"Makes an important contribution to our understanding of the challenges our ancestors faced during the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture.... A well-organized and highly readable volume that synthesizes an enormous amount of data on what is perhaps the most significant economic transformation in the history of our species." --American Anthropologist In 1982, the Conference on Paleopathology and Socioeconomic Change at the Origins of Agriculture was held in Plattsburgh, New York, to examine previously untested theories about how the adoption of agriculture impacted human health. The collection of those conference proceedings transformed into this landmark book that set the standard for how to collect, analyze, and interpret osteological data in the study of health transitions. Using skeletal pathologies, the contributors examine how the transition from foraging to farming affected human health and nutrition. Now back in print and for the first time in paperback, "Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture" is a foundational piece in bioarchaeological literature and a central source of information regarding the impact of early farming on socioeconomic evolution. It remains a highly cited reference for archaeologists and physical anthropologists. Contributors present data from nineteen different regions before, during, and after agricultural transitions, analyzing populations in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and South America while primarily focusing on North America. A wide range of health indicators are discussed, including mortality, episodic stress, physical trauma, degenerative bone conditions, isotopes, and dental pathology. Mark Nathan Cohen is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at SUNY at Plattsburgh. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship on the basis of this book's impact. George J. Armelagos is the Goodrich C. White Professor of Anthropology at Emory University and a recipient of the Viking Fund Medal.

"Pulls together a global sampling of excellent research on a topic of great interest to scholars of prehistory that otherwise would be difficult to assemble or in some cases to even access."--Patricia M. Lambert, Utah State University Twenty years ago Mark Nathan Cohen coedited a collection of essays that set a new standard in using paleopathology to identify trends in health associated with changes in prehistoric technology, economy, demography, and political centralization. "Ancient Health" expands and celebrates that work. Confirming earlier conclusions that human health declined after the adoption of farming and the rise of civilization, this book greatly enlarges the geographical range of paleopathological studies by including new work from both established and up-and-coming scholars. Moving beyond the western hemisphere and western Eurasia, this collection involves studies from Chile, Peru, Mexico, the United States, Denmark, Britain, Portugal, South Africa, Israel, India, Vietnam, Thailand, China, and Mongolia. Adding great significance to this volume, the author discusses and successfully rebuts the arguments of the "osteological paradox" that long have challenged work in the area of quantitative paleopathology, demonstrating that the "paradox" has far less meaning than its proponents argue. Mark Nathan Cohen is University Distinguished Teaching Professor of Anthropology at the State University of New York, Plattsburgh. Gillian M. M. Crane-Kramer is visiting assistant professor of anthropology at the State University of New York, Plattsburgh.