What do you think?
Rate this book
Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology
The Bioarchaeology of Children: Perspectives from Biological and Forensic Anthropology
This book is entirely devoted to the study of children's skeletons from archaeological and forensic contexts. It provides an extensive review of the osteological methods and theoretical concepts of their analysis. Non-adult skeletons provide a wealth of information on the physical and social life of the child from their growth, diet and age at death, to factors that expose them to trauma and disease at different stages of their lives. This book covers the factors that affect non-adult skeletal preservation; the assessment of their age, sex and ancestry; growth and development; infant and child mortality including infanticide; weaning ages and disease of dietary deficiency; skeletal pathology; personal identification and exposure to trauma from birth injuries, accidents and child abuse; providing insights for graduates and postgraduates in osteology, palaeopathology and forensic anthropology.
268 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 2006
4 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 17, 2014
This is an excellent reference book. It may be a bit complicated for people who aren't familiar with the subject, but it's easy enough to read and has very good definitions and explanations (specially Chapter 7, that is dedicated to non-adult skeletal pathology).
As the title suggests the book is mainly dedicated to children in the archaeological record, although some segments do address children in a forensic context.
Chapter 2 is important in that it does away with common misconceptions regarding the conservation of non-adult skeletons, while Chapter 3 addresses some of the most basic questions faced when studying any skeleton: Age at death, sex and ancestry. The first, as we know is established more precisely than in adults, while the second is (as the authors say) "the holy grail of non-adult osteology". The third pertains more to the forensic record (and I won't get into that). However, the authors do cite the different techniques and efforts made toward a better determination of these 3 questions.
Chapter 4 is about growth and how it is one of the most popular areas of study for non-adults, since growth is a highly regulated, yet malleable, process. Chapter 5 is about infant mortality, including infanticide, although deaths associated to weaning and dietary stress are covered in Chapter 6.
Chapter 7, as I've already mentioned, is dedicated to Non-adult skeletal pathology and includes a comprehensive list of the most common signs we may find, as well as their possible aetiology. Chapter 8 is about signs of trauma in a child and starts off listing types of trauma, the kinds fractures that are most commonly observed and how they might affect (final) growth, or how the signs might be erased from the bone (since it is still so malleable) and includes a section on physical child abuse.
Chapters 1 and 9 are and introduction and a call for further studies. Finally, the references are cited on pages 189 to 247.
On a more personal note, I would have appreciated more photographs detailing the different ailments, since properly "diagnosing" pathologies in skeletons can only be done with experience and actually seeing the bone, not so much reading about it. All in all, this book has been an enormous help for me and my research. It has punctualised different ideas I might have had scattered, thus helping me focus, and it has provided many new ideas for me to further investigate (and since it includes the references to other studies, it greatly helps). Definitely, I recommend this book to anyone who -like myself- is just beginning to work with non-adult skeletons.
As the title suggests the book is mainly dedicated to children in the archaeological record, although some segments do address children in a forensic context.
Chapter 2 is important in that it does away with common misconceptions regarding the conservation of non-adult skeletons, while Chapter 3 addresses some of the most basic questions faced when studying any skeleton: Age at death, sex and ancestry. The first, as we know is established more precisely than in adults, while the second is (as the authors say) "the holy grail of non-adult osteology". The third pertains more to the forensic record (and I won't get into that). However, the authors do cite the different techniques and efforts made toward a better determination of these 3 questions.
Chapter 4 is about growth and how it is one of the most popular areas of study for non-adults, since growth is a highly regulated, yet malleable, process. Chapter 5 is about infant mortality, including infanticide, although deaths associated to weaning and dietary stress are covered in Chapter 6.
Chapter 7, as I've already mentioned, is dedicated to Non-adult skeletal pathology and includes a comprehensive list of the most common signs we may find, as well as their possible aetiology. Chapter 8 is about signs of trauma in a child and starts off listing types of trauma, the kinds fractures that are most commonly observed and how they might affect (final) growth, or how the signs might be erased from the bone (since it is still so malleable) and includes a section on physical child abuse.
Chapters 1 and 9 are and introduction and a call for further studies. Finally, the references are cited on pages 189 to 247.
On a more personal note, I would have appreciated more photographs detailing the different ailments, since properly "diagnosing" pathologies in skeletons can only be done with experience and actually seeing the bone, not so much reading about it. All in all, this book has been an enormous help for me and my research. It has punctualised different ideas I might have had scattered, thus helping me focus, and it has provided many new ideas for me to further investigate (and since it includes the references to other studies, it greatly helps). Definitely, I recommend this book to anyone who -like myself- is just beginning to work with non-adult skeletons.
April 5, 2014
Incredible book. Must-read reference for anyone interested in the bioarchaeological study of subadults. This area has received an alarming lack of scholarship; a paucity that is hopefully soon to be reversed with the work of people like Mary Lewis.
May 30, 2014
An invaluable resource and interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews