Aim and Scope
Bioarchaeology aims to advance the interpretation of past human experiences by integrating biological evidence with anthropological, archaeological and historical knowledge.
The journal provides a platform for research on health, diet, mobility, demography, activity, identity, inequality, and human–environment relationships. It encourages theoretically informed investigations, transparent analytical methods, and critical consideration of the strengths and limitations of bioarchaeological evidence.
The journal also promotes ethical research, responsible stewardship of human remains, and meaningful engagement with descendant communities and other relevant stakeholders.
The journal welcomes contributions in the following areas:
• Human osteology and dental anthropology in anthropological contexts.
• Paleopathology, disease, trauma, disability, and care.
• Paleodemography, mortality, growth, aging, and life-course approaches.
• Diet, nutrition, subsistence, and stable isotope analysis.
• Human mobility, migration, and population interactions.
• Ancient DNA, paleoproteomics, and other biomolecular approaches to past human populations.
• Activity patterns, biomechanics, occupational stress, and embodied experience.
• Social inequality, identity, gender, and the biological consequences of social conditions.
• Mortuary archaeology, funerary practices, and the treatment of human remains.
• Human adaptation, environmental change, and biocultural responses.
• Taphonomy, preservation, excavation, documentation, and collection management.
• Imaging, digital reconstruction, quantitative methods, and reproducible analytical workflows.
• Research ethics, provenance, repatriation, community collaboration, and heritage stewardship relating to human remains.
Studies involving animal remains, environmental materials, or material culture are considered when they directly contribute to a clearly defined bioarchaeological question about past human populations. Purely clinical studies, contemporary forensic casework without an archaeological research contribution, and descriptive reports lacking sufficient contextual interpretation fall outside the journal’s scope.