Future Directions and New Approaches to Study Ancient Populations

The last chapter of the book is an invited contribution exploring the potential of new methods and datasets, such as aDNA and paleoanthropological studies, in understanding ancient demography, migratory processes, and health in the Iberian peninsula. While these fields are still young in Spain and Portugal, they are expected to develop in the near future and provide alternative data that may challenge or complement our present views. Genetic studies using ancient material make possible obtaining large amounts of data about population, family relationships, kinship, and the movement of individuals. Similarly, the study of health, pathologies, and pandemics has started to merge with the study of ancient demography, and osteoarchaeological studies can provide an alternative view of general demographic characteristics. Chapter 8 integrates palaeodemographic, anthropometric, palaeopathological, and palaeodietary data from numerous burials and some necropoleis in the province under study showing some initial results and the potential these types of studies will have to understand ancient demography in the future.