Overview

Investigations of skeletal remains from key archaeological sites reveal new data and offer insights on prehistoric life and health in the Southeast. The shift from foraging to farming had important health consequences for prehistoric peoples, but variations in health existed within communities that had made this transition. This new collection draws on the rich bioarchaeological record of the Southeastern United States to explore variability in health and behavior within the age of agriculture. It offers new perspectives on human adaptation to various geographic and cultural landscapes across the entire Southeast, from Texas to Virginia, and presents new data from both classic and little-known sites. The contributors question the reliance on simple cause-and-effect relationships in human health and behavior by addressing such key bioarchaeological issues as disease history and epidemiology, dietary composition and sufficiency, workload stress, patterns of violence, mortuary practices, and biological consequences of European contact. They also advance our understanding of agriculture by showing that uses of maize were more varied than has been previously supposed. Representing some of the best work being done today by physical anthropologists, this volume provides new insights into human adaptation for both archaeologists and osteologists. It attests to the heterogeneous character of Southeastern societies during the late prehistoric and early historic periods while effectively detailing the many factors that have shaped biocultural evolution.

Full Product Details

9780817310073

Table of Contents

Reviews

These authoritative, provocative, and wide-ranging studies of human skeletons provide perspectives on life and death in the prehistoric Southeast that are impossible to obtain through other kinds of archaeological investigations. &#151George R. Milner, Pennsylvania State University A wealth of new data and ideas . . . challenging our assumptions about the broad patterns of population adaptation and decline before and after European contact. Â American Antiquity

"""These authoritative, provocative, and wide-ranging studies of human skeletons provide perspectives on life and death in the prehistoric Southeast that are impossible to obtain through other kinds of archaeological investigations. ""&#151George R. Milner, Pennsylvania State University ""A wealth of new data and ideas . . . challenging our assumptions about the broad patterns of population adaptation and decline before and after European contact.""—American Antiquity"

These authoritative, provocative, and wide-ranging studies of human skeletons provide perspectives on life and death in the prehistoric Southeast that are impossible to obtain through other kinds of archaeological investigations. &#151George R. Milner, Pennsylvania State University

Author Information

Patricia M. Lambert is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Utah State University.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available