A Companion to Paleopathology

A Companion to Paleopathology offers a comprehensive overview of this growing interdisciplinary field, with newly commissioned essays written by distinguished researchers from the biological, medical and social sciences. Together, these essays explore advances and provide analyses for a more effective understanding of the history of human illness and disease.

Each essay provides a snapshot of a key area of research in paleopathology, such as histology, epidemiology, diet, or DNA analysis, describing its theoretical underpinnings, methods and techniques, and exposing ongoing issues and controversies.  A Companion to Paleopathology provides a unique resource on the scope and future direction of paleopathology.

List of Illustrations xi

List of Tables xvii

Notes on Contributors xix

Acknowledgements xxviii

1 Introduction: The Scope of Paleopathology 1
Anne L. Grauer

Part I Approaches, Perspectives and Issues 15

2 Ethics and Issues in the Use of Human Skeletal Remains in Paleopathology 17
Patricia M. Lambert

3 Evolutionary Thought in Paleopathology and the Rise of the Biocultural Approach 34
Molly K. Zuckerman, Bethany L. Turner, and George J. Armelagos

4 The Bioarchaeological Approach to Paleopathology 58
Michele R. Buzon

5 The Molecular Biological Approach in Paleopathology 76
James H. Gosman

6 The Ecological Approach: Understanding Past Diet and the Relationship Between Diet and Disease 97
M. Anne Katzenberg

7 An Epidemiological Approach to Paleopathology 114
Jesper L. Boldsen and George R. Milner

8 The Promise, the Problems, and the Future of DNA Analysis in Paleopathology Studies 133
Mark Spigelman, Dong Hoon Shin, and Gila Kahila Bar Gal

9 The Analysis and Interpretation of Mummifi ed Remains 152
Michael R. Zimmerman

10 The Study of Parasites Through Time: Archaeoparasitology and Paleoparasitology 170
Katharina Dittmar, Adauto Araújo, and Karl J. Reinhard

11 More Than Just Mad Cows: Exploring Human Animal Relationships Through Animal Paleopathology 191
Beth Upex and Keith Dobney

12 How Does The History of Paleopathology Predict its Future? 214
Mary Lucas Powell and Della Collins Cook

Part II Methods and Techniques of Inquiry 225

13 A Knowledge of Bone at the Cellular (Histological) Level is Essential to Paleopathology 227
Bruce D. Ragsdale and Larisa M. Lehmer

14 Differential Diagnosis and Issues in Disease Classifi cation 250
Donald J. Ortner

15 Estimating Age and Sex from the Skeleton, a Paleopathological Perspective 268
George R. Milner and Jesper L. Boldsen

16 The Relationship Between Paleopathology and the Clinical Sciences 285
Simon Mays

17 Integrating Historical Sources with Paleopathology 310
Piers D. Mitchell

18 Fundamentals of Paleoimaging Techniques: Bridging the Gap Between Physicists and Paleopathologists 324
Johann Wanek, Christina Papageorgopoulou, and Frank Rühli

19 Data and Data Analysis Issues in Paleopathology 339
Ann L.W. Stodder

Part III Diseases of the Past: Current Understandings and Controversies 357

20 Trauma 359
Margaret A. Judd and Rebecca Redfern

21 Developmental Disorders in the Skeleton 380
Ethne Barnes

22 Metabolic and Endocrine Diseases 401
Tomasz Koz³owski and Henryk W. Witas

23 Tumors: Problems of Differential Diagnosis in Paleopathology 420
Don Brothwell

24 Re–Emerging Infections: Developments in Bioarchaeological Contributions to Understanding Tuberculosis Today 434
Charlotte Roberts

25 Leprosy (Hansen s disease) 458
Niels Lynnerup and Jesper Boldsen

26 Treponematosis: Past, Present, and Future 472
Della Collins Cook and Mary Lucas Powell

27 Nonspecifi c Infection in Paleopathology: Interpreting Periosteal Reactions 492
Darlene A. Weston

28 Joint Disease 513
Tony Waldron

29 Bioarchaeology′s Holy Grail: The Reconstruction of Activity 531
Robert Jurmain, Francisca Alves Cardoso, Charlotte Henderson, and Sébastien Villotte

30 Oral Health in Past Populations: Context, Concepts and Controversies 553
John R. Lukacs

Index 582

Anne L. Grauer is Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Loyola University Chicago. She is the editor of Bodies of Evidence: Reconstructing History Through Skeletal Analysis (1995) and co–editor of Sex and Gender in Paleopathological Perspective (with Stuart–Macadam, 1998). She has served on the editorial board of the American Journal  of Physical Anthropology, the executive board of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, and is a past President of the Paleopathology Association.