New Developments in the Bioarchaeology of Care: Further Case Studies and Expanded Theory

This collection of case studies represents a companion volume to Lorna Tilley’s Theory and Practice in the Bioarchaeology of Care (2015) published in this same series, Bioarchaeology and Social Theory . The one-two punch of these volumes cements the future of this paradigm-shifting approach in bioarchaeology. The continued working of the theoretical underpinning for approaching the notion of caregiving in communities from both the deep past and more historical yesteryears provides a wealth of caveats, approaches, suggestions and confirmations of what can be learned by asking the twin questions: How did severe ailments affect individuals, and were there caretakers involved? This follow-up volume offers a wholly new paradigm for the identifi cation, careful analysis and interpretation on temporally specific case by case, locality by locality, bases. With the publication of this edited volume, I do not think there will be any question that this theoretical framework and methodological approach is here to stay and that it opens up new avenues of study into the lived experience of individuals in the pas