ANTH3980-01.Special Topics: Paleopathology.Sp14.Regan,Marcia

Marcia Regan

Document Type

Syllabi

School

CLA

Department

ANTH

Course Subject

ANTH

Course Number

3980

Course Section

01

Course Title

Special Topics: Paleopathology

Academic Term and Year

Spring 2014

Credits

4.00

Area of Study

ANTH

Course Description

Goals: 1) to learn to recognize, describe, and possibly diagnose evidence of disease in human skeletons; 2) to understand how to use the skeletal evidence of health and disease to learn more about ancient peoples and how they interacted with and were affected by their environment; 3) to understand the biocultural approach in anthropology and how it pertains to paleopathology; and 4) to appreciate the incredible amount of information contained within the human skeleton. Content: The human skeleton can tell us much about its owner. Bones and teeth record evidence of nutritional stress, infectious diseases, trauma, and habitual activities. Paleopathologists learn to use this evidence as clues to behavior and disease load. We will maintain a biocultural focus, examining the interactions between human biology and culture. Topics to be covered include the history of paleopathology; the paleoepidemiological approach; how to recognize and describe disease in bones; how to do a differential diagnosis; and how to determine what it all means. Infectious, degenerative, nutritional, developmental, and dental diseases as well as trauma will be covered.

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