Table Of ContentBioarchaeology and Social Theory
Series Editor: Debra L. Martin
Jane E. Buikstra Editor
Bioarchaeologists
Speak Out
Deep Time Perspectives on
Contemporary Issues
Bioarchaeology and Social Theory
Series editor
Debra L. Martin
Professor of Anthropology
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV, USA
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11976
Jane E. Buikstra
Editor
Bioarchaeologists Speak Out
Deep Time Perspectives on Contemporary
Issues
Editor
Jane E. Buikstra
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ, USA
ISSN 2567-6776 ISSN 2567-6814 (electronic)
Bioarchaeology and Social Theory
ISBN 978-3-319-93011-4 ISBN 978-3-319-93012-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93012-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018951775
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors
or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims
in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
The inspiration for this volume is a persistent dark smudge on the white wall of my
study, which reflects the impact point of Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel
(1997). Yes, I know that it is widely read, assigned in many classes, and has won a
Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction (1998). So, I pick up the volume again only to
see the dark smudge outline expand in a new direction.
Why does this particular volume bother me so much? Doubtless one of the rea-
sons, treated in more detail by Milner in this volume, is the persistent lack of sensi-
tivity in Diamond’s narrative to agency and variation for those geographically
disadvantaged. The anthropologist in me is particularly offended by the expansive
broad strokes that paint over the nuanced detail of people’s lived experiences. “It
isn’t that simple,” I opine to the wall. In the absence of a response from the ever-
increasing blemish, I have mentioned to colleagues my dissatisfaction with such
general approaches. Surely bioarchaeology has much to offer to general interpreta-
tions of long-term histories of people, their challenges, and their resiliency strate-
gies. Why aren’t our voices heard concerning these issues, and how can we speak
out more effectively to nonspecialist audiences?
I was perched on this particular soapbox during a conversation with my valued
colleague, Dr. Debra Martin, who has had similar reactions to Steven Pinker’s The
Better Angels of our Nature (2011), especially the manner in which evidence for
skeletal trauma is marshaled to support Pinker’s thesis of decreasing violence
through time. Deb has also argued compellingly for bringing the past to the present.
“While archaeology and bioarchaeology focus on reconstructing the past, it is
equally important to make the past a guide for preparing for and dealing with the
future” (Martin and Harrod 2016: 170; see also Martin et al. 2013).
Deb and I therefore agreed to organize a symposium for the annual meetings of
the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in Minneapolis, November
16–20, 2016. While Deb and I collaborated on all stages of program development
and execution, I focused on assembling the participants while Deb handled negotia-
tions with the AAA. Our letter of invitation asked our participants to address:
1. Current public perceptions [but don’t overdo critiques of specific authors, how-
ever temping that might be.]
v
vi Preface
2. Informed bioarchaeological perspectives (on a participant-specific topic, ranging
from climate change to violence)
3. How should we be speaking out and effectively molding public perception?
While we wanted our authors to recognize the public representations that are at
issue, we did not want our book to be simply a larger dark smudge on the wall, but
a true effort to correct the record in a manner that is accessible to nonspecialists. We
also wanted our authors to make suggestions about approaches that might effec-
tively increase the visibility of bioarchaeological perspectives.
The symposium, scheduled during the afternoon of Saturday, November 19,
2016, included two sessions in order to accommodate the large number of partici-
pants. It was well attended and quite successful. At dinner after the session, we
agreed to proceed with a volume, which we would target for the Springer series on
Bioarchaeology and Social Theory that our co-organizer Debra Martin edits. We
decided that our audience at this nascent stage would be anthropologists, social
scientists from other disciplines, historians, and other scholars and science writers.
We hoped that the volume would be of interest to the public, as well. I envisioned
the audience as our colleagues, students, and science writers. While our ultimate
goal is to reach a broader readership, it seemed prudent to begin with more modest
goals.
This volume is the product of that effort. A few of the original AAA symposia
participants withdrew, primarily due to time constraints. We added a few others to
fill some obvious needs. We hope that it meets expectations and will lead to further
efforts by bioarchaeologists to Speak Out.
Tempe, AZ, USA Jane E. Buikstra
References
Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs and steel: The fates of human societies. New York: W. W. Norton
and Company.
Martin, D. L., Harrod, R. P., Perez, V. R. (2013). Bioarchaeology: An integrated approach to work-
ing with human remains. New York: Springer.
Martin, D. L., Harrod, R.P. (2016). The bioarchaeology of pain and suffering: Human adaptation
and survival during troubled times. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological
Association, 27, 161–174.
Pinker, S. (2011). The better angels of our nature: Why violence has declined. New York: Viking.
Contents
1 Bioarchaeologists Speak Out: An Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Jane E. Buikstra and Katelyn L. Bolhofner
2 Knowing Your Audience: Reactions to the Human Body,
Dead and Undead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Jane E. Buikstra
3 Bioarchaeological Evidence for Prehistoric Violence:
Use and Misuse in the Popular Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
R. C. Redfern and L. Fibiger
4 Bridging the Precontact and Postcontact Divide in Eastern
North America: Prior Conditions Set the Stage for Historic
Period Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
George R. Milner
5 Misconceptions About the Bioarchaeology of Plague . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Sharon DeWitte
6 C hanging the Climate: Bioarchaeology Responds
to Deterministic Thinking About Human-Environmental
Interactions in the Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Gwen Robbins Schug, Emily K. Parnell, and Ryan P. Harrod
7 S tone Agers in the Fast Lane? How Bioarchaeologists
Can Address the Paleo Diet Myth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Hallie R. Buckley and Jane E. Buikstra
8 Ancient Migrations: Biodistance, Genetics, and the Persistence
of Typological Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Christopher M. Stojanowski
vii
viii Contents
9 Opening Up the Family Tree: Promoting More Diverse
and Inclusive Studies of Family, Kinship, and Relatedness
in Bioarchaeology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Kent M. Johnson
10 The Fallacy of the Transgender Skeleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Pamela L. Geller
11 The Body-as-Evidence Paradigm in Domestic
and International Forensic Anthropology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Dawnie W. Steadman
12 C ontributions of Mummy Science to Public Perception
of the Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Kenneth C. Nystrom
13 W riting Bioarchaeological Stories to Right Past Wrongs . . . . . . . . . . 283
Alexis T. Boutin
14 B ioarchaeology and the Media: Anthropology Scicomm
in a Post-Truth Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Kristina Killgrove
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Contributors
Katelyn L. Bolhofner Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work,
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA
Alexis T. Boutin Department of Anthropology, Sonoma State University, Rohnert
Park, CA, USA
Hallie R. Buckley Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Otago, New
Zealand
Jane E. Buikstra School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State
University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Sharon DeWitte Department of Anthropology, University of South Carolina,
Columbia, SC, USA
L. Fibiger School of History, Classics and Archaeology, The University of
Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Pamela L. Geller Department of Anthropology, University of Miami, Coral
Gables, FL, USA
Ryan P. Harrod Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Anchorage,
Anchorage, AK, USA
Kent M. Johnson Department of Sociology and Anthropology, State University of
New York at Cortland, Cortland, NY, USA
Kristina Killgrove Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, NC, USA
George R. Milner Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State
University, University Park, PA, USA
Kenneth C. Nystrom Department of Anthropology, State University of New York
at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY, USA
ix
