Overview
Care-giving is an activity that has been practiced by all human societies. From the earliest societies through to the present, all humans have faced choices regarding how people in positions of dependency are to be treated. As such, care-giving, and the form it takes, is a central experience of being a human and one that is culturally mediated. Archaeology has tended to marginalise the study of care, and debates surrounding our ability to recognise it within the archaeological record have often remained implicit rather than a focus of discussion. In order to address this, the 12 papers in this volume bring together archaeological, historical, and philosophical perspectives to examine the topic of care in past societies, and how we might recognise the provision of care in archaeological contexts. The topic of care is examined through three different strands: care throughout the life course, namely that provided to the youngest and oldest members of society; care-giving and attitudes towards impairment and disability; and the role of animals as both recipients of care and as tools for its provision.
Full Product Details
Author: Lindsay Powell ,
William Southwell-Wright ,
Rebecca Gowland
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Dimensions:
Width: 17.00cm
, Height: 1.30cm
, Length: 24.00cm
Weight: 0.567kg
ISBN: 9781785703355
ISBN 10: 1785703358
Pages: 208
Publication Date: 21 December 2016
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
With a good range of examples covering a vast expanse of time and space, appreciation of data in interdisciplinary contexts, and rigorous and insightful analyses, the book certainly seems set to inspire new thinking in the field. -- Lucia Marchini Current Archaeology Magazine
I believe that Care in the Past will achieve its aim of becoming essential reading for both medical practitioners and medical historians. With the NHS still reeling from the revelations of the 2013 Francis Report, the Palaeolithic perspective brings both a comfort and a challenge. * British Society for the History of Medicine *
Author Information
Lindsay A. Powell recently completed a PhD in Archaeology at Durham University focusing on the health, diet and care of children in Roman London. Her research interests include subadult palaeopathology and bioarchaeology within the Roman Period. William Southwell-Wright is an independent researcher, who is interested in examining the social status of individuals with impairments and disabilities in the Late Roman Period of Britain. William's wider research interests include disability history, the development of archaeologies of disability, past body identities, and ancient medical history. Rebecca L. Gowland is a senior lecturer in human bioarchaeology at Durham University. Her research interests include exploration of the inter-relationship between the human skeleton and aspects of social identity; health and the life course in the Roman World; palaeopathology; and social perceptions of the physically impaired.
