Handedness and directional asymmetry in the long bones of the human upper limb

The long bones of the human upper limb usually show lateral asymmetries of length. This pattern can be attributed either to the mechanical consequences of handedness bias or to genetic or hormonal factors acting directly on longitudinal bone growth. Length data was obtained from the long bones of the upper limbs of a large skeletal assemblage from Wharram Percy, Yorkshire (England), predominantly deriving from the 11th-16th centuries A.D. The Wharram Percy adult skeletons had a population distribution of lateral asymmetries of length in the humerus and in the humerus-plus-radius (a proxy arm length index) which closely parallels the pattern of behavioural handedness found in modern populations. This pattern was developing in the skeletons from the infant and juvenile age ranges, but was absent in the neonates (of whom 12 out of 14 had longer left humeri). We argue that this supports the environmental hypothesis that the ontogeny of long bone length asymmetry is consequent to the earlier development of lateral bias in mechanical loading of the upper limbs.     

Directional bilateral asymmetry in human sacral morphology

Directional bilateral asymmetries in human gross skeletal morphology are largely attributable to differential mechanical loading from handedness during endochondral bone growth. While much has been done in the way of identifying directional asymmetries of the upper limb in relation to handedness, comparatively little research has focused on asymmetry in the lower body. The present paper analyses asymmetry in the human sacrum in a sample of 238 modern individuals. Measurements of right and left sides of the lateral and posterior breadths of the alae and the maximum height of the auricular surface were used. Asymmetry was calculated as: [(left side − right side) ÷ right side] * 100. Directional asymmetry was identified using a one‐sample t‐test against a hypothesized mean of zero. Significant directional asymmetry (P < 0.05) was found in all three dimensions. The pattern of asymmetry is consistent with models describing the influence of right‐handedness on the lower body, which predicts that left side dimensions will be larger. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessment of Musculoskeletal Stress Marker Development in the Hand

The analysis of musculoskeletal stress marker (MSM) development is a commonly employed tool in osteological surveys and is used to infer patterns of occupational activity and societal organisation in archaeological populations. Although the majority of research into upper limb MSMs has focused on the bones of the arm, the bones of the hand have been conspicuous by their absence. This is likely to be due to methodological issues surrounding the study of hand bones and a presumed lack of variation in MSM development in this area. To date, there have been no systematic studies investigating the presence and variation in MSM morphology for the muscles of the human hand. To address this issue, a presence/absence scoring system was developed for twelve sites of muscle origin and insertion in the metacarpals and phalanges, which was used to determine bilateral asymmetry in the hands of 31 individuals from the Naval Hospital Cemetery site in Greenwich, London. Analysis found observable variation in MSM development between and within the hands, which could be used to determine patterns of asymmetry within the sample. Comparisons with MSM scores from the humeri of these individuals indicate a differentiation in MSM development and asymmetry between these anatomical regions. Levels of asymmetry in the hands and humeri were generally low, with only the dorsal interossei displaying statistically significant asymmetry. Subsequent upper limb MSM research will benefit from the inclusion of data from the hands. These results do not support the continued use of the humerus as a proxy for MSM expression across the upper limb as a whole and suggest that important information regarding behavioural asymmetry in the hands is being lost because of the continual exclusion of this anatomical unit from MSM research. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A possible case of hyperparathyroidism in a burial of 15–17th century AD date from Wharram Percy,England

The subject of this paper is the partial skeleton of an adult female, dating to ad 1420–1640, excavated from the church at the deserted village of Wharram Percy, North Yorkshire, UK. Lesions are described which are probably indicative of hyperparathyroidism. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Supra‐acetabular cysts in a medieval skeletal population

This study is an investigation of supra‐acetabular cysts in non‐arthrotic hips in a large Medieval British skeletal series. Lesions were found to occur in 10% of adult innominates, and were more common in males. Evidence is presented for an aetiology of trauma. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Age-dependent bone loss in the femur in a medieval population

Age-dependent bone loss in femurs in a medieval skeletal assemblage from Wharram Percy, England was studied. Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was used to measure bone mineral density (BMD) in the proximal femur; radiogrammetry was used to measure cortical index (FEMCI) at the femur mid-shaft. Age-related loss of BMD was found in the proximal femur in both sexes. Females but not males showed loss of FEMCI. Patterning in bone loss with respect to age, sex and site in the skeleton resembled that seen in recent subjects. In this respect the results are similar to those of a previous study of metacarpal cortical bone in the same archaeological assemblage. Given the large difference in lifestyles, and that lifestyle factors are widely held to influence the severity of bone loss in osteoporosis, the similarities between the medieval and modern populations in the patterns of bone loss are surprising. These findings support those from an earlier study of these skeletons in calling into question the role of lifestyle factors in influencing the severity of bone loss in osteoporosis. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spondylolysis in the lower thoracic–upper lumbar spine in a British medieval population

Spondylolysis is generally a condition of the lower lumbar spine, but occasionally it is observed at cranial to L4. It is generally agreed that spondylolysis in the lower lumbar spine represents fatigue failure of the neural arch. However, whether a biomechanical explanation is adequate to explain lesions cranial to L4 is disputed. Morphological aspects of spondylolysis at T12–L3 (five cases) are compared with those of lesions at L4–L6 (24 cases) in a mediaeval English skeletal series with the aim of shedding light upon any differences in aetiology of lesions at the two sites. It was found that spondylolysis at T12–L3 was more often unilateral than in L4–L6. In T12–L3, clefts more often took an angulated, dog‐leg course across the pars interarticularis, whereas most in L4–L6 were fairly straight and had an oblique orientation. In T12–L3, clefts often had facetted opposing surfaces suggestive of a diarthrodial joint, but this was only seen once in L4–L6. It is suggested on morphological grounds that facetted defects are more likely congenital than acquired. The need for consideration of factors in addition to activity regimes when interpreting spondylolysis in earlier populations is emphasised. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Prevalence and Health Implications of Concha Bullosa in a Population from Mediaeval England

Concha bullosa is hypertrophy of the middle nasal concha attributable to its pneumatisation. It is considered to be the most common anatomical variant of the ostiomeatal complex, but it has been little studied in skeletal populations. It is uncertain whether the prevalence of concha bullosa varies in different world populations. Some have suggested that it predisposes to sinusitis, but this is controversial. The aim of the current work is to assess the prevalence of concha bullosa in a pre‐modern population and to investigate whether it is associated with maxillary sinusitis. Results showed that concha bullosa was present in 17 out of 45 individuals, a prevalence of 38%. There was no evidence of an association with sinusitis. This adds to a growing body of evidence that calls into question concha bullosa as a significant risk factor for sinus disease. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Age-dependent cortical bone loss in a medieval population

Age-dependent cortical bone loss was studied in a skeletal assemblage from a British medieval site using metacarpal radiogrammetry. Significant loss of bone was found in the females but not in the males. The magnitude of bone loss in the older females relative to their younger counterparts was found to be similar to that reported for modern European subjects. Low cortical bone was associated with healed fractures of the highly trabecular bone of the axial skeleton, and this observation is suggestive that weakening of the skeleton due to loss of bone substance precipitated such fractures, as it does in modern Western women. The broad similarities between the medieval and modern data may call into question the importance of lifestyle factors in influencing the severity of osteoporosis, at least as far as loss of cortical bone is concerned.     

Spondylolysis in non‐adult skeletons excavated from a medieval rural archaeological site in England

Spondylolysis is studied in a large series of non‐adult skeletons, ranging in age at death from 28 weeks gestation to 18 years old, from the deserted medieval village of Wharram Percy. The aim is to shed light on the age of occurrence of the lesion. Among those with complete lumbar spines, the prevalence of spondylolysis is 0.7%. The prevalence in adults from this group is 12% with no age patterning. Age of occurrence of spondylolysis in this population is inferred generally to be during late adolescent or early adult life. This contrasts with a published study of a modern reference group, unselected for activity patterns or medical complaints, which reported that in most cases spondylolytic defects had already formed by 6 years of age. The Wharram Percy group appeared to resemble rather more the pattern seen today in those involved in strenuous activities, such as competitive sports, both in the relatively late age of occurrence of defects and in the eventual high prevalence. This may be consistent with the observation that, during adolescence, individuals in medieval rural communities were beginning to take on adult tasks which would have been physically strenuous. However, it is unclear why individuals from Wharram Percy did not also form defects in early childhood as modern children appear to. A late age of occurrence appears consistent with published data which suggest a paucity of cases in non‐adults in British archaeological populations. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Study of the Potential of Deciduous Incisor Wear as an Indicator of Weaning Using a Human Skeletal Population

The aim of this work is to investigate the potential of wear on the earliest erupting teeth, the deciduous central incisors, for studying weaning in human skeletal populations. The study group is from mediaeval Wharram Percy, where existing δ¹⁵N data indicate cessation of breastfeeding occurred by about 24 months post‐partum. The hypothesis tested is that there should be an increase in dental wear as breast milk is replaced with solid foods during weaning. Incisor wear is monitored using crown heights, measured from photographs using image analysis. Results provide little evidence for alteration in incisor wear rates with the attenuation of breastfeeding, perhaps because abrasive foods were used as supplements well before breastfeeding declined. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope variations in tooth dentine serial sections from Wharram Percy

Here we report δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N measurements of serial sections of human deciduous and permanent tooth dentine from archaeological samples taken from the medieval village site of Wharram Percy, Yorkshire, UK. We found a pattern of enrichment, for both δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N, where the tooth crown was greater than the cervical part of the root, which in turn was greater than the apical portion of the root and the associated rib collagen values. This pattern reflects a decrease in the consumption of isotopically enriched breast milk and the introduction of less enriched weaning foods in the diet. The (mean±SD) difference between the deciduous second molar crowns and corresponding rib samples from the same individuals after 2 years of age was 1.2±0.4‰ for δ¹³C and 3.2±0.8‰ for δ¹⁵N. The δ¹⁵N values are as predicted, but as there were no C₄plants at Wharram Percy, this 1.2‰ enrichment in δ¹³C represents clear evidence of a carbon trophic level effect in collagen from breastfeeding infants. Carbon and nitrogen results also show that the infant diet among those who died in infancy did not differ from those who survived into childhood. This study demonstrates the promise of using dentine serial sections to study the temporal relationships of breastfeeding, weaning, and dietary patterns of single individuals.     

Limb bones asymmetry and stress in medieval and recent populations of Central Europe

Monitoring the degree of asymmetry in different parts of the human body can contribute to population studies, as it may be connected indirectly with the social structure, living conditions, and also with biomechanical stress affecting the person. Analysis of asymmetry may also assess preferential use of the right or left of the body during specific activities. This study is based on the measurements of bones of the upper and lower limbs of skeletons derived from the remarkable medieval cemeteries of Mikulčice‐Kostelisko (78 male, 132 female) and Prušánky (66 male, 69 female) (9th–12th centuries AD), and a series of skeletons representing a recent population from Bohemia (143 male, 157 female). The objective was to assess directional asymmetry (DA), fluctuating asymmetry (FA) and antisymmetry (AS) of the dimensions of the evaluated bones, and to use these data to compare the characteristics of the medieval and recent populations. DA was recorded in most dimensions. In the upper limb, the humerus exhibited the greatest expression of asymmetry, and, with the exception of the clavicle, DA was always more pronounced on the right side. Conversely, DA was less prevalent in the lower limb bones. It was more pronounced on the transverse, sagittal and circumferential dimensions of the diaphyses and epiphyses than on the length, and in most cases it was on the left side. The FA values were very low, and almost negligible in relation to the size. Nevertheless, FA was markedly more frequent on the lower than on the upper limb. In contrast to the medieval population, the recent population had higher FA and DA values. Thus, we propose that people from this medieval population were subjected to lower developmental stress than the recent sample. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimating the magnitude of data asymmetry in palaeozoological biogeography

Palaeozoological data are asymmetrical because they indicate the presence of a species in the area in which its remains are recovered, but the absence of remains is not necessarily evidence for the absence of a species. It is impossible to measure the magnitude of data asymmetry with respect to biogeography, but the magnitude can be estimated. The proportion of sites in an area where a species is known to occur that have not produced remains of that species is an estimate of counter‐ubiquity. The proportion of identified faunal remains in an area where a species is known to occur that do not represent that species is another estimate of data asymmetry. Bivariate plots of the number of sites in an area that have produced remains of a taxon against the total number of faunal remains identified in the area indicate that data asymmetry can be estimated as the inverse of sample size. More sites and more identified faunal remains tend to produce more occurrences of a species, so more sites and more identified faunal remains will tend to provide a database that is not only more accurate but also less asymmetrical with respect to the geographical range of a species. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes in the size and shape of fallow deer—evidence for the movement and management of a species

The European fallow deer (Dama dama dama) is native to the eastern Mediterranean and whilst it is clear that its dispersion from this region was the result of human transportation, the timing and circumstances of its post‐glacial diffusion are still uncertain. Archaeological fallow deer remains offer perhaps the best opportunity to understand the deep history of the species, with measurements of ancient bones providing important information about an individual's sex and size. Unfortunately, the fragmentary nature of archaeological remains means that metrical samples are usually too small to draw any meaningful conclusions. Biometrical scaling techniques can increase the size of the sample available for comparison and in this paper log ratios are used in combination with traditional metrical analysis to provide new information about archaeological fallow deer populations, in particular highlighting the size variations across time and space and shifts in hunting and management practices. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Non-dietary Marks in the Anterior Dentition of the Krapina Neanderthals

A sample of 82 anterior teeth from Krapina (Croatia) was studied using a light binocular microscope and a scanning electron microscope to document the presence of non-dietary dental scratches. The patterns of distribution, location and orientation of these marks suggest two different aetiologies: scratches on the labial-occlusal enamel border appear to be related to the action of clenching abrasive materials between teeth, while the scratches primarily in the centre of the labial face correspond to cutmarks as described by other researchers. These scratches may have been produced when flake tools involved in processing materials held between the anterior teeth came into contact with the labial enamel face. Alternatively, they may simply reflect some consistent operation which pulled hard objects across the labial surfaces of the anterior teeth. In either case, the marks on the central face of the labial surface provide evidence for manual dexterity in the Neanderthals. Of the seven Krapina individuals which show a predominant pattern, one shows a pattern of left oblique marks, while six provide evidence of right-handedness. Coupled with other Neanderthal or Upper Pleistocene individuals with these patterns, right-handedness is the dominant pattern in 90 per cent of the documented cases. One complicating factor in the analysis of these scratches in the Krapina hominids is that marks of a similar morphology are found in several anterior teeth of Ursus spelaeus from the site. While resembling the marks on the hominid incisors, the scratches on the bears lack a dominant orientation on the labial face and appear to be more variable in their widths. Despite the occurrence of some similarities in the enamel scratches between ursids and hominids at Krapina, the study of anterior dental marks provides information about manipulative activities which are unique to ancient humans. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol., 7 : 133–149 (1997) No. of Figures: 9. No. of Tables: 5. No. of References: 34.     

Age Changes in the Clavicle: from the Early Neonatal Period to Skeletal Maturity

Of all the long bones in the human skeleton, it is the clavicle which displays the longest period of growth-related activity, rendering it particularly useful for the estimation of age at death in the earlier years. However, because of the universal paucity of documented juvenile remains, most previous studies have, by necessity, not only been based on material of estimated age at death but also restricted to a narrow age range. The aim of the present study was to chart developmental age-related change in the clavicle across its full growth range using juvenile and young adult material of documented age at death. Maximum diaphysial length was recorded for prepubertal individuals and a grading of the progressive alterations in medial epiphysial morphology was recorded for post-pubertal specimens. In this way, age changes in the clavicle were examined across its developmental maturity continuum.     

Morphometric Analysis of Camelid Remains from the Alero Deodoro Roca (ADR) Site (Córdoba,Argentina). An Attempt to Characterise Body‐Size Variability in Sierras Pampeanas Australes Region

This paper focuses in the morphometric analyses of Lama guanicoe remains recovered from the hunter–gatherer archaeological site Alero Deodoro Roca, located at Sierras Pampeanas Australes region (Córdoba Argentina), an area that has little information on the body‐size variability of these artiodactyls. Because of the sparse osteometric data in the region, we focused on determining inter‐intraspecific differentiation of wild camelids through corroborated osteometric techniques and multivariate statistical analyses of proximal phalanges. Our results showed a clear interspecific differentiation between modern vicuñas and archaeological specimens. We could also distinguish at least three guanaco size groups (small, medium and large) with the archaeological remains from the late Holocene (3000–3600 bp ) of the site, presenting medium‐size characteristics. Finally this paper aims at establishing a first approach in the characterisation of guanaco body size in the mountainous region of Córdoba. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Sunghir 3 Upper Paleolithic Juvenile: Pathology versus Persistence in the Paleolithic

The Mid Upper Paleolithic Sunghir 3 late juvenile early modern human, from the most elaborate burial in the Pleistocene, had pathologically foreshortened and anteriorly bowed femora and, based on her dental enamel hypoplasias and transverse lines, sustained severe and persistent systemic stress throughout her decade of life. Her modest femoral and tibial asymmetry and her femoral bicondylar angles indicate non‐pathological patterns of posture and locomotion. The levels of rigidity for her weight‐bearing tibiae and the non‐dominant left arm reflect normal weight‐bearing and manipulation. These indicators are combined with an elevated level of right humeral strength, leading to pronounced humeral diaphyseal asymmetry, combined with elevated muscular insertion asymmetry. In combination with marked upper limb muscle markings and normal levels of bone formation, these reflections of her robustness indicate that she was fully mobile and participated actively in the tasks of her social group. There is no indication of the skeletal hypotrophy/atrophy that would be associated with less than full participation in the mobility and subsistence of her social group. As such, Sunghir 3 joins a growing list of developmentally or degeneratively pathological Late Pleistocene humans who nonetheless remained mobile and active. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Janulis Burial: A Case of Gender Fluidity in the Middle Archaic Period?

ABSTRACT

An amateur 1969 excavation at the Middle Archaic period Janulis site in Ontario unearthed the skeletal remains of three individuals and a dog. One of these, an adult female with an extensive offering, displayed several changes in the bones of her right arm and shoulder caused by the repetitive and intensive practice of an overhand throwing motion. The association of eight projectile points with her skeleton indicates that the activity was projectile throwing, suggesting a strong emphasis on hunting, normally a masculine role. She also had a turtle-shell rattle, an instrument usually associated with men in that time period. In contrast, the presence of two deer styliform bones in the burial point to a feminine role. These anomalies raise the possibility that this individual had adopted a nonbinary gender status, but the paucity of reliable comparative data makes it difficult to precisely define that status.