Chapter 3. Bioarchaeology as Anthropology

Skeletal evidence of structural violence among undocumented migrants from Mexico and Central America

OBJECTIVES

We examine the prevalence and sociodemographic risk factors of skeletal indicators of stress in forensic samples of undocumented migrants from Mexico and Central America.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Cranial and dental remains of 319 migrants recovered in the Arizona and Texas borderlands were assessed for porotic hyperostosis (PH), cribra orbitalia (CO), and linear enamel hypoplasias (LEH). Logistic regression models for each condition were estimated to test for associations with biological sex, age, recovery location, and whether individuals were identified. Additional models estimated for a subsample of identified migrants included region of origin, residential context, and community indigeneity.

RESULTS

The full sample shows moderate crude prevalence of CO (9.6%) and LEH (34.1%), and a high prevalence of PH (49.6%). Significantly higher odds of PH are associated with being male (2.16 times higher), unidentified (1.89 times higher), and recovered in Arizona (3.76 times higher). Among identified migrants, we fail to find associations significant at the p < 0.05 level between skeletal stress and all sociodemographic variables except age.

DISCUSSION

The factors associated with PH may be related to influences on decisions to migrate and diversity among migrant sending regions. The skeletal evidence for early life stress is generally consistent with common public health concerns among impoverished communities in the region. The lesions themselves are viewed as embodied risk of physiological disturbance when resource access is structured by higher-level social, economic, and political forces. Forensic anthropologists would benefit from increased sensitivity to embodied structural violence among the vulnerable individuals and communities they serve.

The Bioarchaeology of Health Crisis: Infectious Disease in the Past

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.

Brief communication: A re-evaluation of the health index of southern Brazilian shellmound populations

OBJECTIVES

The southern Brazilian shellmounds provide archaeological evidence of prolonged human activity in the coast from approximately 6000 to 1000 BP. Shellmound building populations exploited the rich coastal estuarine zones, and the human remains recovered from them are important sources of information on health and overall lifestyle of these mid-Holocene groups. Therefore, they were included in the Western Hemisphere Global History of Health project. The shellmounds contribute the highest Health Index in the Western Hemisphere, but these conclusions are based on collections that exclude postcranial remains. Here, we reconstruct the Health Index for one specific shellmound using both cranial and postcranial remains to determine whether the initial studies might misrepresent the relative health of the Brazilian shellmound builders.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The Health Index was calculated for a sample of 18 complete skeletons recovered from the shellmound Porto do Rio Vermelho 02 (Santa Catarina Island, Brazil). The Heath Index was calculated with and without postcranial markers and the results are compared with the Western Hemisphere Global History of Health data.

RESULTS

The Health Index for Porto do Rio Vermelho 02 is lower than the reported average for American series in the Western Hemisphere Global History of Health Project and considerably lower than the original index reported for Brazilian shellmounds. This discrepancy is due to an increased prevalence of infectious disease and low stature.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the Health Index remains a useful comparison statistic, re-evaluation of fragmentary skeletal remains demonstrates the need for caution when applying it to incomplete skeletal series.

The Archaeology of Death: Mortuary Archaeology in the United States and Europe 1990–2013

Mortuary archaeology has always been viewed as one of the most richly evocative sources of evidence for past social systems, particularly those without writing. However, the political context within which archaeology developed as a discipline, especially in countries with a colonial past, has made it difficult or impossible for the burial record to be utilized to its full potential. Ironically, this moratorium on the use of human remains for research purposes has been accompanied by the development of new analytical techniques, including ancient DNA (aDNA) and chemical analysis of skeletal material, which provide powerful tools for understanding complex social relationships and mobility within and between ancient populations. This review focuses on the United States and Europe because of the close relationship between their scholarly communities, as a result of which the limits placed on mortuary archaeology in the United States has had and continues to have a direct impact on the development of the discipline in numerous European countries. The inferential potential of bioarchaeology in particular is discussed against the backdrop of these sociohistorical developments, and the case studies presented highlight the powerful array of interdisciplinary approaches now being brought to bear on our understanding of ancient social systems.