International Journal of Osteoarchaeology最新文献

The current paper presents one of the first bioarchaeological studies on dental disease and dietary patterns in coastal Phoenicia during the Roman period, focusing on the dentition of 145 adults from the contemporary and geographically proximal sites of Byblos, Beirut, and Tyre. Pathological conditions of the oral cavity and dental wear were used to assess intra-assemblage and inter-assemblage differences. Byblos in almost all instances exhibited higher levels of dental diseases and wear than Beirut and Tyre, suggesting a greater consumption of carbohydrates but also poorer oral hygiene and greater mechanical stress (dental wear) in this community. This difference between Beirut/Tyre and Byblos may be explained by the politico-economic status of these cities as textual sources highlight the economic and political prowess of Beirut and Tyre due to their status as colonia. In addition, within each assemblage females generally exhibited higher caries (and associated periapical cavities and ante-mortem tooth loss) than males. Although dental caries may be linked to nondietary factors, these patterns may support a more cariogenic diet for females in agreement with literary accounts reciting gender-based divisions in Roman society, at least to the extent that these would manifest in dietary patterns. The findings from this study offer important insights into major and understudied communities along the Phoenician coast. Yet, further research is required, employing complementary methods (e.g., isotopic analysis and dental calculus microdebris) and including larger datasets of Roman Phoenician assemblages.

During the final Late Holocene, there was a socio-economic reorganization among the people in the central-western of Santa Cruz, Argentina. Analysis of bone collagen revealed that hunter–gatherer groups maintained a consistent diet rich in steppe animal protein for the past 3000 years. However, there was a change in bioapatite δ¹³C values in the last 1000 years, indicating a shift in the whole diet that was not reflected in the protein component. This article seeks to evaluate the differential consumption of resources over time and between sexes among hunter–gatherer populations in the region. A total of 39 adult individuals of both sexes, recovered from stone burial structures with different chronologies, were analyzed. Quantitative diet reconstruction was achieved through the use of the Bayesian mixing model known as Food Reconstruction Using Isotopic Transferred Signals (FRUITS). The results show that the guanaco (Lama guanicoe) was the most consumed animal throughout the studied period, considering both temporal and sex differences. Additionally, there is an increased importance of plant consumption in the last millennium, particularly among females. However, this can be the result of overrepresentation of this resource in our food web samples, due to the impossibility of resolving the origin of the carbon for the formation of bioapatite values.

Stable isotope-based dietary reconstructions of late Holocene agriculturalists from Sabana de Bogotá (Colombia) are limited to the late Muisca period. Accordingly, the dietary patterns and feeding behaviors of people living during the Herrera and Early Muisca periods remain largely unknown. This study aims to present new stable isotope data to discuss the dietary patterns of agriculturalists inhabiting Nueva Esperanza (Sabana de Bogota) during the last 2300 years B.P. In addition, we present the radiocarbon chronology of the site to assess dietary change during the site occupation phases. Data for δ¹³C_col and δ¹⁵N_col were obtained from bone/dentine collagen and dental calculus from humans (n = 71) and faunal (n = 20) skeletal remains. The local isotopic ecology was investigated, and the human data were assessed by age, sex, and time period. Humans presented mostly mixed diets with a predominance of maize, supplemented by C₃ resources (plants and animals), although some individuals exhibited distinct trends across the C₃–C₄ range. According to isotopic ecology and other lines of archaeological evidence, maize and C₃ resources (plants and animals) mostly contributed to the human diets, whereas C₄-feeding animals were less important resources. Bone/dentine collagen and calculus isotope data revealed only minor differences among age groups, sexes, and periods suggesting relatively homogeneous diets at the NE society throughout the late Holocene. Likewise, both kinds of isotopic data display distinct dietary trends suggesting the effect of postmortem processes in the isotopic composition of dental calculus. The isotopic evidence for the NE site suggests similar diachronic trajectories of dietary specializations at the regional level and minor differences regarding maize incorporation into the diet and its standardized use and consumption. These results suggest at the regional level similar patterns of dietary change at the Sabana de Bogotá during the late Holocene.

This work reviews paleodietary reconstructions of hunter-gatherers from the northeast province of Chubut, Argentina. The isotopic record of human bone can complement information from zooarchaeological and technological studies with its particular resolution on the long-term diet of individuals. Previous δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N studies found dietary differences between the coastal area and the lower basin of the Chubut River, both in the proportion of marine resources in the diet and the trophic positions of prey. However, it is challenging to test hypotheses concerning human diets in northeastern Patagonia, where C₃ and CAM plants grow and terrestrial, riverine, and marine prey are available. Here, we focus on the local isotopic ecology to assess the scopes and limitations of δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N stable isotopes analyses. We provide new data on native faunas spanning different trophic levels of terrestrial, riverine, and marine environments. After establishing the basic patterns in the local isotope record, we reanalyze the available δ¹³C_col, δ¹⁵N, and δ¹³C_apa measurements from 23 individuals studied 15 years ago. That analysis reveals a relatively continuous distribution of several overlapping resources on the coast of northeastern Patagonia. Bayesian mixing models identified a combination of terrestrial and riverine resources aggregated as the main component of long-term diets. However, it generated diffuse estimations. The Bayesian ellipses, describing isotopic niches, emphasized more the spatial variations in diet between coastal and valley groups.

A comprehensive study of spinal health in ancient Nubia has not been achieved to date. This study is a component of a larger survey of spinal health. It presents a comparative analysis of spondylolysis, with the aim of providing an insight into the quality of life, environmental and socio-political stresses faced by individuals in ancient Nubia. This study provides bioarchaeological data from 515 adult individuals with preserved lumbar vertebrae (where spondylolysis is most commonly observed) from five populations that date from the Meroitic to the Medieval period (350 BC–1500 AD). Contextual data from settlements and cemeteries were used to interpret the data. The results demonstrated an overall crude prevalence of 6.6% for spondylolysis (individuals affected with vertebrae preserved) and an overall true prevalence of 1.2% (number of lumbar vertebrae affected). The data also revealed a number of possible trends, for example, that males were most affected, that there was an increase in prevalence over time, with the highest prevalence rates observed in the Medieval period, and that there was a higher prevalence rate among the populations from Mis Island compared with the other populations. It is possible that activities such as farming, building or rowing as well as socio-political changes could have contributed to the prevalence of spondylolysis seen in this study.

The Xinzhai period (1850–1750 BC) was on the eve of state formation. Abundant animal remains unearthed from the Huadizui site provide new key materials for a comprehensive understanding of animal resource utilization at that time. At Huadizui, the exploitation of pigs and sheep shows a meat-oriented utilization. The exploitation of secondary products for sheep and cattle was absent. The activities of raising, hunting and consuming large bovines were less efficient but served as significant approaches to demonstrate the wealth or prestige of elites. In contrast, the Xinzhai site, a potential capital during Xinzhai Period, saw newly intensified and specialized animal exploitation, especially for secondary products. This differentiation in animal exploitation appeared earlier than state formation, suggesting the new intensified manner of animal utilization, that is, the exploitation of secondary products, may have been a critical force in sustaining the crucial political shift. This study contributes to our understanding of the role of animal exploitation in the process of state formation.

The ecogeographic trends in the shape of the internal nasal cavity and external facial skeleton were explored in a sample of Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age skulls from Northeastern Europe and the Caucasus and tested against a background of the variation in recent populations from the same area. The volume, surface area, and several linear dimensions of the internal nasal cavity as well as a set of 3D landmarks of the external mid-face were collected in a sample of computed tomography (CT) scans of 121 adult male skulls from six modern human populations of Eastern Europe, Anatolia, and Caucasus (74 individuals) and seven ancient burial sites (47 individuals). Various measures of the association between nasal cavity morphology and climate revealed moderate to high levels of correlation. The modern populations from colder climates and all but one ancient group display a substantial decrease in the nasal cavity heights and widths, volume and nasal protrusion, a relative narrowing of the nasal cavity, and a substantial increment in length of the maxillary part of the cavity. These groups also exhibit a less protruding external nose, smaller orbits, and a vertically taller zygomatic region. Our results show that the suite of morphological features associated with living in a cold climate is more strongly pronounced in ancient Europeans compared with the Medieval or modern groups of the same continent.

The distal epiphysis of the femur is classically reported as a marker of fetal maturity and is thus identified in a bioarcheological context as an indicator that an individual died at or around the time of birth; it thus provides crucial information in the creation of the biological profile and associated burial practices. The aim of the present study was to re-evaluate this use by investigating an extant sample to assess (i) the age-related frequencies of both distal femoral and proximal tibial epiphyses and (ii) the influence of factors such as sex, vitality, and morbidity on the maturation of both epiphyses. The study was conducted on medical CT scans acquired in utero and ex utero between 2008 and 2017 in the hospital of Marseille (France). The final sample included 248 individuals aged between 26 and 42 completed gestational weeks (GW). Based on the results obtained in this study, 11% of the individuals from the sample aged between 26 and 33 completed GW had already developed a distal femoral epiphysis, whereas individuals aged between 38 and 42 GW had already developed both femoral and tibial epiphyses. According to these observations and current obstetrical practice, this maturation indicator cannot therefore be considered a precise estimator of whether a fetus is at term or not in an archeological context. Similarly, no delayed ossification was found among individuals who did not survive to 42 GW, or among those with severe developmental abnormalities, which does not support the hypothesis that delayed epiphysis maturation of the distal femur may be a morbidity marker for this age group in past populations.

Nasal fracture is usually described as the most common type of fracture of the facial bones, either alone or associated with other fractures. This work aims to study the nasal fracture among Portuguese individuals from the 19th and 20th centuries. The focus is on patterning in trauma in relation to gender and in the attempt to distinguish violent from accidental injury. The sample comprises 2023 (52.6% males, 47.4% females) individuals from three Portuguese identified skeletal collections who were born between 1804 and 1951 and died between 1895 and 1969. Age at death ranges between 1 and 109 years old. Nasal and other facial fractures were studied, and violent versus accidental trauma were distinguished following Magalhães et al. (2020). Nasal fracture was more frequent in males (10.4%, 101/969) than in females (5.9%, 47/800). This was true both for fracture inferred due to violence (laterally deviated fracture) and due to accident. Sixty-one point five percent (91/148) of the individuals show a lateral impact force deviation. Comminutions correspond to 18.4% (26/141) of the total, and 12.8% (19/148) have other facial fractures. There is no association between nasal fracture and risk of death for both sexes, but the males seem to show a higher tendency for nasal fracture earlier in life than the females. The differences of nasal fracture between sexes are in accordance with the historical data showing that men had more social and cultural opportunities to engage in violent encounters. Although the percentage in women is lower, the majority of laterally deviated noses and isolated, non-comminuted nasal fractures in both sexes show that interpersonal violence may have played an important role in the results.

Bone density is not a standard parameter examined during anthropological analysis, although researchers increasingly attempt to assess bone mineral density (BMD) in prehistoric populations. Computed tomography (CT) has great potential in this type of research. Micro CT is a precise and universal tool for bone density measurement based on CT value (attenuation factor of the X-rays at a given point in space). Thirty-four archaeological human radial bone samples from four chronologically and geographically different sites from southern Poland were examined here. Real BMD was measured (mass/volume) and compared with BMD obtained with the use of CT value results to verify correlation between those two parameters. The micro CT density values were estimated with an uncertainty of less than 0.03 g/cm³ in more than 75% of samples. This method does not require any special sample preparation and any substitute of soft tissues. This technique enables measurement of the cortical and cancellous bone separately in even partial or damaged bones.