The dead tell no tales. Or do they? In this fascinating book, Clark
Spencer Larsen shows that the dead can speak to us--about their lives,
and ours--through the remarkable insights of bioarchaeology, which
reconstructs the lives and lifestyles of past peoples based on the study
of skeletal remains. The human skeleton is an amazing storehouse of
information. It records the circumstances of our growth and development
as reflected in factors such as disease, stress, diet, nutrition,
climate, activity, and injury. Bioarchaeologists, by combining the
methods of forensic science and archaeology, along with the resources of
many other disciplines (including chemistry, geology, physics, and
biology), "read" the information stored in bones to understand what life
was really like for our human ancestors. They are unearthing some
surprises.
For instance, the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture
approximately 10,000 years ago has commonly been seen as a major
advancement in the course of human evolution. However, as Larsen
provocatively shows, this change may not have been so positive. Compared
to their hunter-gatherer ancestors, many early farmers suffered more
disease, had to work harder, and endured a poorer quality of life due to
poorer diets and more marginal living conditions. Moreover, the past
10,000 years have seen dramatic changes in the human physiognomy as a
result of alterations in our diet and lifestyle. Some modern health
problems, including obesity and chronic disease, may also have their
roots in these earlier changes.
Drawing on vivid accounts from his own experiences as a
bioarchaeologist, Larsen guides us through some of the key developments
in recent human evolution, including the adoption of agriculture, the
arrival of Europeans in the Americas and the biological consequences of
this contact, and the settlement of the American West in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries. Written in a lively and engaging manner, this
book is for anyone interested in what the dead have to tell us about the
living.
