Homo-Journal of Comparative Human Biology最新文献

Taurodontism is a continuous anatomical variation of permanent and primary posterior teeth represented by an enlargement of the pulp cavity. A high prevalence of the trait is reported in Homo neanderthalensis remains. Exploring and refining epidemiology of taurodontism in actual populations could strengthen the hypothesis of a selective advantage for a high attrition diet (as heavy tooth wear in Homo sapiens evolution changed little until recently) or favour pleiotropic or genetic drift effects to explain the high frequency of the trait in Neandertal remains. Prevalence ranges between 0.1% and 48% in the literature. The aim of the present study is to assess the prevalence of taurodontism in recent populations by means of meta-analysis, that is, is the prevalence of taurodontism lower or higher in modern human living populations, where the selective advantages of high attrition diet are still expected? From 90 potentially eligible studies, 15 were included in the meta-analysis. Only cross-sectional studies were reported, and 14,771 participants were included. The meta-analyses were performed with a random model, calculating a weighted-mean prevalence of 11.8%. Gender was found to be unrelated to the prevalence of taurodontism (OR = 0.84 (95% CI 0.67-1.05), p > 0.05). Taurodontism occurs in approximately 11.8% of the living population. This result questions the status of taurodontism as a "typical trait" in Homo neanderthalensis and allows a possible common evolutionary mechanism in Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis for the trait. Further studies should include more accurate and standardized methods to assess the condition.

Background: There are indications that the occurrence of metabolic diseases in children may be conditioned by factors experienced already in the utero. Aim of the study: The aim of this systematic review was to analyze the studies that examined the effects of stress experienced by a pregnant woman on the child's adiposity rates in postnatal life. Methods: The review includes 20 articles published before March 2020 in Scopus and Medline databases with the use of following keyword combinations: /maternal or mother/, /prenatal or pregnant/, /stress or distress/ and /BMI, body mass index or overweight or obesity or body composition/. Results: The results of the research were inconsistent. Nevertheless, most articles confirmed the positive association of prenatal stress with fatness indicators in children. The review raised a question of the role of the methods applied for stress measurement (objective vs. subjective indicators) and adiposity assessment, as well as the time of prenatal exposition to stress. Conclusion: Most studies have proved that prenatal stress is related to the children adiposity in postnatal life.

Flat feet (pes planus) are considered a postural defect caused by the collapse of the longitudinal arch, producing complete or near-complete contact of the sole of the foot with the ground. Pes planus has been well-studied in clinical literature and paleoanthropology but has not been approached extensively in bioarchaeology. The main difficulty is related to the diagnosis of this pathology based exclusively on bone remains. In this work, we propose a metric and morphological method to discriminate flat foot in dry bones. Thus, we studied 390 pairs of adult feet in a fair state of preservation from archaeological contexts from Spain, Italy, and Oman. Morphological variability, angles, and dimensions of both the normal bones and the bones displaying flat foot characteristics were analyzed. We found a correlation between the presence of flat foot and some morphological and metric features, mainly in the subtalar and Chopart joints. These results are expressed through a combination of morphological and metric variables, which are useful to discriminate between these two groups. No markedly significant differences of flat foot frequencies between the Spanish and Italian series were found across centuries. However, we noticed a notable increase of the prevalence of flat foot in the contemporary collection, possibly due to the consequences of a rise in life expectancy and modern styles of footwear.

Qafzeh 9 is an almost complete skeleton commonly employed as representative of the population of the eponymous site. However, its biological profile is still largely based on the age at death and sex estimation methods in use at the time of its discovery. Moreover, post-mortem damage to the skeleton has made difficult the observation of some morphoscopic features, particularly pelvic ones currently used in sex estimation. Here, we apply recent methods and paleoimaging to re-evaluate the biological profile of Qafzeh 9, taking into account post-mortem damage. The results suggest a young age at death, indicating that Qafzeh 9 died before reaching complete dental and bone maturity; they also support a male sex assignment.

Commingled human remains were discovered in TT110 (Djehuty tomb; Dynasty XVIII), located in El Sheikh Abd el Qurna, Luxor, Egypt. The tomb had been reused over a long period of time (1570-332 BCE). In a small area distinct from the comingled remains, an incomplete skull and two os coxae fragments, consistent with that of a young adult female, between 25 and 40 years of age were found. A detailed macroscopic and radiologic analysis was performed at the tomb site. The three bone fragments showed abundant small to medium sized osteolytic lesions compatible with a diagnosis of late stage metastatic carcinoma or, less likely, multiple myeloma. The age and sex of the individual favors the possibility of breast cancer as the primary making this one of the oldest cases of metastases reported from ancient Egypt.

This study tests the hypothesis that the incorporation of cultigens about ca. 2000 years BP substantially changed hunter-gatherer subsistence and mobility in the Atuel River valley (Central-Western Argentina), where the frontier of pre-Hispanic domesticated resource dispersion was defined. Degenerative joint disease and entheseal change markers were analyzed on skeletal remains from Cañada Seca-1, a burial archaeological site with commingled skeletal remains dated about ca. 1500 years BP (MNI = 24). The results show lower mobility in comparison with hunter-gatherer remains from the neighboring Pampa region and quite different manual activities compared to low-level producers. These trends are explained as a result of a mixed subsistence strategy and mobility in an area where the incorporation of domesticated plants was neither a linear nor a fast process, and a stereotypical view proves to be insufficient to understand it. Although further information is required for future discussions, the present research highlights the potential of commingled skeletal remains for this kind of study.

This study aims to develop age-at-death standards for Valley of Mexico skeletal collections. Using 159 individuals, with a dental age-at-death between 0 to 15 years, we develop linear and quadratic inverse regression models of age-at-death estimation between dental age and the diaphyseal length of the six long bones. A blind test for both regressions was performed, also a regression developed for a Maya group was carried out. We also compared skeletal growth of our sample by applying regressions developed for Maya and North American populations to assess the magnitude of the differences among ethnically unrelated populations. Our regressions yielded a close correlation between the diaphyseal length and dental age, especially femur and radius. It is noticeable that the disparities between younger and older age categories, the latter presenting larger standard deviations. Quadratic regression fitted better than linear and Maya regressions, and the differences of age-at-death distributions are significant. The skeletal growth curve of the Valley of Mexico is statistically different from other Native American groups. We conclude that for the present standards, despite the high degree of variance, the quadratic regression is a better applicable age estimator, when it is applied to biologically close populations.

Morphometric data is inherently linked to size; however, there is no consensus for how to account for this. Some researchers adjust for size, whereas others do not, which can affect the results of a study. This study examines this problem using sexual dimorphism of the pelvis. Twenty-two pelvic measures were collected from 119 individuals from the Hamann-Todd Collection. Measures included dimensions of the false pelvis and the pelvic canal. After all the data was collected, it was compiled into 3 data sets; the first set included unadjusted data, the second set was adjusted for body size, and the third set was adjusted for pelvic size. After all adjustments, independent sample t-tests were run on each data set, to determine which measures appeared dimorphic. In each case, the measures that appeared to be sexually dimorphic differed. According to the t-test for the unadjusted data, four of the 22 measures were not dimorphic: anterior spaces of the midplane and the outlet, sacral breadth, and length of the superior pubic ramus. Using the data adjusted for body size, all pelvic measures were dimorphic. Lastly, using the data adjusted for pelvic size, five measures were not dimorphic: anterior space and transverse diameter of the inlet, inter-acetabular distance, length of the superior pubic ramus, and circumference of the inlet. These conflicting results demonstrate the intricate nature of correcting for size and the challenge comparing results across studies. Overall pelvic-size dimorphism and body-size dimorphism must be considered.