The Backbone of History: Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere

Steckel, Richard H., Rose, Jerome C.

ISBN 10: 0521617448 / ISBN 13: 9780521617444

Published by Cambridge University Press (edition Revised), 2005

About this Item

It's a preowned item in good condition and includes all the pages. It may have some general signs of wear and tear, such as markings, highlighting, slight damage to the cover, minimal wear to the binding, etc., but they will not affect the overall reading experience.

Seller Inventory # 0521617448-11-1

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Backbone of History: Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (edition Revised)
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521617448
• ISBN 13: 9780521617444
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: Revised.
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

For the same reasons that explorers of the early twentieth century strove to reach the poles, and their modern counterparts journey to outer space, most people want to visualize the contours of the human experience - the peaks of adaptive success that led to the expansion of civilization, and the troughs in which human presence ebbed. The Backbone of History defines the emerging field of macrobioarchaeology by gathering skeletal evidence on seven basic indicators of health to assess chronic conditions that affected individuals who lived in the Western Hemisphere from 5000 BC to the late nineteenth century. Signs of biological stress in childhood and of degeneration in joints and in teeth increased in the several millennia before the arrival of Columbus as populations moved into less healthy ecological environments. Thus, pre-Colombian Native Americans were among the healthiest and the least healthy groups to live in the Western Hemisphere before the twentieth century.

About the Authors

Richard H. Steckel is Professor of Economics and Anthropology at Ohio State University. His most recent publications include Health and Welfare During Industrialization, which he coedited with Roderick Floud, and A Population History of the United States, which he co-edited with Michael Haines.

Jerome C. Rose is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas. He has conducted bioarcheological excavations in Illinois, Arkansas, Texas, Egypt, and Jordan.