Paleopathology of the Ptolemaic inhabitants of Dakhleh Oasis (Egypt)

The Author presents four cases of leprosy diagnosed on the skulls discovered in the course of anthropological works carried out as a part of the excavations of I.F.A.O.The leprosy was diagnosed in White representatives of ruling class from the Ptolemaic period (2nd century B.C.) buried at the exclusive necropolis. The paleopathological conclusions are drawn on the basis of demographical data.     

Paleopathology of the Late Roman-Early Byzantine cemeteries at Sayala,Egyptian Nubia

The paleopathological pattern of three large burial complexes CI-CIII and of cemetery N (but not of cemetery A) at Sayala, Egyptian Nubia, shows a predominance of traumatism over other pathologies. Males compared with females were more often afflicted by injuries. In the skull, mostly the frontal and parietal regions, and more often the left than the right side, show traumatic changes. Cuts are most common, suggesting their origin from swords and daggers. Also traumatism of the vertebral column is high, comprising more compression fractures than post-traumatic synostoses of vertebrae, and afflicting mostly the lumbar, lower thoracic and lower cervical regions. This suggests falls in a sitting position, probably while riding camels. In the remaining postcranial skeleton, mostly fractures are present, most often afflicting the antebrachial bones, especially on the left side. The majority of the ulnar fractures are typical parry fractures. Most injuries are well healed, only some showing quick death after affliction. The overall pattern suggests fighting as the leading cause of the traumatism. Among other pathologies, osteophytosis, especially in males, occurs rather commonly and more intensively than with the comparative sample of the C-Group people. Evidence of inflammations and tumours is rare. Some senile changes, many congenital anomalies, occasional orthopaedic deviations, and affections of unknown origin complement the paleopathological picture. Some functional changes disclose overloading of both extremities. According to these findings, the way of life and the question of ethnic identification of the people are discussed.     

Consanguineous marriage in the capital city Sana'a, Yemen

Consanguineous marriage is traditionally common throughout the Eastern Mediterranean region, especially in the mainly Muslim countries. To date, there is little information on consanguinity in Yemen. The aim of this study was to ascertain the rate of consanguineous marriage and average coefficient of inbreeding in Sana'a City, Yemen. A population survey was conducted with the intention of covering married couples resident in Sana'a City by means of a multi-stage random sampling technique. A total of 1050 wives and husbands were interviewed on consanguinity in their households. The total incidence of consanguinity was 44-7% (95% CI 41.7-47.7%) with first-cousin marriages constituting 71.6% of the total consanguineous marriages and 32% of all marriages. Paternal parallel first cousins (Type I) accounted for 49% of first-cousin marriages. The average coefficient of inbreeding (F) was 0.02442. The incidence of consanguinity is relatively high in Yemen with predominantly first-cousin marriage. This might be related to the deeply rooted social and cultural beliefs in the country.     

A yellow-stained human femur from Tell esh-Shuqafiya, Egypt: evidence of ancient trauma

Excavation at Tell esh-Shuqafiya, Egypt, during the 1982 season exposed several Ptolemaic Period burials. One of these, a young adult male, showed a bright yellow stain on the right femur. Analysis of the stain demonstrated it to be hematoidin, a degradation compound derived from hemoglobin associated with old hemorrhage. The specific location of the stain on the skeleton suggests death a few weeks after a severe injury to the thigh.     

森林凋落物对林地微生境的影响

评述了凋落物改变林地微生境的效应.凋落物减弱了林地地表及表层土壤(2mm厚)中的光照,改变了光谱特性,降低了PPFD和Pfr,缩小了日温差,提高了土壤湿度和肥力,增加了毒素和土壤动物的活动等,但凋落物改变生境的效应强度与凋落物组成、厚度、分解状态和周围生境(如植被、气候、地形和地貌等特性)等有关.在自然森林生态系统中,凋落物对林地微生境的效应因凋落物、植被、气候、地形和地貌的多样化变得更为复杂,而凋落物对植被天然更新的影响也因其对生境改变效应的复杂性而具有多样性和综合性.最后,对凋落物改变生境效应的复杂性和有关研究进行了展望.     

Population history of the middle Euphrates valley: Dental non-metric traits at Tell Ashara,Tell Masaikh and Jebel Mashtale,Syria

Fifty-nine dental non-metric traits were scored using Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System on a sample of teeth from 350 human skeletons excavated at three sites in the lower middle Euphrates valley. The dataset was divided into six chronological subsets: Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Early Iron Age with Neo-Assyrian period, Classical/Late Antiquity, Early Islamic (Umayyad and Abbasid) period and Modern period. The matrix of Mean Measure of Divergence values exhibited temporal homogeneity of the sample with only dental non-metric trait scores in the Modern subset differing significantly from most other subsets. Such a result suggests that no major gene flow occurred in the middle Euphrates valley between the 3rd millennium BCE and the early 2nd millennium CE. Only after the Mongolian invasion and large depopulation of northern Mesopotamia in the 13th century CE a major population change occurred when the area was taken over in the 17th century by Bedouin tribes from the Arabian Peninsula.     

Possibilities,limits and prospects in Paleopathology of the human skeleton

Without intending to minimize the importance of the study of mummies, especially those performed by our American colleagues, one must be aware that, for the foreseeable future consideration of skeletal material will be the mai source of information in Paleopathology. Therefore, it seems interesting to define the present state of our discipline, at the very time when it is coming back into favour, and is stated as an exact science. Three aspects of Paleopathology will be discussed: its possibilities, its limits and its prospects.     

Mortality rate in the capital city of Warsaw in the eighties

Percentage of the elderly is higher in the Warsaw metropolitan area than that in other parts of Poland. This difference became more pronounced in the eighties. An analysis has shown that considering changes in the population age structure overall mortality rate in the Warsaw metropolitan area tended to decrease. It resulted from the decrease in mortality rate in the youngest (under 30 years) and the oldest population groups (over 74 years). An increase in mortality rate was noted in some subgroups of middle age and an advanced age (up to 74 years). It did not change the general trend, i.e. decrease in overall mortality rate. Mortality rate of males inhabiting Warsaw metropolitan area was lower in nearly all age groups in comparison with indices for the whole country. The same was seen in the groups of the youngest and oldest women. It may be assumed that health conditions favor men over women inhabiting Warsaw metropolitan area in comparison with the values for the whole country.     

Paleopathology and the origin of agriculture in the Levant

This study addresses changes in health which were consequential to the Neolithic transition in the southern Levant, judged on the basis of the study of specific and nonspecific stress indicators, trauma, and degenerative joint disease in 200 Natufian (hunter‐gatherer) skeletons (10,500–8300 BC) and 205 Neolithic (agricultural) skeletons (8300–5500 BC) from the southern Levant. The comparison of the health profiles of pre‐Neolithic (Natufian) and Neolithic populations reveals a higher prevalence of lesions indicative of infectious diseases among the Neolithic population, and an overall reduction in the prevalence of skull trauma among males. No change over time was observed in the prevalence of degenerative joint disease. These results indicate that in the southern Levant the Neolithic transition did not simply lead to an overall deterioration in health but rather resulted in a complex health profile which was shaped by 1) an increase exposure to disease agents, 2) changes in diet, 3) population aggregation in larger and denser settlements, 4) changes in activity patterns and the division of labor, and possibly 5) a higher resistant immunological system and response capacity to environmental aggressions (mainly infections). Am J Phys Anthropol 143:121–133, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Patterns of dental enamel defects at ancient Mendes, Egypt.

The dental remains of 88 individuals from Old Kingdom, First Intermediate, and Greco-Roman periods at the ancient Egyptian site of Mendes (Tell er-Rub(c)a) were examined for dental enamel hypoplasia, and the results reported here provide some of the first comparative data on enamel defects in ancient Egypt. Overall, 48% of the individuals in the sample have one or more teeth with hypoplasia, with 17% of permanent teeth and 8% of deciduous teeth affected. The permanent teeth account for 87% of the total number of affected teeth, a prevalence over deciduous teeth that is significant at alpha = 0.05. Permanent and deciduous teeth display different patterns of hypoplasia, with the former exhibiting both discrete pitting and linear furrowing, and the latter exhibiting only pits. Teeth with linear defects significantly outnumber those with pits by a factor of more than three to one. Only permanent canines display more than one lesion on a tooth, with a mean of 1.4 defects per affected tooth. Although calculation of the age of insult from lesion position is imprecise, it appears that stress episodes occurred most commonly between approximately 3-5 years of age. The presence of pits in the deciduous dentition, however, suggests that physiological stresses began in utero. There is no statistically significant difference in the frequency of enamel defects between males and females. An observed decrease in the frequency of defects from the Old Kingdom period to the subsequent First Intermediate and Greco-Roman periods is not significant at alpha = 0.05, although such a decrease is expected given epigraphic and other data that refer to prolonged drought and malnutrition in the late Old Kingdom. The calculated chi(2) value of 3.83 is significant at the 0.10 level, however, and since our sample is rather small and the magnitude of the chi-square statistic is a function of sample size, we recommend that future research investigate further the relationship between the frequency of enamel defects and the time period in which they occur.     

Multivariate analysis of vegetational variation in different habitats at Omayed,Egypt

The application of indicator species analysis has proved useful in classifying stands into groupings coinciding with topographic variations. 41 indicator pseudo-species are identified in the vegetation along a phytosociological gradient: some are characteristic of specific habitats, and the others indicate transition between groups of habitats.The use of qualitative estimations (transformed density records) in multivariate analysis in the present study indicates that they may be more preferable than quantitative estimations, because of their easy and fast recording in the field, and the less comprehensive computations, while yielding precise results.The X-axis of the reciprocal averaging ordination is related to the salinity and fertility gradients, while the Y-axis reflects soil texture.The phytosociological gradients of the canonical variate axes reflect essentially contrasts between groups of species, each correlated with one or the other of the environmental gradients.Comparing the results obtained by the two ordination methods (reciprocal averaging and canonical variates) we find that the first method detects the overall phytosociological changes along strong environmental gradients which would be helpful in studying large surveys. On the other hand, the second technique, which is mainly predictive, is more sensitive to changes within both the phytosociological and environmental gradients and can detect the impact of these changes on the overall variance of each gradient.Nomenclature follows Täckholm (1964).The authors are grateful to Dr J. Jeffers and Mr and Mrs P. Howard of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, England, for their help with applying the multivariate techniques to the vegetation data.     

Coral communities and coral-bivalve associations in the northern Red Sea at Safaga,Egypt

Summary The reefs near Safaga, Egypt, are built mainly by coral species ofPorites andAcropora. These genera are in general important for the formation of coral communities and reef structures. WhileMontipora orPavona are also species rich, their mean colony size is too small for a substantial role in the build-up of carbonate mass. Yet as a host coral,Montipora is more important thanPorites; both may accommodate the pectinidPedum and certain species of mytilidLithophaga. Such associations appear to be typical for specific reef areas and to be correlated to the food supply of the bivalves. These findings can be used for an actuopaleontological interpretation of the fossil situation. In addition to the frequency of occurrence, factors such as the growth form, growth rate, skeletal density and lifespan of corals are essential in determining their share in reef construction.     

Paleopathology of Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis (Diapsida,Crocodylia) from the Middle Pleistocene of Central Japan

The type specimen of Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis (Diapsida, Crocodylia) from the Osaka Group (Plio-Pleistocene) of Osaka Prefecture, Central Japan, shows multiple abnormalities. The anterior third of the mandible was amputated and shows signs of healing. The right tibia and fibula were fractured, and each of them was later fused in dislocated position with callus formation. Additionally, there are two puncture marks on a dermal scute. Based on the morphologies of these pathologies, the fauna of the community in which this animal lived, and the behavior of extant crocodilians, it is suggested that this individual survived its injuries sustained during multiple intraspecific fights for territoriality or mating.     

Biostratigraphic implications of the Maastrichtian-lower Eocene sequence at the North Gunna section, Farafra Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt

Eleven planktic foraminiferal zones are established in the Maastrichtian-lower Eocene sediments at the North Gunna section (Farafra Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt). The study section is composed of five rock units, the Khoman, Dakhla, Tarawan, Esna and Farafra Formations. A hiatus at the K/T boundary including the upper Maastrichtian-lower Paleocene (Abathomphalus mayaroensis-Parasubbotina pseudobulloides Zones) has been detected. Moreover, most of the Esna Formation in the study area is of early Eocene age (M. subbotinae-A. pentacamerata Zones) rather than late Paleocene as commonly observed in the neighbouring areas. The zonal scheme developed here is correlated with other sequences and the P-zonation of Blow (1979) and Berggren and Miller (1988) are discussed.     

Robusticity and osteoarthritis at the trapeziometacarpal joint in a Bronze Age population from Tell Abraq, United Arab Emirates

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive disease of the joints and can cause pain, reduced range of motion and strength, and ultimately loss of function at affected joints. Osteoarthritis often occurs at sites where biomechanical stress is acutely severe or moderate but habitual over the course of a lifetime. Skeletal remains from an Umm an-Nar tomb at Tell Abraq, United Arab Emirates (ca. 2300 BC), were recovered and represented over 300 individuals of all ages. The remains were disarticulated, commingled, and mostly fragmented. An analysis of 650 well-preserved adult metacarpal and carpal bones, from the tomb's western chamber, revealed that over 53% of the trapeziometacarpal joint facets showed signs of OA varying from mild to severe. The first and second metacarpals and trapezium bones were sided and evaluated for OA at the trapeziometacarpal joint articulations. Osteoarthritis was detected on 53% of the first metacarpals, 40% of the second metacarpals, and 57% of the trapezium bones. All specimens appeared enlarged, and the first metacarpals were assessed for sexual identification and robusticity. Eighty-five percent of the bones were probable males, and more than 80% of them had a robusticity index of 60 or higher. A strong correlation was found between OA, sex, and robusticity. High levels of OA and robusticity at the thumb suggest that the people of Tell Abraq were habitually involved in biomechanically challenging work with their hands.