Squatting facet: a case study Dilkaya and Van-Kalesi populations in eastern Turkey

Anomalies of the skeleton provide information on living conditions, cultural structure and health problems in ancient societies. Squatting facet is a kind of anomaly that forms on the surfaces where the tibia and talus articulate is the squatting facet states the daily activities and living style of the society. The aim of this study is to learn the daily activities of the medieval societies in the Van region through studying of squatting facets. In this study, adult skeletons from Dilkaya and Van Kalesi-Eski Van Sehri societies dating to the Medieval Age were investigated (65 tibia and 82 tali from Dilkaya, 61 tibia and 52 tali from Van Kalesi-Eski Van Sehri). The lateral squatting facet had high ratios in both societies. The tibia lateral squatting facet found on females and males of Dilkaya was 97.2% and 96.9%, respectively, and on females and males of Van kalesi Eski Van Sehri was 87.5% and 89.2%, respectively. The talus lateral squatting facet found on females and males of Dilkaya was 72.1% and 51.3%, respectively, and on females and males of Van kalesi Eski Van Sehri was 91.2% and 83.7%, respectively. The results provide an opportunity to study the relationship between past and modern population, and also describe the daily activity of life and cultural structure.     

Sex determination using the scapula in medieval skeletons from East Anatolia

Sex determination from skeletal human remains by discriminant function analysis is one of the methods utilized in the forensic and osteoarcheological sciences. The purpose of the present study is to establish metric standards for sex determination for medieval Anatolian populations using scapular measurements. The database for this research consisted of 93 adult skeletal remains (47 males and 46 females) from the Dilkaya medieval collection. Four measurements were taken: maximum scapular height, maximum scapular breadth, glenoid cavity height, glenoid cavity breadth, and subjected to discriminant function analysis. All measurements demonstrated some degree of sexual dimorphism, with the highest accuracy of sex determination (94.8%) obtained using maximum scapular breadth. Overall accuracies of the functions ranged from 82.9% to 95.0%, with a higher accuracy rate obtained for female skeletons than for males. Population specific discriminant formulas were developed using combinations of measurements, which can be used in ancient Anatolian populations.     

Os intermetatarseum: A heritable accessory bone of the human foot

The os intermetatarseum is a relatively common accessory bone of the human foot located at the tarsometatarsal border between the first and second metatarsals. It can occur as an independent ossicle or as an osseous spur projecting from the proximal ends of the first two metatarsals, or the distal end of the first cuneiform. To determine the frequency of this congenital defect in native North American groups and East Asians from Japan, the skeletons of 846 Native Americans and 125 modern Japanese and Ainu were examined for the presence of the os intermetatarseum. The North American skeletons are from archaeological sites in various parts of Canada and the United States, including the Arctic coast, the Subarctic, the Aleutian Islands, the Northern Plains, the Illinois River area, and the Southwest. Overall frequencies ranged from no occurrence among the Arctic samples to 8% of individuals from Pecos Pueblo. Second metatarsal spurs occurred in particularly high frequencies among American Indians, whereas the East Asians were only found to have os intermetatarseums associated with the first cuneiform. Because pedigrees have shown the os intermetatarseum to be an inherited defect, its high frequency among some Native Americans may be due, in part, to a higher degree of genetic relatedness among the individuals in the North American samples than among the relatively modern East Asians. Am J Phys Anthropol 107:199–209, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Bars of bone on hip bones in antiquity: Pathological,occupational or genetic?

A rare pronounced bar of bone on os innominata is described on three skeletons excavated from archaeological sites in Britain of the Iron Age/Early Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. Three possible causes are postulated for these ridges, pathological, occupational and non-metrical variation. A non-metrical variation or occupationally induced trait appears to be the most likely cause.     

对华南地区男性成年颅骨、锁骨、肩胛骨和髋骨与身高关系的研究

作者对近年在华南地区收集的70具成年男性完整骸骨的颅围、锁骨最大长、肩胛骨形态宽及髋骨最大长进行了测量。相关分析表明,各测量项目与身高的相关系数均有非常显著的意义(p<0.01)。进而建立了相应的回归方程。用70例已知生前身高的国人骸骨对这些回归方程进行了检验。结果表明,本文所建立的这些回归方程均有一定的实用价值。     

Quantitative genetic variation in the skeleton of the mouse: II. Description of variation within and between inbred strains

Variation in the skeletons of over 400 male and female mice from 12 genotypes was investigated by using multivariate statistical methods. A series of discriminant functions explains the differences in the shape of six bones: mandible, os coxae, femur, tibia-fibula, scapula, and humerus. The anatomical features of bone shape described by these functions are summarized together with illustrations of the typical shapes of each bone from the 12 genotypes. Variability within genotypes was investigated by using the Mahalanobis D2 distance--a measure of the difference between two points representing multivariate data--from the group mean. A series of variants were detected ranging from grossly abnormal bones to bones showing subtle differences localized to specific regions. Examples of the variants found are illustrated.     

ABC of emergency radiology. The ankle.

The os trigonum is a common normal variant of the talus and is due to a separate ossification centre arising from the posterior tubercle. The appearance may resemble an old ununited fracture fragment. However, it is triangular, well corticated, in a classic location, and usually bilateral, which enables it to be distinguished from a fracture. Transverse, sclerotic, linear lines located at the metaphysis of growing long bones are due to short periods of growth arrest and have no clinical importance (fig 5). They may be confused with compression fractures, but again these lines are usually bilateral. Fibrous cortical defects are the most commonly seen benign lesions of long bones and are usually identified incidentally in radiographs taken for another reason. The defect is limited to the cortex, commonly found at the metaphysis, but may be located in the diaphysis as the bone grows. The lesion is well corticated (sclerotic margins) and usually does not produce signs or symptoms.     

Sex determination using the femur in an ancient Anatolian population

Determination of sex from the femur measurements has been attempted in several populations. Numerous studies have also demonstrated the importance of creating population specific standards in the metric assessment of sex. The present study attempts to establish metric standards for sex determination by using femur measurements for ancient Anatolian populations. Osteometric data were obtained from skeletal remains of 130 adults (67 males and 63 females) from the Dilkaya medieval collection. Eight femur measurements were taken and the data were analyzed using t-test and discriminant analysis with the help of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The basic statistics showed that all measurements were sexually dimorphic. For the univariate discriminant function derived, precision of sex determination was 86.5 % with the condyle breadth. Our prediction values showed that sex differentiation can be done by femur measurements with reliability between 76 % and 88.5 %, with values for female slightly higher than for males. It is suggested that discriminant formulas developed by combinations of femur measurements in this study can be used for sex determination accurately on fragmentary skeletal remains in ancient Anatolian populations.     

Microscopy electron scanning of fossilized sickle-cells

In a microscopica electronic scanning follow-up study on human skeletons from the Hellenistic Period in the Arab-Persian Gulf, fossilized sickle-cells were found in the bone marrow of one of the excavated skeletons. The ultrastructure of these cells was compared to that of fossilized normal red blood cells of other skeletons from the same site, and to similar pseudo-pathological structures. The finding of fossilized evidence of sickle-cell anemia of that date is withoutprecedent, and makes an evaluation of related gross-anatomical skeletal changes possible.     

Os acromiale: population differences and their etiological significance.

The os acromiale is an accessory bone resulting from failure of the acromial apophysis to fuse to the scapula. It is a relatively frequent defect affecting 4-18% of most large skeletal series. The etiology of os acromiale is poorly understood, and two competing hypotheses have been proposed: (1) that the accessory bone represents a genetic defect, and (2) that it results from mechanical stress on the developing acromion. In order to assess the evidence for these two hypotheses, os acromiale frequencies from a South African cadaver sample (n = 494) were compared to frequencies from a medieval Danish archaeological sample (n = 532). The South African frequency (18.2%) was significantly higher than the medieval Danish frequency (7.7%, p < 0.0001). These results mirror those of another study comparing African- and Euro-Americans, and tend to support the genetic hypothesis. However, a left side bias (72%) was also found among the South Africans (p = 0.013), lending some support to the mechanical stress hypothesis. Sex and age biases were also examined but were not found. In order to further test the mechanical hypothesis, the medieval Danes were divided into groups of higher and lower socioeconomic status based upon cemetery type. Lower status individuals were presumed to have engaged in strenuous labor activities more often and at a younger age than higher status individuals. However, comparison of these two groups failed to demonstrate a significant frequency difference (p = 0.105). Based on the results of this study, it is suggested that a third etiology combining a genetic predisposition for os acromiale with mechanical stress as the proximate cause should also be considered.     

The antiquity of tuberculosis in Hungary: the skeletal evidence

The analysis of the skeletons of past human populations provides some of the best biological data regarding the history of significant diseases such as tuberculosis. The purpose of this study is to present the pathological alterations of the bones in this disease deriving from the ancient time of the territory of the Hungarian Great Plain on the basis of the earlier references and new cases. The bone changes in tuberculosis were mainly manifested in the vertebrae and less frequently in the hip, however, further alterations were observed on the surface of the endocranium and the ribs.     

Greater sciatic notch morphology: sex, age, and population differences

The accuracy of a method for visually scoring sex differences in the greater sciatic notch was tested on 296 skeletons of known age and sex. The proportion of correct sex assignments is 80% when all specimens are classified, and 89% when os coxae assigned the score in which the sexes show the greatest overlap are excluded. Although many os coxae (35%) have this sexually intermediate morphology, excluding them has the advantage of substantially reducing sex biases in sexing errors. For both sexes, there is a strong relationship between age at death and sciatic notch score. People who die at a younger age tend to have wider, more feminine-appearing sciatic notches than people of greater longevity. There are also significant population differences. The 18th-19th century English sample from St. Bride's Church has a more feminine morphology than Americans of European or African ancestry. Environmental influences on skeletal development (vitamin D deficiency) appear to provide the most likely explanation for these population differences.     

A new aid to aging immature skeletons: development of the occipital bone

A total of 150 immature and young adult skeletons from the medieval necropolis at Mistihalj, in southern Yugoslavia, were aged by the standard methods: dentition, osseous development, and extent of vertebral union. The development of the occipital bone was examined in 117 cases to determine if it could be used in aging the skeletons. The stages of development were found to be regular enough to permit reasonable prediction of age for other Yugoslavian specimens. Comparisons with a series of 20 German fetuses suggest measurements of the parts of the occipital bone can be used to help determine the approximate age of skeletons in the fetal to few-months post-natal range. Comparisons with the ten Egyptian skulls and data on 19 unpublished Eskimo skeletons suggest that the stages of development can be used with other populations.     

Bone microstructure and its hidden information

Human bone micromorphology gives clues to a variety of life history parameters, such as individual age, health status, and physical activity. In the course of an ongoing study, thin cross sections of femoral compact bone from three skeletal series are investigated for different purposes. The first series consists of 103 adult skeletons excavated from a 19th century hospital graveyard in Basel, Switzerland. Several disease- and stress-markers, like layers of arrested growth or other conspicuous microstructural composition were observed. Another 36 individuals come from the dissection room of the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich. These individuals have an average age at death of about 80 years and offer the possibility to investigate the micromorphological characteristics of individuals of very advanced age. Finally, 72 medieval subadult skeletons shall serve for the establishment of a relationship between individual age and bone microstructural parameters according to the different ontogenetic stages.     

Founding Amerindian mitochondrial DNA lineages in ancient Maya from Xcaret, Quintana Roo

Ancient DNA from the bone remains of 25 out of 28 pre-Columbian individuals from the Late Classic-Postclassic Maya site of Xcaret, Quintana Roo, was recovered, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was amplified by using the polymerase chain reaction. The presence of the four founding Amerindian mtDNA lineages was investigated by restriction analysis and by direct sequencing in selected individuals. The mtDNA lineages A, B, and C were found in this population. Eighty-four percent of the individuals were lineage A, whereas lineages B and C were present at low frequencies, 4% and 8%, respectively. Lineage D was absent from our sample. One individual did not possess any of the four lineages. Six skeletons out of 7 dated from the Late Classic period were haplotype A, whereas 11 skeletons out of 16 dated from the Postclassic period were also haplotype A. The distribution of mtDNA lineages in the Xcaret population contrasts sharply with that found in ancient Maya from Copán, which lack lineages A and B. On the other hand, our results resemble more closely the frequencies of mtDNA lineages found in contemporary Maya from the Yucatán Peninsula and in other Native American contemporary populations of Mesoamerican origin.     

Histogenesis of the Os Penis and Os Clitoridis in Rats

The development of the os penis in normal male rats and the os clitoridis in the females treated with testosterone were studied histologically and histochemically. Alcian blue-positive materials, alkaline phosphatase activities and calcium deposit were detected. The os penis of the rats was composed of a proximal segment and a distal one. The proximal segment of the os penis was formed by the fusion of a membrane bone in its distal half and an ossifying hyaline cartilage in its proximal half. The distal segment of the os penis developed as a fibrocartilage bone.
Two steps were demonstrated in the development of the os penis: the formation of the rudiments, and the differentiation of the proximal and distal segments. The treatment of newborn females with testosterone induced an os clitoridis homologous to the proximal segment of the os penis. The development of the os clitoridis was compared with that of the os penis.     

Diet and dental caries among later stone age inhabitants of the Cape Province, South Africa.

Stable carbon isotope measurements and incidences of dental caries are presented for three groups of prehistoric human skeletons from different regions of the Cape Province, South Africa. The isotopic analyses of bone collagen demonstrate the importance of marine foods in the diet and vary through time, across space, and according to sex. The incidence of dental caries ranges from 0% among heavily marine-dependent individuals from the south-western Cape coast, to 17.7% among skeletons from an archaeological site on the south coast. The extremely high incidence of caries in a hunter-gatherer population may be related to lack of fluoride in the water.     

Paleodontologic study of skeletal findings at Takht-i Suleiman, West Iran

Within this paleodontological study 26 Achemenid and 8 Islamic skeletons from the excavations at Tahkt-i Suleiman (Western Iran) were investigated. The diagnosis of age and sex was done repeatedly according to various methods. The adult Achemenids reached an average age of 54.4 years (n = 16; SD = +/- 9.9 y), while the Islamic adult individuals reached a lifespan of 36.9 (n = 8; SD = +/- 11.0 y). The skeletons of the Achemenid children had an average of 6.8 years (n = 9; SD = +/- 3.3 y). In the specific dental investigations the teeth of all skeletons were checked for missing teeth or dental diseases or alterations of the jaws. For the whole series intravital loss of 19.3% of the teeth was found. 21.6% of the teeth were lost postmortally. The intravital loss of single teeth was 21.9% in the Achemenid teeth, disregarding the wisdom tooth and Dentes decidui; the respective value was 12% in the Islamic skeletons. The investigation for caries yielded a morbidity of 50% in the Achemenid skeletons, and 57% in the Islamic teeth. The frequency of caries was 6.2% in Achemenids and 9% in Islamic individuals. In the Dentes decidui the frequency of caries was found to be 3.6%. Dental tartar was present in 44.8% of the teeth, 42% of Achemenid teeth and 58% of Islamic teeth being affected. 33% of all teeth showed garlands of dental tartar. Signs of parodontolysis were investigated considering the health of the individual and the preservation of the skeleton. All adult teeth showed age-dependent parodontolysis, the means of which were quantified.     

The Identification of Proteoglycans and Glycosaminoglycans in Archaeological Human Bones and Teeth

Bone tissue is mineralized dense connective tissue consisting mainly of a mineral component (hydroxyapatite) and an organic matrix comprised of collagens, non-collagenous proteins and proteoglycans (PGs). Extracellular matrix proteins and PGs bind tightly to hydroxyapatite which would protect these molecules from the destructive effects of temperature and chemical agents after death. DNA and proteins have been successfully extracted from archaeological skeletons from which valuable information has been obtained; however, to date neither PGs nor glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains have been studied in archaeological skeletons. PGs and GAGs play a major role in bone morphogenesis, homeostasis and degenerative bone disease. The ability to isolate and characterize PG and GAG content from archaeological skeletons would unveil valuable paleontological information. We therefore optimized methods for the extraction of both PGs and GAGs from archaeological human skeletons. PGs and GAGs were successfully extracted from both archaeological human bones and teeth, and characterized by their electrophoretic mobility in agarose gel, degradation by specific enzymes and HPLC. The GAG populations isolated were chondroitin sulfate (CS) and hyaluronic acid (HA). In addition, a CSPG was detected. The localization of CS, HA, three small leucine rich PGs (biglycan, decorin and fibromodulin) and glypican was analyzed in archaeological human bone slices. Staining patterns were different for juvenile and adult bones, whilst adolescent bones had a similar staining pattern to adult bones. The finding that significant quantities of PGs and GAGs persist in archaeological bones and teeth opens novel venues for the field of Paleontology.     

中国现代人群下颌骨前部形态及变异

本文通过对中国全新世330例人类下颌骨前部区域形态的观察、测量和统计分析, 对该区域的形态特征及变异进行了分析。结果显示: 全新世人群(即现代人群)中, 颏下窝深、中央脊、颏三角表现为"显著(及特显)"级别的出现率最高, 男性中下缘隆起表现为" 显著(及特显)"级别的出现率最高。颏下窝深、颏三角、下缘隆起, 这三项观察性状在近代人中表现为显著的比例较高, 中央脊的表现程度在各时代间差异不显著。下颌骨前部似乎有如下演化趋势: 从新石器时代至近代, 颏下窝深度增加、颏三角显著程度增加、下缘隆起的程度也增大。考虑到全新世以来下颌骨在缩小, 下颌骨前部的变化(颏下窝变深, 颏三角、下缘隆起的显著比例增加)可能是下颌骨减小的伴随性和代偿性变化。角度的比较显示: 前部角1在近代中最小, 前部角2在新石器为最大, 上部前角在青铜铁器为最大, 前部角差在近代为最大。