The University of Arizona
 

James Watson, Ph.D.

Dr. Watson’s research examines health and disease in prehistoric populations through their skeletal remains. His focus has been on the decline in human health associated with the adoption of an agricultural lifeway in the North American Desert West. He is also interested in the interaction between disease and culture in modern indigenous groups (particularly Type-II Diabetes). He is a co-director of the La Playa Burial Rescue Project, conducted in Sonora, Mexico. [B.A. University of Tennessee 1996; M.A. Wichita State University 1999; Ph.D. University of Nevada Las Vegas 2005]

James Watson

Interests:

Prehistoric human health, disease, and diet; origins of agriculture; skeletal biology, paleopathology, and dental anthropology; North American desert West and Mesoamerica.

The development and rapid spread of agriculture among prehistoric human populations throughout the globe catapulted human cultural evolution far beyond those accomplishments of the previous four million years of biological evolution. The transition from a mobile food foraging lifestyle to large permanent settlements had serious effects on the health of human beings. Increased population densities and contact with waste fostered the spread of bacterial and viral diseases. Close contact with domesticated animals led to the development of zoonoses in humans such as anthrax and tuberculosis. A decrease in dietary breadth and the limited nutrition of domesticated cultigens led to nutritional deficiencies among young and old. In addition, the focused consumption of highly processed carbohydrates led to progressive deteriorations in dental health, resulting in more cavities and tooth loss among agricultural groups.

In order to understand the origin and direction of human diseases (past and present), it is important to frame them in terms of their dynamic relationship between human evolutionary biology, human behaviors, and environment.

View some of Dr. Watson's research on "Thrifty Genes" and American Indian health and The Introduction of Agriculture and Women's Oral Health.

Selected Publications:

Watson JT. (2008) The Spread of Agriculture into the North American Desert West: Language, Genes and Teeth. In Benjamin Auerbach (editor), Center for Archaeological Investigations Southern Illinois University: Archaeological and Biological Variation in the New World. Occasional Papers No. 36. Carbondale, Illinois (in preparation).

Watson, JT. (2008) A Quantitative Test of Artificial Cranial Deformation Among prehistoric Puebloans. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology (in review).

Watson JT. (2008) Prehistoric Dental Disease and the Dietary Shift from Cactus to Cultigens in Northwest Mexico. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 18:202-212.

Watson, JT. (2008) Changes in Food Processing and Occlusal Dental Wear during the Early Agricultural Period in Northwest Mexico. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 135(1):92-99.

Benyshek DC, Watson JT. (2006) Exploring the Thrifty Genotype’s Food Shortage Assumptions: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Ethnographic Accounts of Food Security Among Foraging and Agricultural Societies. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 131(1):120-126.2006.

Watson JT. (2003) Faunal Remains. In Mitigation, Black Dog Mesa Archaeological Complex (26CK5686/BLM 53-7216), Volume II—Black Dog Cave. Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Contact:

Room 217N
Arizona State Museum
The University of Arizona
1013 E. University Blvd.
P.O. Box 210026
Tucson, Arizona 85721-0026

Email Dr. Watson
520-621-4794

Photo courtesy of James Watson