No abstract

Zoonoses are significant in human histories, and in histories of other species and the environment. Diseases have been an important evolutionary force, not just the major epidemics but the quieter endemic diseases. These infectious diseases comprise complex events and cycles involving multiple actors (humans, animals, and microorganisms). Despite difficulties of preservation, identification, and interpretation, bioarchaeologists have often analyzed zoonotic diseases. However, these studies have tended to focus on an individual disease and its emergence as opposed to the human-animal interactions and complex environmental cycles that underlie zoonotic disease more broadly. In this paper, after a brief review of zoonotic disease and bioarchaeological studies of it, we provide three contemporary case studies that point to the complexity of human-animal interaction and the socioecological circumstances involved in disease. We argue that adopting a One Health framework, which is based on Rudolf Virchow’s insight as well as approaches that emphasize time depth, multiple analytical scales, evolutionary understandings, and a consideration of human ideas and not just practices, would contribute to making bioarchaeology relevant to contemporary and future issues beyond the epidemiological transition model as modified by Barrett and Armelagos (Barrett et al. 1998; Barrett and Armelagos 2013).   Les zoonoses sont importantes dans l’histoire humaine, et en gros dans l’histoire d’autres espèces et de l’environnement. Les maladies ont été une force évolutive importante, non seulement les épidémies majeures, mais aussi les maladies endémiques les plus calmes. Ces maladies infectieuses comprennent des événements et des cycles complexes impliquant de multiples acteurs (humains, animaux et micro-organismes). Malgré les difficultés de préservation, d’identification et d’interprétation, les bioarchéologues ont souvent analysé les zoonoses. Cependant, ces études ont eu tendance à se concentrer sur la maladie individuelle et son émergence par opposition aux interactions homme-animal et aux cycles environnementaux complexes qui sous-tendent la maladie zoonotique de manière plus générale. Dans cet article, après un bref examen de la maladie zoonotique et des études bioarchéologiques de celle-ci, nous fournissons trois études de cas contemporaines qui soulignent la complexité de l’interaction homme-animal et les circonstances socio-écologiques impliquées dans la maladie. Nous soutenons que l’adoption d’un cadre One Health basé sur la vision de Rudolf Virchow ainsi que sur des approches mettant l’accent sur la profondeur temps, les échelles analytiques multiples, les compréhensions évolutives et la prise en compte des idées humaines et non seulement des pratiques, contribuera à rendre la bioarchéologie pertinente pour les problèmes contemporains et futurs au-delà le modèle de transition épidémiologique tel que modifié par Barrett et Armelagos (Barrett et al. 1998; Barrett et Armelagos 2013).

No abstract

The Murray River Valley was one of the most densely occupied areas of inland Australia during the Holocene. Unlike other areas of Australia, the record of burials and human remains dominates archaeological narratives of this area’s Aboriginal experience. In this article, we review bioarchaeological evidence from the region. In addition to mortuary remains, also discussed in this article are evidence from human morphological variation, palaeopathology, and diet. While the valley is often treated as a single region, Aboriginal communities who lived along the Murray shared aspects of economic and cultural systems but also demonstrated diversity and local trajectories. Rather than a single grand narrative the valley’s bioarchaeological evidence shows variation which is the product of multiple local factors.

Ngaut Ngaut (Devon Downs) and Tungawa (Fromm’s Landing) 2 and 6 are located in the Gorge Section of the Lower Murray River. They were excavated more than 60 years ago. Unusually, they preserved fauna over the 6000 or 7000 years of occupation. Assessing this record, it is concluded that Aboriginal agents were responsible for the middens in these rockshelters. Following this, Ngaut Ngaut and the Tungawa sites are compared in terms of their dating, stratigraphy and changes in the fauna through time. While the majority of species are present throughout at all three sites, there are shifts in the number of animals in concert with Holocene environmental changes. After 3000 BP, the trend is to increased attention being given to resources from the riparian and river zones and away from the dryland Murray Plains. An increase in shellfish and the presence of crayfish gastroliths support this contention. Nearby Tartanga Island provides a record of Holocene sedimentary changes in the Murray River associated with altered sea level and flood regimes, particularly the deposition of the Monoman and Coonambidgal formations. The latter creating a landscape of highly productive swamps and backwaters. The information from these legacy excavations supports the conclusion that a shift in the locus of Aboriginal hunting and gathering activities accompanied mid- and late-Holocene environmental changes on the Lower Murray River.