Bioarchaeology of East Asia: Movement, Contact, Health
Author(s): Kate Pechenkina (Editor), Marc Oxenham
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Publication Date: 30 Jun. 2013
Edition: Illustrated
Language: English
Print length: 512 pages
ISBN-10: 0813044278
ISBN-13: 9780813044279
Book Description
East Asia spans more than 10 million square kilometres. The human remains examined by the contributors in this volume date from the Early Neolithic (more than 12,000 years ago) to the Iron Age (up to AD 500).
Bioarchaeology of East Asia interprets human skeletal collections from a region where millets, rice, and several other important cereals were cultivated, leading to attendant forms of agricultural development that were accompanied by significant technological innovations. The contributors follow the diffusion of these advanced ideas to other parts of Asia, and unravel a maze of population movements. In addition, they explore the biological implications of relatively rare subsistence strategies more or less unique to East Asia: millet agriculture, mobile pastoralism with limited cereal farming, and rice farming combined with reliance on marine resources.
Diverse scholarly traditions―from China, Japan, Mongolia, Russia, Australia, and the United States―supply a constructive mix of conceptual frameworks and methodologies. Chinese-to-English translations make chapters available that might not otherwise be published outside of China. Ideas stemming from this collection will significantly boost collaborative work among bioarchaeologists and other scientists working in East Asia.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Succeeds in providing good coverage of the current state of scientific research on major issues in two broad subject areas in bioarchaeology: (a) population history and interaction, and (b) community health with a focus on diet and disease.”–American Journal of Physical Anthropology
“The range of ecological contexts and subsistence practices, the time depth, and the geographical expanse represented in the book amply demonstrate the important role that studies of Asian prehistory should play in addressing the big questions of human biological history.”–Journal of Anthropological Research
“Extremely useful as a good introduction to the region and as a resource for comparative data for scholars in Asia and the Pacific.”–Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology
“A welcomed compendium to a large anthropological body of research, which had previously lacked data from this historically and culturally diverse region, covering the areas from the western Inner Asian steppes east to Japan, and from Mongolia in the north, south to the tropical Malay Archipelago.”–Anthropos
From the Back Cover
“A rich, synthetic view of East Asian (pre)history–the migration patterns, the cultural interactions, and the health profiles of these large and diverse populations. This daunting task is well achieved through thoughtful bioarchaeological studies that incorporate varied methodological and theoretical perspectives.”–Tiffiny A. Tung, Vanderbilt University “Successful in meeting its rather ambitious goal of drawing together bioarchaeological research over a very large and complex region of the globe. A significant contribution to many central archaeological questions in an area of the world that is often overlooked.”–Sian Halcrow, University of Otago Bioarchaeology of East Asia integrates studies on migration, diet, and diverse aspects of health through the study of human skeletal collections in a region that developed varying forms of agriculture. East Asia’s complex population movements and cultural practices provide biological markers that allow for the testing of multiple hypotheses about interactions in past communities. Exploring the interplay between humans and their environments, this volume considers millet agriculture, mobile pastoralism with limited cereal farming, and rice farming in combination with reliance on marine resources. Many of these rare subsistence strategies are more or less exclusive to East Asia. These advanced contributions will significantly boost collaborative work among bioarchaeologists and other scientists working in the region.
About the Author
Kate Pechenkina is chairs the department of anthropology at Queens College of the City University of New York, USA.
Marc Oxenham, senior lecturer in archaeology and bioanthropology at Australian National University, is the editor of Forensic Approaches to Death, Disaster and Abuse.
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