The term bioarchaeology was first coined by British archaeologist Grahame Clark in 1972 as a reference to zooarchaeology, or the study of animal bones from archaeological sites. Redefined in 1977 by Jane Buikstra, bioarchaeology in the US now refers to the scientific study of human skeletal remains from archaeological sites, a discipline known elsewhere as osteoarchaeology or palaeo-osteology. In England and other European countries, however, bioarchaeology can still refer to any biological remains recovered and analyzed from archaeological sites but is more commonly known as environmental archaeology. Sir John Grahame Douglas Clark (1907 -1995) was a British archaeologist most notable for his work on the Mesolithic and his theories on palaeoeconomy. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Zooarchaeology (or Archaeozoology) is the study of animal remains from archaeological sites. ... An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been investigated using the discipline of archaeology. ... Environmental archaeology is the study of the long-term relationship between humans and their environments. ...

Bioarchaeology was largely born from the practices of New Archaeology, which developed in the US in the 1970s as a reaction to a mainly cultural-historical approach to understanding the past. Proponents of New Archaeology advocated using processual methods to test hypotheses about the interaction between culture and biology, or a biocultural approach. Processual archaeology arguably had its genesis in 1958 with Willey and Phillips work, Method and Theory in American Archeology when the pair stated that American archeology is anthropology or it is nothing (Willey and Phillips, 1958:2). ... Cultural-history archaeology or simply Culture history is a form of archaeological theory. ...

Yet there are ethical issues with bioarchaeology that revolve around treatment and respect for the dead. Large-scale skeletal collections were first amassed in the US in the 19th century, largely from the remains of Native Americans. No permission was ever granted from surviving family for study and display. Recently, federal laws such as NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) have allowed Native Americans to regain control over the skeletal remains of their ancestors and associated artifacts in order to reassert their cultural identities. Thus, part of the problem that bioarchaeology faces in becoming a more integral part of anthropology in the US has to do with post-colonial and native revitalization issues. A Hupa man, 1923 The term Indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the inhabitants of the Americas before its European discovery in the late 15th century, as well as many present-day ethnic groups who identify themselves with those historical peoples. ... The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is a piece of American legislation passed in 1990 requiring that the remains of all Native American peoples be returned to their repective peoples if/when they have been excavated, where the archeological team is allowed a short time for analysis before...

Bioarchaeology in Europe is not as affected by these repatriation issues as American bioarchaeology. However, because much of European archaeology has been focused on classical roots, artifacts and art have been overemphasized and Roman and post-Roman skeletal remains were nearly completely neglected until the 1980s. Prehistoric archaeology in Europe is a different story, as biological remains began to be analyzed earlier than in classical archaeology.

This relatively new field of analysis in anthropology attracts numerous college and graduate students to such institutions as Arizona State University and Ohio State University, where anthropology programs with strong physical/biological components exist. Arizona State University (ASU) is a public institution of higher education and research with several campuses located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. ... The Ohio State University (OSU) is a coeducational public research university in the U.S. state of Ohio. ...

Further reading

For a short bibliography of key works in bioarchaeology, see:

• J. Buikstra, 1977. "Biocultural dimensions of archaeological study: a regional perspective". In: Biocultural adaptation in prehistoric America, pp. 67-84. University of Georgia Press.
• M. Katzenberg and S. Saunders, eds., 2000. Biological anthropology of the human skeleton. Wiley.
• C.S. Larsen, 1997. Bioarchaeology: interpreting behavior from the human skeleton. Cambridge University Press.
• S. Mays, 1998. The archaeology of human bones. Routledge.
• M. Parker Pearson, 2001. The archaeology of death and burial. Texas A&M University Press.
• D. Ubelaker, 1989. Human skeletal remains: excavation, analysis, interpretation. Taraxacum.
• T. White, 1991. Human osteology. Academic Press.

See also

• Osteoarchaeology
• Paleopathology
• Zooarchaeology

The term bioarchaeology was first coined by British archaeologist Grahame Clark in 1972 as a reference to zooarchaeology, or the study of animal bones from archaeological sites. ... Paleopathology is the study of ancient diseases. ... Zooarchaeology (or Archaeozoology) is the study of animal remains from archaeological sites. ...

External links

• British Association of Biological Anthropologists and Osteoarchaeologists