Exercises in ethically engaged work in biological anthropology.

An ethical paradigm shift currently taking place within biological anthropology is pushing scholars to envisage and develop paths toward more ethical futures. Drawing from case studies in our own teaching, research, and fieldwork experience, we reflect on the complex, diverse, and dynamic nature of ethical considerations in our field. We discuss the acquisition and institutional narrative of a human osteological teaching collection at the University of Louisville as an embodiment of structural apathy turned structural violence, and the need for professional guidance in the potential retirement of deceased individuals from our classrooms. In documented collections (i.e., the Robert J. Terry Collection), we share our process and scholarly reemphasis of the humanity of a deceased individual through contextualized analysis (i.e., osteobiography and archival history) and postmortem agentive acts. Lastly, we present an archeological site in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which poses ethical concerns as biocultural bioarcheologists and archeologists attempt to negotiate the possible wishes of the deceased with the cultural value of reconstructing the community's otherwise undocumented past, all amidst the immediate threat of anthropogenic climate change. We offer these exercises and discussion in ethically engaged projects transparently and with an overarching admission that none are models for replication. Rather, at various stages in our careers and engagement with ethics, we acknowledge that progress is worthwhile, albeit challenging, and that proceeding forward collectively as biological anthropologists should be deliberate, reflexive, and compassionate for deceased individuals and their descendant communities, as well as among and between colleagues.

Ethical futures in biological anthropology: Research, teaching, community engagement, and curation involving deceased individuals.

Although ethical reforms in biological anthropology have gained ground in recent years, there is still a scarcity of ethical standards for work involving historical documented collections (HDCs) at US museums and universities. These collections of deceased individuals were created in the late 19th to mid-20th centuries under anatomy laws that targeted socially marginalized communities and allowed for the dissection of these individuals without their consent. Due to the extensive information associated with the individuals and made available to researchers, these collections have served as foundational resources for theory and methods development in biological anthropology into the 21st century. Recognizing the need for ethical guidelines for research, teaching and training, community engagement, and curation involving HDCs, we held a workshop called "Ethical Futures for Curation, Research, and Teaching in Biological Anthropology" on November 15-17, 2021. Here we summarize the conversations and major points of consensus among the workshop participants on these topics in order to advance these ethical considerations more broadly across the field.

Frail or hale: Skeletal frailty indices in Medieval London skeletons.

To broaden bioarchaeological applicability of skeletal frailty indices (SFIs) and increase sample size, we propose indices with fewer biomarkers (2-11 non-metric biomarkers) and compare these reduced biomarker SFIs to the original metric/non-metric 13-biomarker SFI. From the 2-11-biomarker SFIs, we choose the index with the fewest biomarkers (6-biomarker SFI), which still maintains the statistical robusticity of a 13-biomarker SFI, and apply this index to the same Medieval monastic and nonmonastic populations, albeit with an increased sample size. For this increased monastic and nonmonastic sample, we also propose and implement a 4-biomarker SFI, comprised of biomarkers from each of four stressor categories, and compare these SFI distributions with those of the non-metric biomarker SFIs. From the Museum of London WORD database, we tabulate multiple SFIs (2- to 13-biomarkers) for Medieval monastic and nonmonastic samples (N = 134). We evaluate associations between these ten non-metric SFIs and the 13-biomarker SFI using Spearman's correlation coefficients. Subsequently, we test non-metric 6-biomarker and 4-biomarker SFI distributions for associations with cemetery, age, and sex using Analysis of Variance/Covariance (ANOVA/ANCOVA) on larger samples from the monastic and nonmonastic cemeteries (N = 517). For Medieval samples, Spearman's correlation coefficients show a significant association between the 13-biomarker SFI and all non-metric SFIs. Utilizing a 6-biomarker and parsimonious 4-biomarker SFI, we increase the nonmonastic and monastic samples and demonstrate significant lifestyle and sex differences in frailty that were not observed in the original, smaller sample. Results from the 6-biomarker and parsimonious 4-biomarker SFIs generally indicate similarities in means, explained variation (R2), and associated P-values (ANOVA/ANCOVA) within and between nonmonastic and monastic samples. We show that non-metric reduced biomarker SFIs provide alternative indices for application to other bioarchaeological collections. These findings suggest that a SFI, comprised of six or more non-metric biomarkers available for the specific sample, may have greater applicability than, but comparable statistical characteristics to, the originally proposed 13-biomarker SFI.

In sickness and in death: Assessing frailty in human skeletal remains.

Stress plays an important role in the etiology of multiple morbid and mortal outcomes among the living. Drawing on health paradigms constructed among the living augments our evolving knowledge of relationships between stress and health. Therefore, elucidating relationships between stress and both chronic and acute skeletal lesions may help clarify our understanding of long-term health trends in the past. In this study, we propose an index of "skeletal frailty," based on models of frailty used to evaluate the life-long effects of stress on health among living populations. Here, we assess the possible applicability of frailty to archaeological populations. The skeletal frailty index (SFI) is proposed as a methodological liaison between advances made by biological anthropologists studying relationships between stress and health among the living and bioarchaeologists studying stress and health among the dead. In a case study examining skeletal stress in Medieval London, the SFI is applied to nonmonastic (N = 60) and monastic (N = 74) samples. We used analysis of variance/analysis of covariance to compare SFI values between nonmonastic-monastic groups, sexes, and age cohorts. Results indicate higher lifetime morbidity among monastic groups. These results complement previous bioarchaeological findings on the same London populations, wherein lower risks of mortality and longer lifespans were observed for monastic populations. SFI data reflect the morbidity-mortality paradox observed in modern populations and accompany recent findings in bioarchaeology of variation in Medieval monastic and nonmonastic "health." Ultimately, this study demonstrates the SFI's utility in bioarchaeology, through its application of commonly assessed skeletal biomarkers, its ease of applicability, and its potential usefulness for assessing changes in skeletal health over time and across specific geographies.