Palaeopathology in Context

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• integrate theoretical issues and archaeological questions with empirical data derived from bioarchaeology
• skeletal remains as a resource for studying past variability in diet and subsistence, health and disease, social structure and organisation, speciation and extinction, ideology and religious belief, and population history and migration
• undertake palaeopathological analyses and the methods for differential diagnosis of skeletal disorders and pathology
• write skeletal reports to the standard required by English Heritage, Historic England and archaeological contractors
• pose and tackle archaeological questions using skeletal and pathological data
• critique specific techniques and methods of osteological analysis
• pose and tackle archaeological questions using skeletal data

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• critique data and the interpretations derived from such data
• evaluate results of analyses and studies
• the varying theoretical approaches to the analysis of both human and faunal skeletal remains
• the ethical issues surrounding working with human remains

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• demonstrate awareness of ethical issues
• undertake analysis and presentation of quantitative data including the writing of detailed reports (suitable for publication)

The organisation of the syllabus will vary from year to year depending upon staff availability. The following topics will normally be included:

Human bone assessment and reporting

Roles of human osteologists in a commercial environment

Assessment of skeletal material and purposes of an assessment

Identification and scoring of joint disease

Skeletal ageing techniques in bone reporting & links with disease prevalence

Metric and non-metric variation

Skeletal anomalies

Diagnosis and recording of unusual skeletal pathology

Differential diagnosis & problematic cases.

Medical Imaging in osteoarchaeology & palaeopathology

Themes to be covered in the seminars will be based upon the latest issues in bioarchaeology & palaeopathology research, but will commonly include:

Urbanisation, the Industrial Revolution, social inequality & disease

Bioarchaeology, pathology & identity

Ethics and the dead

Diet & disease interactions

Bioarchaeology of disability & care

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching sessions will comprise lectures, guided practicals and student-led group seminars.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Katzenberg, M.A. and Saunders, S.R. (eds) (2008). Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton. New York: Wiley-Liss.

Aufderheide, AC & Rodriguez-Martin, C (1998). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Paleopathology. Cambridge: CUP.

White, T.D.; Black, M.T. and Folkens, P.A. (2012). Human Osteology. London: Academic press.

Agarwal, S.C. and Glencross, B.A. (eds.) (2011). Social Bioarchaeology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Buikstra, J. E. and Beck, L.A. (eds.) (2006). Bioarchaeology. London: Academic Press.

Ortner, DJ (2003). Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains. New York: Academic press.

Larsen, CS (2015). Bioarchaeology. Cambridge: CUP.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal