el-Jimal moved into the Roman fort and built domestic structures and Christian churches along with becoming a supporting town to the larger surrounding cities. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Byzantine period at Umm el-Jimal was a time of prosperity. This research utilized 241 individuals, represented by 126 adults and 115 subadults, excavated from five cemetery Areas (AA, Z, CC, W, and O) and three monumental tombs (BB.1, BB.2, and V). The three main research questions are (1) is there a significant difference in overall biological health within and between burials and throughout time at Umm el-Jimal; (2) are there any relationships or patterns between mortuary practices within and between cemetery areas or throughout the time periods; and (3) Does the bioarchaeological evidence support the ideas suggested by the archaeological evidence that the Byzantine period was a more prosperous time compared to the earlier Roman period. Social bioarchaeological theories, the Poetics of Processing and Colonialism and Imperialism, were utilized to interpret the skeletal and mortuary results to better understand how the living populations at Umm el-Jimal were affected by the changing empires. Groups of individuals were affected biologically by the changing empires at Umm el-Jimal. This could have been the result of increased exposure to disease, the increase of physical activity to build and support the community during the change into the Byzantine period, or an increase of stressors that accompany cultural and political changes. Mortuary practices were the same within and between each cemetery area except for Cemetery Area Z having more cist tombs and coffins present, suggesting that there were individuals with more access to resources burying their dead in that cemetery area. The mortuary treatments and burial locations portrayed important social messages by the living population at Umm el-Jimal. Mortuary practices did not change from the Roman through the transitional period and into the Byzantine period. This suggests that the empires most likely did not enforce the ruling culture to be followed or that the individuals at Umm el-Jimal deliberately chose to keep their beliefs because they were important to them and a way to keep and show social memory of the community.

No / Digitised Diseases is a major web-based 3D resource of chronic disease conditions that manifest change to the human skeleton. The resource was established through funds from Jisc, the University of Bradford and Bradford Visualisation. The multidisciplinary team involving project partners Museum of London Archaeology and the Royal College of Surgeons of England undertook a program of mass digitization of pathological type specimens from world-renowned archaeological, historic and medical collections at the University of Bradford, in London and York. We continue to augment this resource through ingestion of new content. The resource was always envisaged as needing to appeal to a diverse user community, having impact not just among academic and clinical beneficiaries, but also enriching the wider understanding of public health in the past. From the outset, our focus was on making sure that the digitized paleopathological exemplars were represented and understood within a broader clinical context. In essence we wanted to emphasize the impact of living with disease and disability in an era before modern therapies were available and the significance of care provision that would have been required at a societal level, given the longevity of many of these conditions.

Romano-British towns are conventionally divided into those that possessed administrative powers (the major or ‘public’ towns) and those that did not (the minor or ‘small towns’). Public towns and small towns differed in terms of size and socioeconomic status, with the latter sometimes characterised as semi-rural rather than truly urban. Hitherto, research into the differing nature of the communities at public and small towns has focused primarily on variations in settlement morphology, architecture and material culture. This study provides a new perspective on the issue by examining osteological indicators of lifestyle and health in skeletal samples from these two categories of site. Roman populations from the small town of Ancaster, Lincs (N=271) and the public town of Winchester, Hants (N=330) dating to c. AD 200-410 were analysed using standard osteological methods. Data on age-at-death, growth and stature, and skeletal and dental pathology were recorded and compared using a range of statistical tests to identify potential differences. Additionally, published data for contemporaneous populations were collated for comparison. A biocultural approach was used to contextualise the data with reference to archaeological and historical evidence. Some differences in demography were observed, but were probably the result of sample biases. No marked differences in growth or stature were observed. Pathology prevalence rates were comparable for many conditions. However, higher rates of joint disease at Ancaster, and differences in the pattern of long bone trauma may point to the Ancaster population having experienced a more agrarian lifestyle, engaging in more frequent and/or extended periods of heavy labour. In contrast, there was more evidence for violent trauma at Winchester, and the frequencies of three non-specific indicators of ill health (cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis and dental enamel hypoplasia) and scurvy were higher. This suggests that people at Winchester experienced greater levels of social, dietary and environmental stress, perhaps reflecting a larger, more heterogeneous population. Dental health status was generally poorer at Ancaster, which may be due to differences in diet, oral hygiene and/or other non-dietary factors. Published data for other populations broadly support the study conclusions, although comparisons were limited by incompatibilities in methodology and data presentation. Overall, the findings corroborate existing perspectives on the socio-economic characters of public and small towns, but differences were not pronounced. The significance of the findings is discussed in relation to the nature of settlement and society in Roman Britain.

The purpose of this dissertation research was to use markers of activity change to explore the effects of imperial expansion and sociopolitical upset on a population. This study focused on markers such as entheseal remodeling and the development and progression of osteoarthritis that are commonly used in bioarchaeological literature to assess changes in activity over time. Three populations were used, comprised of seven different sites, which are divided into the Late Medieval (pre-Ottoman), Early Modern (post-Ottoman), and Vlach populations. These sites come from both the Adriatic and continental region of Croatia and are curated at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts – Anthropology Center. The skeleton is highly plastic, which allows it to serve as an archive for the lived experiences of the individual. Because of this plasticity, embodiment theory was employed as a lens through which to examine the changing activity of people under Ottoman rule. Historical narratives paint this time period as being rife with conflict, with a large proportion of the Croatian population being displaced, subsumed by the Ottoman threat, or killed. This is reported to have caused drastic changes in the daily lives of all Croatians across the country as they were forced to adapt to new rulers or leave their homes. This was tested by examining entheseal remodeling and osteoarthritis within the different populations. The data indicate that although there were some differences found between the time periods, the changes were not as drastic as what may have been expected from the historical data. This is perhaps due to most Croatian people at the time being serfs, living a rugged lifestyle on the lands of feudal lords. Although the Ottomans may have been relentless rulers, they may not have worked common Croatians more so than their Croatian lords. Most people probably remained in their roles as craftsmen or food producers, which would not have left dramatic changes in the form of activity markers on the skeleton.

The Mycenaean cemetery at Kallithea Laganidia is the first comprehensive study of a cemetery sample from the periphery of the Mycenaean world. Previous studies have focused primarily on remains from palace centers. Even though it is known that the Mycenaeans populated Achaea , very little is known about this more rural population. Archaeologically and bioarchaeologically the region of Achaea has been neglected by formal and organized research, and as a result almost nothing is known about the population. This project has three aims. First, to provide new demographic data about sex, age, health, and the culture of these Mycenaeans. Secondly, via osteological analysis, to examine the hypothesis that the social stratification indicated by the associated grave goods in the tombs is reflected in the spatial orientation of each tomb and the health status of the individuals buried in the graves. Finally, to address the issue of “orphaned” archaeological collections, excavated in rescue operations, which then languish in storage for years or decades. The Kallithea Laganidia cemetery was in use from LHIIIA to LHIIIC and consists of one tholos and 23 chamber tombs. The tholos is a monumental high status tomb, and was in use both before and after the construction and use of the chamber tombs. Five of the chamber tombs were selected as a representative sample of the cemetery for this thesis. The tombs contained both men and women, and adults and children were represented among the tombs, indicating that they should provide a reasonable cross section of the population that buried their dead at Kallithea Laganidia. This osteological data showed and confirmed that the status differences seen in the grave goods from the tombs are also reflected in the tombs according to spatial distribution. The varying quality of burial offerings among the tombs of Kallithea Laganidia suggest that the tombs closer to the tholos contain burials of the socially elite, and the tombs farther away from the tholos contain burials of lower social classes. The pathology data collected, and more specifically the dental pathology data, do reflect social stratification among the sample’s five tombs, particularly when looking at antemortem tooth loss and severe dental wear. In addition, there are indications of status or behaviour differences between the sexes. Kallithean women seem to have been exposed to infection during life more often than men. Women have higher rates of infectious disease, and indications of more antemortem cranial trauma than men. Also, the presence of men, women, and children among secondary burials within these tombs suggested that there is a familial or linear tie within each tomb. The Kallithea Laganidia cemetery has the potential to yield new and informative data about the Achaean Mycenaean population. From this small sampling of 38 burials from five tombs, already the demography and paleopathology of this peripheral group is beginning to be deciphered.

Bone loss is an important skeletal indicator of environmental stress. Cortical and trabecular bone, however, are differentially affected by various stressors. Peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) potentially addresses this issue by separately calculating cortical and trabecular bone mineral density (BMD). This project had two major goals: evaluate the effectiveness of pQCT in measuring BMD in archaeological specimens, and test the hypothesis that females suffered greater bone loss than males in a socially stressed population. Cortical and trabecular BMD was measured in the radius and femur of skeletons from Point of Pines Pueblo, Arizona. pQCT effectively measured BMD in the sample, but the hypothesis that females suffered greater BMD loss than males was not supported. Females showed no significant BMD loss in the radius, while males experienced no significant changes in cortical density. Sex-specific activities may explain bone maintenance in the female radius, while hormonal differences likely maintained male cortical density.

The Mycenaean cemetery at Kallithea Laganidia is the first comprehensive study of a cemetery sample from the periphery of the Mycenaean world. Previous studies have focused primarily on remains from palace centers. Even though it is known that the Mycenaeans populated Achaea , very little is known about this more rural population. Archaeologically and bioarchaeologically the region of Achaea has been neglected by formal and organized research, and as a result almost nothing is known about the population. This project has three aims. First, to provide new demographic data about sex, age, health, and the culture of these Mycenaeans. Secondly, via osteological analysis, to examine the hypothesis that the social stratification indicated by the associated grave goods in the tombs is reflected in the spatial orientation of each tomb and the health status of the individuals buried in the graves. Finally, to address the issue of “orphaned” archaeological collections, excavated in rescue operations, which then languish in storage for years or decades. The Kallithea Laganidia cemetery was in use from LHIIIA to LHIIIC and consists of one tholos and 23 chamber tombs. The tholos is a monumental high status tomb, and was in use both before and after the construction and use of the chamber tombs. Five of the chamber tombs were selected as a representative sample of the cemetery for this thesis. The tombs contained both men and women, and adults and children were represented among the tombs, indicating that they should provide a reasonable cross section of the population that buried their dead at Kallithea Laganidia. This osteological data showed and confirmed that the status differences seen in the grave goods from the tombs are also reflected in the tombs according to spatial distribution. The varying quality of burial offerings among the tombs of Kallithea Laganidia suggest that the tombs closer to the tholos contain burials of the socially elite, and the tombs farther away from the tholos contain burials of lower social classes. The pathology data collected, and more specifically the dental pathology data, do reflect social stratification among the sample’s five tombs, particularly when looking at antemortem tooth loss and severe dental wear. In addition, there are indications of status or behaviour differences between the sexes. Kallithean women seem to have been exposed to infection during life more often than men. Women have higher rates of infectious disease, and indications of more antemortem cranial trauma than men. Also, the presence of men, women, and children among secondary burials within these tombs suggested that there is a familial or linear tie within each tomb. The Kallithea Laganidia cemetery has the potential to yield new and informative data about the Achaean Mycenaean population. From this small sampling of 38 burials from five tombs, already the demography and paleopathology of this peripheral group is beginning to be deciphered.