Bioarchaeology

A Synthetic Approach

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4653690
AutoresChristopher J Knüsel (0000-0002-2506-3652, University of Exeter, autor de correspondencia)
Año2010
Volumen22
Número1-2
Páginas62-73
Fecha de publicación2010-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCahiers du Centre de recherches anthropologiques (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1297-7810 • E-ISSN: 1777-5469
EditorialOpenEdition (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s13219-010-0003-1
OpenAlexW1512712564
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas21
Referencias citadas34

When one reads archaeological publications on funerary remains, one might think that the deceased was sacrificed to accompany the burial of a pot [34]. One could easily blame archaeologists for this predicament, but it also has its roots in a research tradition within biological anthropology that tends to provide biological data to the archaeologist who provides the social and cultural meaning. Due to empirical divergence this approach encourages archaeologists and anthropologists tend to address parallel rather than synthetic questions. Burials are often only used to develop a notion of time-successive funerary traditions that support a chronological framework. This means that the event represented in the burial is left underdeveloped or erroneously identified as a tradition. Bioarchaeology addresses archaeological questions through a contextual approach combining the biological identity of the deceased with their cultural and archaeological context. It therefore aims to synthesise the biological and cultural aspects of the funerary record to address archaeological questions and better place burials in their cultural, social, and political context. The goal of this treatment is to introduce bioarchaeology, its origin and purpose, and to attempt to place such studies within French archaeological and anthropological scholarship

Aesthetics · Archaeological record · Archaeology · Art · Bioarchaeology · Biological anthropology · Context (archaeology · Divergence (linguistics · Epistemology · Geography · Identity (music · Linguistics · Meaning (existential · Scholarship · Sociology · Anthropology · Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning · Historical and Scientific Studies · History · Paleopathology and ancient diseases · Philosophy