Paleopathology

Joshua T. Schnell

Joshua Schnell is a biological anthropologist and anthropological archaeologist specializing in the bio archaeology of the Maya region. His current work emphasizes human agency in the study of health, healing, and medicine in the past, calling attention to people’s efforts to shape their appearance, care for their bodies, and combat and treat illnesses and injuries. Before joining the faculty at Pitt, he was a Pre-Columbian Studies Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, DC and has additionally held fellowships at the John Carter Brown Library in Providence, RI and the National Science Foundation. At Pitt, he runs the Imaging and Microscopy in Anthropology Group Lab (IMAG Lab) and welcomes undergraduate and graduate student research involvement in his lab and field endeavors. His current fieldwork is based in Chiapas, Mexico but he has previously conducted field work across the Maya region - in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico at a variety of Classic and Pre classic sites, including large, dynastic civic-ceremonial urban centers, small frontier and subsidiary sites, and mortuary rock shelters and caves. He is also working on a book project examining dental aesthetics, medical dentistry, and oral care practices among the ancient Maya
 

Degrees and Education

PhD, Brown University

Research Description

In broadest strokes, I am interested in how the body was understood, maintained, and altered - both during life and after death - in the archaeological past. My interests primarily lie in bioarchaeological approaches to the study of medicine and healing in the past, including (1) the treatment of the dis-eased body via medical and therapeutic practices, (2) the maintenance of bodily health via diet, hygienic practices, and routine care, and (3) the upkeep of the aesthetic or “crafted” body and its intersection with health.

My current project examines evidence for oral care, dental hygiene, and aesthetic expression of the mouth in the Maya world. The human dentition provides a unique opportunity to examine both quotidian and self-directed forms of care (such as toothbrushing and other cleansing practices)  and practices reflecting specialized knowledge such as therapeutic and herbal treatments, including oral surgery and tooth extractions. Understanding how people cared for their mouths within their specific cultural context, and how those practices might intersect with broader cultural values such as hygiene, sociality, aesthetics, and even morality can tremendously enhance our study of health and disease in the past. Through this work, I am also working with colleagues in paleoethnobotany, biomolecular anthropology, and dental science to advance a holistic model for the study of the mouth in the archaeological past. My work is fundamentally biocultural and interdisciplinary and I am committed to exploring and developing new, innovative methodologies and approaches for advancing the study of health and disease in the past. I believe this work should always be culturally-grounded, which is why I incorporate iconography, visual culture, ethnohistory, and ethnography in my research.

I have additional research interests in archaeological representation in gaming, collecting practices and research in/of collections,  and the cultural modification of the antemortem and postmortem body, including dress and ornamentation, body modification practices, mortuary practices, and the postmortem lives of human remains (especially objects crafted from human bone).

Courses

  • Human Variation
  • The Decorated Body: Cultural Expression and the Human Body

Publications

Scherer, Andrew K., Ricardo Rodas, Joshua T. Schnell, Mónica Urquizú, and Omar Alcover Firpi. 2024. “The Man of Macabilero: An Osteobiography of Perseverance.” In Mesoamerican Osteobiographies: Revealing the Lives and Deaths of Ancient Individuals, edited by Gabriel Wrobel and Andrea Cucina. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

Watson, Sarah E., Joshua T. Schnell, Shanti Morell-Hart, Andrew K. Scherer, and Lydie Dussol. 2023. “Healthcare in the Marketplace: Exploring Maya Medicinal Plants and Practices at Piedras Negras, Guatemala.” Ancient Mesoamerica, 34(2), 383-406. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956536122000037

Scherer, Andrew K., and Joshua T. Schnell. 2022. “Maya Bioarchaeology.” In The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology, edited by Vera Tiesler, pp. 168-180. Routledge, London.

Hernandez-Bolio, Gloria I., Patricia Quintana, Marco Ramírez-Salomon, Elma Vega-Lizama, Michele Morgan, Joshua T. Schnell, Andrew Scherer, and Vera Tiesler. 2022. “Organic Compositional Analysis of Ancient Maya Tooth Sealants and Fillings.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 43, 103435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103435

Scherer, Andrew K., Charles Golden, Stephen Houston, Mallory Matsumoto, Omar A. Alcover Firpi, Whittaker Schroder, Alejandra Roche Recinos, Socorro Jiménez Álvarez, Mónica Urquizú, Griselda Robles Pérez, Joshua T. Schnell, and Zachary X. Hruby. 2022. “Chronology and the Evidence for War in the Classic Maya Kingdom of Piedras Negras.” Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 66, 101408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2022.101408

Schnell, Joshua T., and Andrew K. Scherer. 2021. “Classic Maya Dental Interventions: Evidence for Tooth Extractions at Piedras Negras, Guatemala.”  Bioarchaeology International, 5, 47-67. https://doi.org/10.5744/bi.2021.1001

Golden, Charles, Andrew K. Scherer, Whittaker Schroder, Timothy Murtha, Shanti Morell-Hart, Juan Carlos Fernandez Diaz, Socorro del Pilar Jiménez Álvarez, Omar Alcover Firpi, Mark Agostini, Alexandra Bazarsky, Morgan Clark, George Van Kollias III, Mallory Matsumoto, Alejandra Roche Recinos, Joshua Schnell, and Bethany Whitlock. 2021. “Airborne Lidar Survey, Density-Based Clustering, and Ancient Maya Settlement in the Upper Usumacinta River Region of Mexico and Guatemala.” Remote Sensing, 13, 4019. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13204109 

Jennifer Muller

Jennifer Muller (PhD, University at Buffalo 2006) is a historical bioarchaeologist whose research explores the biological consequences of discrimination‐based inequities in 19th- and 20th-century African diasporic populations and the institutionalized poor. Her research, which integrates archaeological, archival, ethnographic, and skeletal data, aims to disrupt hegemonic narratives of the poor and the marginalized in the past. Through the investigation of the use of bodies in medical and anthropological training, her scholarship also examines how people who are discriminated against in life may also experience the negative consequences of inequity in death. Prior to coming to the University of Pittsburgh, she held appointments with the Department of Anthropology at Ithaca College, the City University of New York, and the W. Montague Cobb Laboratory at Howard University.

Degrees and Education

PhD, University of Buffalo, 2006

Research Description

Much of Jennifer Muller’s research has included bioarchaeological analysis of those interred in poorhouse cemeteries and US anatomical collections. Her research on the Monroe County Poorhouse and the W. Montague Cobb Skeletal Collection focused on the skeletal evidence of trauma and its connections to discrimination and racism in occupational opportunity. In recent years, she has explored trauma and disease in the past and its association with the social dis-abling of individuals with perceived impairments. Beginning in 2013, she has contributed to the Erie County Poorhouse Bioarchaeology Project (Buffalo, NY) through the analysis of the 67 child and infant remains from an excavated portion of the poorhouse. Many of these skeletal remains present with evidence of severe pathology. In- depth research of New York State historical documents reveals that poorhouse children (between 2 and 16 years of age) with perceived physical and mental impairments were considered deviant and unworthy of familial care or transference to orphanages. This research provides insight into the role of socially ascribed disability as a determinant of historical social welfare worthiness. This not only contributes to historical narratives but has direct relevance to our understanding of social welfare policy and practice today.

Critical to Jennifer Muller’s applied and engaged approach is the incorporation of descendant communities in research design, implementation, and outreach/education. She has also been involved in several projects aimed at local and descendant community partnership and advocacy for the preservation of sacred spaces and heritage management.

 

 

Courses

0620 Biocultural Anthropology

0680 Introduction to Biological Anthropology

0681 Introduction to Human Evolution
1600 Human Evolution and Variation

1750 Inequity & the Body

1805 Bioarchaeology

 

Recent Publications
 

Byrnes JF and Muller JL. 2022. A Child Left Behind: Malnutrition and Chronic Illness of a Child from the Erie  County Poorhouse Cemetery. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. doi: 10.1002/oa.3130.

Muller JL. 2021. A Bioarchaeology of Inequality: Lessons from American Institutionalized and Anatomical Skeletal Assemblages. In: O. Cerasuolo (Ed.) Inequality in Antiquity. Buffalo, NY: State University of New York Press.

Muller JL., Byrnes, JF. and Ingleman, DA. 2020. The Erie County Poorhouse (1828–1926) as a Heterotopia: A Bioarchaeological Perspective. In: LA Tremblay and S Reedy (Eds.) The Bioarchaeology of Structural Violence: A Theoretical Framework for Industrial Era Inequality. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

Muller JL. 2020. Reflecting on a More Inclusive Historical Bioarchaeology. Journal of Historical Archaeology 54(1):202-211.

Muller JL. and Butler MS. 2018. At the Intersections of Race, Poverty, Gender, and Science: A Museum Mortuary for Twentieth Century Fetuses and Infants. In: PK Stone (Ed), Bioarchaeological Analyses and Bodies: New Ways of Knowing Anatomical and Archaeological Skeletal Collections. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

Byrnes JF and Muller JL. (Eds) 2017. Bioarchaeology of Impairment and Disability: Theoretical, Ethnohistorical, and Methodological Perspectives. Part of the series “Bioarchaeology and Social Theory” edited by Debra Martin. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

Byrnes JF and Muller JL. 2017. Mind the Gap: Bridging Disability Studies and Bioarchaeology – An Introduction. In: JF Byrnes and JL Muller (Eds) Bioarchaeology of Impairment and Disability: Theoretical, Ethnohistorical, and Methodological Perspectives. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

Muller JL. 2017. Rendered Unfit: ‘Defective’ Children in the Erie County Poorhouse. In: JF Byrnes and JL Muller (Eds) Bioarchaeology of Impairment and Disability: Theoretical, Ethnohistorical, and Methodological Perspectives. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

Muller JL, Pearlstein K, and de la Cova C. 2016. Dissection and documented skeletal collections: legal embodiment of inequality. In: KC Nystrom (ed) The Bioarchaeology of Autopsy and Dissection in the United States. Bioarchaeology and Social Theory series, Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

Watkins RJ and Muller JL. 2015. Repositioning the Cobb Human Archive: the merger of a skeletal collection and its texts. American Journal of Human Biology 27(1):41-50.

Margaret Judd

Margaret Judd is a bioarchaeologist who received her PhD from the University of Alberta (2000), following an MSc from the University of Bradford (1994) and BA from Wilfrid Laurier University (1993). She was Special Collections Curator in the Department of Ancient Egypt & Sudan at The British Museum before coming to the University of Pittsburgh in 2004. She has worked extensively in Jordan and northern Sudan, in addition to Russia, Egypt, Italy and Canada.

Her research focuses on the shaping, maintenance and destruction of the human body, particularly the bodies of marginalized people, in response to sociocultural and resource stress. Her current project, Multi-resource subsistence among ancient Jordanian pastoralists and townsfolk: health, diet and paleoethnobiology, will use bioarchaeological evidence to support a multi-resource nomadism model for historical Jordanian pastoralists.

Dr. Judd will no longer be accepting graduate students.

Courses

Forensic Anthropology: An Introduction 

Forensic anthropology integrates several areas of anthropology, notably human skeletal analysis, taphonomy and archaeology within a medicolegal context. Students will acquire a basic knowledge of human osteology and analytical methods required to develop an osteobiographical profile of the deceased (e.g., age at death, biological sex, stature, ancestry). Student will be introduced to basic methods in discovery, excavation, recording and contextual interpretation of human remains in a forensic context. Finally, we will examine activity markers, trauma patterns and common pathological conditions visible on the skeleton that aid in identification.

Paleopathology

Paleopathology is the study of disease and its process among ancient peoples using primary evidence from human skeletal remains that considers skeletal expressions, origins and social conditions of disease epidemiology. Additional lines of inquiry draw on evidence from archaeological, ethnographical, clinical, and historical sources to aid in our interpretation. In this course you will learn how to recognize abnormal bone, differentiate between disease processes, describe abnormal bone changes, evaluate recording methods, and investigate the epidemiological history of various disease processes. The impact of disease upon the individual and ancient societies will be considered throughout the course and in student seminars. The combined lecture-lab format provides a comprehensive overview of common skeletal pathological processes as well as experience with the methods used in recording the pathology of skeletal remains.

 

Publications

Judd, M. A. (2023) Robebus Chapel crypt burials: Commingled, broken and processed. Near Eastern Archaeology 86.3: 218-229.

Judd, M. A. (In press) Chapter 10. Living the Iron Age Life. In A Fortress Town in Northern Moab Khirbat al-Mudayna on Wadi ath-Thamad. In P. M. M.  Daviau and M. L.  Steiner (eds). Leiden: Brill.

Judd, M. A. (2023) Living with lower limb traumas and below-knee amputation in a Jordanian Late Ottoman nomadic community. International Journal of Paleopathology 41: 110-116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2023.04.002

Judd, M. A. (2020). Commingled crypts: comparative health among Byzantine monastics in the Levant, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 172: 70-86. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23993.

Vagheesh, N., Patterson, N., Moorjani, P., Rohland, N., Bernardos, R., Mallick, S., . . . Reich, D. (2019). The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia. Science, 365(6457): eaat7487. doi: 10.1126/science.aat7487.

Vagheesh, N., Patterson, N., Moorjani, P., Rohland, N., Bernardos, R., Mallick, S., . . . Reich, D. (2019). The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia. Science, 365. doi:10.1126/science.aat7487.

Judd, M. A., Gregoricka, L. A., & Foran, D. (2019). The monastic mosaic at Mount Nebo, Jordan: Biogeochemical and epigraphical evidence for diverse origins. Antiquity, 93(368), 450-467.

Hanks, B. K., Ventresca Miller, A. R., Judd, M. A., Epimakhov, A. V., & Razhev, D. (2018). Bronze Age diet and economy: new stable isotope data from the Central Eurasian Steppes (2100-1700 BC). Journal of Archaeological Science, 97, 14-25.

Judd, M. A. (2017). Injury recidivism revisited: Clinical research and limitations. In C. Tegtmeyer & D. L. Martin (Eds.), Broken bones, broken bodies: Bioarchaeological and forensic approaches for accumulative trauma and violence (pp. 1-24). Landham, MD: Lexington Books.

Judd, M. A., Walker, J. L., Ventresca Miller, A. R., Razhev, D., Epimakhov, A. I., & Hanks, B. K. (2018). Life in the fast lane: Settled pastoralism in the Central Eurasian Steppe during the Middle Bronze Age. American Journal of Human Biology, 30(4), e23129. doi:doi:10.1002/ajhb.23129.

Kesterke, M. J., Judd, M. A., Mooney, M. P., Siegel, M. I., Elsalanty, M., Howie, R. N., . . . Cray, J. J. (2018). Maternal environment and craniofacial growth: geometric morphometric analysis of mandibular shape changes with in utero thyroxine overexposure in mice. Journal of Anatomy, 233, 46-54.

Judd, M. A. (2018). A truncated styloid process from the Jordanian Ottoman Period: developmental variant or fracture? International Journal of Paleopathology 20, 98-103.

Ventresca Miller, A. R., Hanks, B. K., Judd, M. A., Epimakhov, A. V., & Razhev, D. (2017). Weaning practices among pastoralists: new evidence of infant feeding patterns from Bronze Age Eurasia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 162, 409-422.

Redfern, R. C., Judd, M. A., & DeWitte, S. N. (2017). Multiple Injury and Health in Past Societies: An Analysis of Concepts and Approaches, and Insights from a Multi-Period Study. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 27(3), 418-429. doi:10.1002/oa.2565.

Gregoricka, L. A., & Judd, M. A. (2015). Isotopic evidence for diet among historic Bedouin of Khirbat al-Mudayna, Jordan. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 26, 705-715.

Judd, M. A., Seltzer, D., & Binkoski, C. (2015). Chapter 7: Community health at Tell er-Rumeith. In T. J. Barako & N. L. Lapp (Eds.), Tell er-Rumeith. The Excavations of Paul W. Lapp, 1962 and 1967 (Vol. Archaeological Reports 22, pp. 233-258). Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research.

Judd, M. A. (2014). Growing up in Gabati. In J.A. Anderson & D. A. Welsby (Eds.), The Fourth Cataract and Beyond. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference for Nubian Studies, London (pp. 1115-1124). London: Peeters.

Judd, M. A. (2012). Gabati: A Meroitic, post-Meroitic and medieval cemetery in Central Sudan Volume 2: The physical anthropology. Oxford: BAR International Series S2442.

WeaninbrJudd, M. A., & Redfern, R. (2012). Trauma. In A. L. Grauer (Ed.), A Companion to Paleopathology (pp. 359-379). Chichester: Blackwell Publishing.

Baker, B. J., & Judd, M. A. (2012). Development of paleopathology in the Nile Valley. In J. Buikstra, C. A. Roberts, & S. M. Schreiner (Eds.), History Of Paleopathology: Pioneers and Prospects (pp. 209-234). New York: Oxford University Press.

Judd, M. A. (2010). Pubic symphyseal face eburnation: an Egyptian sport story? International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 20, 280-290.

Judd, M. A. (2010). The 2010 excavation season at the Chapel of Robebus. Liber Annuus 60: 425-428.

Judd, M. A. (2010). Chapter 7: The multiple burial in the Building 600 at Tall Jawa. In P. M. M. Daviau (Ed.), Tall Jawa Excavations Volume IV: The Early Islamic House (pp. 112-133). Leiden: Brille.

Judd, M. A., & Irish, J. D. (2009). Dying to serve: the mass burials at Kerma. Antiquity, 83, 709-722.

Judd, M. A. (2009). The 2008 excavation season at the Chapel of Robebus. Liber Annuus 58: 524-528.

Judd, M. A. (2009). Bioarchaeology east of Jordan. In P. Bientrowski (Ed.), Studies on Iron Age Moab and neighbouring areas in honour of Michèle Daviau (pp. 245-273). Leuven: Peeters.

Judd, M. A. (2009). Cemetery excavation and bioarchaeology, 2006 (p. 359-360). In PMM Daviau, A Dolan, J Ferguson, CM Foley, L Foley, CJ Gohm, MA Judd and M Weigl. Preliminary report of excavations and survey at Khirbat al-Mudayna and its surroundings (2004, 2006 and 2007) Annual of theDepartment of Antiquities of Jordan 52: 343-374

Judd, M. A. (2008). The human skeletal analysis. In S. Salvatori & D. Usai (Eds.), A Northern Dongola Reach Neolithic Cemetery. The R12. London: Sudan Archaeological Research Society Press Publication Number 16, pp. 83-104.

Judd, M. A. (2008). The crypts at the Chapel of Robebus, Mount Nebo. Liber Annuus 57: 656-660.

Buzon, M. R., & Judd, M. A. (2008). Investigating health at Kerma: sacrificial versus nonsacrificial individuals. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 136, 93-99.

Judd, M. A. (2008). The parry problem. Journal of Archaeological Science, 35, 1658-1666.

Judd, M. A. (2006). Continuity of interpersonal violence between Nubian communities. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 131, 324-333.

Judd, M. A. (2004). Trauma in the city of Kerma: ancient versus modern injury patterns. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 14, 34-51.

Judd, M. A. (2002). One accident too many? British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan. http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/bmsaes/issue3/judd.html

Daviau, P. M. M., Judd, M., & Beckmann, M. (2002). Artefact classification and typology. In P. M. M. Daviau (Ed.), Excavations at Tall Jawa, Jordan: Volume 2 The Iron Age Artefacts.  Leiden: Brill, pp. 19-211.

Judd, M. A. (2002). Ancient injury recidivism: an example from the Kerma Period of ancient Nubia. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 12, 89-106.

Judd, M. A. (2002). Comparison of long bone trauma recording methods. Journal of Archaeological Science, 29, 1255-1265.

Judd, M. A. (2001). The human remains. In D. W. Welsby (Ed.), Life on the Desert Edge. Seven thousand years of settlement in the Northern Dongola Reach, Sudan (Vol. S980, pp. 458-543): BAR.

Judd, M. A., & Roberts, C. A. (1999). Fracture trauma in a medieval British farming village. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 109, 229-243.

Judd, M. A., & Roberts, C. A. (1998). Fracture patterns at the medieval leper hospital in Chichester. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 105, 43-55.