Bioarchaeology

Bioarchaeology (osteoarchaeology, osteology or palaeo-osteology^[1]) in Europe describes the study of biological remains from archaeological sites. In the United States it is the scientific study of human remains from archaeological sites.

The term was minted by British archaeologist Grahame Clark who, in 1972, defined it as the study of animal and human bones from archaeological sites. Jane Buikstra came up with the current US definition in 1977. Human remains can inform about health, lifestyle, diet, mortality and physique of the past.^[2] Although Clark used it to describe just human remains and animal remains, increasingly archaeologists include botanical remains.^[3]

Bioarchaeology was largely born from the practices of New Archaeology, which developed in the United States in the 1970s as a reaction to a mainly cultural-historical approach to understanding the past. Proponents of New Archaeology advocate testing hypotheses about the interaction between culture and biology, or a biocultural approach. Some archaeologists advocate a more holistic approach that incorporates critical theory.^[4]