Indiana Jones: Myth, Reality And 21st Century Archaeology

How do archaeologists know what they do about life thousands of years ago? One way is by studying the diseases our ancestors had. This has much to teach us about not only people’s state of health, but also their diet and lifestyle. The study of paleopathology also has much to contribute to our understanding of diseases that are common today, and has corrected many modern misconceptions about ancient peoples, such as the belief that their lives were much shorter than ours. Dr. Kate Pechenkina studies how changes through time in human behavior transform patterns of disease distribution and severity and affect community health in different populations. In this context, technological innovations affecting diet are of particular importance – for example, agricultural societies tend to exhibit different diseases than their hunter-gather counterparts. Join Dr. Pechenkina and host Dr. Joe Schuldenrein as they discuss the study of paleopathology, what it brings to the table in an archaeological discussion, and wh