Examined through the lens of human remains, the overarching theme of this volume is human interaction and its consequences for the human condition across the vast expanse of East Asia during the Holocene. The volume is also an exploration of human interaction at an entirely different level, bringing together chapters written by scholars from several distinct academic schools of thought. The contributors stem from a range of culturally mediated scholarly traditions in biological anthropology that were isolated to varying degrees by the tumultuous politics of the 20th century. Conceptual framewo ... More

Examined through the lens of human remains, the overarching theme of this volume is human interaction and its consequences for the human condition across the vast expanse of East Asia during the Holocene. The volume is also an exploration of human interaction at an entirely different level, bringing together chapters written by scholars from several distinct academic schools of thought. The contributors stem from a range of culturally mediated scholarly traditions in biological anthropology that were isolated to varying degrees by the tumultuous politics of the 20th century. Conceptual frameworks, underlying assumptions, goals, and even styles of presentation vary considerably among the chapters, reflecting our goal of creating a forum within which a highly diverse and international group of scholars could engage in their particular approaches to examining human skeletal remains drawn from archaeological contexts.