The WELLGlossary #29

An archaeologist typically studies?the?buildings,?graves,?tools of?people?who?lived?in the past. What does a wellbeing archaeologist do, then?

Based on empirical and most of the time site-specific research an archaeologist would be able to map how people lived in the past. Floorplans of ancient living quarters, physical remains of everyday life, grains in old ceramic containers, etc. all would give clues about lives in the past.

Wellbeing studies on the other hand tend to look at factors that shape the lifestyle of people, and more importantly how people rate these factors. Wellbeing considers soft components, e.g. social networks being as much as influential as the hard components, e.g. housing conditions. Can we put these two together at all?

New research topics have emerged in archaeology and heritage studies recently. A series of articles in Archaeology (A Publication of the Archaeological Institute of America) in 2021 were published looking closely on the relationship between archaeology and wellness. The two publications were titled The Pursuit of Wellness & Wellness and discussed how the ancients attended to mind body and soul. The legacy of bathing in Ancient Rome is only one important aspect of how people looked after the wellbeing in the past. The articles quite accurately point out that many currently popular wellness pursuits are actually deeply rooted in Ancient wellbeing practices, e.g. Egyptian foot massages, Maya communal sweat baths, and Roman face creams.

A more comprehensive review of the relationship between Archaeology, Heritage and Wellbeing is discussed in a new title by Paul Everell and Karen Burnell published in 2022. Not only the current findings of archaeological and heritage research are introduced but also such fascinating therapeutic aspects, such as ‘How Do Interventions Using Heritage-Based Activities, Impact on Mental Health and Wellbeing’ (Chapter 11).

The importance of paying more attention to wellbeing in heritage and archaeology is also highlighted by a publication by Historic England. The authors remind us that “Wellbeing is politically and conceptually linked with health inequality and social cohesion as a long-term government priority. This focus on wellbeing reflects a shift away from an exclusively economic valuation model based on Gross Domestic Product to one that shows that physical and mental wellbeing have a significant impact on life quality”.

We hope to see wellbeing archaeology becoming an established field of research. Such studies should analyse in more detail what communities as well as individuals used to do to improve their wellbeing. Or happiness, since assumably the word wellbeing might not have been used per se during ancient times. Still, there is relevant evidence that can be adapted to current situations as well.

The findings of HTWWLife’s associated research that has already reviewed 42 different happiness systems from all around the world suggest confirmation of the relevance wellbeing archaeology. This newly ‘established’ field of scientific research, i.e. wellbeing archaeology will be able to map and review the very details of happiness systems from Ga-kyid (Sudan) and Saudade (Brazil).

Never been more important to learn from our past. Societies face serious challenges in terms of mental imbalance, personal struggles or permanent stress. Wellbeing archaeology can provide the evidence that people have been dealing with everyday wellbeing impacting issues for centuries. The wellness, healthcare, leisure and recreation industries maybe able to adapt these practices and approaches.

When you hire a new member of staff in hospitality, wellness, healthcare, leisure, spa and travel business and organizations make sure that you look out for wellbeing archaeologists, too!

Want to expand your horizon about anything and everything about things that are 'well'??We are spilling the beans. Collected and narrated all the 52+ 'well' words and expressions you need to know of! More here: https://htww.life/innovation-intelligence/the-well-glossary/

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