ANT340H5

Osteological Theory and Methods

This course instructs students in the osteological methods used to interpret the life course of past populations, and the theory underlying these analyses. We will explore how skeletal analyses are employed to interpret group identity and behaviour using a biocultural approach and will address ethical issues pertaining to human remains, including the goals of descendant populations. The theoretical underpinnings of osteobiographical analyses, biological distance studies, paleopathology, and paleodemography will be outlined. Students will observe human morphological skeletal variation as a result of taphonomic processes, sex, age, pathological conditions, and non-metric variance.