Study of any biological remains found at archaeological sites.
The term bioarchaeology was first used by British archaeologist Sir John Grahame Douglas Clark in the 1970s. But it was American bioarchaeologist and anthropologist Jane Ellen Buikstra who popularized the term as it is most often utilized in the United States. Forget the Indiana Jones fedora -- it's so passe. Passé the-21 century version of archaeology is far more sophisticated than any-whip wielding gold digger could hope to. Understand archaeology as an academic and professional endeavor has been around for a long. time 10 most extreme places on Earth. The term “bioarchaeology” is used in several different ways in an academic context. In most of the world, it refers to the study of any biological remains found at archaeological sites, from the bones of animals cooked for dinner to the plant fibers used to make clothing. Bioarchaeology studies can be used to look for diseases which might have been present in the population, and to study the general health of the population. Large groups of human remains can also provide information about how long people lived, as a general rule, and to study the environment in which they lived. Like a lot of scientific endeavors, bioarchaeology is a blend of multiple academic disciplines, including paleodemography (the study of demography of ancient populations), paleogenetics (the application of genetics to paleontology) and mortuary studies (the study of dead bodies). Forget the Indiana Jones fedora -- it's so passe. Passé the-21 century version of archaeology is far more sophisticated than any-whip wielding gold digger could hope to. Understand archaeology as an academic and professional endeavor has been around for a long. time The Bones of Bioarchaeology. It would be easy to get swept up in the broad intellectual scope of bioarchaeology, but what it all comes down to is this -- the bones. Human bodies are notoriously fragile in the face of decomposition. When we die, our flesh quickly degrades due to environmental conditions and microbes that feed on our remains. For the most part, our hard, durable skeletons are all that's left of us, and even those begin to break down over time. So bones, in essence, become centerpieces of evidence as bioarchaeologists work to unravel mysteries about ancient peoples. Some places are better than others for unearthing bones. About this Textbook. Bioarchaeology is the analysis of human remains within an interpretative framework that includes contextual information. This comprehensive and much-needed manual provides both a starting point and a reference for archaeologists, bioarchaeologists and others working in this integrative field. Special applications in bioarchaeology. With case studies from bioarchaeological research, the authors integrate theoretical and methodological discussion with a wide range of field studies from different geographic areas, time periods, and data types, to demonstrate the full scope of this important field of study. ©iStockphoto/ Thinkstock. It would be easy to get swept up in the broad intellectual scope of bioarchaeology, but what it all comes down to is this -- the bones. Human bodies are notoriously fragile in the face of decomposition. When we die, our flesh quickly degrades due to environmental conditions and microbes that feed on our remains. For the most part, our hard, durable skeletons are all that's left of us, and even those begin to break down over time. So bones, in essence, become centerpieces of evidence as bioarchaeologists work to unravel mysteries about ancient peoples. Some places are better than others for unearthing bones. 1 Martin Jones has been at the forefront of bioarchaeology as the subject has matured in the 1980s and 1990s. 2  Bioarchaeology is beginning to fill in the details of the historical record, offering specifics about how food sources changed. 1 Complementing the historical data are the resources of archaeology and my own specialty, bioarchaeology. 2  As technology and archaeological practices have evolved, so has the field as a whole. One specialty is called bioarchaeology (a specialized type of physical or biological anthropology) . Bioarchaelogy is the study of human skeletal remains from archaeological sites. This discipline allows us to reconstruct past human activities, disease and overall health patterns, and much more. Forget the Indiana Jones fedora -- it's so passe. Passé the-21 century version of archaeology is far more sophisticated than any-whip wielding gold digger could hope to. Understand archaeology as an academic and professional endeavor has been around for a long. time Definition. The word bioarchaeology was first used in 1972 by the British archaeologist Grahame Clark (see Clark 1972), who employed the term to describe his analysis of faunal remains at Star Carr, a prehistoric site in North Yorkshire, England, and was further defined in Clark 1973. With this article, Clark defined bioarchaeology both as “the archaeology concerned first and foremost with life,” (p. 464) and as “the archaeology of how men occupied territories and maintained life” (p. 466). back to top. Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Bioarchaeology: The use of a range of biological techniques on archaeological material in order to learn more about past populations. In bioarchaeology, one might isolate and amplify DNA from very old bones such as from the frozen body of the 9,000-year-old Ice Man who was found in the Italian Alps. 
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what is bioarchaeology