The dead tell no tales. Or do they? This book 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.
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.
"Osteo-archaeology has certainly developed an impressive array of scientific tests that can be used to identify physical and biological stresses that is turn reflect lifestyle. Larsen goes into great detail to explain these methods and show how they can be used. His major theme and concern is the transition from a hunter-gatherer to a farming lifestyle some 10,000 years ago."---Hedley Swain, The Times Higher Education Supplement
