Bioarchaeology

The term bioarchaeology has been attributed to British archaeologist Grahame Clark who, in 1972, defined it as the examine of animal in addition to human bones from archaeological sites. Redefined in 1977 by Jane Buikstra, bioarchaeology in a United States now forwarded to a scientific study of human keeps from archaeological sites, a discipline so-called in other countries as osteoarchaeology, osteology or palaeo-osteology. Compared to bioarchaeology, osteoarchaeology is the scientific study that solely focus on the human skeleton. The human skeleton is used to tell us about health, lifestyle, diet, mortality and physique of the past. Furthermore, palaeo-osteology is simple the study of ancient bones.

In contrast, the term bioarchaeology is used in Europe to describe the study of any biological sustains from archaeological sites. Although Clark used it to describe just human remains and animal remains zoology/archaeozoology, increasingly innovative archaeologists also add botanical remains botany/archaeobotany

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 apprehension the past. Proponents of New Archaeology advocated using processual methods to test hypotheses approximately the interaction between culture and biology, or a biocultural approach. Some archaeologists advocate a more holistic approach to bioarchaeology that incorporates critical theory and is more applicable to contemporary descent populations.

If possible, human remains from archaeological sites are analyzed to defining sex, age, and health. which all fall under the term 'Bioarchaeology'.

Diet and dental health

Dental caries, commonly referred to as cavities or tooth decay, are caused by localized damage of tooth enamel, as a total of acids filed by bacteria feeding upon and fermenting carbohydrates in the mouth. Subsistence based upon agriculture is strongly associated with a higher rate of caries than subsistence based upon foraging, because of the higher levels of carbohydrates in diets based upon agriculture. For example, bioarchaeologists realize used caries in skeletons to correlate a diet of rice and agriculture with the disease. Females may be more vulnerable to caries compared to men, due to lower saliva flow than males, the positive correlation of estrogens with increased caries rates, and because of physiological reorient associated with pregnancy, such(a) as suppression of the immune system and a possible concomitant decrease in antimicrobial activity in the oral cavity.