ICORB 2025 presentations

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION Osteobiography in Roman Bioarchaeology: Understanding Roman Life One Individual at a Time Anna Osterholtz (1, 2) Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, Mississippi State University, Mississippi, USA; Cobb Institute of Archaeology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi, USA Roman bioarchaeology is uniquely positioned to illuminate the lives of individuals in a well-documented socially stratified society. While the Roman written record is extensive, it often reflects elite perspectives, leaving the experiences of women, children, and non-elites underrepresented. Bioarchaeology, particularly through the lens of osteobiography, helps recover these overlooked narratives. Originally developed in the 1970s by Saul and later expanded by researchers like Hosek and Robb to include molecular data, osteobiography synthesizes evidence of life, death, and burial to reconstruct individual life histories. In this talk, I explore how osteobiographical approaches in Roman contexts—combined with population-level analyses—can reveal broader social patterns. I also reflect on the work I have done with my excellent colleagues, highlighting how these narratives resonate with both academic and public audiences, making Roman lives more tangible and bioarchaeology more accessible.