The History of European Health Project: a history of health in Europe from the late Paleolithic era to the present.

Abstract

The United States National Science Foundation has recently funded a large collaborative project on "A History of Health in Europe from the Late Paleolithic Era to the Present," whose goal is to measure and analyzes the evolution of skeletal health by combining data from human remains with information gathered from sources in archaeology, climate history, geography, and history. The goal of this international collaborative project is to create a series of database that will allow researchers to reinterpret the history of human health in Europe from the late Paleolithic era to the early twentieth century. During this period, human health and welfare were transformed enormously by the transition from foraging to farming; the rise of cities and complex forms of social and political organization; European colonization; and industrialization. With a trans-Atlantic network of collaborators, we will undertake large-scale comparative studies of the causes and health consequences of these and other dramatic changes in arrangements for work, living, and human interaction.