Susan Guise Sheridan | University of Notre Dame (original) (raw)

Papers, Chapters, Monograph by Susan Guise Sheridan

Purposeful Pain: Bioarchaeology of Intentional Suffering, 2020

Past tendencies to see childbirth through the lens of the obstetrical dilemma created a framework... more Past tendencies to see childbirth through the lens of the obstetrical dilemma created a framework for discussing reproduction as pathological. Pamela Stone (2016) proposed that many of the risks of parturition are indicators of inequity and structural violence, not simply the process of having a baby due to an "inadequate" pelvic morphology. A shared burial of a woman and fetus from southern Vietnam displays this disjoint quite clearly (Willis and Oxenham 2013). Anna Willis and Marc Oxenham (2013) reported that the health of the woman provided evidence of lifelong poor health, as demonstrated by the generalized physiological stress indicators of cribra orbitalia and linear enamel hypoplasias, shortened stature, multiple problems with oral health, and "compromised gynaecological competence" (p. 676), supporting Stone's (2016) contention of a more complex matrix of biological and social constraints on the well-being of reproductive-aged females.

American Journal of Physical Anthroplogy, 2020

Objectives: The Early Bronze Age (EBA; ca. 3,600-2000 BCE) of the southern Levant underwent consi... more Objectives: The Early Bronze Age (EBA; ca. 3,600-2000 BCE) of the southern Levant underwent considerable transformation as agro-pastoral communities began to utilize their land more intensively, constructing larger, fortified towns prior to site abandon-ment at the end of the third millennium. At the site of Bab adh-Dhra' in Jordan, the dead of the Early Bronze (EB) II-III (ca. 3,100-2,500 BCE) period were communally interred within charnel houses, but important disparities between these structures and their contents may be reflective of ownership and use by particular extended kin groups whose activity patterns, subsistence strategies, and even social status may have differed from one another. Subsequently, we hypothesized that differences in mobility and dietary intake may differentiate tomb groups from one another. Materials and Methods: Dental enamel from 31 individuals interred in three different Early Bronze Age charnel houses (A56, A22, A55) at Bab adh-Dhra', Jordan were analyzed for strontium, oxygen, and carbon isotope values. Results: Strontium isotope ratios (range: 0.70793-0.70842) possessed medians that did not differ statistically from one another, but had ranges that exhibited significant differences in variance. Carbon isotope values (x= −13.2 ± 0.5‰, 1σ) were not significantly different. Discussion: General similarities in human isotopic signatures between EB II-III char-nel houses A22 and A55 suggest that their activities were likely similar to one another and agree with findings from excavated domestic spaces with little archaeological evidence for economic, social, or political differentiation. More variable strontium isotope ratios and lower carbon isotope values from A22 could reflect a greater involvement with pastoralist practices or regional trade, including the consumption of more 13 C-depleted foods, while those in A55 may have led a more sedentary lifestyle with greater involvement in cultivating orchard crops. All charnel houses contained nonlocal individuals likely originating from other Dead Sea Plain sites with no EB II-III cemeteries of their own, supporting the idea that extended kin groups throughout the region returned to Bab adh-Dhra' to bury their dead. K E Y W O R D S Bronze Age, carbon isotopes, Near East, oxygen isotopes, residential mobility, social identity, strontium isotopes, subsistence

Purposeful Pain: Bioarcchaeology of Intentional Suffering, 2020

Purposeful Pain: Bioarchaeology of Intentional Suffering, 2020

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017

The proportions of individuals involved in intergroup coalitional conflict, measured by war group... more The proportions of individuals involved in intergroup coalitional conflict, measured by war group size (W), conflict casualties (C), and overall group conflict deaths (G), have declined with respect to growing populations, implying that states are less violent than small-scale societies. We argue that these trends are better explained by scaling laws shared by both past and contemporary societies regardless of social organization, where group population (P) directly determines W and indirectly determines C and G. W is shown to be a power law function of P with scaling exponent X [demographic conflict investment (DCI)]. C is shown to be a power law function of W with scaling exponent Y [conflict lethality (CL)]. G is shown to be a power law function of P with scaling exponent Z [group conflict mortality (GCM)]. Results show that, while W/P and G/P decrease as expected with increasing P, C/W increases with growing W. Small-scale societies show higher but more variance in DCI and CL than contemporary states. We find no significant differences in DCI or CL between small-scale societies and contemporary states undergoing drafts or conflict, after accounting for variance and scale. We calculate relative measures of DCI and CL applicable to all societies that can be tracked over time for one or multiple actors. In light of the recent global emergence of populist, nationalist, and sectarian violence, our comparison-focused approach to DCI and CL will enable better models and analysis of the landscapes of violence in the 21st century. population scaling | war group size | conflict casualties | conflict investment | conflict lethality N umerous recent publications have addressed the long-term history of human violence to understand both its evolutionary significance (1-3) and how differing social institutions and organizational principles impact the frequency and severity of coali-tional violence or warfare (4, 5). It is variously argued that the modern world is less violent than what was the case for much of human prehistory (6-10) or alternatively, that the development of modern state institutions and economic forms has spurred increases in violence (11, 12). These debates focus largely around two variables: (i) the frequency with which conflicts occur and (ii) the proportion of any given social group (the unit from which a war group is drawn for purposes of this paper) that is engaged in violence and what proportions of those engaged or exposed are killed by violent acts. Ethnographic data suggest that, in small-scale societies, both participation in coalitional violence (proportional war group size) (Fig. 1) and the proportion of those killed are often higher than comparable rates observed in modern state conflict (5, 8). Some researchers consequently argue (i) that more individuals were exposed to violence in the past than at present (5) and (ii) that prehistoric violence was less constrained than modern violence, with fewer limits on the individuals and how many individuals were targeted and potentially killed (5, 6, 8). Prior studies have shown that both size and frequency of conflicts obey a log-log scaling law (13-15) and that population size and casualties follow a similar logarithmic relationship (16). These prior studies have focused only on periods of major or active conflict. Here, we expand on these results by examining the relationship between proportional participation in conflict [the ratio of war group size (W) to population (P)] and resulting deaths [overall group conflict deaths (G) as a proportion of war group size]. Notably, we find that, when modern states not actively engaged in conflict are included, a strong sublinear log-log relationship exists between population size and war group size, while casualties are driven by war group size and are not directly driven by population. The relationship between war group size and casualties is supralinear, suggesting that large populations (usually states) generate more casualties per combatant than in ethnographically observed small-scale societies or in historical states. Modeling Scaling Relationships Between Population, War Group Size, and Conflict Casualties or Deaths We propose that trends in size and proportions of both W and G are better explained by scaling relationships between P, W, G, and conflict casualties (C). In other words, we argue that population size is a significant driver of conflict investment, casualties , and deaths. By population (P), we mean the total number of individuals in the social unit (settlement, society, ethnic group, polity, city, kingdom, empire, state, or nation state) from which a war group is drawn and within which the casualties are generated. Decreasing proportions of W/P and G/P in more complex societies as opposed to small-scale societies might be the incidental product of the organizational needs and logistical constraints of different populations rather than the outcome of any measureable decrease in overall violence, increased investment in processes and institutions, and/or the "profitability of peace." The scaling laws outlined here are analogous to allometric scaling properties observed in biological and social systems. For Significance Recent views on violence emphasize the decline in proportions of war groups and casualties to populations over time and conclude that past small-scale societies were more violent than contemporary states. In this paper, we argue that these trends are better explained through scaling relationships between population and war group size and between war group size and conflict casualties. We test these relationships and develop measures of conflict investment and lethality that are applicable to societies across space and time. When scaling is accounted for, we find no difference in conflict investment or lethality between small-scale and state societies. Given the lack of population data for past societies, we caution against using archaeological cases of episodic conflicts to measure past violence.

Children in the Bible and the Ancient World: Comparative and historical methods in reading ancient children, 2019

Social Archaeology of the Levant: From Prehistory to the Present, 2019

This chapter will discuss the use of human skeletal collections f om modern day Israel, Palestin... more This chapter will discuss the use of human skeletal collections f om modern day Israel, Palestine, and Jordan (Fig. TI. r) to demonstrate the potential of bioarchaeological reconstructions using mixed and fragmented (commingled) assemblages. I will provide a rationale for analyzing such collections - arguing that our dismissal of commingled remains has skewed a nuanced understanding of the ancient Levant. An overview of new methods, theories, and public interactions will be highlighted as well.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2019

Objectives: The current study seeks to determine if a sample of foragers, farmers, and pastoral-i... more Objectives: The current study seeks to determine if a sample of foragers, farmers, and pastoral-ists are distinguishable based on their dental microwear texture signatures.

Data from archaeology and paleoanthropology directly challenge the validity of the basic assumpti... more Data from archaeology and paleoanthropology directly challenge
the validity of the basic assumptions of the CLASH model. By not
incorporating a “deep time” perspective, the hypothesis lacks the
evolutionary baseline the authors seek to infer in validating the model.

doi:10.1017/S0140525X16001023, e85. Begins on pg 21

The synthesis of biological anthropology, archaeology, and social theory provides a bioarchaeolog... more The synthesis of biological anthropology, archaeology, and social theory provides a bioarchaeological model to reconstruct nuanced aspects of demography, diet, disease, death, daily activities, and bio-distance, even in the absence of discrete burials. Numerous skeletal assemblages in the southern Levant are composed of mixed and fragmented bones resulting from generational use of cemeteries, mass burial, and additional communal burial practices. Others become commingled due to tapho-nomic processes such as flooding, geological events, or human mediated mechanisms like looting, improper excavation, and poor curation. Such collections require one to ask broader questions of human adaptability, exercise a holistic approach, use broad demographic categories, and remain cog-nizant of the limitations posed by fragmentation. Expanded research questions and ethical considerations, the use of centralized databases and understudied collections, as well as the application of social media, citizen science, and crowd sourcing provide new tools for bioarchaeological analyses of the many commingled ancient Near Eastern collections in the southern Levant.

The examination of isotope ratios from multiple tissues offers new life to interpretations of com... more The examination of isotope ratios from multiple tissues offers new life to interpretations of commingled assemblages where information regarding individual biological history has been lost. Here, life histories from a commingled sample of Byzantine monks were reconstructed using enamel and bone δ 13 C and δ 15 N values. The δ 13 C values suggest a diet dominated by C 3 products, while the δ 15 N ratios indicate variable contributions of animal protein. After correcting for tissue-specific enrichment factors, bone δ 13 C values were significantly enriched over enamel; this may be due to an increase in protein consumption, but could also reflect structural differences between tissues or correction factors used to compare these data.

The analysis of dental remains, which outlast most other tissues in the human body, provides insi... more The analysis of dental remains, which outlast most other tissues in the human body, provides insight into past diet, activity patterns and ancestry. The remains from Bab edh-Dhra' represent the only skeletal sample available to assess the impact of agricultural intensification in the Early Bronze Age of the southern Levant (ca. 3500–2000 BCE). This era ushered in a period of 'urbanisation', evidenced by fortified towns, planned roadways, developments in irrigation and growing population density. During this time, the cultivation, trade and consumption of orchard taxa (such as figs, grapes and olives) increased. This paper examines changes in the teeth associated with agricultural intensification involving orchard crops as well as grains. Dental caries, ante mortem tooth loss and dental wear are examined for Early Bronze IA (EBIA; 3500–3300 BCE) and Early Bronze II–III (EBII–III; 3100–2300 BCE) teeth from the site of Bab edh-Dhra', located in modern-day Jordan. Due to the commingling, general tooth groups (e.g. molars) and specific tooth types (e.g. lower left canine) were used to compare periods. Although age and sex could not be identified for every tooth, analyses of crania and os coxae showed no significant difference in demographic profiles of EBIA and EBII–III. No statistically significant increase was found over time in dental caries frequency; however, teeth for which the cause of pulp exposure could be determined suggested that caries increasingly led to exfoliation. Indeed, ante mortem tooth loss rose significantly with time, whereas dental wear decreased. In general, changes in oral health were consistent with an archaeological record of greater consumption of softer, stickier foods, such as fruits.

Objectives: Across the Mediterranean and Near East, the transition from the Late Bronze Age (ca.

Written and archaeological evidence indicates that migration, in the form of pilgrimage to Byzant... more Written and archaeological evidence indicates that migration, in the form of pilgrimage to Byzantine Palestine, was a major social phenomenon between the 5th and 7th centuries CE. Monasteries saw record growth at this time as pilgrims chose to stay in the region and take up religious life. A major influx of people to the region, with a corresponding growth in monastic vocations that led travelers to stay in the area, is not in question; however, the distant origins of pilgrims reflected in surviving texts may be an artifact of preservation, biased towards an elite minority. The Byzantine monastery of St. Stephen's provides an opportunity to study this question from a bioarchaeological perspective, given the excellent preservation of the human skeletal assemblage, a wealth of written works about the community as well as daily life in Byzantine Palestine, and a rich archaeological record for the site and region. Materials and Methods: An analysis of radiogenic strontium isotope values from the third molars of 22 individuals recovered from the St. Stephen's crypt complex was conducted to test whether those interred at the monastery were of local origin. Results: Of those examined ( inline image= 0.7084 ± 0.0007, 1σ), 8 out of 22 (36%) exhibited 87Sr/86Sr ratios that fell outside of local ranges. Discussion: These results confirmed the sizeable presence of nonlocals at St. Stephen's Monastery. While most of these migrants likely traveled to Jerusalem from different areas of the Levant as pilgrims, others may have hailed from further afield, including Europe. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The analysis of burned human remains, 2nd ed., 2015

Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier 125,

Remembering and Commemorating the Dead: Recent Contributions in Bioarchaeology and Mortuary Analysis from the Ancient Near East, 2014

Bab edh-Dhra‘ has provided the only large, well-excavated, and well-curated skeletal collection s... more Bab edh-Dhra‘ has provided the only large, well-excavated, and well-curated skeletal collection spanning the Early Bronze Age (EBA) I–IV for the lower southern Levant. The site demonstrates that mortuary patterns followed settlement changes, allowing detailed analyses of shifting modes of remembrance and commemoration. Dental morphological traits showed that EBIA inhabitants were buried with family members, and EBII–III cranial nonmetric traits suggest the same. Changing social dynamics in the EBA were evidenced archaeologically by the expansion of orchards requiring increased multigenerational commitment (Ullinger, Sheridan, and Guatelli-Steinberg in press), construction of a large wall indicating enhanced territoriality/exclusivity (Gasperetti and Sheridan 2013), and large visible charnel houses for the dead. By adding demographic profiles, assemblage size estimates, and morphological data to the archaeological evidence, an expanding concept of family/collective lineage (remembrance) and changing investment in the dead (commemoration) emerged.

American Anthropologist, 2013

In this article, we utilize a bioarchaeological approach to assess the pervasiveness of violence ... more In this article, we utilize a bioarchaeological approach to assess the pervasiveness of violence during a dynamic period of social change at Early Bronze Age (EBA) Bab edh-Dhra', Jordan. The human remains studied are from EBIA (3500-3300 B.C.E.) shaft tombs used by the inhabitants of ephemeral settlements and from EBII-III (3100-2300 B.C.E.) charnel house A22, which dates to the urban occupation of the site. Adult crania, ulnae, and radii were examined for fracture. There were no significant differences by period, except when ulnae and radii were considered together. Bab edh-Dhra' was then compared to published studies of violence and showed a relatively high rate of cranial fracture during both periods, with a moderate rate of forearm fracture during EBII-III. The EBIA radii and ulnae exhibited no evidence of trauma. Accidents along rough terrain, falls among terraced housing, construction and agricultural activities, and violence were probable causes of forearm injury. The archaeological record suggests a diachronic increase in conflict, catalyzed by growing population density, social stratification, regional hostilities, and environmental degradation. Although the causes of EBA violence remain speculative, cranial fracture patterns indicate a notable prevalence of conflict-related trauma across the period. [ bioarchaeology, Ancient Near East, conflict, paleopathology, fracture] RESUMEN En este artículo, utilizamos una aproximación bio-arqueológica para evaluar la prevalencia de la violencia durante un período dinámico de cambio social en la Edad Temprana de Bronce (EBA) en Bad edh-Dhra', Jordania. Los restos humanos estudiados corresponden a tumbas fosas del EBIA (3500-3300 A.E.C.) usados por los habitantes de asentamientos efímeros, y de EBII-III (3100-2300 A.E.C.) osario A22, los cuales datan de la ocupación urbana del sitio.

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios from bone collagen in skeletons from the Byzantine (5th... more Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios from bone collagen in skeletons from the Byzantine (5th–7th century AD) monastery of St. Stephen’s in Jerusalem were examined in conjunction with a review of his- torical sources detailing dietary practices during this period in the Levant. Relatively low d13C ratios (ﰁ19.0 ± 0.5‰, 1r) indicate a diet consisting primarily of C3 sources and display continuity with textual records describing monastic daily life. Conversely, human d15N values (9.6 ± 1.2‰, 1r) are enriched in 15N relative to local fauna (7.3 ± 1.1‰, 1r) and point to the contribution of animal protein to the diet, an unexpected result based on both the rarity and expense of these luxury food items as well as dietary pro- hibitions associated with an ascetic monastic lifestyle. No sex-based differences in diet were detected for either d13C or d15N values, suggesting that men and women consumed isotopically similar foods. As the vast majority of monastic communities in the ancient Near East were located in the desert, the urban set- ting of St. Stephen’s monastery allows for a unique glimpse into a rarely-explored facet of Byzantine life.

Bioarchaeology of the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean, 2012

Purposeful Pain: Bioarchaeology of Intentional Suffering, 2020

American Journal of Physical Anthroplogy, 2020

Purposeful Pain: Bioarcchaeology of Intentional Suffering, 2020

Purposeful Pain: Bioarchaeology of Intentional Suffering, 2020

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017

Children in the Bible and the Ancient World: Comparative and historical methods in reading ancient children, 2019

Social Archaeology of the Levant: From Prehistory to the Present, 2019

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2019

doi:10.1017/S0140525X16001023, e85. Begins on pg 21

Objectives: Across the Mediterranean and Near East, the transition from the Late Bronze Age (ca.

The analysis of burned human remains, 2nd ed., 2015

Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier 125,

Remembering and Commemorating the Dead: Recent Contributions in Bioarchaeology and Mortuary Analysis from the Ancient Near East, 2014

American Anthropologist, 2013

Bioarchaeology of the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean, 2012

Demographic analysis of enamel hypoplasias and cribra orbitalia in a Medieval population from anc... more Demographic analysis of enamel hypoplasias and cribra orbitalia in a Medieval population from ancient Nubia revealed a strong association between both condi tions and probability of dying among subadults. Analysis of lesion frequencies among individuals, however, demonstrated an inverse relationship. Individuals with cribra orbitalia had significantly fewer hypoplasias than those without the disorder. This apparent paradox is resolved however when the different age structures of the den tal and cranial samples are considered. Taken together, the present data support the contention that the conditions underlying both cribra orbitalia and enamel hypoplasia contributed to subadult mortality in ancient Nubia. Introduction.

Revue Biblique

The focus of this study is the material culture from a repository in one of the burial caves of t... more The focus of this study is the material culture from a repository in one of the burial caves of the monastery of St. Stephen in Jerusalem. An inventory of 202 items including pottery sherds, glass, fragments of clay oil lamps, jewelry, and a devotional object are presented herein. Viewed in concert with the chemical analyses, osteological evidence, and textual record, this rather sparse collection helps corroborate a Byzantine placement for the skeletal remains interred in repository 6 of cave 1 at St. Stephen's monastery.

Archaeometry, 2017

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2015

Objectives: Written and archaeological evidence indicates that migration, in the form of pilgrima... more Objectives: Written and archaeological evidence indicates that migration, in the form of pilgrimage to Byzantine Palestine, was a major social phenomenon between the 5th and 7th centuries CE. Monasteries saw record growth at this time as pilgrims chose to stay in the region and take up religious life. A major influx of people to the region, with a corresponding growth in monastic vocations that led travelers to stay in the area, is not in question; however, the distant origins of pilgrims reflected in surviving texts may be an artifact of preservation, biased towards an elite minority. The Byzantine monastery of St. Stephen's provides an opportunity to study this question from a bioarchaeological perspective, given the excellent preservation of the human skeletal assemblage, a wealth of written works about the community as well as daily life in Byzantine Palestine, and a rich archaeological record for the site and region. Materials and Methods: An analysis of radiogenic strontium isotope values from the third molars of 22 individuals recovered from the St. Stephen's crypt complex was conducted to test whether those interred at the monastery were of local origin. Results: Of those examined (x5 0.7084 6 0.0007, 1r), 8 out of 22 (36%) exhibited 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios that fell outside of local ranges. Discussion: These results confirmed the sizeable presence of nonlocals at St.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1991

Worldwide there are substantial differences within and between countries in aggression and violen... more Worldwide there are substantial differences within and between countries in aggression and violence. Although there are various exceptions, a general rule is that aggression and violence increase as one moves closer to the equator, which suggests the important role of climate differences. While this pattern is robust, theoretical explanations for these large differences in aggression and violence within countries and around the world are lacking. Most extant explanations focus on the influence of average temperature as a factor that triggers aggression (The General Aggression Model), or the notion that warm temperature allows for more social interaction situations (Routine Activity Theory) in which aggression is likely to unfold. We propose a new model, CLimate, Aggression, and Self-control in Humans (CLASH), that helps us to understand differences within and between countries in aggression and violence in terms of differences in climate. Lower temperatures, and especially larger degrees of seasonal variation in climate, call for individuals and groups to adopt a slower life history strategy, a greater focus on the future (vs. present), and a stronger focus on self-control. The CLASH model further outlines that slow life strategy, future orientation, and strong self-control are important determinants of inhibiting aggression and violence. We also discuss how CLASH differs from other recently developed models that emphasize climate differences for understanding conflict. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and societal importance of climate in shaping individual and societal differences in aggression and violence.