Bioarchaeology as a Process: An Examination of Bioarchaeological Tribes in the USA

This chapter reviews the over 35 year history of bioarchaeology within the USA. From a rather humble beginning, the field of bioarchaeology has grown tremendously over that time in terms of practitioners, methodologies, and diversity of research questions. The chapter begins with a quantitative examination of that growth and how particular events and publications may have impacted the trajectory of the field. An exploration of the nature of bioarchaeological training in the country is then presented along with the divergent definitions of “bioarchaeology” that various practitioners have employed. This leads to a discussion of academic lineages within the discipline, and the author delineates two distinct “tribes” of bioarchaeologists that have developed in the USA. Finally, the chapter ends with a summary of recent trends and challenges in contemporary US bioarchaeology.