International Journal of Osteoarchaeology最新文献

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.

The application of conservation treatments on archaeological bone is, in many cases, a necessary step for its study. Cleaning interventions can generate modifications on the surface of the material or even modify elements of the study. The variables involved in this process have been scarcely characterized. The present study reports on the characterization of how different liquids commonly used in cleaning processes can contribute to the onset of modifications by influencing microhardness. Three media were experimented with water, ethanol, and acetone. The Knoop microhardness test was used to measure the hardness of bone samples from two archaeological sites: Gran Dolina and two localities at Barranc de la Boella, before and during exposure to the liquids. Results note that all the solvents produce a decrease in sample microhardness. These variations in hardness should be considered when cleaning because they make it simpler to damage the bone surface with cleaning tools.

People have always been fascinated by birds. In the Roman period, birds (particularly chicken) were still largely employed in several rituals. Although Roman writers, such as Cicero, Livy, Pliny the Elder, and Aelian, inform us about the use of birds in a number of rituals, the archaeological evidence rarely allows us to associate the collected zooarchaeological remains with a single deity.

In 2017, a well-preserved archaeological context located in the vicinity of the temple of Isis in Pompeii and related to a single ritual event (dated to the mid-1st century CE), revealed a number of faunal remains as well as ceramic and archaeobotanical finds. Chicken dominates the assemblage, followed by goose, pigeon, and turtle dove. A few remains of pig and a marine bivalve, the truncate donax, were also recovered. Skeletally young chickens were largely employed in the ritual, whereas the other bird taxa are only represented by mature bones. Chicken eggshell, taxonomically identified using ancient protein analysis, was also found. Taphonomic evidence indicates that bird bones were still covered with meat when exposed to the ritual fire. The results obtained have been linked to relevant written and iconographic sources dated to the Roman period. This work confirms that bird sacrifice was an important part of the Isis rituals. Among the birds involved, goose could be considered a possible marker of that goddess. The evidence from Pompeii adds new insights into our knowledge of the animals in the Isis cult during the 1st century CE.

Throughout the region of Central Europe, population movements have transcended political boundaries throughout history. The Early (6th to 11th centuries AD) and High (11th to 14th centuries AD) Medieval periods were times of constantly shifting cultural relationships, as well as climatic fluctuations. Limited archeological and historic records for the region often focus on the broader cultural processes of the time, and to a large degree, on elites. Very little work has focused on population movement, particularly across cultural boundaries. Here we examine the potential effects of cultural processes on the movement and subsequent genetic exchange among the people throughout the region. We compare biological, cultural, geographic, and temporal relationships using biological distance analysis and model matrix comparison. To examine population structures, we combine dental morphological and metric data derived from human skeletal remains representing Early and High Medieval groups. Our results support the important influence of cultural processes on migration and population structures among Early and High Medieval groups. Distances based on the cultural complexity model we employ here is significantly correlated with biological distances (p = 0.028), while temporal period (p = 0.099), geographic proximity (p = 0.104), and shared origin (p = 0.193) models are not significant. Although our model is limited in the complex breadth of cultural processes during the Early and High Medieval period, we assert that these processes played an important role in population movement. Finally, we support an inter-regional approach to examining population interactions among Central European and neighboring areas.

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of anemias in ancient Egyptian child mummies. Whole-body computed tomography (CT) examinations of 21 ancient Egyptian child mummies from European museums were evaluated for estimation of sex and age at death. CT examinations were systematically assessed for skeletal effects of anemias using a clinical radiological approach as well as quantitative measurements of the thickness of the cranial vault and diploe. Additionally, the technical feasibility to assess porotic hyperostosis on the available CT data was examined. Twelve children were assessed as male and seven as female, and in two, the sex was indeterminate. The estimated age at death ranged from about 1 year to 12–14 years. One case showed radiological signs of thalassemia (β-thalassemia major) at the cranial vault and postcranial skeleton. Additionally, this case had a macroglossia that probably indicated Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome. Quantitative measurements confirmed a high variability of cranial vault thickness and diploe thickness. Compared with clinical reference values, seven out of the 21 (33%) child mummies had a pathological enlargement of the frontal cranial vault that represents a typical finding of chronic hemolytic anemia and iron deficiency anemia. Assessment of porotic hyperostosis was not feasible on the available CT examinations as the image quality was not sufficient for this examination. In conclusion, pathological enlargement of the frontal cranial vault as an indicator for chronic hemolytic anemia and iron deficiency anemia had a high prevalence, especially in the younger children. The mummy with radiological signs of thalassemia seems to be the first case with radiological evidence of skeletal effects of this anemia to the cranial vault and postcranial skeleton from ancient Egypt.

Intermittently, we witness how evidence from one academic field can have a significant impact on researchers working in other specialties; in this case, the fields of osteoarchaeology and medical history. In this issue, an article by Micarelli et al. (2023) entitled “An Unprecedented Case of Cranial Surgery in Longobard Italy” presents a fascinating example of surgery from the early medieval period. A cross-shaped area of inflammatory change on the outer table of the skull of a 6th–8th century female from Castel Trosino is described. This cruciform change also contains linear parallel scratch marks suggestive of the use of surgical instruments. At the center of the cross is an oval area where the bone is markedly thinned in a way that would be compatible with a healing trepanation, where the outer table of the bone was previously scraped as part of the surgical procedure.

While population-level studies of trepanation of the cranium have been undertaken at a number of European contexts such as 6th–8th century CE Germany (Weber & Czarnetzki, 2001) and Bronze Age to Byzantine period Greece (Aidonis et al., 2021), what is special about this case from Castel Trosino that the cruciform area of inflammation with scratch marks likely indicates that a cross-shaped incision was used to allow a surgeon to peel away the scalp from the deeper tissues and expose the bone. This is not something found in those earlier cases of trepanation and shows us how such operations could actually be performed.

In the 1100s, a tradition of the writing of surgical texts began in Italy, which over the next 200 years developed and became known as “rational surgery” (McVaugh, 2006). This followed the translation into Latin of the 10th-century surgical texts of Arabic medical practitioners such as Al-Majusi (Burnett & Jacquart, 1994). This revolution started at Salerno with Constantine the African from the 1070s and then later spread to the newly created medical schools in the universities of northern Italy, such as at Bologna and Padua. The resulting series of surgical texts by Roger Frugardi (1180s), Bruno da Longobucco, and Theodoric Borgognoni (both mid-1200s), and others were written in a style that did not merely pass on the texts of classical, Greek, Roman, and later Arabic authors but also gave a real sense that the operations were being performed and developed by these Italian surgeons (McVaugh, 2006).

The earliest evidence for a cruciform incision approach to cranial surgery that we have from these Italian medical texts is from the Bamberg Surgery, written in the mid-1100s. In the section on treatment of a compound fracture of the skull, we find the words “If the contusion of the flesh is small but that of the bone great, the flesh should be divided by a cruciate incision down to the bone and everywhere elevated from the bone” (Corner, 1937). This sur

Zooarcheological analysis shows that there is an overabundance of seabird wings recovered from Viking Age archeological sites in Iceland, especially when the rest of the body is considered. Cultural choices seem to be driving this differential. By comparing two species of alcids to ptarmigan, primarily recovered from domestic middens, the overabundance of specific bones suggests differences in bird butchery and use strategies. The data come from nine sites: one from Þjórsárdalur, five from Skagafjörður, and three from Mývatnssveit. Alcid wings, particularly proximal bones, are disproportionately recovered, while ptarmigan are generally represented by more legs than expected. By several metrics, the statistical significance of these patterns is dramatic and leads to the conclusion that alcid wings are discarded more frequently than other body parts. The simplest explanation for this pattern is that it is a result of the availability of each of the birds, which ultimately affects the way they are processed.

The oldest macaw specimen in Pre-Hispanic Mexico and the southwestern United States was recovered in Cueva de Avendaños, Chihuahua, Mexico, at the base of the Sierra Madre Occidental. It dates to the Late Archaic/Early Agricultural period (1929–2057 cal BP). The head is the only preserved element of the macaw and it was mummified through natural causes. Research on this specimen examines its sex identification and its geographical range, questioning whether this specimen belongs to a local population living in the vicinity of the cave. A species distribution model over the last 2000 years was elaborated to ascertain the presence of military macaw in the study area. Our results show that the macaw was non-local, sustaining the idea that the practice of early animal husbandry existed in the early stages of the Pre-Hispanic world, and also suggest that a significant and rapid climate changes characterized the Holocene, affecting the military macaw's distributional range.

With the Han dynasty's imperial expansion to the west, Xinjiang became a frontier region for political negotiation, military conflict, and cultural contact. The recent excavation at Shichengzi military fort has rendered an opportunity to examine animal exploitation in the empire's frontiers. The results of our zooarchaeological analysis suggest that meat production primarily relied on caprines and cattle. Horses, donkeys, and camels were exploited for labor. Pig husbandry was a novel addition to the local agropastoral regime, and pork became a signature food particular to the identity of the garrison community. A “meat-not-milk” dietary preference also underscores this cultural identity. Animal exploitation was a combined result of subsistence adaptation and military reinforcement. Our work further highlights the tension between the flexible husbandry strategy adapted to the new environment and the conservative culinary attitude held by immigrants toward certain new foods. This case study helps contextualize the interaction and integration of different ways of life.