Paleopathology is designed to help bone specialists with diagnosis of diseases in skeletal assemblages. It suggests an innovative method of arriving at a diagnosis in the skeleton by applying #operational definitions#. The aim is to ensure that all those who study bones will use the same criteria for diagnosing disease, which will enable valid comparisons to be made between studies. This book is based on modern clinical knowledge and provides background information so that readers understand the natural history of bone diseases, which will enable them to draw reliable conclusions from their observations. Details of bone metabolism and the fundamentals of basic pathology are also provided, as well as a comprehensive and up-to-date bibliography. A short chapter on epidemiology provides information on how best to analyze and present the results of a study of human remains. Professor Tony Waldron teaches paleopathology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. The author of about 300 peer- reviewed papers in medical, scientific and archaeology journals, as well as books on occupational medicine and paleoepidemiology, Waldron is co- founder of the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology and served as co-editor for its first decade. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, the Royal Society of Medicine, the Institute of Biology and the Royal Anthropological Institute.