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This article presents outcomes from a Workshop entitled “Bioarchaeology: Taking Stock and Moving Forward, ” which was held at Arizona State University (ASU) on March 6–8, 2020. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the School of Human Evolution and Social Change (ASU), and the Center for Bioarchaeological Research (CBR, ASU), the Workshop's overall goal was to explore reasons why research proposals submitted by bioarchaeologists, both graduate students and established scholars, fared disproportionately poorly within recent NSF Anthropology Program competitions and to offer advice for increasing success. Therefore, this Workshop comprised 43 international scholars and four advanced graduate students with a history of successful grant acquisition, primarily from the United States. Ultimately, we focused on two related aims: (1) best practices for improving research designs and training and (2) evaluating topics of contemporary significance that reverberate through history and beyond as promising trajectories for bioarchaeological research. Among the former were contextual grounding, research question/hypothesis generation, statistical procedures appropriate for small samples and mixed qualitative/quantitative data, the salience of Bayesian methods, and training program content. Topical foci included ethics, social inequality, identity (including intersectionality), climate change, migration, violence, epidemic disease, adaptability/plasticity, the osteological paradox, and the developmental origins of health and disease. Given the profound changes required globally to address decolonization in the 21st century, this concern also entered many formal and informal discussions.

Around 10,000 y ago in southwest Asia, the cessation of a mobile lifestyle and the emergence of the first village communities during the Neolithic marked a fundamental change in human history. The first communities were small (tens to hundreds of individuals) but remained semisedentary. So-called megasites appeared soon after, occupied by thousands of more sedentary inhabitants. Accompanying this shift, the material culture and ancient ecological data indicate profound changes in economic and social behavior. A shift from residential to logistical mobility and increasing population size are clear and can be explained by either changes in fertility and/or aggregation of local groups. However, as sedentism increased, small early communities likely risked inbreeding without maintaining or establishing exogamous relationships typical of hunter-gatherers. Megasites, where large populations would have made endogamy sustainable, could have avoided this risk. To examine the role of kinship practices in the rise of megasites, we measured strontium and oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel from 99 individuals buried at Pınarbaşı, Boncuklu, and Çatalhöyük (Turkey) over 7,000 y. These sites are geographically proximate and, critically, span both early sedentary behaviors (Pınarbaşı and Boncuklu) and the rise of a local megasite (Çatalhöyük). Our data are consistent with the presence of only local individuals at Pınarbaşı and Boncuklu, whereas at Çatalhöyük, several nonlocals are present. The Çatalhöyük data stand in contrast to other megasites where bioarchaeological evidence has pointed to strict endogamy. These different kinship behaviors suggest that megasites may have arisen by employing unique, community-specific kinship practices.

Climate change is an indisputable threat to human health, especially for societies already confronted with rising social inequality, political and economic uncertainty, and a cascade of concurrent environmental challenges. Archaeological data about past climate and environment provide an important source of evidence about the potential challenges humans face and the long-term outcomes of alternative short-term adaptive strategies. Evidence from well-dated archaeological human skeletons and mummified remains speaks directly to patterns of human health over time through changing circumstances. Here, we describe variation in human epidemiological patterns in the context of past rapid climate change (RCC) events and other periods of past environmental change. Case studies confirm that human communities responded to environmental changes in diverse ways depending on historical, sociocultural, and biological contingencies. Certain factors, such as social inequality and disproportionate access to resources in large, complex societies may influence the probability of major sociopolitical disruptions and reorganizations—commonly known as “collapse.” This survey of Holocene human–environmental relations demonstrates how flexibility, variation, and maintenance of Indigenous knowledge can be mitigating factors in the face of environmental challenges. Although contemporary climate change is more rapid and of greater magnitude than the RCC events and other environmental changes we discuss here, these lessons from the past provide clarity about potential priorities for equitable, sustainable development and the constraints of modernity we must address.

Analysis of human remains and a copper band found in the center of a Late Archaic (ca. 5000–3000 cal BP) shell ring demonstrate an exchange network between the Great Lakes and the coastal southeast United States. Similarities in mortuary practices suggest that the movement of objects between these two regions was more direct and unmediated than archaeologists previously assumed based on “down-the-line” models of exchange. These findings challenge prevalent notions that view preagricultural Native American communities as relatively isolated from one another and suggest instead that wide social networks spanned much of North America thousands of years before the advent of domestication.

Summary The social organization of the first fully sedentary societies that emerged during the Neolithic period in Southwest Asia remains enigmatic,1 mainly because material culture studies provide limited insight into this issue. However, because Neolithic Anatolian communities often buried their dead beneath domestic buildings,2 household composition and social structure can be studied through these human remains. Here, we describe genetic relatedness among co-burials associated with domestic buildings in Neolithic Anatolia using 59 ancient genomes, including 22 new genomes from Aşıklı Höyük and Çatalhöyük. We infer pedigree relationships by simultaneously analyzing multiple types of information, including autosomal and X chromosome kinship coefficients, maternal markers, and radiocarbon dating. In two early Neolithic villages dating to the 9th and 8th millennia BCE, Aşıklı Höyük and Boncuklu, we discover that siblings and parent-offspring pairings were frequent within domestic structures, which provides the first direct indication of close genetic relationships among co-burials. In contrast, in the 7th millennium BCE sites of Çatalhöyük and Barcın, where we study subadults interred within and around houses, we find close genetic relatives to be rare. Hence, genetic relatedness may not have played a major role in the choice of burial location at these latter two sites, at least for subadults. This supports the hypothesis that in Çatalhöyük,3, 4, 5 and possibly in some other Neolithic communities, domestic structures may have served as burial location for social units incorporating biologically unrelated individuals. Our results underscore the diversity of kin structures in Neolithic communities during this important phase of sociocultural development., Highlights • Genetic kinship estimated from co-buried individuals’ genomes in Neolithic Anatolia • Close relatives are common among co-burials in Aşıklı and Boncuklu • Many unrelated infants found buried in the same building in Çatalhöyük and Barcın • Neolithic societies in Southwest Asia may have held diverse concepts of kinship, Yaka et al. use ancient genomes from Neolithic Anatolia and present evidence for diverse concepts of social kinship in Neolithic societies. In some communities, like Çatalhöyük, many genetically unrelated infants were buried together inside the same buildings, whereas in other sites, people buried together were frequently close biological kin.

This study examines internal enamel micro-defects and incremental isotopic data from tooth dentin to reconstruct early life stress and dietary histories of native individuals interred at Mission Santa Catalina de Guale (ca. A.D. 1605–1680), St. Catherines Island, Georgia. Spanish missionization in North America is associated with dietary change and increased indigenous stress. By integrating incremental isotopic data with enamel defect records, malnutrition as a source of stress can be explored. One permanent canine from 14 individuals was analyzed for enamel defects, and, of these subsamples, seven were selected for incremental δ 13C and δ 15N analysis. Results reveal high levels of early life stress, with 93% of individuals exhibiting enamel defects and an average of 4.4 defects/individual. Stress chronologies show that individuals experienced the highest frequency of stress between ages 2.5 and 4.5 years, a period associated with weaning in many traditional societies. Post-weaning δ 15N and δ 13C values indicate a mixed diet of maize and marine foods, with values closer to what would be expected for a diet heavy in maize (9.9‰ and –11.4‰, respectively). In four individuals, δ 15N values decrease on average 2‰ during infancy and early childhood, while δ 13C values slightly increase by 0.7‰. These individuals show enamel defects associated with decreasing δ 15N and increasing δ 13C values, suggesting stress associated with weaning onto a maize-based diet. This study underscores the importance of combining isotopic and paleopathological data to explore sources of non-specific stresses, especially in providing a link between diet and nutritional stress during periods of growth and development. Este estudio examina los microdefectos internos del esmalte y los datos isotopicos incrementales de la dentina para reconstruir el estres de la vida temprana y las historias dieteticas de individuos indigenas enterrados en la Mision Santa Catalina de Guale (entre los anos 1605 y 1680), en St. Catherines Island, Georgia. La misionizacion espanola en America del Norte esta asociada con el cambio en la dieta y el aumento del estres sistemico en poblaciones indigenas. Se puede abordar la desnutricion como fuente de estres sistemico al integrar los datos isotopicos incrementales con los registros de defectos del esmalte. Se analizo un canino permanente de catorce individuos para identificar defectos en el esmalte y se seleccionaron siete submuestras para el analisis incremental de δ 13C y δ 15N. Los resultados revelan altos niveles de estres en la vida temprana ya que un 93% de individuos muestran defectos en el esmalte con un promedio de 4,4 defectos/individuo. Las cronologias de estres muestran que las personas experimentaron la mayor frecuencia de estres entre los 2,5 y 4,5 anos de edad, un periodo asociado con el destete en muchas sociedades tradicionales. Los valores δ 15N y δ 13C posteriores al destete indican una dieta mixta de maiz y alimentos marinos, con valores mas cercanos a lo que se espera de una dieta rica en maiz (9,9 ‰ y –11,4 ‰, respectivamente). En cuatro individuos, los valores de δ 15N disminuyen en promedio 2 ‰ y los valores de δ 13C aumentan gradualmente un promedio de 0,7 ‰ durante la infancia y la ninez temprana. Estos individuos muestran defectos del esmalte asociados con la disminucion de δ 15N y el aumento de los valores de δ 13C, lo que sugiere el estres asociado con el destete y una transicion hacia una dieta basada en maiz. Este estudio subraya la importancia de combinar los datos isotopicos y paleopatologicos para explorar las fuentes del estres sistemico, especialmente al proporcionar un vinculo entre la dieta y el estres nutricional durante los periodos de crecimiento y desarrollo.

Beginning some 10,000 years ago, humans began a dramatic alteration in living conditions relating especially to the shift in lifeway from foraging to farming. In addition to the initiation of and increasing focus on the production and consumption of domesticated plant carbohydrates, this revolutionary transformation in diet occasioned a decline in mobility and an increased size and agglomeration of populations in semipermanent or permanent settlements. These changes in life conditions presented an opportunity for increased transmission of pathogenic microbes from host to host, such as those that cause major health threats affecting most of the 7.5 billion members of our species today. This article discusses the bioarchaeology of infectious disease, focusing on tuberculosis, treponematosis, dental caries, and periodontitis, all of which continue to contribute to high levels of morbidity and mortality among the world's populations today.

OBJECTIVES The transition from foraging to farming is usually associated with unprecedented population densities coupled with an increase in fertility and population growth. However, little is known about the biological effects of such demographic changes during the Neolithic. In the present work, we test the relationship between diachronic changes in population size, relative exposure to developmental stressors, and patterns of dental fluctuating asymmetry in the Neolithic population of Catalhoyuk (Turkey, 7,100-5,950 cal BC). MATERIALS AND METHODS We calculate fluctuating asymmetry of mesio-distal and bucco-lingual diameters of upper and lower permanent canines and first and second molars on a large (N = 259) sample representing adults of both sexes and various age classes. RESULTS Results show only a moderate decrease of fluctuating asymmetry during the late phase of occupation of the site, possibly linked to a decrease in population density, and no differences in asymmetry between sexes. DISCUSSION Though preliminary, our data reflect the presence of developmental stressors throughout the occupation of the site, albeit with a slight improvement in living conditions during the latest periods of occupation. At the same time, these data confirm the key role of diet as buffer against the detrimental effects of fluctuating demographic pressures on the biology of prehistoric human populations.

This chapter considers both Hafit Period monumental tombs and Umm an-Nar towers that were developed during the Early Bronze Age in North-Central Oman. The author considers these monuments as communicative to the local community rather than emphasizing the messages that monumental architecture may have served for non-locals. While both monuments may have marked access to resources, they did so in opposite ways. Participation in the mortuary ritual provided access to the living via resources marked by the dead, whereas the tower limited access to water through social and physical exclusion. Simultaneously, these different types of monuments signaled two disparate social ideologies: in one case, group members may have sought to access and leverage specific resource nodes; and in the other, group members may have sought to leverage access to specific resources in order to control access to an entire network of resources.

Subsistence of the first inhabitants of the New World has been largely debated among researchers interested in past lifeways. In this article, we focus on the subsistence of these early inhabitants using skeletal material excavated at Lagoa Santa, central Brazil. To contextualize these data, we provide a thorough review of Paleoamerican diet, discussing the big-game hunting hypothesis in light of botanical and zooarchaeological data from North and South America. This review shows a diversity of subsistence strategies in the first inhabitants of the New World as responses to variable ecological conditions. Our skeletal study shows that Lagoa Santa has significantly higher prevalence of dental caries than hunter–gatherer series from the Americas. These results strongly suggest that the big-game hunting hypothesis does not hold for central Brazil, showing the importance of plant resources in the subsistence of Paleoamericans.

Climate change has diverse effects on populations depending on their local contexts. This paper examines bioarchaeological samples from central Europe to elucidate the impacts of the Little Ice Age (LIA) on populations living in non-marginal environments. Frequency and severity of multiple skeletal indicators (linear enamel hypoplasia [LEH], cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis, and lower limb osteoperiostitis) are assessed from four German and Austrian skeletal series ( N = 170). Earlier periods (Medieval Climate Anomaly/Little Ice Age [MCA/LIA]) were compared to the later, peak-LIA to test hypotheses predicting temporal increase in indicator frequency and severity. Multiple LEH defects per tooth are more common in the peak-LIA, though LEH prevalence is not different, likely due to the near ubiquity of this indicator in the samples. Lower limb osteoperiostitis is more frequent and severe in the peak-LIA than in the other periods, but cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis are more common in the MCA/LIA. The complexity of these results underscores how local contexts, historical selective pressures, and pathological processes interact to influence human biological responses to climate change. Keywords: Stress; climate; Little Ice Age; cribra orbitalia; porotic hyperostosis; osteoperiostitis; linear enamel hypoplasia Der Klimawandel hat unterschiedliche Auswirkungen auf die Bevolkerung, abhangig von ihrem lokalen Kontext. In diesem Beitrag werden bioarchaologische Proben aus Mitteleuropa untersucht, um die Auswirkungen der Kleinen Eiszeit (LIA) auf Populationen in nicht-marginalen Umgebungen aufzuklaren. Haufigkeit und Schwere von multiplen skelettalen Indikatoren (lineare Schmelzhypoplasie [LEH], Cribra orbitalia und porotische Hyperostose und Osteoporose der unteren Extremitaten) werden aus vier deutschen und osterreichischen Skelettserien ( N = 170) bestimmt. Fruhere Perioden (Mittelalterliche Klimaanomalie/Kleine Eiszeit [MCA/LIA]) wurden mit dem spateren Peak-LIA verglichen, um Hypothesen zu testen, die eine zeitliche Zunahme der Indikatorfrequenz und -schwere vorhersagen. Mehrere LEH-Defekte pro Zahn sind im Peak-LIA ublicher, obwohl die LEH-Pravalenz nicht unterschiedlich ist, wahrscheinlich aufgrund der weiten Verbreitung dieses Indikators in den Proben. Die Osteoperiostitis der unteren Extremitat ist haufiger und in der LIA hoher als in den anderen Perioden, aber Cribra orbitalia und porotische Hyperostose sind haufiger in der MCA/LIA. Die Komplexitat dieser Ergebnisse unterstreicht, wie lokale Kontexte, historische Selektionsdrucke und pathologische Prozesse interagieren, um die biologischen Reaktionen des Menschen auf den Klimawandel zu beeinflussen. Keywords: Stress; Klimawandel

During the Neolithic, mortuary practices in the Near East sometimes involved intramural burial and often some type of removal or caching of the bony elements of the head. Reports of defleshing are described in the literature, but there is little published evidence for other surface modifications of human remains. In his 1960s publications on the Neolithic site of Catalhoyuk, James Mellaart proposed that individuals were defleshed by vultures prior to intramural interment. This hypothesis was predominantly based on the discovery of wall paintings of large raptorial birds hovering over headless bodies, coupled with the various states of disarticulation of many of the human remains excavated on site, including ‘headless’ bodies (those missing the cranium and mandible), as well as isolated crania and other skeletal elements. Despite these observations, subsequent osteological analysis has failed to show definitive taphonomic evidence of such practices. However, current forensic work on human decomposition has shed new light on the effects of vulture defleshing on human remains. Initial results indicate that vultures are adept at soft tissue removal, defleshing a body in a matter of hours over the course of several visits. Moreover, the skeleton can be left largely articulated (at least initially) and display limited skeletal marks from the defleshing process. In light of these recent taphonomic studies, the possibility of vulture defleshing at Catalhoyuk is re-visited here. In many subfloor burials, body position, skeletal articulation, and skeletal completeness are consistent with a taphonomic signature of defleshing prior to interment. Furthermore, defleshing would have facilitated body part removal and may have been necessary for intramural interments. This re-assessment of mortuary treatments at Catalhoyuk may provide a new way of evaluating the skeletal assemblage at the site and can serve as a model for the interpretation of vulture iconography in the ancient Near East.

Long-distance exchange of copper objects during the Archaic Period (ca. 8000-3000 cal B.P.) is a bellwether of emergent social complexity in the Eastern Woodlands. Originating from the Great Lakes, the Canadian Maritimes, and the Appalachian Mountains, Archaic-age copper is found in significant amounts as far south as Tennessee and in isolated pockets at major trade centers in Louisiana but is absent from most of the southeastern United States. Here we report the discovery of a copper band found with the cremated remains of at least seven individuals buried in the direct center of a Late Archaic shell ring located in coastal Georgia. Late Archaic shell rings are massive circular middens thought to be constructed, in part, during large-scale ritual gatherings and feasting events. The exotic copper and cremated remains are unique in coastal South Carolina and Georgia where Archaic-age cremations are conspicuously absent and no other Archaic copper objects have been reported. Elemental data produced through laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry shows the copper originated from the Great Lakes, effectively extending Archaic copper exchange almost 1,000 km beyond its traditional boundaries. Similarities in mortuary practices and the presence of copper originating from the Great Lakes reveal the presence of long-distance exchange relations spanning vast portions of the eastern United States and suggest an unexpected level of societal complexity at shell ring localities. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that elite actors solidified their positions through ritual gatherings and the long-distance exchange of exotic objects during the Archaic.

Food has long served as a mechanism for identifying and reinforcing social structures, but while carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis has provided important identity-based evidence of past diets, the cyclical and stable/fluid nature of food consumption practices across the life course has been relatively neglected. In this paper, the large human assemblage at Çatalhöyük with all age groups present has enabled diet reconstruction of the rarely represented groups of older children and adolescents as well as for the young, middle and old adult age groups of both sexes. These data show how neonates reflect foods available to pregnant mothers, that infants were breastfed until around 18 months of age and weaned by three years of age, older children had a different diet compared to adolescents and young adults who, in turn, differed from middle and older adults. The absence of sex-related differences suggests changes in food consumed at Çatalhöyük accompanied the marking of transitions through the life course.

The long-term excavations at Catalhoyuk, a Neolithic site in central Turkey, have uncovered over 100 houses, which have been associated with at least 400 human skeletons and one million recorded animal bones. This large assemblage has enabled an extensive programme of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, which was designed to explore animal hunting and herding practices and how human diet varied according to age, sex, burial practice, location and over time. The isotope values for sheep and cattle show how both were herded in a range of locations which consisted of pure C3 and also mixed C3/C4 plant locations. We sampled animals from middens adjacent to the buildings where people were buried to provide house-by-house diet reconstruction. However, very few of the people buried in the houses demonstrate a clear dietary relationship to these associated middens. Similarly, people buried in the same house seem to have had different diets to one another. We argue that these data suggest diet at Neolithic Catalhoyuk was a carefully structured, long-lived and repetitious process and that houses may not have functioned as the simple domestic units that they are often assumed to be.

Adult stature variation is commonly attributed to differential stress-levels during develop- ment. However, due to selective mortality and heteroge- neous frailty, a population's tall stature may be more indicative of high selective pressures than of positive life conditions. This article examines stature in a biocultural context and draws parallels between bioarchaeological and living populations to explore the multidimensional- ity of stature variation in the past. This study investi- gates: 1) stature differences between archaeological populations exposed to low or high stress (inferred from skeletal indicators); 2) similarities in growth retardation patterns between archaeological and living groups; and 3) the apportionment of variance in growth outcomes at the regional level in archaeological and living popula- tions. Anatomical stature estimates were examined in relation to skeletal stress indicators (cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis, linear enamel hypoplasia) in two medieval bioarchaeological populations. Stature and bio- cultural information were gathered for comparative liv- ing samples from South America. Results indicate 1) significant (P < 0.01) differences in stature between groups exposed to different levels of skeletal stress; 2) greater prevalence of stunting among living groups, with similar patterns in socially stratified archaeological and modern groups; and 3) a degree of regional variance in growth outcomes consistent with that observed for highly selected traits. The relationship between early stress and growth is confounded by several factors— including catch-up growth, cultural buffering, and social inequality. The interpretations of early life conditions based on the relationship between stress and stature should be advanced with caution. Am J Phys Anthropol

The peopling, origins, and early prehistory of the Americas are topics of intense debate. However, few studies have used human remains to document and interpret patterns of health and lifestyle of Paleoamericans. This study provides the first investigation to characterize oral health in a series of early Holocene skeletal remains from Lagoa Santa, Brazil, a locality containing the remains of some of the earliest inhabitants of South America (10,000–7,000 BP). The sample is composed of 949 teeth and 1925 alveoli from an estimated 113 individuals excavated from 17 archaeological sites located in the State of Minas Gerais. We compare dental caries and abscess prevalence at Lagoa Santa to a large sample of human skeletons from the Western Hemisphere Project (WHP) database using both individual and tooth/alveolus count methods. In addition, antemortem tooth loss and tooth wear were analyzed in Lagoa Santa by sex and age. The results show that Lagoa Santa dental caries and abscess prevalence are significantly higher than observed among other hunter–gatherers included in the WHP database, except when abscess prevalence is considered by individual count. Adult females have less tooth wear coupled with higher prevalence of dental caries and antemortem tooth loss than adult males. These results point to an unexpected record of poor oral health at Lagoa Santa, especially among females. A diet based on a highly cariogenic combination of wild tubers and fruits is suggested as an explanation for the elevated rate, characterizing an early adaptation to a tropical environment in South America. Am J Phys Anthropol 154:11–26, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Winkler and colleagues investigate the relationship between social status and well-being among the Guale from St. Catherines Island in Spanish Florida (A.D. 1607–1680). Specifically, they examine stress through dental caries, linear enamel hypoplasias, tooth size, and long bone length. Their analysis of mortuary data identifies postcontact social status variation on the basis of funerary offerings and proximity to the altar, and they integrate ethnohistorical evidence to enrich their interpretations. While Winkler and colleagues do not find any direct relationship between stress markers and mortuary offerings, there were spatial relationships between involving well-being and proximity (or distance) from the altar. While the study of colonialism in Spanish Florida has a long history, this work at St. Catherines Island represents new directions involving the spatial dimensions of mortuary and skeletal data on an intracemetery level. Winkler and colleagues conclude with discussions about their findings within the context of Spanish colonialism in Spanish Florida and the implications for bioarchaeology of colonialism.

This chapter presents an overview of the record of reconstructing and interpreting diet from the study of craniofacial morphology and teeth, especially as the orofacial record pertains to masticatory function, nutritional quality, and health. This record is an essential element of the study of diet as it is represented in the archaeological past. Analysis of the orofacial skeleton from eastern North America reveals temporal trends relating to or arising from the introduction and intensification of farming based on plant cultigens, especially maize. These trends are characterized as including (1) reduction of facial robusticity and occlusal surface wear; (2) increase in growth disruption owing to poor-quality nutrition; and (3) increased prevalence of dental caries and related pathology caused by focus on plant carbohydrates.

In this paper we present an overview of an increasingly global community of physical (biological) anthropologists as it pertains to the study of living human variation (human biology) and as it is represented in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (AJPA), focusing especially on the period of 2001–2007, when Clark Spencer Larsen served as editor in chief. The journal was founded by Ales Hrdlicka in order to provide professional identity of physical (biological) anthropology as practiced in the United States. By the mid-twentieth century, the journal editorship under T. Dale Stewart called for greater presence of international research collaboration and publication in AJPA. By 1960, international collaboration and non-U.S. authorship began to have significant presence in the journal, a pattern that has continued to the present. As in the pre-2000 period, although non-U.S. contributions cover all major topics in human biology, they tend to focus on population genetics and population history. For th...

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a widespread degenerative disease of skeletal joints and is often associated with senescence in vertebrates. OA commonly results from excessive or abnormal mechanical loading of weight-bearing joints ('wear-and-tear'), arising from heavy long-term use or specific injuries; yet, in the absence of injury, the aetiology of OA remains obscure. We show that poor nutritional conditions experienced by moose (Alces alces) early in life are linked to greater prevalence of OA during senescence as well as reduced life expectancy. Moreover, we also found a negative relationship between kill rate by wolves (Canis lupus) and prevalence of OA, suggesting a potential connection between senescence of prey and the population ecology of predator-prey systems. This association between OA and early malnutrition also provides a basis for explaining the observation in anthropology that OA became more prevalent in native Americans as their diet become poorer - the result of relying more on corn and agriculture and less on hunting and gathering.

Variation in limb proportions between prehistoric Jomon and Yayoi people of Japan are explored by this study. Jomon people were the descendents of Pleistocene nomads who migrated to the Japanese Islands around 30,000 yBP. Phenotypic and genotypic evidence indicates that Yayoi people were recent migrants to Japan from continental Northeast Asia who likely interbred with Jomon foragers. Limb proportions of Jomon and Yayoi people were compared using RMA regression and "Quick-Test" calculations to investigate relative variability between these two groups. Cluster and principal components analyses were performed on size-standardized limb lengths and used to compare Jomon and Yayoi people with other groups from various climatic zones. Elongated distal relative to proximal limb lengths were observed among Jomon compared to Yayoi people. Jomon limb proportions were similar to human groups from temperate/tropical climates at lower latitudes, while Yayoi limb proportions more closely resemble groups from colder climates at higher latitudes. Limb proportional similarities with groups from warmer environments among Jomon foragers likely reflect morphological changes following Pleistocene colonization of the Japanese Islands. Cold-derived limb proportions among the Yayoi people likely indicate retention of these traits following comparatively recent migrations to the Japanese Islands. Changes in limb proportions experienced by Jomon foragers and retention of cold-derived limb proportions among Yayoi people conform to previous findings that report changes in these proportions following long-standing evolution in a specific environment.

Introduction The influence of environment and behavior on skull morphology was first discussed centuries ago. In the fifth century BC, Herodotus remarked on apparent differences in cranial robusticity between Persians and Egyptians: “The skulls of Persians are so weak that if you so much as throw a pebble at one of them, you will pierce it; but the Egyptian skulls are so strong that a blow with a large stone will hardly break them.” He interpreted the strength of Egyptian skulls to the lifelong exposure of their heads to the sun. Since the time of Herodotus, the influence of environment and behavior, no matter how specious the interpretation, has been only minimally considered in discussions of cranial morphology in archaeological remains. Beginning in the eighteenth century, osteologists relied on craniofacial variation for determining population history and classification, with little attention given to the biological significance of observed patterns, especially from a population perspective (Armelagos et al., 1982; Carlson & Van Gerven, 1979; Cook, 2006; Larsen & Walker, 2010; Powell, 2005). As with the study of long bone morphology discussed in Chapter 6, there has been a gradual reorientation from typological/historical to population variation analyses. This emphasis focuses on processes and functions that influence cranial morphology, revealing the adaptive and behavioral significance of variation from a population perspective. This chapter’s central discussion is built on the premise that craniofacial morphology is a biological ensemble, influenced by processes involving the central role of the masticatory complex – composed of the jaws, teeth, and associated muscle – bone interactions – during growth and development and throughout adulthood (Daegling, 2010; Lieberman, 2011). Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence craniofacial growth, just as with any other skeletal tissue in the body. Throughout life, the cranium grows and adapts in an epigenetic context where environmental and functional factors operate on an underlying genetic infrastructure (Carlson, 2005).

Introduction Physiological disruption resulting from impoverished environmental circumstances – “stress” – is central to the study of health and well-being and the reconstruction and understanding of health, adaptation, and behavior in both earlier and contemporary human societies. Stress involves disruption of homeostasis, or the maintenance of a constancy of conditions that keep the body’s internal environment stable. Stress is a product of three key factors, including (1) environmental constraints, (2) cultural systems, and (3) host resistance. Goodman and others (Goodman, 1991; Goodman & Armelagos, 1989; Goodman & Martin, 2002; Goodman, Martin et al., 1984, 1988; Klaus, 2012; Martin et al., 1991) modeled the interaction of these factors at both the individual and population levels (Figure 2.1). This model of health and context emphasizes the role of environment in providing both the resources necessary for survival and the stressors that may affect the health and well-being of a population, yet includes the profound influence of culture in health outcomes. Cultural systems serve as protective buffers from the environment, such as shelter and clothing as buffers against temperature extremes. Cultural systems can be highly effective at mitigating behaviors necessary for extraction of important nutrients and resources from the environment, thus supporting the ability to maintain stability. It appears impossible for the full spectrum of stressors in an environment to be buffered against; some inevitably slip through the filters of the cultural system. In these instances, the individual may exhibit a biological stress response observable at the tissue level (bones and teeth). Importantly, stress, buffering systems, and tissue-level responses are not linked by a simplistic, linear relationship. Instead, they can interact with and influence other variables within other levels of the model. Physiological disruption feeds directly back into environmental constraints and cultural systems. This model makes clear that health is a key variable in the adaptive process.