ANTHROP 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Paleolithic Diet, Tooth Pathology, Zoonosis
4 Jul 2017
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Perceptions and experiences of a health problem: disease. Major types of evidence: skeletal and dental pathology, mummies. Paleopathology: the study of disease and injury in the human skeleton (& sometimes mummies, sub eld of physical anthropology, reconstructive, establish presence of disease based on evidence from skeletal remains. Some variables that affect the expression of disease: nutritional status, immune response, age of the individual, social conditions, environmental conditions. Limitations of skeletal evidence: a skeletal sample is not equal to a sample of living people, small % exhibit lesions, the osteological paradox. Osteological paradox: changes to bone are slow, most infectious diseases will only affect the skeleton in chronic phases, good immune response for bony changes, poor immune responses leaves disease-free bones. Other sources of evidence: faunal (animal) evidence: parasites in soil (eg worms, evidence of disease in animals (eg dogs, cattle, etc) Were prehistoric people disease-free: no, infectious disease is a natural part of existence in any and all populations.
