Bioarchaeology
ANT 531
(3 credits)
Instructor:
Email:
Office:
Phone:
Amy Roache-Fedchenko
asroache@maxwell.syr.edu
043 Eggers
443-9020
Course Description:
This course will provide students with a brief overview and basic understanding
of Bioarchaeology. Topics to be covered in class will focus on some of the main issues
and/or topics archaeologists, bioarchaeologists, and anthropologists face in their
academic and applied research. Students will learn the basic theory and method in
Bioarchaeology in order to apply these concepts, and readings associated with the themes
of the course, to engage in an anthropological bioarchaeology. Examining physical
characteristics of human remains, specifically focusing on osteological features, students
will be able to identify cultural influences on the human skeleton. Illustration of each
thematic concept including ethics will be covered in course readings and papers.
Prerequisites:
Students are required to have taken at least one archaeology class and one
physical/biological anthropological lower level class or a human anatomy-physiology
course.
Major Goals:
 Become familiar with Bioarchaeology methods and applications
 Form and articulate critical responses to the readings and discussions
 Think anthropologically about the topics presented
 Improve writing skills and research abilities
Course Requirements and Guiding Principles:
Students are expected to engage in the required readings, perform independent
research, and articulate a critical response and anthropological analysis of the literature
and research. Some information will be conveyed in lecture form but class discussions
make up the majority of the class time and students are expected to participate fully.
Because this class operates mainly on group discussion, Respect is the guiding
principle that allows this class to be successful as a whole and to each individual. This
includes but is not limited to: allowing classmates to speak complete ideas without
interruption, no cells phones (not even on silent mode), come to class prepared.
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Assignments:
Students are required to write a 5-6 page paper reviewing each unit after it has
been covered in class discussions. The paper should be a critical reflection of the
material covered, the required readings, and the inclusion of analytical questions or
elaboration of the topic not discussed in class.
In addition to the required readings, each week one student will present to the
class a summary and review of an article or book relating to the topic and assigned
readings. Students are required to meet with the instructor before reviewing an article, so
that an appropriate article or book is chosen.
Graduate students are required to write two 10-12 page papers reviewing a unit of
the student’s choice after it has been covered. The paper should be a critical reflection of
the material covered, include outside sources, and propose possible avenues of topical
inclusion into their research related to their graduate studies. A final paper (15-20 pages)
is expected and should cover a topic of the student’s choice as approved by the instructor.
Grade Distribution:
Undergraduate
Graduate
Unit One Paper
20% Unit One Paper
25%
Unit Two Paper
20% Unit Two Paper
25%
Unit Three Paper
20% Final Paper
30%
Unit Four Paper
20% Reading Critique and Presentation 10%
Reading Critique and Presentation 15% Attendance and Participation
5%
Attendance and Participation
5%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TOTAL
100%
100%
Required Books:
Chamberlain, Andrew and Michael Parker Pearson
2001 Earthly Remains: The History and Science of Preserved Human Bodies. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Isçan, M.Y. and K.A.R. Kennedy (ed.)
1989 Reconstruction of Life from the Skeleton. New York: Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Mays, Simon
1998 The Archaeology of Human Bones. New York: Routledge.
Pearson, Mike Parker
1999 The Archaeology of Death and Burial. College Station, TX: Texas A&M
University Press.
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Academic Integrity:
Cheating and/or plagiarism will not be tolerated. Students are expected to comply with
the Academic Standards Policy as specified in the Syracuse University Academic Rules
and Regulations document. Penalty may include in failure of the class and/or ejection
from the university. For more information on plagiarism and the Syracuse University
Compact on Academic Honesty please see:
http://www-hl.syr.edu/cas-pages/PromAcademicHonesty.htm
Students with Special Needs:
If you are a student who may need academic accommodations due to a disability, please
contact the instructor to discuss your individual needs. Students who may need
accommodations for this class should be registered with the Office of Disability Services
(ODS), 804 University Avenue, Room 309, (315) 443-4498 or (315) 443-1371 (TDD).
Student Athletes:
Students involved in sports who anticipate missing class due to events in their sport must
inform me in advance so that alternate arrangements can be made. In order for absences
to be excused, a signed permission form from your coach must be provided.
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Unit One: Introduction to Bioarchaeology
Week 1
 Introduction to Bioarchaeology
 Brief History of Bioarchaeology
 Principles of Bioarchaeology
 Applications of Bioarchaeology in Anthropology and Archaeology
Required Readings:
Bass, William
1987 Human Osteology: A Laboratory and Field Manual, 3rd edition. Columbia, MO:
Missouri Archaeological Society.
Pages 1-8 – This brief discussion introduces students to the reason why bone is
examined, provides a couple diagrams of the human skeleton for students, and identifies
some steps taken to identification of bone. Due to the outdated, bias information
presented, excluded in their readings from chapter one are the sections on measurement,
sexing, aging, and stature estimation.
HANDOUTS: Appendix 1 (provides students with a glossary of terms they may come
across in the course).
Isçan, Mehmet and Kenneth Kennedy
Chapter 1:
Reconstruction of Life from the Skeleton: An Introduction (p. 1-10)
Hoppa, Robert, and Charles FitzGerald
1999 From Head to Toe: Integrating Studies from Bones and Teeth in Biological
Anthropology. IN Human Growth in the Past, ed. Hoppa and FitzGerald.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lansen, Clark Spenser
2000 Skeletons in Our Closet: Revealing Our Past through Bioarchaeology. Princeton:
Princeton University Press.
Chapter 1: Introduction: Tales from the Dead: What Bones Tell Us about Our Past, and
Why We Should Know pg. 3-12
Week 2
 Archaeological Methods in Bioarchaeology
 Excavation Processes
 Prehistoric and Historic
 Forensic
 Case Studies of Methods
Required Readings:
Bass, William
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HANDOUT: Appendix 2 from Human Osteology: A Laboratory and Field Manual, 3rd
edition. (a brief description of the process of excavating human bone).
Harrington, Judith and Robert Blakely
1995 Bones in the Basement: Bioarchaeology of Historic Remains in Nonmortuary
Contexts. IN Bodies of Evidence: Reconstructing History through Skeletal
Remains, ed. Anne Grauer. New York: Wiley-Liss. pg. 105-120.
Mays, Simon
Chapter 2: The Nature of an Archaeological Human Bone Assemblage (20 pgs)
Stojanowski, Christopher
2005 The Bioarchaeology of Identity in Spanish Colonial Florida: Social and
Evolutionary Transformation before, during, and after Demographic Collapse.
American Anthropologist 107(3): 417-431.
Recommended Readings:
Arriaza, Bernardo
1995 Chinchorro Bioarchaeology: Chronology and Mummy Seriation. Latin American
Antiquity 6(1): 35-55.
Unit Two: Human Osteology
Week 3
 General Review of Human Osteology
 Anatomy and Physiology of the Human Skeleton
 Processes of Bone Growth
 Why Examine Human Skeletons?
 Anthropological Osteology – Case Studies
Required Readings:
Bass, William
Handout review
Bogin, Barry
1999 Patterns of Human Growth, 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 2: Basic Principles of Human Growth
Mays, Simon
Chapter 1: The Nature of Bones and Teeth (12 pgs)
Metress, Seamus
1989 Human Osteology for the Archaeologist. Occasional Publications in
Northeastern Anthropology 10: 1-125.
(Place this book on reserve in the library and/or in the lab)
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Saunders, Shelley
1992 Subadult Skeletons and Growth Related Studies. IN Skeletal Biology of Past
Peoples: Research Methods, ed. Saunders and Katzenberg. New York: WileyLiss.
Week 4
 Identifying the Person
 Sex, Age, Race Signifiers
 Methods in Identification
 Problems and Critiques in Identification
Required Readings:
American Association of Physical Anthropologists
1996 AAPA Statement on Biological Aspects of Race. American Journal of Physical
Anthropology, 101: 569-70.
Lucile E. St. Hoyme and Mahmet Isçan
Determination of Sex and Race: Accuracy and Assumptions (p. 53-94)
Mays, Simon
Chapter 3 The Determination of Age and Sex
Sattenspiel, Lisa and Henry Harpending
1983 Stable Populations and Skeletal Age. American Antiquity 48(3): 489-498.
Sauer NJ. 1992. Forensic Anthropology and the Concept of Race: If Races Don’t Exist,
Why are Forensic Anthropologists so Good at Identifying them? Social Science
and Medicine. 34(2):107-111.
Recommended Readings:
Armelagos and Goodman. 1998. Race, Racism, and Anthropology. IN Building a New
Biocultural Synthesis, Goodman and Leatherman, eds.. U Michigan Press. pp
359-377.
Brace CL. 2002. The Concept of Race in Physical Anthropology. IN, Physical
Anthropology : Original Readings in Method and Practice, Peregrine et al. eds.,.
Cambridge University Press. pp 20-35.
Livingston FB. 1964. On the Nonexistance of Human Races. IN The Concept of Race,
Montagu ed. pp46-59.
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Unit Three: Identifying Pathologies
Week 5
 Infectious Diseases
 Methods and Signifiers
 Case Studies: Infectious Diseases
 Tuberculosis
 Syphilis
 Scurvy
 Leprosy
Required Readings:
Kelley, Marc
Infectious Disease p. 191-200 IN Isçan and Kennedy
Mays, Simon
Chapter 6 Bone Disease p. 122-145
Tayles, N. and H.R. Buckley
2004 Leprosy and Tuberculosis in Iron Age Southeast Asia? American Journal of
Physical Anthropology 125:239-256.
Recommended Readings:
Matos, Vitor and Ana Luisa Santos
2006 On the Trail of Pulmonary Tuberculosis Based on Rib Lesions: Results from the
Human Identified Skeletal Collection from the Museu Bocage (Lisbon, Portugal).
American Journal of Physical Anthropology 130:190-200.
Pfeiffer, Susan
2000 Paleohistology: Health and Disease, IN Biological Anthropology of the Human
Skeleton, ed. Katzenberg and Saunders, pg. 287-302. New York: Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Week 6
 What Can Be Learned from Dentition?
 Determining Dietary Practices in the Past
 Dental Disease and Conditions
 Case Studies:
Enamel hyperplasia
Abscess
Alveolar Atrophy
Required Readings:
Hillson, Simon
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1996 Dental Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 12: Dental Disease
Larsen, Craig, Sering, Schoeninger, Russell, Hutchinson, and Williamson
1998 Cross Homestead: Life and Death on the Midwestern Frontier. IN Bodies of
Evidence: Reconstructing History through Skeletal Remains, ed. Anne Grauer.
New York: Wiley-Liss. pg. 139-160.
Lukacs, John
Dental Paleopathology: Methods for Reconstructing Dietary Patterns. pg. 261-286
IN Isçan and Kennedy
Mays, Simon
Chapter 7: Dental Disease pg. 146-161
Recommended Readings:
Strouhal, Eugen
1998 Paleopathological Evidence of Jaw Tumors. IN Dental Anthropology:
Fundamentals, Limits, and Prospects, ed. Atl, Rösing, and Teschler-Nicola. New
York: SpringerWein. pg. 277-292.
Schultz, Carli-Thiele, Schmidt-Schultz, Kierdorf, Kierdorf, Teegen, and Kreutz
1998 Enamel Hypoplasias in Archaeological Skeletal Remains. IN Dental
Anthropology: Fundamentals,Limits, and Prospects, ed. Atl, Rösing, and
Teschler-Nicola. New York: SpringerWein. pg. 293-311.
Atl, Kurt,m and Sandra Pichler
1998 Artificial Modifications on Human Teeth. IN Dental Anthropology:
Fundamentals, Limits, and Prospects, ed. Atl, Rösing, and Teschler-Nicola. New
York: SpringerWein. pg. 387-416.
Week 7
 Congenital Abnormalities and Infectious Disease
 Spinal Bifida
 Scoliosis
 Paget’s Disease
 Archaeology of Disease: Case Study
Required Readings:
Larsen, Clark Spencer
1997 Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 3: Exposure to Infectious Pathogens
Turkel, Spenser Jay
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Congenital Abnormalties in Skeletal Populations p. 109-128 IN Isçan and Kennedy
Tayles, Nancy
1996 Anemia, Genetic Diseases, and Malaria in Prehistoric Mainland Southeast Asia.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology 101:11-27.
Recommended Readings:
Aaron, Jean E., Juliet Rogers, and John Kanis
1992 Paleohistology of Paget’s Disease in Two Medieval Skeletons. American Journal
of Physical Anthorpology 89(3): 325-331.
Jacobi, Keith, Della Collins Cook, Robert Corruccini, and Jerome Handler
1992 Congenital Syphilis in the Past: Slaves at Newton Plantation, Barbados, West
Indies. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 89(2): 145-158.
Unit Four – Stress and Trauma
Week 8
 Dietary Stressors
 Malnutrition
 Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency
Anemia
Osteoporosis
Vitamin D deficiency
Scurvy (review)
Required Readings:
Larsen, Clark Spencer
1997 Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 2: Stress and Deprivation During the Years of Growth and Development and
Adulthood
Wood, James W., George R. Milner, Henry C. Harpending, and Kenneth M. Weiss
1992 The Osteological Paradox: Problems of Inferring Prehistoric Health from Skeletal
Samples. Current Anthropology 33(4): 343-370.
Wright, Lori and Francisco Chew
1998 Porotic Hyperostosis and Paleoepidemiology: A Forensic Perspective on Anemia
among the Ancient Maya. American Anthropologist 100(4): 924-939.
Recommended Readings:
Higgins, Rosanne and Joyce Sirianni
1998 An Assessment of Health and Mortality of Nineteenth Century Rochester, New
York Using Historic Records and the Highland Park Skeletal Collection. IN
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Bodies of Evidence: Reconstructing History through Skeletal Remains, ed.
Anne Grauer. New York: Wiley-Liss. pg. 121-138.
Ortner, D., Butler, W., Cafarella, J. and L. Milligan
2001 Evidence of Probable Scurvy in Subadults from Archaeological Sites in North
America. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 114:343-351.
Stuart-Macadam
Nutritional Deficiency Diseases: A Survey of Scurvy, Rickets, and Iron-Deficiency
Anemia p. 201-222 IN Isçan and Kennedy
Week 9
 Occupational Stressors
 Degenerative Joint Disease
 Arthritis
 Muscle Tears
 Fused Vertebrae
 What do these stressors tell us about past societies and peoples?
Required Readings:
Derevenski, JoAnna R. Sofaer
2000 Sex Differences in Activity-Related Osseous Change in the Spine and the
Gendered Division of Labor at Ensay and Wharram Percy, UK. American
Journal of Physical Anthropology 111:333-354.
Kennedy, Kenneth
Skeletal Markers of Occupational Stress p. 129-160 IN Isçan and Kennedy
Larsen, Clark Spencer
1997 Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 5: Activity Patterns: 1. Articular and Muscular Modifications
Week 10
 Trauma
 Fractures
 Cut Marks
 Blunt Force and Sharp Impact
 Violent vs. Accidental Trauma: Case Studies (includes trephination)
Required Readings:
Kuckelman, Kristin, Ricky Lightfoot, and Debra Martin
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2002 The Bioarchaeology and Taphonomy of Violence at Castle Rock and Sand
Canyon Pueblos, Southwestern Colorado. American Antiquity 67(3): 486-513.
Larsen, Clark Spencer
1997 Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 4: Injury and Violent Death
Mays, Simon
Chapter 8: Traces of Injury on the Skeleton pg. 162-181
Recommended Readings:
Djurić, Roberts, Rakočević, Djonić, and Lešić
2006 Fractures in Late Medieval Skeletal Populations from Serbia. American Journal
of Physical Anthropology 130:167-178.
Standen, Vivien and Bernardo Arriaza
2000 Trauma in the Preceramic Coastal Populations of Northern Chile: Violence or
Occupational Hazards? American Journal of Physical Anthropology 112:239249.
Unit Five: Archaeology of Death
Week 11
 Mortuary Practices
 Processing the Body
Required Readings:
Mays, Simon
Chapter 11: Cremated Bone pg. 207-224
Pearson:
Chapter 1: Learning from the Dead (20 pgs)
Chapter 3: Reading the Body (27 pgs)
Recommended Readings:
Merbs, Charles
1967 Cremated Human Remains from Point of Pines, Arizona: A New Approach.
American Antiquity 32(4): 498-506.
Stewart, David
2005 Burial at Sea: Separating and Placing the Dead During the Age of Sail. Mortality
10(4): 276-285.
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Week 12
 Burial Practices
 Cemeteries
 Archaeology of Burials
 Examining Material Culture
 Methods of Anthropological Analysis
Required Readings:
Pearson
Chapter 4: Status, Rank and Power (23 pgs)
Chapter 6: Placing the Dead (18 pgs)
Chapter 7: The Human Experience of Death (29 pgs)
Recommended Readings:
Little, Barbara, Kim Lanphear, and Douglas Owsley
1992 Mortuary Display and Status in a Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American Cemetery
in Manassas, Virginia. American Antiquity 57(3): 397-418.
Meskell, Lynn
1999 Archaeologies of Life and Death. American Journal of Archaeology 103(2): 181199.
Porter, Anne
2002 The Dynamics of Death: Ancestors, Pastoralism, and the Origins of a ThirdMillennium City in Syria. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
325: 1- 36.
Unit Six: Ethics in Bioarchaeology
Week 13
 Ethical Issues and Political Considerations in Bioarchaeology
 Preservation
Required Readings:
Pearson
Chapter 8: The Politics of the Dead
Goldstein, Lynn
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Politics, Law, Pragmatics, and Human Burial Excavations: An Example from Northern
California. IN Bodies of Evidence: Reconstructing History through Skeletal Analysis, ed.
Anne Grauer.
Roberts, Daniel and John McCarthy
Decendant Community Partnering in the Archaeological and Bioanthropological
Investigation of African American Skeletal Populations: Two Interrelated Case Studies
from Philadelphia. IN Bodies of Evidence: Reconstructing History through Skeletal
Analysis, ed. Anne Grauer.
Walker, Philip
Chapter 1: Bioarchaeological Ethics: A historical Perspecitve on the Value of Human
Remains. pg. 3-41. IN Katzenberg, M. Anne and Shelley Saunders ed.
2000 Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton. New York: Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Week 14
 NAGPRA
 Legal Obligations and Process
 Perspectives and Biases of NAGPRA
Native Americans
Archaeologists
Other Scientists
 Case Studies
Required Readings:
Meighan, Clement W.
1992 Some Scholars’ Views on Reburial. American Antiquity 57(4): 704-710.
Mihesuah, Devon A.
1996 American Indians, Anthropologists, Pothunters, and Repatriation: Ethical,
Religious, and Political Differences. American Indian Quarterly 20(2): 229-237.
Riding In, James
1996 Repatriation: A Pawnee’s Perspective. American Indian Quarterly 20(2): 238250.
Critical Issues: NAGPRA
Letter Addressed to Bruce Babbitt, Sect. Of the Interior, From Keith Kintigh, Society for
American Archaeology President. (undated)
Society for American Archaeology:
Statement Concerning the Treatment of Human Remains
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Letter Addressed to Robert Stearns, Manager of National NAGPRA Program and
Katherine Stevenson, Associate Director of Cultural Resource Stewardship and
Partnerships for the Dept. of the Interior. From James A. Goold, SAA
2003 Code of Ethics of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists
1999 Repatriation Case Notes. Online Feature of Archaeological Institute of America.
< www.archaeology.org/online/features/native/case.html >
1999 Debating NAGPRA’s Effects. Online Feature of the Archaeological Institute of
America.
< www.archaeology.org/online/features/native/debate.html >
Unit Seven: Phenomenal Finds
Week 15
 Incredible Finds in Bioarchaeology
 Discussion of Case Studies
Required Readings:
Chamerlain and Pearson - Earthly Remains
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