Can DISH Be a Marker for Greater Social Stratification: Jericho’s Early Bronze IV and Tell Atchana, Alalakh

This study utilizes bioarchaeological analysis to investigate social stratification in past populations. The presence of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH), a joint disease that is believed to be the outcome of obesity and type II diabetes, was found in the skeletal remains of six adult males: four from Jericho (Early Bronze IV) and two from Tell Atchana, Alalakh (Late Bronze I). The current study finds a correlation between burials of males of higher social status and the presence of DISH at both sites. At Jericho, Kenyon reported the presence of seven types of Early Bronze IV tombs that were suggested to represent different ethnic distinctions and social stratification within the population. Four males with DISH were found in Tombs O1, P12, P20 and P22, which belong to the outsize tomb type and were considered to represent a different social class of the society, in this case, the higher, elite class. This evidence is attributed to the successful rural/village social-complexity and prosperous times of the Early Bronze IV that provided accessibility to rich diets. The archaeological evidence from Tell Atchana, Alalakh, indicates a higher social status for the two adult males with DISH who were buried in two distinct ways: one in the Plastered Tomb (individual S4–09), a unique elite tomb located in the extramural cemetery, and one within an intramural cemetery, the so-called craftsmen area (Grave 100).