Bioarchaeology and Identity in the Americas
Edited by Kelly J. Knudson and Christopher Stojanowski
"Bioarchaeology and Identity in the Americas" represents an important shift in the interpretation of skeletal remains in the Americas. Until recently, bioarchaeology has focused on interpreting and analyzing populations. The contributors here look to examine how individuals fit into those larger populations.
The overall aim is to demonstrate how bioarchaeologists can uniquely contribute to our understanding of the formation, representation and repercussions of identity. The contributors combine historical and archaeological data with population genetic analyses, biogeochemical analyses of human tooth enamel and bones, mortuary patterns, and body modifications. With case studies drawn from North, Central and South American mortuary remains from A.D. 500 to the Colonial period, they examine a wide range of factors that make up identity, including ethnicity, age, gender, and social, political, and religious constructions.
By adding a valuable biological element to the study of culture — a topic traditionally associated with social theorists, ethnographers and historical archaeologies — this volume highlights the importance of skeletal evidence in helping us better understand our past.
Bios
Kelly Knudson is a professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change and the director of its Center for Bioarchaeological Research. Her research focuses on political integration and the intersections of different social identities in the pre-Columbian Andes of Bolivia, Peru and Chile.
Christopher Stojanowski is a professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at ASU. As a bioarchaeologist, he specializes in the analysis of human skeletal remains and dentition. He uses information from ancient sites to reconstruct the lives of past peoples, focusing on the Holocene skeletal record of the New World and Africa.
Praise for this book
Extends discussions of identity beyond the social meaning of age, sex, and social role to larger issues of group identity and ethnogenesis. The integration of biological and mortuary data results in new approaches to the construction of social identity.
Dale L. Hutchinson University of North Carolina
