Ryan P. Harrod – författare

Human violence is an inescapable aspect of our society and culture. As the archaeological record clearly shows, this has always been true. What is its origin? What role does it play in shaping our behavior? How do ritual acts and cultural sanctions make violence acceptable?

These and other questions are addressed by the contributors to The Bioarchaeology of Violence. Organized thematically, the volume opens by laying the groundwork for new theoretical approaches that move beyond interpretation; it then examines case studies from small-scale conflict to warfare to ritualized violence.

Experts on a wide range of ancient societies highlight the meaning and motivation of past uses of violence, revealing how violence often plays an important role in maintaining and suppressing the challenges to the status quo, and how it is frequently a performance meant to be witnessed by others.

The interesting and nuanced insights offered in this volume explore both the costs and the benefits of violence throughout human prehistory.

Taking a holistic approach to the study of aging, thisvolume uses biological, archaeological, medical, and cultural perspectives toexplore how older adults have functioned in societies around the globe andthroughout human history.

Anin-depth and wide-ranging approach to the study of older adults in society

Taking a holisticapproach to the study of aging, this volume uses biological, archaeological,medical, and cultural perspectives to explore how older adults have functionedin societies around the globe and throughout human history. As the world’spopulation over 65 years of age continues to increase, this wide-rangingapproach fills a growing need for both academics and service professionals ingerontology, geriatrics, and related fields.

Casestudies from the United States, Tibet, Turkey, China, Nigeria, and Mexicoprovide examples of the ways age-related changes are influenced byenvironmental, genetic, sociocultural, and political-economic variables. Takentogether, they help explain how the experience of aging varies across time andspace. These contributions from noted anthropological scholars examineevolutionary and biological understandings of human aging, the roles of eldersin various societies, issues of gender and ageism, and the role of chronicillness and “successful aging” among older adults.

Thisvolume highlights how an anthropology of aging can illustrate how older adultsadapt to shifting life circumstances and environments, including changes to theways in which individuals and families care for them. The research in Anthropological Perspectives on Agingcan also help researchers, students, and practitioners reach across disciplinesto address age discrimination and help improve health outcomes throughout thelife course.

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. The authors cover a range of bioarchaeological methods and theory including:

Ethical issues involved in dealing with human remains

Theoretical approaches in bioarchaeology

Techniques in taphonomy and bone analysis

Lab and forensic techniques for skeletal analysis

Best practices for excavation techniques

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. 

Taking a bioarchaeological approach, this book examines the Ancestral Pueblo culture living in the Four Corners region of the United States during the late Pueblo I through the end of the Pueblo III period (AD 850-1300). During this time, a vast system of pueblo villages spread throughout the region creating what has been called the Chaco Phenomenon, named after the large great houses in Chaco Canyon that are thought to have been centers of control. Through a bioarchaeological analysis of the human skeletal remains, this volume provides evidence that key individuals within the hierarchical social structure used a variety of methods of social control, including structural violence, to maintain their power over the interconnected communities.