Palaeopathology in Context

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• use skeletal remains as a resource for studying past variability in heath and disease, but also in diet and subsistence, social structure and organisation, speciation and extinction, ideology and religious belief, and population history and migration
• undertake palaeopathological analyses and the methods for differential diagnosis of skeletal disorders and pathology
• pose and tackle archaeological questions using skeletal and pathological data
• critique specific techniques and methods of palaeopathological analysis
• integrate theoretical issues and archaeological questions with empirical data derived from bioarchaeology
• pose and tackle archaeological questions using skeletal data

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• demonstrate awareness of ethical issues regarding aspects of disease
• undertake analysis and presentation of skeletal data including differential diagnoses (suitable for publication)

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• the varying theoretical approaches to the analysis of human skeletal (and especially pathological) remains
• the critique of data and the interpretations derived from such data
• the evaluation of results of analyses and studies
• the ethical issues surrounding working with human remains who experienced disease processes

The organisation of the syllabus will vary from year to year depending upon staff availability. The following topics will normally be included:

Palaeopathology as a modern scientific discipline

Disease & the osteological-paradox

Diagnosing disease in palaeopathology

Identification and scoring of joint disease

Roles of human osteologists in a commercial environment

Skeletal trauma

Metabolic Disease

Infectious Disease

Differential diagnosis, quantification and statistical analyses in palaeopathology.

Themes to be covered in the seminars will be based upon the latest issues in bioarchaeology & palaeopathology research, but will commonly include some of the following:

Urbanisation, the Industrial Revolution, social inequality & disease

Health and Well-being

Diet & disease interactions

Bioarchaeology of disability & care

Teaching sessions will comprise lectures, guided practicals and student-led group seminars.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.