Douglas E. Crews

Among the living, progressive losses of strength, endurance, and physical capabilities define physical frailty; in the long deceased recovered from archaeological contexts, these assessments are unavailable. However, individuals in the past likely encountered many of the same stressors we encounter today, and some stressors are embodied in their skeletal remains. Individual and population frailty reflect more than biology; they reflect experienced sociocultural structures and risks for illness, disease, and chronic degenerative conditions. This 3-day workshop will gather specialists in bioarchaeology, biological anthropology, epidemiology, eldercare, human biology, and geriatric medicine from around the world, including early career, global south, and historically-underrepresented researchers. Together we will discuss how frailty is operationalized, analyzed, and interpreted in the living and the long deceased. Additionally, we will explore possibilities for interdisciplinary progress in this research and current methods for assessing not only frailty in the past, but also signs of resilience among ancient skeletal samples and the osteological paradox. Workshop papers and discussions will be disseminated as a special issue in an open access journal such as the Journal of Bioanthropology.