Theme:
Theories and methods in archaeological sciences
Session format:
Session, made up of a combination of papers, max. 15 minutes each
Title:
Re-thinking medieval and early modern pestilences from a biosocial perspective: advanced methods and renewed concepts in archaeological sciences
Content:
While contagious diseases have affected the human species since its origins, great medieval epidemics (e.g. plague, leprosy, tuberculosis) have sparked particular interest for decades. In recent years, archaeology has played an increasing role in the scientific study of medieval pestilences, notably by providing reliable data on both the paleobiology of epidemic victims and their burial treatment. Despite the various breakthroughs reached by interdisciplinary research, the study of past epidemics still needs to get improved, particularly through an integrated analysis of biological and social dimensions of these diseases, which are closely interrelated.
We invite contributions regarding both recent methodological advances in the retrospective diagnosis of infectious diseases and the output of archaeological sciences on social and cultural factors acting in human populations’ adaptability to these diseases. The session shall address various questions, among which:
- What are the new lines of research and future perspectives in paleopathological and palaeomicrobiological study of these diseases?
- What information paleobiological data derived from skeletal assemblages can provide on the epidemiological characteristics of the diseases?
- What was the endemicity of diseases in various places, how did they evolve over time, and how did various diseases competed each other?
- How funerary archaeology and textual sources contributes to reappraise the history of these diseases (e.g. attitudes towards the victims in terms of their integration and/or exclusion, depending on the time period and cultural framework)?
- Which methodological implementation would be desirable in the future to allow retrospective diagnosis of still poorly-known diseases (e.g. ergotism)?
Keywords:
Archaeology, Paleomicrobiology, Paleopathology, Medieval, Epidemics
Session associated with MERC:
yes
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Main organiser:
Directrice recherche PACEA UMR5199 Dominique Castex (France) 1
Co-organisers:
Research Engineer Mark Guillon (France) 2
PhD student Maria Spyrou (Germany) 3
PhD student Marcel Keller (Germany) 3
Post-Doctoral Fellow Sacha Kacki (United Kingdom) 4
Affiliations:
1. CNRS
2. INRAP
3. Max Planck Institute Jena
4. University of Durham
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