Reconciling “stress” and “health” in physical anthropology: What can bioarchaeologists learn from the other subdisciplines?
Article first published online: 19 AUG 2014
Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
Special Issue: Symposium Set: Reconciling Health and Stress
Volume 155, Issue 2, pages 181–185, October 2014
How to Cite
Reitsema, L. J. and McIlvaine, B. K. (2014), Reconciling “stress” and “health” in physical anthropology: What can bioarchaeologists learn from the other subdisciplines?. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 155: 181–185. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.22596
- Issue published online: 15 SEP 2014
- Article first published online: 19 AUG 2014
- Manuscript Accepted: 8 AUG 2014
- Manuscript Revised: 7 AUG 2014
- Manuscript Received: 18 JUL 2014
- human biology;
- skeletal stress;
The concepts of “stress” and “health” are foundational in physical anthropology as guidelines for interpreting human behavior and biocultural adaptation in the past and present. Though related, stress and health are not coterminous, and while the term “health” encompasses some aspects of “stress,” health refers to a more holistic condition beyond just physiological disruption, and is of considerable significance in contributing to anthropologists' understanding of humanity's lived experiences. Bioarchaeological interpretations of human health generally are made from datasets consisting of skeletal markers of stress, markers that result from (chronic) physiological disruption (e.g., porotic hyperostosis; linear enamel hypoplasia). Non-specific indicators of stress may measure episodes of stress and indicate that infection, disease, or nutritional deficiencies were present in a population, but in assessing these markers, bioarchaeologists are not measuring “health” in the same way as are human biologists, medical anthropologists, or primatologists. Rather than continue to diverge on separate (albeit parallel) trajectories, bioarchaeologists are advised to pursue interlinkages with other subfields within physical anthropology toward bridging “stress” and “health.” The papers in this special symposium set include bioarchaeologists, human biologists, molecular anthropologists, and primatologists whose research develops this link between the concepts of “stress” and “health,” encouraging new avenues for bioarchaeologists to consider and reconsider health in past human populations. Am J Phys Anthropol 155:181–185, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.