Early Bronze Age I Tombs and Burials of Bâb Edh-Dhrâ', Jordan

Donald J. Ortner is a curator and research anthropologist at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Bruno Frohlich is an anthropologist at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

• Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. The Ecological and Social Context of the EB I People Chapter 3. Methods in the Recovery of and Research on the EB I People Chapter 4 Chpater 4. Cultural Artifacts of the EB I Tombs Chapter 5. The Funerary Tradition of the EB I People Chapter 6. The Tombs and Burials of the EB I People: Shaft Tombs Excavated in 1977 Chapter 7. The EB IB Charnel House (G1): Excavated in 1977 Chapter 8. The Tombs and Burials of the EB I People: Tombs Excavated in 1979 Chapter 9. The Tombs and Burials of the EB I People: Tombs Excavated in 1981 Chapter 10. The Osteology of the EB IA and EB IB People Chapter 11. The Paleodemography of the EB IA People Chapter 12. The Paleopathology of the EB IA and EB IB People Chapter 13. Dental Analyses of the Bâb edh-Dhrâ' Human Remains Chapter 14. Summary of Findings and Conclusions Regarding the EB I People of Bâb edh-Dhrâ', Jordan

Ortner, Frohlich, and colleagues provide an excellent, comprehensive model that should be widely emulated for the analysis, interpretation, and presentation of complex mortuary data sets. The text is rich in relevant details and abundantly illustrated with photographs and figures—all of which enhance the authors' dynamic reconstruction of life and death in Early Bronze Age Jordan. Ortner's active participation in the excavation of the burials at this remarkable site ensured that every bit of human bone has been systematically collected; and his paleopathological analysis not only incorporates biological and cultural data for differential diagnosis, but also takes note of the individual human costs of illnesses and nutritional deficiencies. Those who wonder what ancient remains can tell us about human life will find some convincing answers here.