Understanding Past Communal Health: Social Responses to Communal Health in the Past

Communal health has frequently been the focus of bioarchaeological research from local, regional, and global perspectives. Impacts of disease, stress, diet, accidents, and violence, among others, are examined within and between populations geographically and temporally. However, responses of the community to health-related conditions have not been systematically explored, with the exception of a more recent focus on the bioarchaeology of care.

The project aims to examine the variety of ways that communities managed, responded to, and prepared for aspects related to public health from the Late Roman period to the early 20th century. The Research Topic points to including studies representing populations worldwide to fully consider how communities acknowledge and address specific aspects of communal health, such as the provision of medical care or palliative (e.g. employment of medical treatments), risk-sensitive tactics (e.g. measures for the control of infectious diseases, the establishment of hospitals/leprosaria) or the development of ‘extraordinary’ funerary strategies (e.g. mass graves) among others.

Understanding past communal health includes a broad scope. Paper topics may include but are not limited to:

-Care of individuals and groups of individuals by kin and non-kin
-Use of medicinal plants or other treatments
-Mortuary practices that are impacted by health status
-Medical/palliative care
-Establishment and use of hospitals, sanitaria, or other large-scale facilities
-Impact of infectious diseases and plague pandemics

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: communal care, bioarchaeology, disease, diet, violence, community, health, medicine, treatment

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.