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Title: Bioarchaeology in Western China and a proposed paleopathology of the prehistoric Silk Road
Speaker: Elizabeth Berger, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside
Sponsor: Archaeological Research Facility
April 12, 2023, 12:10 - 1 p.m.
Abstract: Paleopathology, the study of disease and illness in the past, provides important insights on ancient human disease transmission, environmental adaptation, diet, lifestyle, and epidemiology. Paleopathology findings on a range of material across China and several Eurasian countries have started to fill in our understanding of the earliest influences of trans-Eurasian exchange—the prehistoric Silk Road—on human health and disease in the past. Findings so far include trauma and violence, degenerative joint disease, parasitic infections, and infectious diseases that provide clues to ancient human migration, economy, and activity. Future research should aim to unite these separate regions into one “paleopathology of trans-Eurasian exchange.”