Introduction: Towards refining the concept of mobility

Abstract

Bone has an ability to model and remodel itself such that its distribution and material properties reflect factors occurring during the lifetime of an individual. Known factors influencing bone properties range from nonmechanical (e.g., age, sex, diet, health, and hormones) to mechanical ones (e.g., activity level and patterns). A lifetime accumulation of these inputs, therefore, should be reflected in the structure of bone diaphyses at the death of an individual. Inferring the inputs of these factors from long bone diaphyses of long dead individuals, whether Holocene agriculturalists or hunter-gatherers, or earlier human ancestors, depends in part on modern analogues being used to help identify and isolate the contributions of these factors. This chapter is both an introduction to and a synthesis of the collaborative effort that is recounted within the volume, and that is aimed at understanding the impact of human mobility as one such input to diaphyseal form.