过渡分析在先秦时期人骨年龄估计中的应用

成人骨骼年龄的估计向来是存在许多困难和争议的。通过对其发展历程的回顾可知,尽管早已研发出了相对较可靠的用耻骨联合、髂骨耳状关节面等特征部位的形态估计年龄的方法,但鉴于“年龄模拟效应”的存在,这些方法都不可避免地会使估计的结果出现偏差。建立在贝叶斯方法和最大似然估计的基础上,Jesper Boldsen等研发出的“过渡分析”能够有效地消除上述不良影响。借助ADBOU软件,通过对山西先秦时期人骨样本进行过渡分析的实践,发现传统的形态观察法和过渡分析法会造成估计得到的死亡年龄结构出现差异。由于年龄估计结果的差异会对古人口学研究造成显著影响,因此建议在借鉴过渡分析的基础上,加强对年龄估计方法的改进。     

中华鲱鲇年龄鉴定及生长特征

对2009-2010年采自澜沧江下游的188尾中华鲱鲇(Clupisoma sinensis)进行了年龄与生长的研究.采用耳石、脊椎骨、鳃盖骨、胸鳍棘4种材料对全部样本进行年龄鉴定,耳石年龄鉴定最为准确,4-5月是年轮形成高峰期.渔获种群由1-6龄共6个龄组组成,以1-4龄个体为主.体长与耳石半径呈线性函数关系.体长与...     

基于头发蛋白质组学区分个人特质的方法学探究

目的 头发是一类重要的皮肤附属物,主要由角蛋白和角蛋白相关蛋白等组成。不同种族及性别样本的头发蛋白质组成和占比存在差异,且目前缺乏高效率提取头发蛋白的方法。本文探究基于定量头发蛋白质组学方法,旨在探索该方法区分不同个体的可能性。方法 以3例头发样本,对样品处理方法和裂解缓冲液进行探究,发展一种名为PLEE (PTM lab for protein extraction from hair with high efficiency)的稳定、高效的头发蛋白质提取方法,对7例人发样本,以PLEE法进行提取,结合胶内消化方法进行蛋白质组学实验,产出蛋白质组学数据,分析个体间的头发蛋白质组成及占比。结果 共鉴定274种蛋白质,共有的蛋白质107种,非共有蛋白质种类在57～119,部分样本存在独特鉴定蛋白。使用共鉴定107种蛋白质进行定量蛋白质组分析,通过聚类和主成分分析,可将各样本进行区分,且技术重复样本可聚在一起,表明流程的稳定性。另外,筛选出10个关键蛋白（KRT33A、KRTAP9-6、KRT83、KRTAP7-1、KRT32、BLMH、KRT38、KRTAP11-1、NPAS1、KRTA...     

江苏兴化蒋庄遗址良渚文化墓地的古人口学

古人口学研究包含对人口学静态参数和动态参数的研究,本文对江苏兴化蒋庄遗址良渚文化墓地进行了性别、年龄结构的分析和生育水平的估计,后者采用的是用n₃₀₊/n₅₊估算粗出生率的方法。蒋庄人口的性别比是105,属于正常范围。模型拟合研究发现蒋庄人口的死亡年龄结构接近正态分布,这种现象可能与婴幼儿统计漏查、成人年龄鉴定中存在的问题和对“老年”标准的定义有关。通过估算粗出生率并将蒋庄样本和其他新石器时代人骨样本进行粗出生率的对比,发现蒋庄人口的生育水平较高,可能与其环境优渥、文明进步有关。研究还表明,对新方法的尝试和对人骨样本代表性的重视是推动古人口学进步的关键。     

辽宁海域东亚江豚的年龄鉴定与生长规律

对2007-2018年辽宁海域发现的39头死亡东亚江豚(Neophocaena asiaeorientalis sunameri)进行了外部形态参数测量和生长规律分析,并通过观察牙齿中的生长层组对2014-2018年的27头江豚个体进行了年龄鉴定.结果表明:死亡江豚以0~4龄个体为主,雄性21头,雌性18头;同龄雌雄个体间的体长、体重均无显著差异(P>0.05);所有江豚样本的体重与年龄(Y=137e^-2.475exp(-0.205t))、体长与年龄(Y=232(1-0.680e^-0.161t)均极显著相关(P<0.01),且随年龄增大,体重、体长均增加但增速下降.死亡江豚的发现时间在不同的海域存在差异:黄海北部海域集中在每年的3-6月,以大连星海湾至老虎滩沿岸为多;渤海的辽东湾海域主要在每年的10-11月初,多发现在大连长兴岛以北的海域.辽东湾海域江豚的死亡多发生在渔业作业期,可能与渔业生产活动有关.研究还发现,在一年中辽东湾海域死亡江豚集中出现的时间与斑海豹的分布期存在交替现象,是否与两种海洋哺乳动物适应海水温度能力、种群间的食物竞争以及季节性迁移等因素有关还有待于进一步的研究.     

花斑裸鲤年龄鉴定材料的比较与年龄判别

鱼类年龄的准确鉴定是研究鱼类生态学和保护生物学的基础。本文对黄河上游花斑裸鲤(Gymnocypris eckloni)耳石、背鳍条和臀鳞等3种年龄材料的年龄解释一致性以及最佳年龄材料的选择进行了比较和分析,并首次建立了花斑裸鲤低龄个体年龄判别方程。结果表明:花斑裸鲤3种年龄材料上年轮可读性依次是耳石背鳍条臀鳞,最大鉴定年龄分别为25龄、17龄和16龄;对于6龄及以下个体,背鳍条作为年龄鉴定材料更有优势;对7龄及以上个体,耳石效果最佳;同时对6龄及以下个体以全长、体长、体重和空壳重为自变量,采用逐步选择法进行判别分析,最终提取全长和体重建立年龄的分类函数;全部样本正判率和交叉验证正判率显示,该年龄判别模型的正确区分度较高,可用于6龄及以下个体(全长93~259 mm;体重6.25~177.10 g)的年龄判别。     

陶寺中晚期人骨的种系分析

本文对陶寺文化中晚期墓葬和灰坑中的人骨进行了性别年龄的鉴定和种族类型的分析, 并报告了人骨古DNA的分析结果。DNA的分析结果表明墓葬中的人骨和灰坑中的人骨在单倍型的分类上没有差别, 属于中国北方人群的常见单倍群。头骨测量特征的多元统计分析显示出灰坑的人骨与二十世纪发掘的陶寺文化早期墓葬中出土的人骨形态距离较远。这个结果可能暗示着陶寺早期人群和中晚期的人群可能有不一样的来源, 期望未来对这两个人群的直接的DNA对比结果会有助于来源问题的解决。     

两种无鳞高原鳅年龄鉴定方法探讨

分析了采自新疆克孜河174尾长身高原鳅(Triplophysa teunis)和258尾叶尔羌高原鳅(T.yarkandensis)的矢耳石及部分个体的背鳍条(n=11和12)、主鳃盖骨(n=20和25)和脊椎骨(n=38和45)的轮纹标志,探讨了用其鉴定年龄的可行性。结果显示,背鳍条磨片和主鳃盖骨均无明显可辨的年轮标志。小个体长身高原鳅的脊椎骨磨片年轮比较模糊,总的判别能力及鉴定吻合率分别为52.63%和70.00%。叶尔羌高原鳅脊椎骨磨片的年龄判别能力为93.33%,但5龄以下个体存在轮纹的断裂、分支和聚合现象,鉴定吻合率为78.57%。所有矢耳石磨片均有日生长增长、生长阻断和年轮等生长标记,年轮由宽而不透明的暗带和窄而透明的亮带组成。174尾长身高原鳅中有171尾矢耳石磨片能观察到年轮特征,判别能力及鉴定吻合率高达98.28%和94.74%。258尾叶尔羌高原鳅有244尾矢耳石磨片能观察到年轮特征,判别能力及鉴定吻合率也高达94.57%和93.44%。两位鉴定者对同一尾鱼的脊椎骨磨片和矢耳石磨片进行年龄计数,长身高原鳅的总吻合率分别为75.00%和80.00%,叶尔羌高原鳅的总吻合率分别为73.81%和83.33%,两鉴定者间无显著性差异(P0.05)。研究表明,矢耳石是两种无鳞高原鳅类最好的年龄鉴定材料,脊椎骨可作为高龄个体的辅助鉴定材料。     

硝酸纤维膜和丙酮沉淀尿蛋白质保存方法的比较

硝酸纤维膜法是一种简单、快速、经济的尿液蛋白质保存方法,但其与传统尿液蛋白质丙酮沉淀方法的差异有待进一步研究。相同尿液分别经硝酸纤维膜法和丙酮沉淀法制备尿蛋白质,经液相串联质谱分析鉴定蛋白质,采用谱图数定量,研究两种不同方法的差别。结果显示硝酸纤维膜法和丙酮沉淀法鉴定蛋白质数目几乎相同,鉴定蛋白质在谱图数的分布上几乎相同,鉴定蛋白质在蛋白质变异系数的分布上也几乎相同。因此,硝酸纤维膜法处理尿蛋白质与丙酮沉淀法基本一致,可以应用于大规模临床尿液样本的保存。     

广东南海县鱿鱼岗新石器时代晚期墓葬人骨

本文对广东南海县鱿鱼岗新石器晚期墓葬中出土的人骨进行了形态观察和测量,认为这些古代人的骨骼属蒙古人种华南人类型。鉴定出他们的性别年龄分布,并发现有拔牙风俗。     

The MAD legacy: How meaningful is mean age-at-death in skeletal samples

This study examines the representativeness of palaeodemographic reconstructions from human skeletal remains. Mean age-at-death (MAD) is the primary statistic used in interpretations of changing patterns of health and well being from palaeodemographic analyses. A series of sampling experiments were conducted on three documented 19th century samples representing the total cemetery population from which skeletal samples could be drawn. Comparisons of the age-at-death distributions of simulated skeletal samples to the parent population were made to assess the relative magnitude of deviation associated with different types of bias (age, sex, temporal). From the examples presented, variability in age-at-death distribution is high in samples of less than 100, suggesting that for samples of less than 100analyzable individuals, it is probable that the mortality profiles constructed are not an accurate reflection of the cemetery. It is proposed that whateverprocess mean age-at-death reflects for past populations (fertility or mortality), is irrelevant if the sample on which the statistic is calculated is not representative of the population. Given that most cemetery samples will be subject, differentially, to biases at a variety of levels, comparative studies based on palaeodemographic data cannot be considered reliablewithout careful control for those biases. It is suggested that representativeness is the primary theoretical obstacle for researches to overcome, and that it is necessary to shift our focus to rigorously exploring those factors that bias our samples. Without some direct quantification of the representativeness of a sample, palaeodemographic estimators such as mean age-at-death are meaningless and any subsequent interpretations regarding the past, dubious at best.     

黄陵寨头河与史家河墓地人骨的碳氮稳定同位素

戎人在古代多样性文化历史发展进程中有着不可忽视的作用,由于文献记载的匮乏,对其生活历史信息的认知极少。陕西延安黄陵寨头河与史家河战国时期戎人墓地的考古发掘,为了解古代关中地区戎人的社会生活提供了珍贵的实物资料。本文则以两墓地出土的人骨为研究对象,采用C、N稳定同位素分析方法,讨论先民的饮食结构,探索其经济模式。结果表明：寨头河与史家河墓地先民的食谱相似,食谱中植物性食物主要来自粟、黍等C₄类作物;除史家河墓地两个个体外,其余先民动物蛋白摄入较少,且未因性别不同而产生食谱差异。史家河墓地战国晚期秦人与早中期戎人的饮食结构相似。结合其他考古资料以及文献可知,寨头河与史家河墓地先民吸收关中农业文化后,利用当地良好的自然环境发展农业,形成了以农业种植为主、农牧混合的经济模式。     

Basics in paleodemography: a comparison of age indicators applied to the early medieval skeletal sample of Lauchheim

Recent advances in the methods of skeletal age estimation have rekindled interest in their applicability to paleodemography. The current study contributes to the discussion by applying several long established as well as recently developed or refined aging methods to a subsample of 121 adult skeletons from the early medieval cemetery of Lauchheim. The skeletal remains were analyzed by 13 independent observers using a variety of aging techniques (complex method and other multimethod approaches, Transition Analysis, cranial suture closure, auricular surface method, osteon density method, tooth root translucency measurement, and tooth cementum annulation counting). The age ranges and mean age estimations were compared and results indicate that all methods showed smaller age ranges for the younger individuals, but broader age ranges for the older age groups.     

Age and sex biases in the preservation of human skeletal remains

Inaccuracies introduced through biases in preservation are a major source of error in paleodemographic reconstructions. Although it is generally assumed that such biases exist, little is known about their magnitude. To investigate this problem, we studied age and sex differences in the preservation of skeletal remains from Mission La Purisima and a prehistoric cemetery (Ca-Ven-110). Comparison of mortality profiles obtained through analysis of skeletal remains and burial records from the mission indicates that biases in preservation can be very significant in poorly preserved skeletal collections. The Purisima burial records show that most of the people interred in the cemetery were either infants or elderly adults. The skeletal remains, in contrast, are predominantly those of young adults. The burial records and skeletal collection produced comparable sex ratios. These results show that age biases in preservation are much more important than sex biases. This conclusion is supported by data on the completeness of the skeletons from La Purisima and Ca-Ven-110. At both sites, the remains of young adults were better preserved than those of children or elderly adults, and the completeness of male and female skeletons was comparable.     

Brief communication: A test and correction of the clavicle method of Stout and Paine for histological age estimation of skeletal remains

The histological method developed by Stout and Paine ([1992] Am. J. Phys. Antropol. 87:111–115) for estimating age at death using the clavicle is tested on a known age independent sample from a nineteenth century cemetery near Spitalfriedhof St. Johann in Basel, Switzerland. The mean absolute difference between reported ages and histologically predicted ages is 5.5 years. Mean predicted age for the sample is different from mean reported age. This difference is accounted for by differences in the age distributions between the original autopsy sample used to derive the histological age-predicting formula and the cemetery sample, and an inherent loss of reliability of histological age predictions for the skeletal remains of older individuals. A new formula based upon the combined original autopsy sample of Stout and Paine (1992) and the Swiss cemetery sample is presented. It is recommended that this formula be used when estimating ages for older individuals or archaeological skeletal samples. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Ectocranial suture closure: a revised method for the determination of skeletal age at death based on the lateral-anterior sutures

A new method for estimation of age-at-death based on the degree of suture closure is presented. The method employs simple ectocranial scoring of specific sites on the external table. Composite scores for two groups of sutures, lateral-anterior and vault systems, which are used to provide estimates of age-at-death, have been developed from a sample of 236 crania from the Hamann-Todd Collection. A variety of tests show that the lateral-anterior sutures are superior to the sutures of the vault, that ectocranial is superior to endocranial observation, and that age estimates are independent of race and sex. It is concluded that suture closure can provide valuable estimates of age-at-death in both archaeological and forensic contexts when used in conjunction with other skeletal age indicators.     

The influence of body size on adult skeletal age estimation methods

Accurate age estimations are essential to archaeological and forensic analyses. However, reliability for adult skeletal age estimations is poor, especially for individuals over the age of 40 years. This is the first study to show that body size influences skeletal age estimation. The ??can et al., Lovejoy et al., Buckberry and Chamberlain, and Suchey‐Brooks age methods were tested on 764 adult skeletons from the Hamann‐Todd and William Bass Collections. Statures ranged from 1.30 to 1.93 m and body masses ranged from 24.0 to 99.8 kg. Transition analysis was used to evaluate the differences in the age estimations. For all four methods, the smallest individuals have the lowest ages at transition and the largest individuals have the highest ages at transition. Short and light individuals are consistently underaged, while tall and heavy individuals are consistently overaged. When femoral length and femoral head diameter are compared with the log‐age model, results show the same trend as the known stature and body mass measurements. The skeletal remains of underweight individuals have fewer age markers while those of obese individuals have increased surface degeneration and osteophytic lipping. Tissue type and mechanical loading have been shown to affect bone turnover rates, and may explain the differing patterns of skeletal aging. From an archaeological perspective, the underaging of light, short individuals suggests the need to revisit the current research consensus on the young mortality rates of past populations. From a forensic perspective, understanding the influence of body size will impact efforts to identify victims of mass disasters, genocides, and homicides. Am J Phys Anthropol 156:35–57, 2015 © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Manufactured populations: What do contemporary reference skeletal collections represent? A comparative study using the Maxwell Museum documented collection

The extent to which archaeological or cemetery skeletal collections accurately represent the population from which they were drawn cannot be known. The creation of documented or forensic skeletal collections, derived from donation or autopsy, was intended to overcome many of the problems inherent in archaeological populations, yet it is misleading to assume such collections represent a specific or defined population. This study compares the documented skeletal collection curated at the Maxwell Museum to annual demographic information from three relevant populations: (i) the living population of New Mexico (NM), (ii) the deceased of NM, and (iii) the subset of decedents who undergo a medicolegal death investigation or autopsy. Results indicate that the Maxwell Documented collection differs significantly from all three populations in every variable examined: age, sex, ethnicity/race, cause, and manner of death. Collection development that relies on body donation or retention of unclaimed bodies under coroner/medical examiner statutes results in a biased sample, with significant overrepresentation of males, Whites, the elderly, those who die unnatural deaths and individuals with antemortem traumatic injury or surgical intervention. Equally problematic is the perception that the collection has documented race or ethnicity, when in fact only 17% was self-reported, while the affinity of the remaining individuals was determined by pathologists or other observers. Caution is warranted in how this and similar collections are used and interpreted by researchers. Although documented reference collections are useful in developing methods of estimating age or sex, they are not a proxy for modern or racially/ethnically defined populations.     

Cementum annulations,age estimation,and demographic dynamics in Mid-Holocene foragers of North India

One of the principal problems facing palaeodemography is age estimation in adult skeletons and the centrist tendency that affects many age estimation methods by artificially increasing the proportion of individuals in the 30–45-year age category. Several recent publications have indicated that cementum annulations are significantly correlated with known age of extraction or death. This study addresses the question of how demographic dynamics are altered for an archaeological sample when cementum-based age estimates are used as opposed to those obtained via conventional macroscopic methods. Age pyramids were constructed and demographic profiles were compared for the early Holocene skeletal population from Damdama (India). The results demonstrate that the use of cementum annulations for age estimation in only a subset of the skeletal sample has a significant impact on the demographic profile with regard to specific parameters such as mean age at death and life expectancy at birth. This confirms the importance of using cementum annulations to refine age estimates in archaeological samples, which, when combined with a fertility-centred approach to demography, can provide new insights into population dynamics in the past.     

Dimensions of health and social structure in the early intermediate period cemetery at Villa El Salvador, Peru

This paper examines relationships between the social structure of a community and the health of its members, based on analysis of human skeletal remains (N = 64) from Villa El Salvador XII (100 BC-AD 100), a prehistoric cemetery located in the lower Lurín Valley, Peru. The ambiguity of social status as conventionally inferred from archaeological context is among the principal complicating factors in such an inquiry. We use multidimensional scaling of skeletal markers to identify the presence of patterned health-based heterogeneity in our sample, without making a priori assumptions about underlying social structure at Villa El Salvador. This procedure situates every skeleton relative to all others in the sample on the basis of multiple health markers, eliciting health groups. Once recognized, the relevance of those groups to social structure can be evaluated by comparison with a broad range of presumptive archaeological status indicators. We test the hypothesis that the distribution of stress indicators in human skeletons covaries with archaeological indicators of social differentiation. Based on multivariate analysis of skeletal indicators, we conclude that the cemetery at Villa El Salvador was utilized by two social groups with different geographic affinities: one of local coastal origin, and the other probably from the upper Lurín Valley or adjacent higher altitudes. These groups differ in skeletal characteristics related to childhood health, probably reflecting systematic contrasts in the growth environments of the studied individuals. This same division is independently supported by the distribution of cranial deformation, a possible marker of ethnicity. We also document some inequality in the distribution of labor among male individuals, as reflected by the relative advancement of degenerative joint disease, and congruent with differences in the number and quality of associated funerary offerings.