Bioarchaeology (Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton)

Description

This updated and revised edition of Larsen's classic text provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of bioarchaeology. Reflecting the enormous advances made in the field over the past 20 years, Larsen examines how this discipline has matured and evolved in fundamental ways. New to this edition: -The latest developments in stable isotope analysis reconstruction and the interpretation of social organization, migration, warfare, ritual violence, and diet -Recent advances in demographic reconstruction in interpreting health, population structure, and dynamics -A greater geographic coverage, including the great expansion of bioarchaeology in Europe, Southeast Asia, South America, and the Pacific. The book underscores, for students and professionals alike, the central role of human remains in interpreting life events and conditions of past and modern cultures. 1 Introduction 2 Stress and deprivation during growth and development and adulthood 3 Exposure to infectious pathogens 4 Injury and violence 5 Activity patterns: 1. Articular degenerative conditions and musculoskeletal modifications 6 Activity patterns: 2. Structural adaptation 7 Masticatory and nonmasticatory functions: craniofacial adaptation to mechanical loading 8 Isotopic and elemental signatures of diet, nutrition, and life history 9 Biological distance and historical dimensions of skeletal variation 10 Bioarchaeological paleodemography: interpreting age-at-death structures 11 Bioarchaeology: skeletons in context