The Archaeology of Disease

by Roberts, Charlotte

• ISBN13: 9780801442322
• ISBN10: 080144232X
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-09-30
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr

Summary

"The Archaeology of Disease shows how the latest scientific and archaeological techniques can be used to identify the common illnesses and injuries from which humans suffered in antiquity. Charlotte Roberts and Keith Manchester offer a vivid picture of ancient disease and trauma by combining the results of scientific research with information gathered from documents, other areas of archaeology, art and ethnography. The book contains information on congenital, infectious, dental, joint, endocrine and metabolic diseases. The authors provide a clinical context for specific ailments and accidents and consider the relevance of ancient demography, basic bone biology, funerary practices and prehistoric medicine. This fully revised third edition has been updated and encompasses rapidly developing research methods of this fascinating field."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Keith Manchester was formerly a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
The Study of Palaeopathology	1	(21)
Introduction and definitions	1	(2)
History of study	3	(2)
Working from a clinical base	5	(2)
Methods of study and tissue change	7	(4)
Terminology	11	(1)
Limitations of palaeopathological study	12	(2)
Biocultural perspectives of disease frequency	14	(8)
Movement of people	15	(1)
Climate and weather	15	(1)
Diet and economy	16	(1)
Living environment	17	(2)
Occupation	19	(1)
Treatment	20	(2)
Back to Basics	22	(22)
Introduction	22	(1)
Population growth through time	22	(4)
Population growth, mortality and disease	26	(2)
Palaeopathology and the question of numbers	28	(1)
Palaeodemographic structure: age and sex	29	(10)
Methods of analysis for age and sex estimation	30	(1)
Sex estimation	30	(4)
Age at death estimation	34	(3)
Palaeodemography	37	(2)
Stature and health	39	(3)
Social status and health	42	(1)
Ethnicity and health	42	(1)
Epilogue	43	(1)
Congenital Disease	44	(19)
Introduction	44	(2)
Causes of developmental defects	46	(4)
Axial skeleton	50	(7)
Anencephaly and microcephaly	50	(1)
Cleft palate	51	(1)
Hydrocephalus	52	(2)
Abnormalities in cranial suture devlopment	54	(1)
Spina bifida	55	(1)
Lumbarization and sacralization	56	(1)
Spondylolysis	57	(1)
Appendicular skeleton	57	(2)
Congenital dislocation of the hip	57	(1)
Club foot	58	(1)
Axial and appendicular skeleton	59	(4)
Achondroplasia	59	(2)
Osteogenesis imperfecta	61	(1)
Down's syndrome	62	(1)
Dental Disease	63	(21)
Introduction	63	(2)
Dental caries	65	(5)
Dental abscess	70	(1)
Calculus (calcified plaque)	71	(2)
Periodontal disease and ante-mortem tooth loss	73	(2)
Enamel hypoplasia	75	(2)
Dental problems and associated diseases	77	(1)
Dental attrition	78	(2)
Culturally induced dental alteration	80	(2)
Methods of recording dental disease	82	(2)
Trauma	84	(48)
Introduction	84	(4)
Types and causes of fractures	88	(3)
Healing of fractures	91	(1)
Fracture complications	92	(2)
Limitations of trauma study	94	(1)
Fractures: living population studies	95	(1)
Post-cranial fractures: past population studies	96	(12)
Interpersonal aggression and traumatic lesions	108	(8)
Decapitation and scalping	116	(2)
`Domestic' violence: infanticide, child abuse, defleshing and cannibalism	118	(2)
Trauma and cause of death	120	(1)
Dislocation	120	(1)
Osteochondritis dissecans	121	(1)
Treatment of trauma	122	(10)
Amputation	122	(2)
Trepanation	124	(4)
Treatment of fractures	128	(4)
Joint Disease	132	(32)
Introduction	132	(2)
Joint anatomy and physiology	134	(1)
Joint disease: pathological process	135	(1)
Neuromechanical joint disease: osteoarthritis	136	(2)
Osteoarthritis: skeletal involvement	138	(1)
Spinal joint disease	139	(4)
Activity, osteoarthritis and markers of `occupation'	143	(11)
Inflammatory joint disease: septic arthritis	154	(1)
Immune joint disease	155	(6)
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)	155	(2)
Psoriatic arthritis (PA)	157	(1)
Ankylosing spondylitis(SA)	158	(1)
Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH)	159	(2)
Metabolic joint disease: gouty arthritis	161	(3)
Infectious Disease	164	(57)
Introduction	164	(4)
Non-specific infections	168	(14)
Osteomyelitis	168	(4)
Periostitis	172	(2)
Sinusitis	174	(2)
Middle-ear and mastoid infection	176	(2)
Endocranial changes	178	(1)
Soft-tissue infection	179	(3)
Specific infections	182	(35)
Tuberculosis	183	(10)
Leprosy	193	(13)
Treponemal disease	206	(10)
Brucellosis and the mycoses	216	(1)
Parasitic infection	217	(3)
Infectious disease in palaeopathology and biomolecular analysis	220	(1)
Metabolic and Endocrine Disease	221	(31)
Introduction	221	(1)
Metabolic disease	221	(26)
Diet and its relationship to disease	223	(2)
Anaemia	225	(9)
Vitamin C and D deficiencies	234	(6)
Harris lines of arrested growth	240	(2)
Osteoporosis	242	(5)
Endocrine disease	247	(3)
Paget's disease	250	(2)
Neoplastic Disease	252	(12)
Introduction	252	(2)
Benign neoplasms	254	(3)
Malignant neoplasms	257	(3)
Secondary cancer	260	(4)
Conclusions: The Next Ten Years	264	(11)
Introduction	264	(1)
The past (since 1995)	265	(5)
The biocultural/bioarchaeological population approach to palaeopathology	265	(1)
Diagnosis and interpretation of disease	265	(1)
The practitioners	266	(1)
Ambitious projects on disease	267	(1)
Standardization of palaeopatholgical data recording	267	(1)
Research on specific diseases or themes	268	(1)
Methodological advances	269	(1)
The present and future	270	(5)
Standardization of recording and reporting, and access to palaeopathological data	270	(1)
The practitioners, organizations and conferences, and the media	271	(1)
Palaeopathological studies	272	(1)
Our resource, and analytical developments	272	(3)
References	275	(47)
Index	322