Provides data and information that can be used for comparative analysis and as a foundation for further exploration. Inviting research from various geographic, cultural, and temporal locales from around the globe, the editors present a complex snapshot of the past.-Anne L. Grauer, editor of A Companion to Paleopathology

Drawing upon wide-ranging studies of prehistoric human remains from Europe, northern Africa, Asia, and the Americas, this groundbreaking volume unites physical anthropologists, archaeologists, and economists to explore how social structure can be reflected in the human skeleton. Contributors identify many ways in which social, political, and economic inequality have affected health, disease, metabolic insufficiency, growth, and well-being. The volume makes a strong case for a broader integration of bioarchaeology with mortuary archaeology as its distinctive approaches offer new ways to look at power, resources, social organization, and the shape of human lives over time and across cultures.