Bioarchaeology of Care through Population-Level Analyses

New methods for understandinghealthcare in past societiesProvides unique and useful models that demonstrate how inferences can be made about communities of care in samples ranging in size from several dozen to several thousand. Authors weave together diverse lines of evidenceosteological, archaeological, ethnographic, clinicalin their historical and cultural contexts. Sophisticated analytical tools and theoretical frameworks position this book at the cutting edge of bioarchaeological research and illustrate the cultural relativity of care, caregiving, and healthcare in the past and present, and in Western and non-Western contexts.Alexis Boutin, coeditor ofRemembering the Dead in the Ancient Near East: Recent Contributions from Bioarchaeology and Mortuary ArchaeologyRepresentingcurrent and emerging methods and theory, this volume introduces new avenues forexploring how prehistoric and historic communities provided health care fortheir sick, injured, and disabled members. It adjusts and expands thebioarchaeology of care frameworka way of analyzing caregiving in the pastdesigned for individual case studies of human skeletal remainsto detect andexamine care at the population level.Covering arange of time from the Archaic period to the present, contributors discusscommunity settings including British hospitals and nursing homes, a shellburial mound site in Alabama, and the Mississippi State Asylum. These essaysoffer insights into the care given to children and those with reduced mobility,the social burden of health care, practices of euthanasia, and the relationshipbetween care for the mentally ill and structural violence. Anecessary extension to our understanding of the complexities of caregiving inthe past, Bioarchaeology of Care throughPopulation-Level Analyses shows that it is important to recognize theimpact of disease or disability on both the individuals affected and theirbroader communities. Contributors demonstrate that flexibility inbioarchaeological modeling and methodology can result in robust and nuancedscholarship on caregiving in the past and the societies that provided thatcare. A volume in the series Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the HumanPast: Local, Regional, and Global Perspectives, edited by Clark Spencer LarsenContributors: Petra Banks | Anna-Marie C. Casserly | Briana R. Moore | Anna Osterholtz |Bennjamin J. Penny-Mason | Charlotte A. Roberts | Alecia Schrenk | Diana S.Simpson | Lori A. Tremblay