Health of infants in an Imperial Roman skeletal sample: perspective from dental microstructure

This study examines general health in the first year of life of a population of 127 subadults from the Imperial Roman necropolis of Isola Sacra (2nd-3rd century ACE). Health status was determined by analyzing 274 deciduous teeth from these children for Wilson bands (also known as accentuated striae), microscopic defects caused by a disruption to normal enamel development arising from some generalized external stressor. While macroscopic enamel defects, or hypoplasias, have long been used as proxies of general population health, we believe that this is the first population-wide study of microscopic defects in deciduous teeth. We used microstructural markers of enamel to attach very precise chronologies to Wilson band formation that allowed us to calculate maximum prevalence (MAP) and smoothed maximum prevalence (SMAP) distributions to portray what we believe to be a realistic risk profile for a past population of children. There appear to be two periods of high prevalence, the first beginning around age 2 months and continuing through month 5, and the second higher period beginning around month 6 and continuing through month 9. These results are discussed in light of historical records of Roman childhood rearing practices.     

Oral health and the postcontact adaptive transition: A contextual reconstruction of diet in Mórrope,Peru

This work explores the effects of European contact on Andean foodways in the Lambayeque Valley Complex, north coast Peru. We test the hypothesis that Spanish colonization negatively impacted indigenous diet. Diachronic relationships of oral health were examined from the dentitions of 203 late‐pre‐Hispanic and 175 colonial‐period Mochica individuals from Mórrope, Lambayeque, to include observations of dental caries, antemortem tooth loss, alveolar inflammation, dental calculus, periodontitis, and dental wear. G‐tests and odds ratio analyses across six age classes indicate a range of statistically significant postcontact increases in dental caries, antemortem tooth loss, and dental calculus prevalence. These findings are associated with ethnohistoric contexts that point to colonial‐era economic reorganization which restricted access to multiple traditional food sources. We infer that oral health changes reflect creative Mochica cultural adjustments to dietary shortfalls through the consumption of a greater proportion of dietary carbohydrates. Simultaneously, independent skeletal indicators of biological stress suggest that these adjustments bore a cost in increased nutritional stress. Oral health appears to have been systematically worse among colonial women. We rule out an underlying biological cause (female fertility variation) and suggest that the establishment of European gender ideologies and divisions of labor possibly exposed colonial Mochica women to a more cariogenic diet. Overall, dietary change in Mórrope appears shaped by local responses to a convergence of colonial Spanish economic agendas, landscape transformation, and social changes during the postcontact transition in northern Peru. These findings also further the understandings of dietary and biocultural histories of the Western Hemisphere. Am J Phys Anthropol 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Continuity or discontinuity? Vegetation change in the Hadrianic–Antonine frontier zone of northern Britain at the end of the Roman occupation

Aim The aim of this paper is to determine the nature of vegetation change in the Hadrianic-Antonine frontier zone of northern Britain at the end of the Roman occupation. The concepts of continuity and change are important issues in palynological and archaeological studies and it has been assumed traditionally that large-scale woodland regeneration occurred in the area at the end of the Romano-British period. Location Hadrianic–Antonine frontier zone of northern Britain. Methods Pollen analysis of peat profiles, radiocarbon dating Results and main conclusions The pollen diagrams suggest that woodland regeneration occurred around the time of the withdrawal of Roman troops at Fozy Moss, Northumbria; Glasson Moss, Cumbria; Bolton Fell Moss (marg), Cumbria; Letham Moss, Stirlingshire; Cranley Moss, Lanarkshire; Carsegowan Moss, Wigtonshire and Dogden Moss, Berwickshire. Regeneration started at Blairbech Bog, Dumbartonshire and Ellergower Moss, Dumfriesshire before the Roman occupation began. The landscape around Walton Moss, Cumbria remained open later and regeneration of woodland did not take place until the latter half of the sixth century AD . Woodland regeneration at each of the sites was also associated with a decline in agricultural production, and renewed clearance did not occur until Anglian, monastic or Scandinavian settlement took place.     

Effect of the Japanese diet during pregnancy and lactation or post-weaning on the risk of metabolic syndrome in offspring

We examined the effects on offspring of ingestion of the 1975 Japanese diet during pregnancy and lactation and after weaning in mice. Pregnant dams were divided into groups that were fed the Japanese diet or a control diet and raised until offspring were weaned. The offspring after weaning were further divided into groups that were raised on the Japanese diet or the control diet. Ingestion of the Japanese diet after weaning suppressed accumulation of visceral fat in offspring, and reduced the amount of lipids in serum and liver. This effect was weakened if the Japanese diet was only ingested during pregnancy and lactation. Therefore, it was suggested that ingestion of the Japanese diet of mothers during pregnancy and lactation weakens the lipid accumulation inhibitory effect of the Japanese diet in children.     

Comparison between morphological and genetic data to estimate biological relationship: the case of the Egyin Gol necropolis (Mongolia)

Osseous and dental nonmetric (discrete) traits have long been used to assess population variability and affinity in anthropological and archaeological contexts. However, the full extent to which nonmetric traits can reliably be used as a proxy for genetic data when assessing close or familial relationships is currently poorly understood. This study represents the unique opportunity to directly compare genetic and nonmetric data for the same individuals excavated from the Egyin Gol necropolis, Mongolia. These data were analyzed to consider the general efficacy of nonmetric traits for detecting familial groupings in the absence of available genetic data. The results showed that the Egyin Gol population is quite homogenous both metrically and genetically confirming a previous suggestion that the same people occupied the necropolis throughout the five centuries of its existence. Kinship analysis detected the presence of potential family burials in the necropolis. Moreover, individuals buried in one sector of the necropolis were differentiated from other sectors on the basis of nonmetric data. This separation is likely due to an outside Turkish influence in the paternal line, as indicated by the results of Y-chromosome analysis. Affinity matrices based on nonmetric and genetic data were correlated demonstrating the potential of nonmetric traits for detecting relationships in the absence of genetic data. However, the strengths of the correlations were relatively low, cautioning against the use of nonmetric traits when the resolution of the familial relationships is low.     

Stable isotopic evidence for diet at the Imperial Roman coastal site of Velia (1st and 2nd Centuries AD) in Southern Italy

Here we report on a stable isotope palaeodietary study of a Imperial Roman population interred near the port of Velia in Southern Italy during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses were performed on collagen extracted from 117 adult humans as well as a range of fauna to reconstruct individual dietary histories. For the majority of individuals, we found that stable isotope data were consistent with a diet high in cereals, with relatively modest contributions of meat and only minor contributions of marine fish. However, substantial isotopic variation was found within the population, indicating that diets were not uniform. We suggest that a number of individuals, mainly but not exclusively males, had greater access to marine resources, especially high trophic level fish. However, the observed dietary variation did not correlate with burial type, number of grave goods, nor age at death. Also, individuals buried at the necropolis at Velia ate much less fish overall compared with the contemporaneous population from the necropolis of Portus at Isola Sacra, located on the coast close to Rome. Marine and riverine transport and commerce dominated the economy of Portus, and its people were in a position to supplement their own stocks of fish with imported goods in transit to Rome, whereas at Velia marine exploitation existed side‐by‐side with land‐based economic activities. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Anemia and the transition of nomadic hunter-gatherers to a sedentary life-style: Follow-up study of a Kalahari community

Iron profiles of communities of hunter-gatherers and former hunter-gatherers conducted between 1969 and 1987 at Dobe in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana exhibited pronounced differences during periods of rapid culture change. The loss of good health and particularly the increase in anemia through time was attributed to notable changes in diet, although changes in mobility patterns were considered a secondary cause. In 1988 and 1989, studies were conducted at Kutse, also in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana, to ascertain the frequency of anemia at a recently sedentary community in which residents still relied primarily on wild animals for meat. Although not identical, the hematological presentation in 1989 was similar to that in 1988. The studies together suggest that our findings characterize the pattern of health and disease at Kutse, which is unrelated to any specific year or to diet. Additional measures of disease, specifically ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate) and oral temperatures, support an interpretation of anemia of chronic disease as the cause of hypoferremia at Kutse. Morbidity is high, in spite of adequate diets, because the residents are transitional from a nomadic to a sedentary lifestyle and from a relatively dispersed to an aggregated settlement pattern. These changes have introduced new health problems. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Seasonal and habitat variation in the diet of the tawny owl ( Strix aluco ) in central Poland during unusually warm years

In the temperate climate zone in Europe the composition of the diet of predatory vertebrates shows evident variability between the warm and cold season. However, the recently observed climate warming can mitigate the effect of snow cover and low temperatures on the winter foraging ecology of raptors, thus affecting trophic webs in ecosystems. We analysed diet variability in the tawny owl Strix aluco, between the warm and cold seasons of four unusually warm years (as compared to reference years of 1950–2000) in two habitats (forest vs. farmland) in Central Poland. The most important prey group in the tawny owl’s diet were mammals, constituting over 80% of prey items. There were distinct diet differences between the two seasons: insectivorous mammals, birds and amphibians were caught more often during the warm season, and Muridae and Arvicolidae during the cold season. The proportion of insectivorous mammals, voles and amphibians was significantly higher in forest than in farmland. Diet diversity, analysed with rarefaction methods and expressed as the expected cumulative mammal species number for a given number of randomly sampled preyed mammals, was independent of season and higher in forest than in the agricultural habitat. We conclude that even during unusually warm years tawny owls change significantly their feeding habits between the warm and cold season. The effect of season, habitat and weather factors on diet variability in raptors are discussed.     

An assessment of health and disease in the prehistoric inhabitants of the Mariana Islands

Using a variety of skeletal and dental stress indicators, an assessment of the health and disease of the indigenous inhabitants of the Mariana Islands, the Chamorro, is made. The major hypothesis to be tested is that the Chamorro were relatively healthy and that deviations from the expected, as well as inter-island variation, may reflect environmental, ecological, and cultural differences. The major skeletal series surveyed include sites on Guam (N = 247 individuals), Rota (N = 14), Tinian (N = 20), and Saipan (N = 102). The majority of the specimens are from the transitional pre-Latte (AD 1–1000) and Latte (AD 1000–1521) periods. These data derive primarily from unpublished osteological reports. The indicators of health and disease surveyed include mortality and paleodemographic data, stature, dental paleopathology, cribra orbitalia, limb bone fractures, degenerative osteoarthritis, and infectious disease (including treponemal infection). Where appropriate, tests of significance are calculated to determine the presence of any patterning in the differences observed within and between the skeletal series. Information recorded in prehistoric Hawaiians provides a standard for external comparisons. Several of the larger skeletal series surveyed have paleodemographic features that are consistent with long-term cemetery populations. Females and subadults are typically underrepresented. Most subadult deaths occur in the 2–5 year age interval. Life expectancy at birth ranges from 26.4 to 33.7 years. A healthy fertility rate is indicated for these series. The prehistoric inhabitants of the Mariana Islands were relatively tall, exceeding living Chamorros measured in the early part of the present century. The greater prevalence of developmental defects in the enamel suggests that the Chamorro were exposed to more stress than prehistoric Hawaiians. The low frequency of cribra orbitalia further indicates iron deficiency anemia was not a problem. There are generally low frequencies of dental pathology in the remains from the Mariana Islands. Betel-nut staining is relatively common in all series which may help to explain the relatively low prevalence of dental pathology. Healed limb bone fractures are rare in these skeletal series; the frequency and patterns of fractures suggest accidental injury as the main cause. Greater physical demands involving the lower back region are indicated by a high frequency of spondylolysis, or stress fracture in the lumbar vertebrae in the Chamorro. Likewise, advanced degenerative bone changes, while of low occurrence, are significantly greater in the Chamorro than Hawaiians. The prevalence of skeletal and dental indicators of stress was generally higher in the smaller islands of the Marianas chain (e.g., Rota), islands with fewer resources to buffer environmental catastrophe. Bony changes suggestive of treponemal (probably yaws) disease are common in most of these Marianas Islands skeletal series. Am J Phys Anthropol 104:315–342, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Dental health in Northern Chile's Atacama oases: evaluating the Middle Horizon (AD 500-1000) impact on local diet

As one of the few areas apt for horticulture in Northern Chile's arid landscape, the prehistory of the Atacama oases is deeply enmeshed with that of the inter‐regional networks that promoted societal development in the south central Andes. During the Middle Horizon (AD 500–1000), local populations experienced a cultural apex associated with a substantial increase in inter‐regional interaction, population density, and quantity and quality of mortuary assemblages. Here, we test if this cultural peak affected dietary practices equally among the distinct local groups of this period. We examine caries prevalence and the degree of occlusal wear in four series recovered from three cemeteries. Our results show a reduction in the prevalence of caries for males among an elite subsample from Solcor 3 and the later Coyo 3 cemeteries. Dental wear tends to increase over time with the Late Middle Horizon/Late Intermediate Period cemetery of Quitor 6 showing a higher average degree of wear. When considered in concert with archaeological information, we concluded that the Middle Horizon was marked by dietary variability wherein some populations were able to obtain better access to protein sources (e.g., camelid meat). Not all members of Atacameño society benefited from this, as we note that this dietary change only affected men. Our results suggest that the benefits brought to the San Pedro oases during the Middle Horizon were not equally distributed among local groups and that social status, relationship to the Tiwanaku polity, and interment in particular cemeteries affected dietary composition. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Mitochondrial DNA analysis of medieval sheep (Ovis aries) in central Italy reveals the predominance of haplogroup B already in the Middle Ages

We retrieved 34 medieval ovicaprine remains, from three archaeological sites of central Italy dating to about 1000 years old, and analyzed them using mitochondrial DNA. We compared the reconstructed haplogroups with modern sheep samples from Europe and the Middle East and sequences from the literature. In modern sheep, haplogroup HA is present in countries with access to the Mediterranean and close to the domestication center, whereas it is very rare or absent in the rest of Europe. The haplogroup HB was predominant in ancient samples (90%), whereas haplogroup HA was found at 10%. Ancient haplogroups match the present distribution in modern sheep in Italy, indicating that the current proportion of HA/HB was already established in the Middle Ages and is not the result of subsequent events such as selective breeding practices.     

Morphology,diet, and stable carbon isotopes: On the diet of Theropithecus and some limits of uniformitarianism in paleoecology

Geladas were long supposed to be the only living primates feeding almost entirely on graminoids and accordingly display dramatic dental and manual adaptive traits. A recent study of Theropithecus gelada, the first in a relatively undisturbed habitat, revealed a more diverse diet, also incorporating large quantities of forbs. The peculiar adaptive traits of T. gelada are also observed in extinct Theropithecus as early as 3.7 Ma. Stable carbon isotopic data of extinct Theropithecus from eastern Africa indicate that specimens older than 3 Ma consumed a significant proportion of C₃ plants (on average ca. 40% of total food intake) whereas specimens younger than 2 Ma consumed more C₄ plants (on average ca. 80%). Recent paleobotanical evidence suggests that C₃ herbaceous plants were still present in non‐negligible proportions in Plio‐Pleistocene lowland tropical ecosystems. Together, the shared morphological adaptive traits of extant and extinct Theropithecus and the varied diets of extant T. gelada suggest that the paleodiets of Theropithecus may have been dominated by herbaceous plants, comprising both C₃ forbs and graminoids and C₄ graminoids. The changes in stable carbon isotopes could correspond to a replacement of C₃ plants by C₄ plants within the herbaceous strata rather than a shift from C₃ woody vegetation to C₄ graminoids. This synthesis highlights the need for a more exhaustive knowledge of the ecology of extant species to achieve meaningful paleodietary and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. A strong selectivity for food resources that are rare in the landscapes (as in T. gelada) should also be considered when interpreting stable carbon isotopes of extinct African mammals (and notably hominids).     

Phylogenetic analysis of coadaptation in behavior, diet, and body size in the African antelope

Several authors have suggested that African antelope (familyBovidae) exemplify coadaptation of ecological, behavioral,and morphological traits. We tested four hypotheses relatedto the ecology and behavior of 75 species of African antelopeusing both conventional statistical techniques and techniques that account for the nonindependence of species by consideringtheir phylogenetic relationships. Specifically, we tested thehypotheses that (1) dietary selectivity is correlated negativelywith body mass, (2) dietary selectivity is correlated negativelywith group size, (3) gregarious species either flee or counterattackwhen approached by predators, but solitary and pair-livingspecies seek cover to hide, and (4) body mass and group sizeare correlated positively. Each of these hypotheses was examinedfor the global data set (family Bovidae) and, when possible,within the two antelope subfamilies (Antilopinae and Bovinae)and within 7 of the 10 antelope tribes. The results of ourconventional and phylogenetically corrected analyses supportedthe hypotheses that group and body size vary predictably with feeding style and that antipredator behavior varies with groupsize. The hypothesis that body mass and group size are correlatedpositively was supported by conventional statistics, but thesetwo traits were only weakly related using a phylogeneticallycorrected analysis. Moreover, qualitative and quantitativecomparisons within each of the eight major African antelope tribes generally gave little support for the four hypothesestested. Thus, although our analyses at the subfamily levelprovided results that were consistent with prior hypotheses,our analyses at the level of tribes were equivocal. We discussseveral possible explanations for these differences.     

Hints of economic change during the late Roman Empire period in central Italy: a study of charred plant remains from “La Fontanaccia”, near Rome

The archaeobotanical study of the charred macro-remains recovered from the burnt settlement of La Fontanaccia, Allumiere, 50 km northwest of Rome, a small hut from the time of the end of the late Roman Empire, provided results on the use of food of its inhabitants, their living conditions, and the natural environment. The fire which destroyed the small settlement was archaeologically dated to the middle of the 5th century a.d., few years before the end of the Roman Empire. This was a period in which the state structure, undermined by the barbarian invasions which provoked famine and destruction, was in deep economic and political crisis, and the population in Rome and in the countryside lived in precarious conditions. No archaeo-botanical data have been available until now for this period in the region of Rome. The presence of grass peas, acorns, two-rowed barley caryopses, and small horse bean seeds demonstrate the general state of regression in the late Roman Empire, when misery and famine were widespread. The finds of charcoal from chestnut, deciduous oak, maple and elm suggest the presence of thermophilous deciduous woods and environmental conditions similar to today’s. It deserves mention that this is the first site in which macro-remains (charcoal) of Castanea have been found in central Italy.     

Culture,dental professionals and oral health values in multicultural societies: measuring cultural factors in geriatric oral health research and education

Culture has significant impacts upon professional practice and patient health behaviours, especially in multicultural societies. This paper introduces the concept of culture and examines how it may be of importance to dental health professionals. Using the Dental Impact Profile and other dental social science measures, dental researchers and students can be engaged in studying cultural values and characteristics as a way of dealing with cultural differences.