This book expands on Archaeological Human Remains: Global Perspectives that was published in the Springer Briefs series in 2014 and which had a strong focus on post-colonial countries. In the current volume, the editors include papers that deal with non-Anglophone European traditions such as Portugal, Germany and France. In addition, authors continue the exploration of osteological trajectories that are not well-documented in the West, such as Senegal, China and Russia. The lasting legacies of imperialism, communism and colonialism are apparent as the authors of the individual country profiles examine the historical roots of the study of archaeological human remains and the challenges encountered while also considering the likely future directions likely of this multi-faceted discipline in different world areas.

Andean Ontologies is a fascinating interdisciplinary investigation of how ancient Andean people understood their world and the nature of being. Exploring pre-Hispanic ideas of time, space, and the human body, these essays highlight a range of beliefs across the region's different cultures, emphasizing the relational aspects of identity in Andean worldviews. This volume breaks new ground by bringing together an array of renowned specialists including anthropologists, bioarchaeologists, historians, linguists, ethnohistorians, and art historians to evaluate ancient Amerindian ideologies through different interpretive lenses. Many are local researchers from South American countries such as Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, and this volume makes their work available to North American readers for the first time. Their essays are highly contextualized according to the territories and time periods studied. Instead of taking an external, outside-in approach, they prioritize internal and localized views that incorporate insights from today's indigenous societies. This cutting-edge collection demonstrates the value of a multifaceted, holistic, inside-out approach to the pre-Columbian world.

This book expands on Archaeological Human Remains: Global Perspectives that was published in the Springer Briefs series in 2014 and which had a strong focus on post-colonial countries. In the current volume, the editors include papers that deal with non-Anglophone European traditions such as Portugal, Germany and France. In addition, authors continue the exploration of osteological trajectories that are not well-documented in the West, such as Senegal, China and Russia. The lasting legacies of imperialism, communism and colonialism are apparent as the authors of the individual country profiles examine the historical roots of the study of archaeological human remains and the challenges encountered while also considering the likely future directions likely of this multi-faceted discipline in different world areas.

This volume addresses the directions that studies of archaeological human remains have taken in a number of different countries, where attitudes range from widespread support to prohibition. Overlooked in many previous publications, this diversity in attitudes is examined through a variety of lenses, including academic origins, national identities, supporting institutions, archaeological context and globalization. The volume situates this diversity of attitudes by examining past and current tendencies in studies of archaeologically-retrieved human remains across a range of geopolitical settings. In a context where methodological approaches have been increasingly standardized in recent decades, the volume poses the question if this standardization has led to a convergence in approaches to archaeological human remains or if significant differences remain between practitioners in different countries. The volume also explores the future trajectories of the study of skeletal remains in the different jurisdictions under scrutiny. "

The meanings of ritualized head treatments among ancient Mesoamerican and Andean peoples is the subject of this book, the first overarching coverage of an important subject. Heads are sources of power that protect, impersonate, emulate sacred forces, distinguish, or acquire identity within the native world. The essays in this book examine these themes in a wide array of indigenous head treatments, including facial cosmetics and hair arrangements, permanent cranial vault and facial modifications, dental decorations, posthumous head processing, and head hunting. They offer new insights into native understandings of beauty, power, age, gender, and ethnicity. The contributors are experts from such diverse fields as skeletal biology, archaeology, aesthetics, forensics, taphonomy, and art history.