Degenerative Joint Disease and enthesopathies in a Bronze Age population from Sindou cave (Senaillac-Lauzes,Lot, France)

The anthropological characteristics of the people who lived during the cultural period of the Late Bronze Age in South West France still remain practically unknown because very few sites have provided skeletal remains which permit of an exhaustive study. The cave of Sindou is, in that sense, one of the scarce exceptions. Although the sample of Sindou cannot be considered as representative of the whole regional population (N=50), we studied the presence and severity of DJD and enthesopathies of microtraumatic origin with the aim of finding some data which contribute to the knowledge of several biological aspects of this human group. From the results of the comparisons of the Sindou remains with two different medieval samples, a great similarity is deduced for these skeletal markers, but the higher frequency and severity of Achilles tendon enthesopathy in Sindou is a probable index of a higher level of physical stress at this specific localisation.     

Bioarchaeology of the middle Neolithic: Evidence for archery among early european farmers

This article focuses on Neolithic skeletons associated with the first monumental cemeteries of Western Europe and specifically those of the Cerny culture (Paris Basin, France). While this cultural context is an agrarian one, numerous arrowheads derived from complete hunting equipment are present in numerous graves. The goal of this work is to evaluate the morphological and pathological differences among the individuals according to the presence of arrowheads in their graves. It is postulated that those buried with such artifacts practiced archery, unlike their counterparts. Only adult males were selected for study to limit the effect of non‐mechanical factors such as age‐ and sex‐related modifications. The corpus consists of 36 males reliably identified among the 101 Cerny adults currently available. Thirteen men are associated with arrowheads. Variations in morphology and robusticity are evaluated on the basis of the external geometric properties of the appendicular skeleton. Entheseal changes to fibrocartilaginous attachment sites of upper and lower limbs are also examined. Both nonpathological skeletal adaptations and pathological indicators are consistent and reveal significant differences between the two groups compared. Functional adaptation is observed in the forearm bones and the clavicle in response to mechanical loads, and enthesopathies suggest repeated forceful use of upper limb muscles. These osteological changes specifically reflect the higher intensity upper limb activity of the men buried with arrowheads and correspond with the medical data on known archers, suggesting that this specific forceful task is linked to the practice of archery. Am J Phys Anthropol 154:279–290, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The individual of the early Neolithic of Balsignano (Bari, Italy): a study of some skeletal indicators of stress and palaeonutritional analysis

Recent archaeological digs in the Neolithic site of Balsignano (Bari, Puglia, Italy) revealed a human burial in a sub-rectangular pit lined with large stones. The anthropological investigation of the skeletal remains shows an adult male individual with a larger than average stature and a calculated body mass of approximately 72.8 kg. The skeletal traits of this individual were slightly different from those commonly associated with Neolithic people in Puglia: in fact he has a more robust structure, a taller stature, and shows strong musculo-skeletal markers of the lower limbs. The individual was probably less sedentary than others in the Neolithic. The contemporary presence of osteochondritis dissecans (OD) on the left ulna, lipping on the lumbar section of the axial skeleton, eburnation of the condylar borders of the femora, severe degenerative joint diseases of the first metatarsal and of the proximal phalanx of the hallux of the right foot, can be related to a specific subsistence activities, like that of the grinding of cereals on a millstone in a bent and kneeling position, despite that the subject was a male. The study of trace elements in the bone tissue of the individual revealed nutrition based largely on the consumption of vegetables and cereals.     

Lower limb activity in the Cis‐Baikal: Entheseal changes among middle holocene siberian foragers

Lower limb entheseal changes are evaluated in order to reconstruct activity levels and more fully understand cultural and behavioral variation among the middle Holocene (ca. 9,000–3,000 years BP) foragers of Siberia's Cis‐Baikal region. The four cemetery samples examined span a period of diachronic change characterized by an 800‐ to 1,000‐year discontinuity in the use of formal cemeteries in the region. Two of the cemetery samples represent the early Neolithic Kitoi culture, dating from 8,000 to 7,000/6800 cal. BP; the other two represent the late Neolithic‐early Bronze Age Isakovo‐Serovo‐Glazkovo (ISG) cultural complex, dating from 6,000/5,800 to 4,000 cal. BP. Findings suggest a dynamic pattern of cultural variability in the Cis‐Baikal, with spatial distribution (i.e., site location within particular microregions) appearing to be just as important a factor as cultural/temporal affiliation in explaining intersample differences in entheseal morphology. In addition, intrasample comparisons reveal increasing sexual disparity with advancing age at death, emphasizing the influence of sex‐related activities on lower limb entheseal changes. Finally, results from the separate fibrous and fibrocartilaginous datasets appear to be largely congruous, implying that activity patterns in the Cis‐Baikal may have similar effects on the morphology of both types of entheses. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Life conditions of a roman imperial age population: Occupational stress markers and working activities inLucus Feroniae (Rome, 1st–2nd cent. AD)

In ancient populations studies, investigation on activity-induced pathology performed by means of an integrated and epidemiological approach can provide useful evidence about physical activities, age of occupancy, sexual differentiation, social stratification and working tasks division of past human groups. The analysis of occupational stress of the skeletal sample coming from the poor necropolis of Lucus Feroniae, a rural town of the Roman Imperial Age, was carried out on: degenerative disease of joints and vertebral bodies, traumas, hypertrophic changes at sites of muscles and ligament insertion, presence of anatomical variants caused by postural habits or body movements. The results as a whole seem to indicate that the population, likely representative of a low social group (potentially slaves), was precociously and actively employed in heavy manual work activities. These may have included farming tasks demanding lifting, heavy loads transportation and long-distance walking on rough grounds.     

Enthesopathies as occupational stress markers: Evidence from the upper limb

Enthesopathies—that is, “musculo‐skeletal stress markers”—are frequently used to reconstruct past lifestyles and activity patterns. Relatively little attention has been paid in physical anthropology to methodological gaps implicit in this approach: almost all methods previously employed neglect current medical insights into enthesopathies and the distinction between healthy and pathological aspects has been arbitrary. This study presents a new visual method of studying fibrocartilaginous enthesopathies of the upper limb (modified from Villotte: Bull Mém Soc Anthropol Paris n.s. 18 (2006) 65–85), and application of this method to 367 males who died between the 18th and 20th centuries, from four European identified skeletal collections: the Christ Church Spitalfields Collection, the identified skeletal collection of the anthropological museum of the University of Coimbra, and the Sassari and Bologna collections of the museum of Anthropology, University of Bologna. The analysis, using generalized estimating equations to model repeated binary outcome variables, has established a strong link between enthesopathies and physical activity: men with occupations involving heavy manual tasks have significantly (P‐value < 0.001) more lesions of the upper limbs than nonmanual and light manual workers. Probability of the presence of an enthesopathy also increases with age and is higher for the right side compared with the left. Our study failed to distinguish significant differences between the collections when adjusted for the other effects. It appears that enthesopathies can be used to reconstruct past lifestyles of populations if physical anthropologists: 1) pay attention to the choice of entheses in their studies and 2) use appropriate methods. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.