Matching Items (20)
Description
Medical practice surrounding tuberculosis (TB) treatment in two nineteenth-century Scottish charitable hospitals reveals that in developing empirically-positioned constructs of this and related diseases, medical practitioners drew upon social assumptions about women and the working classes, thus reinforcing rather than shedding cultural notions of who becomes ill and why. TB is a social disease, its distribution determined by relationships among human groups; primary among these is the patient-practitioner relationship, owing to the social role of medical treatment in restoring the ill to both health and society. To clarify the influence of cultural context upon the evolution of medical constructs of TB, I examined Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) and Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) ward journals, admissions registers, and institution management records from 1794 through 1905. Medical practice at the turn of the nineteenth century was dominated by observation and questioning of the patient, concordant with conceptions of physicians' labor as mental rather than physical. This changed with the introduction of the stethoscope in the 1820s, which together with the dissection of the poor allowed by the 1832 Anatomy Act ushered in disease concepts emphasizing pathological anatomy. Relationships between patient and practitioner also altered at this time, exhibiting distrust and medical dominance. The mid-Victorian era was notable for clinicians' increasing interest in immorality's contributions to ill health, absent in earlier practice and linked to conceptions of women and the working classes as inherently pathological. In 1882, discovery of the tubercle bacillus challenged existing nutritional, hereditary, and environmental explanations for TB. Although practitioners utilized bacteriological methods, this discovery did not revolutionize diagnosis or treatment. Rather, these older models were incorporated with perceived behavioral, environmental, and biological degradation of the working classes, rendering marginalized groups "soil" prepared for the "seeds" of disease -- at risk, but also to blame. This framework, in which marginalized groups contribute to their increased risk for disease through refusal to accord with hegemonically-established "healthy" behavior, persists. As a result, meaningful change in TB rates will need to address these longstanding contributions of social inequality to Western medical treatment.
ContributorsFarnbach Pearson, Amy Walker (Author) / Buikstra, Jane E. (Thesis advisor) / Fuchs, Rachel G (Committee member) / Brewis Slade, Alexandra (Committee member) / Roberts, Charlotte A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The present analysis sought to determine the relationship between Middle Woodland (ca. 2000-1700 BP) and Late Woodland (ca. 1700-1100 BP) mortuary practices in the Lower Illinois Valley. It applies alternative mortuary theories to elucidate larger social implications and the relationship between these practices. This was accomplished by first reconstructing a Late Woodland mortuary feature from the Helton Site in the Lower Illinois Valley (HN 20-36). The reconstructed feature was then assessed to identify if Middle Woodland mortuary practices were continuous with those of the Late Woodland. Lastly, the feature was interpreted in accordance with processualist, post-processualist and individual identity theories on mortuary behavior to determine the larger social implications of the funerary practices associated with the feature. From this analysis, it was concluded that Late Woodland mortuary practices exhibited elements of both continuity with, and change from their Middle Woodland predecessors. Further, the theoretical interpretations reveled that Late Woodland social systems existed as an evolved and reorganized extension of those systems that were present during the Middle Woodland period.
ContributorsSchultz, Nicholas Ryan (Author) / Buikstra, Jane E. (Thesis director) / Michelaki, Konstantina-Eleni (Committee member) / King, Jason L. (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Violence has been characterized as a force for both political change and maintenance of the status quo in human societies. The present study examines how outbreaks of violent events led to a legacy of prolonged warfare among neighboring communities and shaped the formation of new political institutions during the late prehispanic era in the North-Central Andes. Drawing on data collected through archaeological excavation, osteological analysis of human remains, and radiocarbon dating, this work reconstructs life and death histories of 287 individuals recovered from nine archaeological sites to investigate diachronic patterns in physical violence. The observed individuals inhabited settlements located within the high-altitude, mountainous terrain of the Callejón de Huaylas, a region that has received little attention from bioarchaeologists, and the majority lived during the Late Intermediate Period (1000-1450 CE). Archaeological research has indicated local livelihoods changed significantly around 1000 CE. In the wake of Wari state disintegration and an increasingly arid climate, communities faced a series of social, political, and economic transformations. Less is known about how these shifts affected embodied practices of violence in the region. This study documents a stark change in who experienced head injuries during the Late Intermediate Period, as compared to data from preceding eras. Individuals of all ages exhibited both antemortem and perimortem trauma throughout the four and a half centuries. Results reveal people experienced novel forms of physical violence beginning in the mid-1200s—not only did more individuals sustain head injuries, including juveniles, but the inflicted trauma was more lethal and severe at this time. These trauma patterns persisted for generations, continuing through Inka conquest around 1450 CE. The frequency and type of observed cranial trauma are consistent with warfare documented ethnographically among some small-scale societies, suggesting an association between violence and political autonomy. Beyond identifying cultural transformations in victim identities and intergroup dynamics, this research contributes to a growing body of work across the Americas investigating mounting evidence of social strife and conflict from the 13th to 15th centuries. Finally, it sheds light on intergenerational consequences of violent actions by centering individual experiences within contexts of long-term historical trajectories.
ContributorsSharp, Emily Anne (Author) / Buikstra, Jane E. (Thesis advisor) / Knudson, Kelly J. (Committee member) / Stojanowski, Christopher M. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Age is a key axis upon which social identities and social relationships are negotiated over the life course, and early life experiences can also have significant implications for individual and population health outcomes. However, children and childhood have historically been marginalized in the study of past societies, and non-elite children have been remarkably invisible in reports on ancient Greece. This dissertation employs a bioarchaeological approach to investigate age-related social identities, early childhood health, and the impact of prolonged childhood illness on familial social dynamics during the Archaic Period in Athens, Greece (ca. 700-480 BCE), focusing on 179 preadults interred at the non-elite cemetery of Phaleron. First, contextual mortuary evidence is used to investigate how age-at-death influenced burial at Phaleron, revealing insights into the timing of the personhood acquisition, age-related social transitions, and individual agency in burial practice as expressed through variation in mortuary treatment. Then paleopathological analysis of preadult skeletal remains is leveraged to investigate early childhood health outcomes, demonstrating that children at Phaleron experienced early life physiological stress, including nutritional insufficiency that may be linked to maternal health. Furthermore, evidence of poor health among non-survivors is argued to have significant implications for later life health among those who survived to adulthood. Finally, sociohistorical, contextual, and paleopathological data are synthesized to investigate the social implications of healthcare at Phaleron. The results of this multi-scalar analysis indicate that children interred at Phaleron not only survived extended periods of potentially debilitating illness, but also that their survival would not have been possible without a community of caregivers. Moreover, the age at which children experienced illness would have significantly impacted the types of healthcare needed and the burdens that care would have placed on the household. This dissertation demonstrates the promise of early childhood health and social identity as subjects of bioarchaeological inquiry in ancient Greece and underscores the social and emotional impacts of childcare and loss on the communities that buried their deceased at Phaleron. Consequently, it lays the groundwork for future research on children and childhood in ancient Greece and the study of past lifeways in Archaic Athens.
ContributorsRothwell, Jessica E. (Author) / Buikstra, Jane E. (Thesis advisor) / Knudson, Kelly J. (Committee member) / Stojanowski, Christopher M. (Committee member) / Anderson, Greg (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
Social identities are fundamental to the way individuals and groups define themselves. Archaeological approaches to social identities in the Andes emphasize the importance of group identities such as ethnicity and community identity, but studies of gender and age identities are still uncommon. In this dissertation, I build on these earlier approaches to Andean social identities and consider community, gender, and age identities at the site of Chiribaya Alta using case studies.
The coastal Ilo Chiribaya polity is associated with the Andean Late Intermediate Period in the lower Osmore drainage of southern Peru. Previous analyses indicate that Chiribaya sites in this area formed a señorío, an Andean chiefdom with separate occupational groups of fishers and farmers. The most complex excavated Chiribaya site in this region is Chiribaya Alta. At this time, excavations have sampled nine of the cemeteries present at the site. Two of these cemeteries, four and seven, have the most elaborate burials at the site and are each associated with different occupational communities.
This dissertation examines community, gender, and age identities at Chiribaya Alta through the use of three case studies. The first case study argues that the iconographic designs on coca bags interred with the dead signified occupational community identities. Coca bags buried in cemetery four have designs relating to mountains and farming, whereas those from cemetery seven have symbols associated with water. These designs correspond to the occupational community groups associated with each of these cemeteries. The second case study uses grave good presence and absence to examine the nature of gender roles and identity at Chiribaya Alta. Multiple correspondence analysis indicates that normative gender roles are reflected in grave good assemblages, but that gender identity was flexible at the individual level. The final case study presents newly generated age-at-death estimations using transition analysis combined with mortuary analyses to explore the manner in which gender and age intersect for older individuals at Chiribaya Alta. This final paper argues that there is an elderly identity present amongst individuals at Chiribaya Alta and that gender and age intersect to impact the lives of older men and women differently.
The coastal Ilo Chiribaya polity is associated with the Andean Late Intermediate Period in the lower Osmore drainage of southern Peru. Previous analyses indicate that Chiribaya sites in this area formed a señorío, an Andean chiefdom with separate occupational groups of fishers and farmers. The most complex excavated Chiribaya site in this region is Chiribaya Alta. At this time, excavations have sampled nine of the cemeteries present at the site. Two of these cemeteries, four and seven, have the most elaborate burials at the site and are each associated with different occupational communities.
This dissertation examines community, gender, and age identities at Chiribaya Alta through the use of three case studies. The first case study argues that the iconographic designs on coca bags interred with the dead signified occupational community identities. Coca bags buried in cemetery four have designs relating to mountains and farming, whereas those from cemetery seven have symbols associated with water. These designs correspond to the occupational community groups associated with each of these cemeteries. The second case study uses grave good presence and absence to examine the nature of gender roles and identity at Chiribaya Alta. Multiple correspondence analysis indicates that normative gender roles are reflected in grave good assemblages, but that gender identity was flexible at the individual level. The final case study presents newly generated age-at-death estimations using transition analysis combined with mortuary analyses to explore the manner in which gender and age intersect for older individuals at Chiribaya Alta. This final paper argues that there is an elderly identity present amongst individuals at Chiribaya Alta and that gender and age intersect to impact the lives of older men and women differently.
ContributorsSchach, Emily Ann (Author) / Buikstra, Jane E. (Thesis advisor) / Knudson, Kelly J. (Committee member) / Geller, Pamela L. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Federal legislation prioritizes the repatriation of culturally unidentifiable human remains to federally-recognized Indian tribes that are linked geographically to the region from which the remains were removed. Such linkages are typically based on a Eurocentric notion of the exclusive use and occupancy of an area of land - a space-based approach to land use. Contemporary collaborations between anthropologists and indigenous communities suggest, however, that indigenous patterns of land use are better characterized as place-based and are therefore more complex and fluid than is reflected in current legislation. Despite these insights, space-based approaches remain common within archaeology. One example is the inference of territorial behavior from the presence of monuments within the archaeological record.
Drawing on osteological and mortuary data derived from a sample of Adena mounds located in northern Kentucky, this dissertation adopts a place-based approach in order to evaluate the archaeological association between monumentality and territoriality. The relative amounts of skeletal and phenotypic variability present at various spatial scales are quantified and compared and the degree to which mortuary and phenotypic data exhibit spatial structure consistent with the expectations of an isolation-by-distance model is assessed.
Results indicate that, while burial samples derived from some mounds exhibit amounts of phenotypic variability that are consistent with the expectations of a territorial model, data from other mounds suggest that multiple groups participated in their construction. Further, the general absence of spatial structure within the phenotypic data suggests that the individuals interred in these mounds are perhaps better characterized as representing an integrated regional population rather than localized groups. Untested archaeological inferences of territoriality may therefore mischaracterize regional population dynamics. In addition, these results suggest that the prioritization criteria for the repatriation of culturally unidentifiable human remains may merit revision.
Drawing on osteological and mortuary data derived from a sample of Adena mounds located in northern Kentucky, this dissertation adopts a place-based approach in order to evaluate the archaeological association between monumentality and territoriality. The relative amounts of skeletal and phenotypic variability present at various spatial scales are quantified and compared and the degree to which mortuary and phenotypic data exhibit spatial structure consistent with the expectations of an isolation-by-distance model is assessed.
Results indicate that, while burial samples derived from some mounds exhibit amounts of phenotypic variability that are consistent with the expectations of a territorial model, data from other mounds suggest that multiple groups participated in their construction. Further, the general absence of spatial structure within the phenotypic data suggests that the individuals interred in these mounds are perhaps better characterized as representing an integrated regional population rather than localized groups. Untested archaeological inferences of territoriality may therefore mischaracterize regional population dynamics. In addition, these results suggest that the prioritization criteria for the repatriation of culturally unidentifiable human remains may merit revision.
ContributorsSeidel, Andrew Colin (Author) / Carr, Christopher (Thesis advisor) / Stojanowski, Christopher M (Thesis advisor) / Buikstra, Jane E. (Committee member) / Aguilera, Miguel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
The Egyptian New Kingdom city of Akhetaten (modern: Tell el-Amarna, el-Amarna, or simply Amarna) provides a unique opportunity to study ancient biocultural dynamics. It was a disembedded capital removed from the major power bases of Memphis and Thebes that was built, occupied, and abandoned within approximately 20 years (c. 1352–1336 BCE). This dissertation used the recently excavated Amarna South Tombs cemetery to test competing models for the development of disembedded capitals, such as the geographic origin of its migrants and its demographic structure in comparison to contrastive models for the establishment of settlements. The degree to which biological relatedness organized the South Tombs cemetery was also explored. The results suggest that the Nile Valley into the New Kingdom (1539–1186 BCE) was very diverse in dental cervical phenotype and thus highly mobile in respects to gene flow, failing to reject that the Amarna city was populated by individuals and families throughout the Nile Valley. In comparison, the Amarna South Tombs cemetery contained the least amount of dental phenotypic diversity, supporting a founder effect due to migration from larger, more diverse gene pools to the city or the very fact that the city and sample only reflect a 20-year interval with little time to accumulate phenotypic variation. Parts of the South Tombs cemetery also appear to be organized by biological affinity, showing consistent and significant spatial autocorrelation with biological distances generated from dental cervical measurements in male, female, and subadult (10–19 years of age) burials closest to the South Tombs. This arrangement mimics the same orderliness in the residential areas of the Amarna city itself with officials surrounded by families that supported their administration. Throughout the cemetery, adult female grave shaft distances predict their biological distances, signaling a nuclear family dynamic that included many females including mothers, widows, and unwed aunts, nieces, and daughters. A sophisticated paleodemographic model using simulated annealing optimization projected the living population of the South Tombs cemetery, which overall conformed to a transplanted community similar to 19th century mill villages of the United States and United Kingdom.
ContributorsSchaffer, William Charles (Author) / Buikstra, Jane E. (Thesis advisor) / Stojanowski, Christopher M. (Committee member) / Smith, Michael E. (Committee member) / Rose, Jerome C. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Migrations, past and present, fundamentally influence human interaction, community building, and social evolution. Studies of contemporary migrations demonstrate that the form and intensity of interaction migrants maintain between homeland and host communities shape social dynamics, innovations, and identities. This dissertation applies a contemporary theoretical framework and biogeochemical analyses to elucidate the scale, processes, and impacts of migration in the hinterland of the pre-Hispanic Tiwanaku polity (ca. AD 500-1100). Social diversity is examined by reconstructing the migration histories and dietary choices of individuals interred at the Tiwanaku-affiliated site of Omo M10 in the Moquegua Valley of southern Peru.
Radiogenic strontium and stable oxygen isotope data from human dental and skeletal elements are used to characterize intra- and inter-individual paleomobility patterns at Omo M10. When contextualized with archaeological evidence, these data reveal multigenerational interaction through migration between communities in the highland Tiwanaku heartland and at Omo M10. The observed greater mobility of females and juveniles at Omo M10 indicates that women and families played an essential role in maintaining social relationships and persistent cultural continuity in Moquegua Tiwanaku life. Contact with the highlands waned over time as disruption in the urban highland centers likely weakened ties to peripheral lowland communities.
Stable carbon and nitrogen data from human dental and skeletal elements are employed to estimate intra- and inter-individual paleodietary patterns. Results indicate diet at Omo M10 varied depending on an individual’s community affiliation, sex, age, and level of mobility; diet broadly changed over time with shifting levels of interaction with highland Tiwanaku communities. Intra-individual biogeochemical analyses of migration and diet at Omo M10 contribute a nuanced perspective on the diverse experiences of multigenerational colonists on the periphery of the Tiwanaku polity.
Radiogenic strontium and stable oxygen isotope data from human dental and skeletal elements are used to characterize intra- and inter-individual paleomobility patterns at Omo M10. When contextualized with archaeological evidence, these data reveal multigenerational interaction through migration between communities in the highland Tiwanaku heartland and at Omo M10. The observed greater mobility of females and juveniles at Omo M10 indicates that women and families played an essential role in maintaining social relationships and persistent cultural continuity in Moquegua Tiwanaku life. Contact with the highlands waned over time as disruption in the urban highland centers likely weakened ties to peripheral lowland communities.
Stable carbon and nitrogen data from human dental and skeletal elements are employed to estimate intra- and inter-individual paleodietary patterns. Results indicate diet at Omo M10 varied depending on an individual’s community affiliation, sex, age, and level of mobility; diet broadly changed over time with shifting levels of interaction with highland Tiwanaku communities. Intra-individual biogeochemical analyses of migration and diet at Omo M10 contribute a nuanced perspective on the diverse experiences of multigenerational colonists on the periphery of the Tiwanaku polity.
ContributorsDahlstedt, Allisen Cecelia (Author) / Knudson, Kelly J. (Thesis advisor) / Buikstra, Jane E. (Committee member) / Goldstein, Paul S (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
This dissertation focuses on the diversity inherent to the process of social community construction. Building upon previous archaeological and bioarchaeological studies of community identities, the current project emphasizes the need for consideration of the impact of diversity on community identity formation in the past and illustrates the utility of a bioarchaeological approach for undertaking this task. Three specific aspects of community formation are addressed: (1) the relationship between symbolic community boundaries and geographic space, (2) the influence of diverse discourses of intra-community sub-groups on community formation, and (3) the negotiation of community boundaries by outsiders. To investigate these aspects of community construction in the past, dietary practices and mortuary rituals of the Late Intermediate Period (c. AD 900-1470) Ychsma society of the central Peruvian coast are examined as a case study. Previous anthropological and sociological studies demonstrate that diet and burial customs are common mechanisms used in processes of group identification around the world, including the Andes. In the current study, analyses of materials from Armatambo and Rinconada Alta in the Rimac Valley are used to examine the ways in which isotopic and dental indicators of diet and archaeological contextual indicators of mortuary rituals correspond with or crosscut spatial burial patterns and additional groups based on sex, age at death, and biogeochemically reconstructed residential origins. Observed patterns are interpreted using a theoretical framework that incorporates sociocultural theory of identity with pre-Columbian Andean ideology of the body, self, and social environment. Results reveal differences in large-scale trends in diet and mortuary practices associated with burial at each site that are interpreted as evidence of symbolic community boundaries between sites. Complexities within larger trends reveal evidence of internal diversity as well as fluidity across community boundaries. Specifically, evidence is presented for intra-community dietary differences, intra-community differences associated with age and sex, and finally evidence of external relationships. This consideration of diversity in community identity construction is concluded to profoundly refine current understandings of Ychsma social interactions. Consequently, this study demonstrates empirical investigation of social diversity is necessary for understanding the complex nature of the social construction of communities in the past.
ContributorsMarsteller, Sara Jane (Author) / Knudson, Kelly J. (Thesis advisor) / Buikstra, Jane E. (Committee member) / Scott, Rachel E. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This dissertation addresses the role of kinship and residential mobility during the transition from Final Neolithic to Early Bronze Age (ca. 3500 – 2500 BC) in Attica, Greece. It examines descent systems, ancestor formation, and the interplay between biological, social, and spatial structure in mortuary practices. It also evaluates the nature and degree of residential mobility and its potential role in the formation and maintenance of social networks. Archaeological hypotheses on the kin-based structure of formal cemeteries, the familial use of collective tombs, marriage practices and mate exchange, and relocation were tested focusing on the Early Helladic cemetery of Tsepi at Marathon. Tsepi constitutes the earliest formally organized cemetery on the Greek mainland and it has also contributed to enduring debates over the nature of the interaction between the eastern Attic coast and the central Aegean islands.
This study integrates osteological, biogeochemical, and archaeological data. Inherited dental and cranial features were used to examine biological relatedness and postmarital residence (biodistance analysis). Biochemical analysis of archaeological and modern samples was conducted to examine the geographic origins of the individuals buried in the cemetery and reconstruct mobility patterns. Osteological and biogeochemical data were interpreted in conjunction with archaeological and ethnographic/ethnohistoric data.
The results generally supported a relationship between spatial organization and biological relatedness based on phenotypic similarity at Tsepi. Postmarital residence analysis showed exogamous practices and tentatively supported higher male than female mobility. This practice, along with dietary inferences, could also be suggestive of maritime activities. Biogeochemical analysis showed a local character for the cemetery sample (96%). The common provenance of the three non-local individuals might reflect a link between Tsepi and a single locale. Burial location was not determined by provenance or solely by biological relatedness. Overall, the results point towards more nuanced reconstructions of mobility in prehistoric Aegean and suggest that burial location depended on a complex set of inter-individual relationships and collective identities. The contextualized bioarchaeological approach applied in this study added to the anthropological investigations of social practices such as kin relations (e.g., biological, marital, social kinship) and residential relocation as diachronic mechanisms of integration, adaptation, or differentiation.
This study integrates osteological, biogeochemical, and archaeological data. Inherited dental and cranial features were used to examine biological relatedness and postmarital residence (biodistance analysis). Biochemical analysis of archaeological and modern samples was conducted to examine the geographic origins of the individuals buried in the cemetery and reconstruct mobility patterns. Osteological and biogeochemical data were interpreted in conjunction with archaeological and ethnographic/ethnohistoric data.
The results generally supported a relationship between spatial organization and biological relatedness based on phenotypic similarity at Tsepi. Postmarital residence analysis showed exogamous practices and tentatively supported higher male than female mobility. This practice, along with dietary inferences, could also be suggestive of maritime activities. Biogeochemical analysis showed a local character for the cemetery sample (96%). The common provenance of the three non-local individuals might reflect a link between Tsepi and a single locale. Burial location was not determined by provenance or solely by biological relatedness. Overall, the results point towards more nuanced reconstructions of mobility in prehistoric Aegean and suggest that burial location depended on a complex set of inter-individual relationships and collective identities. The contextualized bioarchaeological approach applied in this study added to the anthropological investigations of social practices such as kin relations (e.g., biological, marital, social kinship) and residential relocation as diachronic mechanisms of integration, adaptation, or differentiation.
ContributorsPrevedorou, Eleni Anna (Author) / Buikstra, Jane E. (Thesis advisor) / Knudson, Kelly J. (Committee member) / Stojanowski, Chris M (Committee member) / Fox, Sherry C. (Committee member) / Rutter, Jeremy B. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015