10 Might Community be the Key to Unlocking the Social Potential of Bioarchaeology?

Abstract

From the perspective of social archaeology, it seems bioarchaeology has been slow to recognize its social-interpretive potential. However, I think that “community” might be the key to unlocking this potential. As an interested outsider, I try here to explain the motivations and priorities of social-interpretive archaeologies, and to place the papers in this volume within the broader network of anthropological and archaeological theory. I also comment on the issues of boundaries and boundedness, scale, metaphor, and memory, all of which, one might argue, are social topics that have remained just beyond the reach of “traditional” bioarchaeology.