Human skeletal paleopathology

Abstract

Human skeletal remains from archaeological contexts are the main source of data about the complex interaction between disease and humankind throughout the emergence of Homo sapiens. Past and current research on these remains has revealed the presence of many diseases that affect the skeleton today. There are, however, limitations in using data from such skeletal samples to reconstruct the health of past human groups. Recently developed diagnostic procedures and methods for extracting relevant data from skeletal tissue provide new options for exploring important questions and trying to clarify the role of disease in the evolutionary process that resulted in human societies today. These past histories hold important lessons for predicting future relationships between our species and its disease load.