Bioarchaeological Approaches to the Study of Adolescence

ABSTRACT

Adolescence is a key phase of the life course in modern western society, yet the study of adolescence in past populations has only recently developed. In this paper, we explore patterns of biological and social changes during adolescence, some of the challenges associated with this type of research, and how bioarchaeologists can explore this transitional period of life using macroscopic and biochemical approaches. We also examine why investigations of adolescence have been limited thus far, and how we may move forward to integrate studies of adolescence with the study of childhood, and life, in the past.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent
• childhood
• transition
• social age
• puberty
• dietary stable isotopes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

L. C. Avery

L. Creighton Avery is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology at McMaster University (Canada). Her research focuses on adolescent experiences for middle-class individuals living in the Roman Empire (1-5th centuries CE).

T. L. Prowse

Tracy L. Prowse is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at McMaster University (Canada). She is the director of excavations at the Roman site of Vagnari, south Italy. She has published on diet, mobility, and health in Roman populations through the use of stable isotopes and paleopathological analyses.

S. Findlay

Sheri Findlay is an Associate Professor with the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent Medicine at McMaster University (Canada). Sheri was involved in the founding and initial accreditation of the specialty of Adolescent Medicine in Canada, and she is now the Chair of the Adolescent Medicine Speciality Committee at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

M. B. Brickley

Megan B. Brickley is a Professor of Anthropology at McMaster University (Canada) and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Bioarchaeology of Human Disease. Her research investigates how the health and nutrition of past populations may have been linked to the socio-cultural, economic, and environmental conditions they faced in their community. Megan is also the president of the Paleopathology Association.