Canada

Physical anthropology in Canada has a history that dates back to the middle of the 19th century (Melbye and Meiklejohn 1992; Popham 1950). The modern era in human osteology, with its emphasis on population variability in quantitative and discrete morphological traits, biological distance analysis and palaeopathology, began in the 1960s (Meiklejohn 1997; Melbye 1982). That decade also saw an incipient awareness of ethical issues surrounding the excavation and study of human remains, an awareness which became commonplace in the 1970s and has generally directed osteological studies on into the 21st century. While various forms of legislation have been enacted within Canada, it is the guiding principles of physical anthropology and archaeology themselves that have enabled progress in these disciplines. The vast majority of archaeological sites, a few of which may be as old as 10,000 to 15,000 years,

are in the presently or formerly occupied lands of indigenous peoples known today as First Nations (equivalent to Native Americans or American Indians in the USA), Inuit and Inuinnaq (equivalent to Eskimo in Alaska), and Métis (individuals of mixed First Nations and European parentage). Other sites are European or Euro-Canadian in origin and include pioneer cemeteries, towns and villages, early European settlements, and military fortifications. Osteological site reports were the foundation of human skeletal studies in the 1960s and are

much valued today for their methodological orientation and comparative data (see, e.g., Anderson 1964, 1968; Ossenberg 1969). Works of that genre have continued in Canadian skeletal studies (see, e.g., Cybulski 1992; Pfeiffer et al. 1989; Saunders and Lazenby 1991; Williamson and Pfeiffer 2003), but there is also an emphasis on methodology and problem-oriented research (see, e.g., Katzenberg et al. 1995; Saunders et al. 1995), topical issues (Hartney 1981; Skinner 1994; Walker 1978) and regional syntheses (Cybulski 2006; Keenleyside 2006).