Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Convenors:
Hiroko Hashimoto,
Chubu Gakuin University, Gifu, Japan, ICG55575@nifty.com
Ayako Shibutani,
Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, ashibutani@hi.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Carolyn Rando,
UCL Institute of Archaeology, London, UK, c.rando@ucl.ac.uk
Human bones and teeth are highly informative biological structures that provide valuable insights into various aspects of past human life, not only from anatomical information. This session will highlight the great potential of biological materials such as human bones and teeth, paleopathology and parasite eggs to understand past lifestyles, especially when combined with complementary methodologies, as well as how past human populations interact with their environment, developed livelihood strategies, and experienced diet, health and stress.
By combining multiple approaches, we hope to provide a more comprehensive view of the complex relationships among diet, health, and lifestyle in different eras and regions. We encourage submissions from researchers who explore these themes through case studies in various chronological and geographical contexts. We believe that studies that combine archaeological and anthropological methods with biological sources will facilitate the use of richer information about people’s lifestyles in the past.
This session aims to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas that cross not only time periods and regions but also research disciplines, introduce innovative methodologies, and facilitate discussions that bridge gaps between researchers’ specialties. By bringing together diverse perspectives, we hope to establish an overview of the current state of bioarchaeology and related research and provide inspiration and collaborative opportunities for all participants.
Papers:
Synchrotron Radiation Approaches to Human Bioarchaeology: State of the Art, and Case Studies
Kirsi O. Lorentz, The Cyprus Institute
SESAME, the first synchrotron located within the region known as the cradle of civilisation, opened its doors with its first official beam time focusing on ancient human remains. This paper introduces key aspects of SESAME, in its Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern (EMME region) context, and takes the audience on a journey of discovery as regards the ancient people – real individuals – who inhabited the EMME region in the distant past, and contributed significantly to how we live today. In so doing we also focus on the advances, challenges and potential of synchrotron-radiation-enabled approaches to Human Bioarchaeology. The paper takes stock of use of SR in human bioarchaeology from its inception, globally, and traces the increasing use of SR enabled approaches within this discipline, in comparison to earlier adoption of SR in other domains of archaeology and heritage science. The paper includes state-of-the-art showcase examples of research case studies employing a wide range of SR techniques, including SR-FTIR, SR-microXRF mapping, SXCT, EXAFS and XANES, among others.
Beyond the Visible: Microscopic Exploration of Starch Residues in Archaeological Contexts from East Asia
Ayako Shibutani, Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo, Japan
Since the 1970s, studies on archaeological starch have been prioritised for promoting research. A large body of research, particularly since the 2000s, has revealed that residual starch granules can provide direct evidence for the production and processing of plant foods in diverse cultural contexts. Although the analysis was introduced to East Asia approximately a decade later than in other regions, such as Europe and the United States, extensive starch data have been collected from stone artefacts, pottery sherds, wooden materials, sediments, and human/animal dental calculus. These studies significantly altered our understanding of plant use and subsistence strategies in prehistoric and historic East Asia. The number of cases reported from Japanese and Chinese sites have significantly increased, and studies that consider the reality of past food production and acquisition strategies have produced results. This presentation discusses the analysis of archaeological starch from human dental calculus and artefacts used to reconstruct diets and foodways in Neolithic China and Japan. Although a direct comparative analysis is not feasible owing to the different timeframes of the case study sites, this presentation explores how plant diets and foodways can be reconstructed from starch residues in archaeological contexts.
Dental Calculus Studies in Brazil: Advances, Limitations, and Future Directions
Celia Boyadjian, Programa de Pós-graduação em Arqueologia, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (PPGArq/MN/UFRJ), Brazil
More than two decades ago, a group of researchers in Brazil took the first steps toward the development of a new line of research in archaeology and bioanthropology—one that was also emerging internationally: the study of dental calculus contents. The initial investigations focused on the microbotanical remains found in dental calculus samples and had a strong exploratory nature, contributing to the framework of this research field. At the time, the goal in Brazil was to explore the largely unknown consumption and use of plants by the builders of the sambaquis (shell-matrix sites dating from around 8000 years BP, which occur along almost the entire Brazilian coast), a group whose way of life was closely linked to the lagoons and the sea. In recent years, the analysis of dental calculus contents has expanded to a wide range of archaeological contexts while also incorporating methodological advancements, yielding highly promising results. In this presentation, I provide an overview of this field of research and discuss its prospects in Brazil, considering both the established methodologies and the avenues that remain open for further exploration.
Marks of Identity: The Ancient Tooth Ablation Custom in Southeast Asia
Yue Zhang, The Australian National University, Canberra
Ritual tooth ablation—the deliberate removal of erupted anterior teeth—is a significant form of bodily modification that provides valuable insights into population differentiation and leaves discernible traces in the archaeological record. This practice was notably prevalent in the Asia-Pacific region, with evidence in East Asia dating back to 7000 BP among agricultural communities. During the Neolithic, as farming populations expanded, this practice also spread into Southeast Asia, which had previously been inhabited by hunter-gatherers. Taiwan and Vietnam serve as critical regions for understanding these demographic shifts and human interactions, functioning as pivotal crossroads between continental Asia and both Island and Mainland Southeast Asia.
This study examines tooth ablation as a bio-cultural marker, tracing its development in Taiwan from 4800 BP and Vietnam from 4000 BP. By synthesising archaeological and ethnographic evidence, it reconstructs local evolutionary trajectories and underscores the cultural significance of this practice. Situating these findings within broader discussions on identity construction and interregional interactions, this research advances our understanding of how tooth ablation intersected with the expansion of ancient linguistic families and the dynamics of past societies across the Asia-Pacific.
Selective Mortality of Tuberculosis in Gold Rush, Victoria, Australia: An Archival Approach to Answering Questions around the Osteological Paradox
Phillip Roberts, Visiting Fellow, The Australian National University, Australia
This multidisciplinary paper presents an archival study of pulmonary and disseminated tuberculosis rates in children and adults, based on data from Registrar General Reports and hospital administration records in Victoria, Australia, from 1852 to 1916. The study examines how well disseminated forms of tuberculosis (as a proxy of tuberculosis impacting the skeleton) correlate with pulmonary tuberculosis rates during the economic and social changes of the gold rush and post-gold rush periods.
The findings suggest that tuberculosis-related skeletal lesions observed in the archaeological record are not a reliable proxy for overall disease prevalence and may even be inversely correlated. This relationship, however, appears to be disease-specific, as similar studies on syphilis from this population, do not show the same pattern.
The Femur Knows “Horse Breeders”: Immigrants from Korea During Mid-Kofun Period as Technical Experts and their Social Status, in the Mino Region, Japan
Hiroko Hashimoto, Chubu Gakuin University, Gifu, Japan
In Japan, horses were brought from the Korean Peninsula and China around the 5th century during the mid-Kofun period. Breeders of horses also came to Japan with the horses. The horses were mainly bred by the breeder’s clans under the central government. The horses were given to local chiefs from the central government. A person who habitually rode horses had a uniquely developed pilaster of the femur. The femurs with this trait were often excavated from medium-sized burial mounds, rather than large-sized burial mounds. The size of the burial mounds within a region usually indicates the social status of the buried person.
The breeders had been often sent from the central government to the local chiefs. They established a solid position and took root in the community of the region. The femurs excavated from medium-sized burial mounds in the Mino region had the uniquely developed pilaster as the indicator of habitual horse riding.
In the Mino region from the late Kofun period, in particular, there are records of mass migrators from Korea who had high architectural technology. Those documents indicated that there was a foundation for accepting immigrants from Korea. We estimated the foundation could be the breeders.
A Stressful Life during the Pre-Spanish Colonial Philippines: An Integrative Approach in Reconstructing an Individual’s Life History
Eleanor Marie S. Lim, School of Archaeology, University of the Philippines Diliman
Michael Armand P. Canilao, PhD, Office of the Director, Northern Luzon National Museums (ODNLNM), National Museum of the Philippines
Katherine L. Pernia, School of Environmental Science and Management, University of the Philippines Los Baños
Angelo A. Guirgio and Michelle S. Eusebio, School of Archaeology, University of the Philippines Diliman
This study investigates an individual from a Pre-Spanish Colonial site in the Philippines as a window to understand the health of past populations. This involves osteological and radiographic analyses of the human skeletal materials, stable isotope analysis, and mortuary analysis, as well as historical and ethnographical records to generate the life history of the individual. The sex and age-at-death estimation leans more to a nonadult female, and her diet suggests mixed marine/terrestrial economy. Although her dental health insinuates a relatively good health, she exhibits several pathological lesions indicative of nutritional and probable metabolic disease. The grave goods recovered from her burial also connote a high status in their community.