Biodistance

Abstract

Biodistance analysis uses skeletal phenotypes, most often of the cranium and dentition, to infer evolutionary processes and aspects of individual and group relatedness in archaeological contexts. The use of the skeleton as a genetic proxy has a long and complicated history in anthropology tied to typological approaches and race science. Modern biodistance research incorporates population genetic models more explicitly and avoids framing research questions in a typological manner. Biodistance has been used at multiple scales of analysis, from the global to the intracemetery. Larger scales of analysis address broad questions of migration and modern human emergence. Regional or site‐specific analyses are more bioarchaeological in orientation, and reconstruct patterns of gene flow, population boundaries, and site formation processes. Although an imperfect proxy, previous work at multiple scales of analysis has shown biodistance to approximate genetic signatures within human populations.

Isotopic evidence for human mobility in late antique Bulla Regia (Tunisia)

“…Bioarchaeological methods offer great potential for mapping and understanding the scale of mobility in different periods. Past human mobility can be explored bioarchaeologically using isotopic analyses, ancient DNA ( Antonio et al, 2019 , Stoneking and Krause, 2011 ), as well as biodistances ( Nikita, 2020 , Stojanowski, 2018 ). However, as yet, bioarchaeological methods for investigating mobility have rarely been used in Tunisia.…”