Healthmaking in Ancient Egypt

The Social Determinants of Health at Deir El-Medina
Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-90-04-70086-4
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 138, 263 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 590 g

Reihe: Culture and History of the Ancient Near East

This book explores the health of ancient Egyptians living in the New Kingdom village of Deir el-Medina. Through an interdisciplinary approach that combines skeletal analysis with textual evidence, the book examines how social factors, such as social support, healthcare access, and economic stability, played crucial roles in buffering individuals from stress and promoting good health. This is the first, comprehensive book on the bioarchaeology of Deir el-Medina including data from human remains spanning the site’s New Kingdom occupation. This book highlights how the Social Determinants of Health can be used to explain how past people maintained their health.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Austin, Anne

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Altes Ägypten & Ägyptische Archäologie
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Geschichte der Medizin

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments

List of Figures

List of Tables

1 Introduction

1 A Mythical History of Human Health

2 Correcting the Myth by Redefining Health and Disease

3 How to Understand Health in the Past

4 A Case Study on the History of Health at Deir el-Medina

5 The Path Toward Understanding Illness and Care at Deir el-Medina

6 A Note on Translations and Names

2 A New Theoretical Approach to Ancient Health

1 The Biopsychosocial Model as a Scalar Approach to Health

2 Quantifying Health in Bioarchaeology through Stress Models

3 The Osteological Paradox and its Impact on Interpreting Health Patterns in the Past

4 Explaining Health Patterns at Scale: The Goldilocks Problem

5 Revealing Hidden Heterogeneity in Frailty with the Social Determinants of Health

6 Studying Health and Care in Past Populations: A Case Study at Deir el-Medina

3 The Place, The Community, and The Evidence

1 The Place

2 The Community

3 Texts as Evidence for Health Patterns and Health Experiences at Deir el-Medina

4 Human Remains at Deir el-Medina

5 Demography and Representation in the Human Remains from Tombs 217, 290, and 298

6 Bringing Together the Evidence

4 Finding Health and Stress at Deir el-Medina

1 Comparing Skeletal Stress Indicators in the Nile Valley and Beyond

2 Indicators of Stress in Childhood

3 Adolescent Health at Deir el-Medina

4 Adult Health at Deir el-Medina

5 Understanding Stress and Health and Deir el-Medina

5 Forging Social Support

1 Social Support and its Connection to Improved Health Outcomes

2 Was Social Support an Emic Concept at Deir el-Medina?

3 Who Provided and Who Received Social Support

4 Provisioning

5 The Principle of Reciprocal Giving

6 Securing Social Support through the Legal System

7 Forms and Strategies of Social Support at Deir el-Medina and their Connection to Stress

8 Physical Limitations and Social Support at Deir el-Medina

9 Social Support and Health Outcomes at Deir el-Medina

6 Accessing Healthcare

1 Linking Health Care Access to Community Health Outcomes

2 Healthcare Professionals at Deir el-Medina

3 Medical Literacy

4 Healthcare Access in the human remains: Three Case Studies

5 Healthcare Access and Health Outcomes at Deir el-Medina

7 Maintaining Economic Stability

1 Economic Stability and its Connection to Improved Health Outcomes

2 Placing Economic Stability into the Past

3 Accessing Necessities through the Royal Pact

4 The Royal Pact and its impact on Working Conditions

5 Maintaining Economic Stability outside of the State

6 Osteobiographies: Economic Stability during the 18th Dynasty

7 Connecting Economic Stability to Health Outcomes at Deir el-Medina

8 Conclusion

1 How Wealth made Health in Ancient Egypt

2 Revealing Hidden Heterogeneity in Frailty in the past Beyond Ancient Egypt

3 Healthmaking in Ancient Egypt

Appendix: The Osteological Datasets

Works Cited

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Anne E. Austin, Ph.D. (2014), University of California - Los Angeles, is an Assistant Professor of History in the University of Missouri - St. Louis. Her research combines textual and osteological data to inform about daily life in ancient Egypt including topics covering medicine, health, and tattooing.