ABSTRACT
Bioarchaeology, put simply, is the contextual analysis of human populations from archaeological sites (Buikstra, 1977). It uses skeletal biology and archaeology in combination to ask questions not about how people died, but about how they lived. It does this through focusing on the osteobiography of individuals and the biocultural adaptations of populations as viewed through the lens of archaeological context. Although use of the term bioarchaeology is relatively recent, the precepts of the field have deep roots in American archaeology.
