-
7. Health and Behavior in Mid-Holocene Cis-Baikal: Biological Indicators of Adaptation and Culture Change
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Health and Behavior in Mid-Holocene Cis-Baikal: Biological Indicators of Adaptation and Culture Change Angela R. Lieverse Bioarchaeology—the study of archaeological human remains—has made significant contributions to the understanding of human adaptation and the biological history of past populations. Because skeletal and dental tissues are sensitive to environmental fluctuations, they reflect a wide variety of human behaviors and conditions including diet, nutrition, nonspecific stress, physical activity and mobility, environmental and occupational hazards, treatment of the infirm, interpersonal violence, exposure to pathogens, and a host of other disease processes (Larsen 1997:1–5). By considering whole populations , rather than individuals, bioarchaeologists can reconstruct overall patterns and compare populations with one another in order to gain better insights into their adaptive strategies. This population approach to bioarchaeology is applied here with an examination of Middle Holocene health and behavior in the Cis-Baikal region of Siberia. TheCis-Baikal’sMiddleNeolithicperiod(ca.7,000/6,800–6,000/5,800 yrs BP) is characterized by a biocultural hiatus that separates the Early Neolithic Kitoi and Late Neolithic–Bronze Age Isakovo-Serovo-Glazkovo (ISG) cultural groups. If Kitoi and ISG peoples employed different adaptive regimes , then the examination of their respective skeletal and dental records might reflect these distinctions, even if subtle. Osteoarthritis, or degenerative joint disease, reflects the cumulative effects of physiological wear and tear on joint surfaces and margins and can provide a record of activity and mechanical stress levels experienced by individuals throughout their adult lives (Bridges 1991; Jurmain and Kilgore 1995; Larsen, Ruff, and Kelly 1995). Dental enamel hypoplasia—a deficiency in enamel thickness resulting from systemic physiological stress ‹ 7 › 136 Angela R. Lieverse during growth and development—is a valuable tool for examining nonspecific stress and inferring the general health status of past populations (Aufderheide and Rodríguez-Martín 1998:405; Larsen 1997:44–46; Shafer, Hines, and Levy 1983; Suckling 1989). Paleopathology, the study of past disease and tissue abnormality, is useful for reconstructing various aspects of human adaptation pertaining to health, including nutrition, pathogen exposure, and occupational hazards (Aufderheide and Rodríguez-Martín 1998:xv; Hutchinson 2002:69–82; Larsen 1997:4–8). Together, these three aspects of bioarchaeological inquiry provide a basis not only for better understanding Middle Holocene life ways in the Cis-Baikal but also for independently assessing the distinctiveness and relative effectiveness of the Early Neolithic (specifically Kitoi) and Late Neolithic to Bronze Age subsistence strategies. Methodology This chapter describes an extensive investigation of human remains from five distinct Cis-Baikal cemetery populations. These include the Early Neolithic Kitoi sites of Lokomotiv (n=99) and Shamanka II (n=61 [2000– 2003 excavations only]), the Late Neolithic Isakovo (n=48) and Bronze Age Glazkovo (n=19) components of the Ust’-Ida I cemetery, and the Bronze Age Glazkovo site of Khuzhir-Nuge XIV (n=81) (Fig. 2.1). Recent research on mortuary variability in the Cis-Baikal indicates high heterogeneity in the area of the Little Sea (delineated by Ol’khon Island and the west coast of the lake) and suggests the maintenance of both large community cemeteries and smaller exclusionary ones during the Bronze Age (McKenzie 2006). If these observations can be extrapolated to other parts of the Cis-Baikal, then both components of Ust’-Ida I appear to have been specialized cemeteries, relevant to smaller social units such as status groups rather than to the community at large. On the other hand, Lokomotiv, Shamanka II, and KhuzhirNuge XIV all appear to have been large cemeteries relevant to more extensive multifamily groups. These possible differences in cemetery usage may have significant implications for interpretations of health and behavior in the region. All five of these skeletal and dental assemblages have presented challenges in the form of poor condition, incomplete element representation, and/or skeletal commingling. As a result, care has been taken to control for these effects and to minimize their impact on data analyses and interpre- [34.227.191.136] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 19:29 GMT) Health and Behavior in Mid-Holocene Cis-Baikal 137 tation. This goal has been accomplished through the establishment of specific criteria by which to consider individuals observable for osteoarthritic, enamel hypoplastic, and paleopathological examination and the exclusion from analyses of those not deemed so. The investigation of all three aspects of bioarchaeological inquiry was limited to macroscopic, noninvasive, and nondestructive techniques. Documentation included detailed written descriptions of lesion location, number, distribution, and appearance, generally following the recommendations of Buikstra and...