Part I: 1. Introduction; Part II. Methodology: 2. Reconstructing health profiles from skeletal remains Alan H. Goodman and Debra L. Martin; 3. A health index from skeletal remains Richard H. Steckel, Paul W. Sciulli and Jerome C. Rose; 4. Paleodemography of the Americas Robert McCaa; Part III. Euro-Americans and African Americans in North America: 5. The health of the middle class: the St. Thomas Anglican church cemetery project Shelly Saunders, Ann Herring, Larry Sawchuck, Gerry Boyce, Rob Hoppa and Susan Klepp; 6. The poor in the mid-nineteenth century Northeastern United States Rosanne L. Higgins, Michael R. Haines, Lorena Walsh and Joyce E. Sirianni; 7. The effects of nineteenth-century military service on health Paul S. Sledzik and Lars G. Sandberg; 8. The health of slaves and free blacks in the East Ted A. Rathbun and Richard H. Steckel; 9. The quality of African American life in the Southwest near the turn of the twentieth century James Davidson, Jerome Rose, Myron Gutmann, Michael Haines, Keith Condon and Cindy Condon; Part IV. Native Americans in Central America: 10. Social disruption and the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica Rebecca Storey, Lourdes Marquez Morfin and Vernon Smith; 11. Health and nutrition in some Prehispanic Mesoamerican populations related with their way of life Lourdes Marquez Morfin, Robert McCaa, Rebecca Storey and Andres Del Angel; Part V. Native Americans and Euro-Americans in South America: 12. Patterns of health and nutrition in prehistoric and historic Ecuador Douglas H. Ubelaker and Linda A. Newson; 13. Economy, nutrition and disease in Southern, Coastal Brazil Walter Neves and Verônica Wesolowski; Part VI. Native Americans in North America: 14. A biohistory of health and behavior in the Georgia Bight Clark Larsen, Alfred Crosby, et al.; 15. Native Americans of Eastern North America Paul W. Sciulli and James Oberly; 16. Cultural longevity in the face of biological stress Ann L. W. Stodder, Debra L. Martin, Alan H. Goodman and Daniel T. Reff; 17. Health, nutrition, and demographic change in Native California Phillip L. Walker and Russell Thornton; 18. Welfare history on the Great Plains S. Ryan Johansson and Douglas Owsley; Part VII: 19. Patterns of health in the Western Hemisphere Richard H. Steckel and Jerome C. Rose; Part VIII: 20. Conclusions Richard H. Steckel and Jerome C. Rose; Part IX. Epilogue: 21. The body as evidence: the body of evidence George J. Armelagos and Peter J. Brown; 22. Over-specialization and remedies Philip D. Curtin.