The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology

This volume brings together a range of contributors with different and hybrid academic backgrounds to explore, through bioarchaeology, the past human experience in the territories that span Mesoamerica.This handbook provides systematic bioarchaeological coverage of skeletal research in the ancient Mesoamericas. It offers an integrated collection of engrained, bioculturally embedded explorations of relevant and timely topics, such as population shifts, life styles, body concepts, beauty, gender, health, foodways, social inequality, and violence. The additional treatment of new methodologies, local cultural settings, and theoretic frames rounds out the scope of this handbook. The selection of 37 chapter contributions invites readers to engage with the human condition in ancient and not so ancient Mesoamerica and beyond.The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology is addressed to an audience of Mesoamericanists, students and researchers in bioarchaeology and related fields. It serves as a comprehensive reference for courses on Mesoamerica, Bioarchaeology and Native American Studies.