If you have a bad back or are interested in posture, there is a wonderful book (ignore the generic title) called "8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back", written by a woman who observed that people in non-Westernized cultures have very little back problems and that they exhibit natural choices in posture that we lost in the West due to various trends and furniture designs. Its a really fascinating read and explores a lot of these types of differences in posture and the positive effects on health.

Edit: I did just take another spin through it and she doesn't mention squatting at all, kind of surprising that wasn't covered considering how universal it is