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

Richard H. Steckel (Editor), Jerome C. Rose (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0521801672 | ISBN-13: 978-0521801676

This study gathers skeletal evidence on seven basic indicators of health to assess chronic conditions that affected individuals who lived in the Western Hemisphere from 5000 B.C. to the late nineteenth century. Signs of biological stress in childhood and of degeneration in joints and in teeth increased in the several millenia before the arrival of Columbus as populations moved into less healthy ecological environments.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In this pathbreaking volume... more than 50 scholars (mostly anthropologists) systematically assess the health of North, South, and Central Americans using skeletal remains dating from over 7,000 years ago to the early 20th century.... Highly recommended." --Choice

"...this is a significant book that will define the emerging field of macrobioarchaeology for years to come. As such, it is required reading for all scholars interested in the study of long-term trends in human health, not only in the Americas but in the rest of the world as well." American Historical Review

"The volume;s contributions to knowledge are wide-ranging and significant." Economic History

"With this important volume, based on several years of collaborative effort, Steckel and Rose have made a major contribution to the comparative study of human health and nutrition in the Americas." Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"In this pathbreaking volume, the product of a massive NSF-funded project, more than 50 scholars (mostly anthropologists) systematically assess the health of North, South, and Central Americans using skeletal remains dating from over 7,000 years ago to the early 20th century.... Highly recommended." Choice

Book Description

The Backbone of History gathers skeletal evidence on seven basic indicators of health to assess chronic conditions that affected individuals who lived in the Western Hemisphere from 5000 B.C. to the late nineteenth century. Signs of biological stress in childhood and of degeneration in joints and in teeth increased in the several millenia before the arrival of Columbus as populations moved into less healthy ecological environments.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 654 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (August 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521801672
• ISBN-13: 978-0521801676
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,801,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interred Within Their Bones, July 17, 2006

By 

A. R. Cellura (Abbeville, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Backbone of History: Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere (Paperback)

Buried deep within human history, voices speak to us through the bones of our ancestors. Femurs, incisors and other skeletal remains tell us stories of how well these ancients made their livings, multiplied, dodged disease, got sick, were maimed, and died.

In their grand undertaking, THE BACKBONE OF HISTORY, Professors Richard H. Steckel and Jerome C. Rose, both economic historians and anthropologists, bring together 52 scholars from the disciplines of anatomy, anthropology, demography, economic history, the health sciences, and paleontology, who act as translators of the dialects interred within our bones, and the stories they tell about the evolution of our societies and economies. An important stimulus for this extraordinary scholarship was the work of Cohen and Armelagos and their colleagues (Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture, Academic Press, 1984) that provided evidence through examination of skeletal remains for the decline of human health and longevity in the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural economies. During this period, in the cradle of agriculture, malnourishment was chiefly responsible for a decline in Eastern Mediterranean male heights from 5'10" to 5'6".

In BACKBONE, which focuses on societies of the Western Hemisphere, perhaps the most significant advances on the seminal work of Cohen and Armelagos are the system of common data recording for the many sources from antiquity through the 19th century, and the development of a health index derived from these sources that allowed more valid and reliable cross-sample comparisons. The effect is to provide an elaborate view, by analysis of population trends in a variety of physiological/ecologic responses [skeletal tissue, tooth enamel (linear enamel hypoplasias), anemia that can be read from bones (porotic hyperostosis), infectious disease prevalence (elevation of the fibrous outer periosteal layer of the bone), trauma, osteoarthritis, degenerative joint disease, tooth loss and caries], of economic circumstances that would otherwise be unavailable. Additional advances, in comparison with earlier work, are that BACKBONE significantly increases sampling size and diversity across regions and time periods, and incorporates multidisciplinary perspectives.

The nine parts of this complex and "big" book of 636 pages include sections focused on methodology, comparisons between Euro-Americans and African-Americans, Native Americans in Central America, Native Americans in North America and patterns of health in the Western Hemisphere. Specific chapters within these sections focus on the poor in the mid-nineteenth century Northeastern United States, health and nutrition in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, cultural longevity and biological stress in the American Southwest and much, much more. Always, the stories of these people are told from the bones they left behind.

Steckel and Rose's extraordinary contribution, THE BACKBONE OF HISTORY, will be read by virtually every researcher into the nexus between physical anthropology and economic history. It also provides a treasure trove to those more broadly interested in the social sciences, health sciences and human adaptation. These readers may also find of interest Robert William Fogel's THE ESCAPE FROM HUNGER AND PREMATURE DEATH, 1700-2100 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004), A. R. Cellura's THE GENOMIC ENVIRONMENT AND NICHE-EXPERIENCE (Cedar Springs Press, 2006) and John Komlos' STATURE, LIVING STANDARDS, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1994).

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Worth the Effort, October 29, 2002

By A Customer

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This review is from: The Backbone of History: Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere (Hardcover)

This is an excellent guide to the issues of health and modern civilizations.