A LIFE COURSE APPROACH to HEALTH in the ANCIENT NILE VALLEY by Katie M
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A LIFE COURSE APPROACH TO HEALTH IN THE ANCIENT NILE VALLEY by Katie M. Whitmore A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology West Lafayette, Indiana December 2019 THE PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL STATEMENT OF COMMITTEE APPROVAL Dr. Michele Buzon, Chair Department of Anthropology Dr. Sherylyn Briller Department of Anthropology Dr. H. Kory Cooper Department of Anthropology Dr. Stuart Tyson Smith Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara Approved by: Dr. Melissa J. Remis 2 Dedicated to my family 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The support of many individuals and organizations contributed to the completion of this research and thanks are due to all. Financial support for this research was made possible through the Purdue University Research Foundation Grant, the Department of Anthropology at Purdue University, and the Humanities Without Walls Grand Research Challenge: “The Work of the Humanities in a Changing Climate”. Foremost, I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Michele Buzon. Her support throughout my PhD was invaluable to my progression as a researcher, as a scholar, and the completion of this dissertation. She supported me in various ways as my path took me in new and different directions. Her assistance and contributions go beyond what can be stated here. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee, Drs. Sherri Briller, Kory Cooper, and Stuart Tyson Smith for their excellent mentorship and support, which greatly contributed to a well-rounded dissertation. During my PhD I spent five wonderful field seasons in Sudan under directors Drs. Michele Buzon, Vincent Francigny, and Stuart Tyson Smith. I would like to thank the National Corporation for Museums and Antiquities (NCAM) for their support towards excavations. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. al-Hassan Ahmed Mohamed, Murtada Bushara, Shadia Abdu, and Remah Abd el-Raheem who represented NCAM at our field sites and greatly contributed to the success of our excavations. I would also like to thank all of my teammates from the Saï Island and Tombos teams, most especially Dr. Tosha Dupras, Dr. Sarah Schrader, Dr. Yann Ardagna, Olivier Cabon, Gaby Choimet, Vincent Colard, Dr. Faïza Drici, Elizabeth Drolet, Marie Paule Jung, Dr. Marc Maillot, Shayla Monroe, Dr. Mindy Pitre, Kaitlyn Saunders, and Dr. Bruce Williams for being wonderful colleagues and friends. Of course, I am indebted to the wonderful members of the Saï Island and Tombos communities, which make our work such a pleasure. Many of my fondest memories are 4 of my time in Sudan. I would also like to thank Drs. Niels Lynnerup and Marie Louise Schjellerup Jørkov for hosting me at the Panum Institute while I collected data on the skeletal collections housed there. Finally, I would like to thank all my friends and loved ones that supported me throughout graduate school including Sonya Beach, Sarah Gifford, Justin Fletcher, Sarah Huang, Rachael Kangas, Marc Marino, Jenail Marshall, and Madi Whitman. And to my family members including my parents, Bill and Diane, siblings, Holly and Jesse, and my aunts and uncle, Col, Robin, and Tim. Without their support I would not be where I am today. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... 9 LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... 10 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. 11 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 12 1.1 Nile Valley Chronology .................................................................................................... 12 1.2 General Aspects of Health in Bioarchaeology .................................................................. 17 1.2.1 Background on Stress and Health in Bioarchaeology ............................................... 18 1.2.2 Interpreting Stress in the Skeleton ............................................................................. 20 Demographic nonstationarity .............................................................................................. 20 Selective mortality ............................................................................................................... 21 Hidden heterogeneity in risks .............................................................................................. 22 1.3 Theoretical Framework: Life Course Approach ............................................................... 23 1.3.1 Age Identity, Impairment, and Disability .................................................................. 24 1.4 The Present Research ........................................................................................................ 27 1.4.1 Structure of the Dissertation ...................................................................................... 28 1.5 References ......................................................................................................................... 28 HEALTH OVER THE LIFE COURSE DURING THE TRANSITION TO THE NEW KINGDOM PERIOD IN THE ANCIENT NILE VALLEY .............................................. 35 2.1 Life Course Approach ....................................................................................................... 35 2.1.1 Life Course Approaches in Bioarchaeology: Health and Age ................................... 38 2.2 Social Age Categories and Ancient Egypt ........................................................................ 40 2.2.1 Mortuary Treatment at Tombos ................................................................................. 41 2.2.2 Historical and Artistic Documentation ...................................................................... 42 Fetal ..................................................................................................................................... 42 Infancy- birth to one year .................................................................................................... 43 Young child- one to three years .......................................................................................... 44 Early juvenile-three to seven years ..................................................................................... 45 Late juvenile- seven to 14 years .......................................................................................... 45 Transition adult- 14 to 20 years ........................................................................................... 46 6 Young adult, middle adult, and old adult- 20+ years .......................................................... 48 2.3 Materials and Methods ...................................................................................................... 49 2.4 Results ............................................................................................................................... 53 2.4.1 Adults ......................................................................................................................... 53 2.4.2 Juveniles .................................................................................................................... 56 2.4.3 Survivors vs. Non-survivors ...................................................................................... 61 2.5 Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 62 2.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 67 2.7 References ......................................................................................................................... 68 OLD AGE AND IMPAIRMENT IN NUBIA: INVESTIGATING OLDER INDIVIDUALS FROM TOMBOS............................................................................................... 74 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 74 3.1.1 Old Age and Elders .................................................................................................... 75 Finding and understanding disability in the past ................................................................. 80 3.2 Tombos and Old Age ........................................................................................................ 81 3.3 Case Study: U34.B1 .......................................................................................................... 85 3.3.1 Care Provisioning ...................................................................................................... 91 Accommodation .................................................................................................................. 91 Direct care ........................................................................................................................... 92 3.4 Discussion and Conclusion ............................................................................................... 93 3.5 References ......................................................................................................................... 97 DWARFISM IN