Marginalised Populations in the Ancient Greek World

Carrie L. Sulosky Weaver is a researcher associated with the Department of Classics at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the co-editor (with R. M. Gondek) of The Ancient Art of Transformation: Case Studies from Mediterranean Contexts (Oxbow Books, 2019) and the author of The Bioarchaeology of Classical Kamarina: Life and Death in Greek Sicily (University Press of Florida, 2015).

• List of Figures Abbreviations and SpellingsAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Hidden Lives 1. Definitions and Reception of the Marginalised in Art and Literature 2. Disability3. Socioeconomic Status 4. Ancestry and EthnicityConclusion: Marginality at the IntersectionsReferencesIndex

The book does an excellent job in terms of its primary aim: to familiarize in a comprehensible way non-specialist readers with the nature of osteo-archaeological evidence and the techniques employed by specialists, the interpretations that can be deduced from the evidence and the methodological pitfalls, and the existing osteo-archaeological corpora that have been analysed so far. The author makes evident how much ancient historians can learn from this body of evidence; at the same time, it also illustrates the extent to which interpretations will need to develop further: how exactly should we interpret the surprising evidence that skeletons from the Laurion mines seem to share the same diet with those of Athens? Clearly, there is much to be learnt, and co-operation between historians and bioarchaeologists will enhance the value of the evidence.