Near Eastern bioarchaeology
Near Eastern bioarchaeology covers the study of human skeletal remains from archaeological sites in Cyprus, Egypt, Levantine coast, Jordan, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen.
Such developments are often occurring within highly challenging socio-political contexts as certain countries (e.g. Syria, Yemen) are experiencing civil unrest and going through massive political upheaval.
[7] Nonetheless, there is an active trend of increasing and more integrated bioarchaeology projects in the Near East, which is anticipated to enhance our understanding on the diachronic interplay between ecological, socio-cultural, and political-economic developments in the region.
[9] Osama Refai, from the National Research Centre in Cairo, studied two assemblages from the Old Kingdom (2700 – 2190 c. BCE) in Giza that belong to two distinct economic classes: a) workers; b) high officials.
[12] Kathryn Marklein from the Ohio State University explored the prevalence of OA between two Roman period (2nd – 3rd c. CE) skeletal assemblages retrieved from mass graves in Oymaağaç, Vezirköprü, Turkey.
Bioarchaeological and clinical studies have demonstrated that the manifestation of spinal arthritis is linked to factors such as age, sex, body size, mechanical stress, bipedal posture, and others.
Lesley Gregoricka and Jaime Ullinger from the Ohio State University examined the changes in spinal degenerative disease frequencies of the cervical vertebrae from the Early Bronze Age (3150 – 2300 c. BCE) skeletal assemblage of Bab edh-Dhra’ in Jordan.
As a result, cross-sectional geometric properties (CSG) of long bone diaphyses can be utilized to explore the effect of physical activity on different human groups.
Trauma research within the context of archaeological human groups can provide important insights into aspects of past warfare, intra-group violence, and occupational accident rates.
[25] Sherry Fox from the Arizona State University, and her colleagues, explored traumatic patterns from different Early Christian church/basilica sites in Cyprus: Agios Georgios Hill, Nicosia, Kalavasos-Kopetra, Alassa-Ayia Mavri, and Maroni-Petrera.
The Hill of Agios Georgios is situated inland adjacent to the Pediaios River outside the Venetian walled city of Nicosia, while the rest of the sites are located near the south coast.
A second difference was that males at the Hill of Agios Georgios had a higher propensity for traumatic lesions in the upper body and hand extremities, and this has been suggested to be caused by reasons beyond demographic parameters.
Jacek Tomczyk and a team from Poland and the United Kingdom have examined a 30 – 34-year-old female from Tell Masaikh in Syria and attempted to differentially diagnose multiple pathological conditions observed on the bones.
Bahrain Taphonomy, derived from the Greek words taphos (burial) and nomos (law), is a term currently used to refer to the study of chemical and physical processes that operate after the death on an organism until the time of recovery.
[41][42] Archaeological and forensic studies use taphonomic methods to interpret postmortem processes altering the physical appearance or chemical state of the skeletal remains.
She suggests that there is a strong focus by scholars on examining the nature of social stratification within ancient societies by linking them with mortuary practices of empty burials.
[46] Many bioarchaeological studies use geometric morphometrics to explore biodistance in different human populations since anatomical morphological traits are influenced by developmental, functional, and evolutionary adaptations.
[47][48][49] A Japanese team led by Naomichi Ogihara from the University of Kyoto performed three-dimensional analysis of the morphology of forty-five adult crania excavated from the Hamrin basin and adjacent areas in Northern Iraq.
Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in human bone reflect the chemistry of the diet, hence, they provide information on the consumption profile and the intake of different foods.
[51] Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen help differentiate between the variety of foodstuffs consumed, often classifying diets as high or low in animal-derived protein, C3 (e.g. trees, legumes, cereals) or C4 plants (e.g. millet, maize), and fish-based or not.
[52] Zahra Afshara and a team of scientists from Durham University analyzed δ13C and δ15N in human bone collagen from 69 male and female adult skeletons from the site of Tepe Hissar.
The study aimed to investigate the subsistence economy and dietary changes in a Chalcolithic and Bronze Age (5th – 2nd millennium BCE) skeletal assemblage retrieved from the central Iranian Plateau.
[53] Palaeogenomics, or the study of ancient DNA, uses techniques from molecular and evolutionary biology to deal with a range of questions about the origin of populations, their history and evolution, and the pathogens that co-evolve with the humans.
[54] A team of archaeologists and geneticists led by Marc Haber from the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the United Kingdom sequenced the whole genomes of 13 individuals retrieved from different sites across Lebanon and dated between the 3rd – 13th c. CE.
Nonetheless, the authors state that these mixtures have limited genetic consequences since signals of admixture with Europeans are not significant in any modern Lebanese ethnic group[55]
