Human Identities in the Archaeological Record : Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Late Antiquity to the Modern Period

Retracing the origin, development and survival of individual and collective identities in past human societies, this volume features a global and interdisciplinary range of case studies from Late Antiquity to the modern period covering a diversity of geographical and historical regions. The contributors delve into the archaeological record to detect not only biological and cultural affinity, but also evidence of diversity and ‘otherness’. Through the lens of burial customs, dietary habits, biocultural changes, paleopathological evidence, everyday objects, built remains and belief systems, this book highlights archaeology’s crucial role in unearthing, reconstructing and protecting long-established as well as forgotten – or even obliterated – identities, while also unveiling the recurrence of human values transcending space and time.

Organised by broad thematic sections, this collective body of work draws together perspectives from archaeology, bioarchaeology, zooarchaeology, forensic anthropology, archaeosciences, anthropology, historical archaeology and other disciplines. As a result, this book elucidates the importance of holistic approaches to the analysis of material culture and skeletal remains – often the only indisputable remnants of human survival and resilience.