Using evidence from hair and other soft tissues to infer the need for and receipt of health-related care provision

The Bioarchaeology of Care approach developed by Tilley is usually applied to skeletalized human remains, given the usual constraints of preservation bias that are seen with archaeological assemblages. However, other tissues, such as hair are sometimes preserved and can provide a wealth of information that can supplement the skeletal data. Archaeological hair has been analysed for drug compounds for almost thirty years. This article integrates data from hair analyses for coca metabolites, stable light isotope analysis and aDNA to expand the potential of the Bioarchaeology of Care approach using the example of a spontaneously mummified adult female from northern Chile.

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10454/16596

Version

Published version

Citation

Brown EL and Wilson AS (2019) Using evidence from hair and other soft tissues to infer the need for and receipt of health-related care provision. International Journal of Paleopathology. 25: 91-98.

Link to Version of Record

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.08.008

Type

Article