Disease in Prehistory
Anthropology 275
Tuesday and Friday 10:50 AM- 12:05 PM
PH311

Professor: Kate Pechenkina, Ph. D.
office: Powdermaker Hall 312A
telephone: (718) 997-5529
e-mail:
office hours: Wednesday 9:30 - 11:30 AM

     This course is a general introduction to the field of paleopathology. Paleopathology is a subfield of biological anthropology that encompasses the study of disease in antiquity using a variety of sources of information, including human mummified and skeletal remains, ancient documents, illustrations from early books, painting and sculpture from the past, and analysis of coprolites. We will begin by examining the concept of disease and the basic diagnostic criteria for different categories of disease. Next, we will focus on infectious diseases and examine their origins, the environmental factors that have affected their spread in human populations, and their impact on human cultures. We will then take a close look at human dietary adaptations and the physiological disorders associated with different subsistence practices. After the mid-term exam we will then go on to address heritable diseases and the role of environmental factors in their origin and evolution. That will be followed by an examination of the process of senescence, degenerative diseases, and traumas in communities whose contrasting resource procurement strategies result in different modes of regular physical activity. In a comprehensive review at the end of the semester, we will discuss global trends in community health and how the distribution of several disease groups was affected by increasing sedentism and settlement nucleation, the development of agriculture, agricultural intensification, urbanization, colonial expansion, and industrialization.
Grading
Your grade will be based on midterm and final exams, and four short quizzes, participation and reading assignments:
Lecture Quiz/Exam Schedule
Reading reports and participation 20 %
Quizzes 20 %
Midterm (10/19) 30 % covers lectures 1-13
Final (12/20, 9 AM - 10:30 AM) 30 % covers lectures 14-28


Reading reports: Reports on the assigned readings are expected at the beginning of each class. The course pack is composed of research papers, book chapters, and excerpts from the popular literature. Some of the research articles are very technical and you may find them difficult to follow. In such cases, please try to read with an eye toward understanding the general theme(s) and conclusions of the article without worrying too much about the details. I will provide you with a few specific questions to help further guide your reading. You are expected to incorporate your answers to those questions into your reading reports. Reports on the literature assigned for that day are due at the beginning of each class. Each reading report should be approximately a page long, typed in Times New Roman, 12 pt. font, 1.5 spaced, printed with 1 inch margins. It should begin with a proper bibliographic citation of the literary source and should provide a brief summary and critique of the paper, article, or book chapter. Late reports are accepted for 60% of the total credit. By the end of the semester you will be expected to have submitted reports for a total of 20 papers, articles, or book chapters.

Syllabus
Lecture Date Topic Reading
1 8/28 Class introduction, classification of diseases.
2 8/31 Basic terminology
see hand-out
Roberts & Manchaester 1995: Ch 1
Reading report 1
3 9/4 Biology of skeletal tissue Robling & Stout 2000
Reading Report 2
4 9/7 Quiz 1(human skeleton)
Types of skeletal lesions and their interpretation
Lovell 2000
Reading Report 3
5 9/11 Infectious diseases and immune system, co-evolution Larsen ch. 3
Diamond 1999: Ch 11.
Reading Report 4
9/14 No class
6 9/18 Tuberculosis and leprosy Ortner 2003, Chapter 10
Mostowy & Behr: 2005
Reading Report 5
9/21 No class
7 9/25 Tuberculosis in the New World Gómez i Prat & Mendonça de Souza 2003
Reading Report 6
8 9/28 Treponematosis, origin of venereal syphilis Baker & Armelagos 1988
Quetel 1-49
9 10/2 Quiz 2 (infections and immune system)
Archaeoparasitology
Carvalho Goncalves et al. 2002
Martinson et al. 2003
Reading Report 7
10 10/5 Archioparasitology, cntd.
Schistosome life cycle
Reading Report 8
11 10/9 Viral Infections: Smallpox, Rubella, HIV
Life Cycle of HIV
Hutchinson 2001
Reading Report 9
12 10/12 Adaptations to nutrition and diet, thrifty genotype Stinson 1992
Reading Report 10
13 10/16 Physiological stress: anemia, scurvy, rickets Larsen chapter 2
10/19
MIDTERM
Reading Report 11
14 10/23 Physiological stress in prehistory, osteological paradox Blom et la. 2005
Write and Chew 1999
Reading Report 12
15 10/26 Degenerative diseases and mechanical stress Roberts & Manchester. 1995.
Ch 6. Rogers and Waldron 2001
Reading Report 13
16 10/30 Traumatic injury, fractures Lovell 1997
Reading Report 14
17 11/2 Traumas cntd., birth and birth complications Arriaza et al 1988
Ortner 119-163
18 11/6 Artificial body modifications and trephinations Ancient medical practices Reading Report 15
Ortner 163-174
Levy 1966: Ch.1 and 8.
19 11/9 Quiz 3 (fractures, artif. body modifications, osteoporosis)
Violence in prehistory
Larsen 1997: 109-160
Reading Report 16
20 11/13 Early Homo. Diseases during the Paleolithic Berger and Trinkaus 1995
Anton 1997
21 11/16 Early Homo sapiens. Disease during the Upper Paleolithic Formicola and Buzhilova 2004
Formicola et al. 2001
Reading Report 17
11/20 No Class: Thursday schedule
22 11/21 Effects of increasing sedentism; diseases of early farmers Larsen 1998
Reading Report 18
11/23Thanksgiving recess
23 11/27 Social status and health, urbanism Danforth 1999
Robb et al. 2001
Reading Report 19
24 11/30 Quiz 4 (diseases of early humans)
New diseases, transatlantic exchanges
Palkovich 1994.
Reading Report 20
25 12/04 Vaccination and antibiotics, diseases in the 17th - 19th centuries Hays 1998, pp 106-134
26 12/07 Epidemiology of the last 50 years Barrett et al. 1998
27 12/11
REVIEW
12/20
FINAL 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Recommended books:
Hays, J. N. 1998. The Burdens of Disease: Epidemics and Human Response in Western History. New Brunswick, N.J. Rutgers University Press. An electronic book accessible through the World Wide Web: http://www.netlibrary.com/
Larsen, C. S. and G. R. Milner (editors) 1994. In the wake of contact. New York: Wiley-Liss.
Larsen, C. S. 1997. Bioarchaeology. Interpreting behavior from the human skeleton. Cambridge: University Press.
Levy, H. S. 1966. Chinese footbinding. The history of a curious erotic custom. New York: Walton Rawls.
Roberts, C. and K. Manchester. 1995. The archaeology of Disease. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Quetel, C. 1990. The history of syphilis. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Diamond, J. 1999. Guns, germs, and steel. New York: W. W. Norton.
Ortner, D. J. 2003. Identification of pathological conditions in human skeletal remains. Second Edition. Amsterdam: Academic Press.