Skeletons in Our Closet: Revealing Our Past through Bioarchaeology (review)

The tone of this book is set when the author says, "science almost always starts with some kind of fantasy" (p. 68). A sense of wonder and excitement permeates the text, giving readers a taste of the fun of solving osteological puzzles, and perceptive glimpses of how it is done.

Skeletons in Our Closet traces the author's work, and the work of others, through a variety of archaeological populations from around the world. As a result, it can be viewed as a series of case studies. The first involves prehistoric populations from the Great Basin of Nevada, an area where agriculture did not really arrive until historical times. The main question here is "Was life really nasty, brutish, and short before the advent of agriculture?" The answer required a great deal of patience, and a little bit of help from the weather—which fortuitously "forced the hand" of archaeologists by exposing many remains in need of excavation. Once analyses were done, Clark Spencer Larsen and his colleagues were able to paint a convincing picture of an active but healthy lifestyle for the prehistoric populations living in the region.

The second "case" focuses on the transition to farming in the United States and other parts of the world. Two messages are obvious in this work. First, the advent of agriculture was not always the positive change it is often made out to be. Yes, in many cases, it guaranteed steadier food supplies, and even population growth—but these positive changes came at a price, as increased sedentism and poorer hygiene led to dramatic increases in certain infectious diseases. Second, the transition to farming occurred in different ways in different regions of the world, as evidenced by subtle differences in the incidence of such diseases as osteoarthritis.

The third "case" involves the effects on Native American populations of contact with Europeans. The deleterious effects of "new" diseases have been documented repeatedly in the literature. However, Larsen makes a strong case for the additional importance of other factors in these dramatic population declines, such as excessive workloads, reduced nutritional quality, reduced sanitation, and physiological stress. Not surprisingly, each of these factors leaves discernible clues in the bones of the people involved—and in the face of such biological insults, the survival skills of some groups of people become nothing short of remarkable.

The fourth and final "case" focuses on a forgotten aspect of the European colonization of the New World: the effects on the colonists themselves. Initially, as evidenced by the earliest European settlements in Maryland, high mortality and low life expectancy were the rule, and many populations were maintained only by continued immigration from overseas. As settlers moved westward across the continent, they faced similar problems, with food shortages, natural disasters, and diseases taking a heavy toll on most families. In short, the European "colonization" of the Americas exacted a heavy toll on all parties involved.

This book is not a textbook—so readers who are looking for a step-by-step review of how to analyze bones will have to look elsewhere. However, if they are looking for an exciting glimpse of how this work is really done, then this book is a must. It is well written and perceptive, with an excellent mix of anecdote and facts—in essence, just enough to keep you turning the pages to the end.