More than 20 years ago, Wood et al.(Curr Anthropol 33: 343–370, 1992) published “The
Osteological Paradox: Problems of Inferring Prehistoric Health from Skeletal Samples,” in�…

Abstract The publication of The Osteological Paradox (Wood et al., 1992, Current
Anthropology, 33: 343–370) a decade ago sparked debate about the methods and�…

Wood et al.(CA 33: 343-58) argue that unambiguous health inferences from
paleodemographic and paleopathological data are impossible because of the inherent�…

Paleodemography and paleopathology presuppose that direct relationships exist between
statistics calculated from archaeological skeletal series (eg, skeletal lesion frequencies and�…

Abstract The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease paradigm evaluates the
consequences of early life stress on health at later stages of life. Interacting with this�…

Stress plays an important role in the etiology of multiple morbid and mortal outcomes among
the living. Drawing on health paradigms constructed among the living augments our�…

Epidemiological research since the 1980s has highlighted the consequences of early life
adversity, particularly during gestation and early infancy, for adult health (the “Barker�…

Analytically sophisticated paleoepidemiology is a relatively new development in the
characterization of past life experiences. It is based on sound paleopathological�…

Data from non-adult skeletal material are widely believed to represent the most
demographically variable and sensitive barometer of biocultural change. 1, 2 Patterns of�…

Osteobiography provides a rich basis for understanding the past, but its conceptual
framework has not been outlined systematically. It stands in conceptual opposition to a�…