The Bioarchaeology of Care Methodology: Stage 4

Abstract

Chapter 7 corresponds to Stage 4 of the bioarchaeology of care methodology, the final stage of a bioarchaeology of care analysis. The central premise of Stage 4 analysis is that the behaviours making up the giving and receiving of health-related care (embodied in the evidence in human remains for survival with disease) express the agency of caregivers and care-recipients alike; if we can interpret this agency by deconstructing the steps taken in the ‘decision making path’ that resulted in care, this has the potential to illuminate aspects of the group, the individual and the contemporary lifeways. Chapter 5 laid out the background to and justification for this position, and Chapter 7 applies the conceptual framework for understanding care-related decision making developed in this earlier chapter to teasing out insights into culture and practice, social relations and collective and personal identity. Chapter 7 explains the processes involved in Stage 4 analysis, and describes the elements of the corresponding Step 4 of the Index of Care.