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.

Compromised health: Examining growth and health in a late antique Roman infant and child cemetery.

OBJECTIVES: Combining research from infant and child development, public health, anthropology, and history, this research examines the relationship between growth, growth disruption, and skeletal indicators of chronic and/or episodic physiological stress (stress) among juvenile individuals (n = 60) interred at the late antique infant and child cemetery at Poggio Gramignano (PG) (ca. 5th century CE), associated with a rural agricultural community. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Growth disruption-evidenced by decreased long bone length compared to dental age-and stress experience-evidenced by skeletal stress indicators-within these individuals are compared to those within juveniles from a comparative sample (n = 66) from two urban Roman-era cemeteries, Villa Rustica (VR) (0-250 CE) and Tragurium City Necropolis (TCN) (0-700 CE). RESULTS: Results indicate that individuals from PG had significantly smaller femoral lengths-for-age than those from VR and TCN; however, the frequency of skeletal stress indicators was higher among juveniles from VR and TCN. DISCUSSION: These differences in growth and stress experience are likely related to the different biosocial and ecological environments present in these two regions. For the community at PG, internal and external violent conflicts, as well as social, political, and economic turmoil, and subsistence shortages, endemic and epidemic infectious disease, nutritional deficiencies, and inherited or acquired anemia may have synergized to create chronically and/or episodically deleterious conditions for its juveniles.

The evolution of disease: anthropological perspectives on epidemiologic transitions.

BACKGROUND: The model of epidemiologic transitions has served as a guiding framework for understanding relationships between patterns of human health and disease and economic development for the past several decades. However, epidemiologic transition theory is infrequently employed in epidemiology. OBJECTIVE: Moving beyond Omran's original formulation, we discuss critiques and modifications of the theory of epidemiologic transitions and highlight some of the ways in which incorporating epidemiologic transition theory can benefit theory and practice in epidemiology. DESIGN: We focus on two broad contemporary trends in human health that epidemiologic transition theory is useful for conceptualizing: the increased incidence of chronic inflammatory diseases (CIDs), such as allergic and autoimmune diseases, and the emergence and reemergence of infectious disease. RESULTS: Situating these trends within epidemiologic transition theory, we explain the rise in CIDs with the hygiene hypothesis and the rise in emerging and reemerging infections with the concept of a third epidemiologic transition. CONCLUSIONS: Contextualizing these trends within epidemiologic transition theory reveals implications for clinical practice, global health policies, and future research within epidemiology.