Here's notice of a new book. The info is taken from websites of Amazon and the publisher.
Paleonutrition (Hardcover)
Mark Q. Sutton (Author), Kristin D. Sobolik (Author), Jill K. Gardner (Author)
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: University of Arizona Press (February 23, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0816527946
ISBN-13: 978-0816527946
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
Product Description
Paleonutrition is the analysis of prehistoric human diets and the interpretation of dietary intake in relation to health and nutrition. As a field of study, it addresses prehistoric diets in order to determine the biological and cultural implications for individuals as well as for entire populations, placing archaeological interpretations into an anthropological context. Throughout history, and long before written records, human culture has been constantly in flux. The study of paleonutrition provides valuable insights into shifts and changes in human history, whatever their causes.
This is the most comprehensive and up-to-date book on the topic. Intended for students and professionals, it describes the nature of paleonutrition studies, reviews the history of paleonutrition research, discusses methodological issues in the reconstruction of prehistoric diets, presents theoretical frameworks frequently used in paleonutrition research, and showcases examples in which paleonutritional analyses have been successfully conducted on prehistoric individuals, groups, and populations. It offers an integrative approach to understanding state-of-the-art anthropological dietary, health, and nutritional assessments. The most recent and innovative methods used to reconstruct prehistoric diets are discussed, along with the major ways in which paleonutrition data are recovered, analyzed, and interpreted.
Paleonutrition includes five contemporary case studies that provide useful models of how to conduct paleonutrition research. Topics range from ancient diets in medieval Nubia to children’s health in the prehistoric American Southwest to honey use by an ethnographic group of East African foragers. As well as providing interesting examples of applying paleonutrition techniques, these case studies illustrate the mutually beneficial linkages between ethnography and archaeology.
http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/BOOKS/bid2222.htm
An excerpt from the book can be read here:
http://tinyurl.com/y8hvo9d
From this I gather that the book will have only limited appeal to members of this list. It's more a book for post-grad students to own and for final year undergraduate students to refer to for their honours projects. Its focus is on retrieving information from the past with an emphasis on taphonomy (the study of decaying organisms over time and how they become fossilized - if they do). There is no mention in the info about the book which points to any discussion about the links between types of diet and overall health, although the reference to cultural factors influencing dietary choice interests me because it brings in non-rational aspects of food choice and use and we cannot assume that Palaeolithic humans were any smarter than we are today about our food choices; it's just that they had fewer opportunities to go off the rails and those who persisted in doing so did not survive to pass down to their descendants their maladaptive preferences.
If anyone on this list reads this book, please post a review here.
Keith
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