The connections between health and diet in prehistoric populations
The connections between health and diet in modern populations are well established. Numerous studies have been conducted attempting to assess the dietary health of prehistoric populations from an examination of their skeletal remains. The health status of a population can provide crucial evidence in discussions of major changes in subsistence, and, in theory, much can be established from a study of skeletal remains. Assessments of child and adult mortality, stature, dental health, the identification of specific nutritional deficiency diseases and other conditions can provide vital evidence to enable an interpretation of dietary sufficiency to be made. However, in practical terms, there are many problems in conducting such a study. Poor preservation of skeletal remains, inadequate retrieval methods, a skeletal assemblage unrepresentative of the size or composition of the whole population, inaccurate methods of osteological analysis, and the non-specific nature of many pathological lesions, can influence the results. This thesis takes a practical look at extracting evidence relating to diet from skeletal remains. As a vehicle for testing the feasibilities of linking skeletal manifestations to diet, the human
McSweeney, Kathleen Janet
The connections between health and diet in prehistoric populations. The connections between health and diet in modern populations are well established. Numerous studies have been conducted attempting to assess the dietary health of prehistoric populations from an examination of their skeletal remains. The health status of a population can provide crucial evidence in discussions of major changes in subsistence, and, in theory, much can be established from a study of skeletal remains. Assessments of child and adult mortality, stature, dental health, the identification of specific nutritional deficiency diseases and other conditions can provide vital evidence to enable an interpretation of dietary sufficiency to be made. However, in practical terms, there are many problems in conducting such a study. Poor preservation of skeletal remains, inadequate retrieval methods, a skeletal assemblage unrepresentative of the size or composition of the whole population, inaccurate methods of osteological analysis, and the non-specific nature of many pathological lesions, can influence the results. This thesis takes a practical look at extracting evidence relating to diet from skeletal remains. As a vehicle for testing the feasibilities of linking skeletal manifestations to diet, the human
connection health_diet prehistoric_population connection health_diet modern population well_establish numerous study_conduct attempt_assess dietary health prehistoric_population examination skeletal_remains health_status population provide crucial evidence discussion major_change subsistence theory much establish study skeletal_remain child_adult mortality stature dental health identification specific nutritional deficiency disease condition provide vital evidence enable interpretation dietary sufficiency make however practical term many problem conduct study poor preservation skeletal_remain inadequate retrieval method skeletal assemblage unrepresentative size composition whole population inaccurate method osteological_analysis non specific_nature many pathological lesion influence result take practical look extract evidence_relate diet skeletal_remains vehicle test feasibility link skeletal manifestation diet human