Periapical lesions and dental wear in the early Maori

Dental wear and intrabony lesions were evaluated in a sample of 225 skulls (136 male) of pre‐contact New Zealand Maoris. The degree and direction of surface wear was scored according to the method of Molnar ( Molnar 1971 . Human tooth wear, tooth function and cultural variability. American Journal of Physical Anthropology34: 175–190) and revealed severe surface loss in both males and females with horizontal wear being the dominant pattern (62.4% male, 57.5% female). The width of coronal tissue above the pulp chamber, as well as the maximum depth and width of periapical lesions, was measured from both standard radiographs and digital images. The high prevalence of periapical pathology in the Maori underlined the extreme nature of dental wear in these people. It is postulated that this degree of tooth loss may be attributable to a change in diet from large birds to marine‐dependence, the introduction of the kumara to New Zealand, dental erosion and finally, to the excessive masticatory forces exerted by a robust facial complex on normally sized teeth. Fenestrated lesions were highly prevalent (83% of skulls) and were centered mostly on the maxilla, with an even distribution among tooth classes. The finding of periapical lesions in teeth with minimal observable wear was attributed to traumatic occlusion. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Patterns of dental wear in the early Maori dentition

The levels of tooth wear were surveyed in 50 pre‐contact Maori skulls (23 of them female) from New Zealand. In addition to a generalized tooth wear index, we evaluated occlusal wear for erosion and abrasion. Occlusal microwear was also investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and, finally, the occlusal slope was determined at the level of the first molar teeth. The general pattern of wear was one of severe occlusal reduction with no significant differences between males and females. Both silicone impressions and SEM views confirmed a large component (30%) of erosion. While most individuals had flat wear planes, 33% of males and 44% of females showed reversed Monson's curves. Accentuated Monson's curves were found in 23.8% of males. While these results confirm early studies of the excessive wear experienced by pre‐contact Maori, our study shows for the first time that erosion played a significant role in the dental wear of these people. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cranial suture closure and its implications for age estimation

Three age estimation techniques using ectocranial and/or endocranial suture closure are tested on a sample of known age from Spitalfields, London in order to determine the value of cranial suture closure as an indicator of age at death. The three techniques are those proposed by Acsádi and Nemeskéri, Meindl and Lovejoy and Perizonius. Results indicate that the Acsádi and Nemeskéri technique, which is based on endocranial sutures, can be used to distinguish young and middle-aged individuals in the Spitalfields sample but gives no information for crania over the age of 50 years. Age estimation using the Meindl and Lovejoy and Perizonius (Old system) techniques, which use ectocranial sutures, was found to be subject to a number of complicating factors, of which sexual dimorphism in the rate and pattern of closure is the most significant. A method of estimating age at death based on both endocranial and ectocranial suture closure is developed on the basis of the Spitalfields sample. The technique attempts to overcome some of the problems associated with both intra- and interpopulation variation in cranial suture closure. For a truly accurate age-estimation technique based on cranial suture closure we would need to know more about the causes and functions of suture closure in human populations.     

Pastoralism and politics: reinterpreting contests for territory in Auckland Province, New Zealand, 1853–1864

As colonial frontiers expanded in the nineteenth century, contests over access to land suitable for farming between pastoralists, small farmers and indigenous populations were the inevitable result. In colonial Auckland, this contest was particularly vigorous, firstly because the young settlement's economic survival was at stake, since environmental constraints largely prevented its participation in the lucrative New Zealand wool industry, and secondly, because the economic and military prowess of indigenous Maori meant that settlers had little room to move in. Auckland's wealthy pastoralists pinned their hopes on the occupation of Maori land to the south of Auckland, since this was more suitable for sheep than the settlement's immediate environs, but this required dispossessing the Maori population by force. Initially, this obstacle gave small farmers a political advantage over the pastoralists, but as firstly arable markets, and then plans for small farmers and Maori to rear sheep themselves, all faltered, the pastoralist cause became increasingly difficult for colonial authorities to resist. When these authorities finally turned against the Maori communities south of Auckland, and launched an imperial war against them, the pastoralists successfully lobbied for the lands they most coveted to be confiscated from Maori, an event that radically altered New Zealand's future economic geography.     

Regnal succession in early medieval Ireland

Regnal succession in early medieval Ireland has been the centre of scholarly debate for the past eighty-five years. This paper contributes to the debate with an investigation of the early Irish law texts. It is argued that these law texts, especially the tracts on inheritance, reveal a certain pattern of regnal succession, which can be divided into an early and a later phase. Moreover, they allow us to define necessary criteria for eligibility for Irish kingship. The results of this examination are illustrated in the summary by the historical example of the early Síl nÁedo Sláine.     

Evidence for early cat taming in Egypt

The remains are described of a young small felid found in a Predynastic burial at Hierakonpolis, Upper Egypt. Osteometric and zoogeographical arguments indicate that the specimen, dated to around 3700 B.C. on the basis of the associated pottery, belongs to Felis silvestris. In the same cemetery several other animal species, both wild and domestic, have been found. The left humerus and right femur of the cat show healed fractures indicating that the animal had been held in captivity for at least 4–6 weeks prior to its burial. We believe that this pathology suggests early cat taming more convincingly than a buried cat recently reported from Neolithic Cyprus (7500 B.C.). Such taming events were probably part of the processes that eventually led to the domestication of Felis silvestris. However, the absence of the cat in Predynastic and Early Dynastic depictions and its rare attestation in the archaeozoological record indicates that domestic status had not yet been attained during those early periods. Other species that were also held in captivity by Ancient Egyptians probably never became domesticated because they had one or more characteristics that prevented it.     

Multiple myeloma in an early medieval skeleton

Detailed studies on neoplasms in prehistoric populations are rare. Each well-documented case can therefore add to our knowledge. In former times, palaeopathology could present only tentative diagnoses in the case of tumours. Today, modern diagnostic methods and a comparison with established cases make exact evaluations and their verification possible. During our study it became obvious that criteria for the diagnosis of recent tumours can be used as a guide. In this paper we present the most important findings of a malignant primary bone tumour (multiple myeloma) in an early medieval skeleton and its differential diagnoses. Even in the absence of histological findings, the remaining criteria (X-ray, age, localization, macroscopic features) permit the diagnosis of multiple myeloma to be made with some certainty.     

Interspatial gender asymmetries in early Soviet Siberia

The article addresses gendered power asymmetries within indigenous communities of early Soviet Siberia and their shifts during the transitional period between the Russian Empire and the totalitarian Soviet state. The concept of entangled relational spaces is the main analytical tool of this article. Seeking to overcome identity-based essentialisms, the article deconstructs gender identity and demonstrates how it can be articulated and interpreted in different relational spaces. It extends the argument that oppressions are produced by various social categories (intersectionality) by adding that a single social category may beget various forms of oppression and that heterogeneous gender asymmetries are produced and manifested across different relational spaces. Evidence deriving from predominantly indigenous sources authored by women enabled the discussion of gendered power asymmetries in economic, legal, and political spaces produced by corresponding relations. Economic and demographic crises, which the indigenous peoples of Siberia endured in the 1910s–1920s, reduced gendered power asymmetries in economic spaces making women less dependent on men. On women's initiative the shifts then spread to legal spaces and, with the support of the Bolshevik government, affected political spaces. These shifts were closely connected to the early Soviet attempts at dialog with indigenous people, decolonizing Siberia and liberating indigenous women, and gave way to instrumental policies.     

早期华侨聚居地--屈都乾

屈都乾位于今泰国东南部,在历史上也被称为都元、喀提加拉等.屈都乾地区曾被孟人、占人、高棉人及泰人统治过,在中西关系史上曾占有重要地位.汉晋时期,屈都乾就是东南亚地区重要的华侨聚居地.但华侨史学界长期忽视了对它的研究,本文试图通过对有关史料的分析,让人们更多地了解一千多年前这个早期华侨聚居地.     

Fairies and the Devil in early modern England

This article considers the fate of fairies in late-Elizabethan and seventeenth-century England. Specifically, it asks whether these “doubtful spirits” were demonised in the period. Drawing on a wide selection of devotional, literary, and demonological texts, the article argues that English Protestants associated fairies with Satan, but this did not necessarily imply that fairies were reclassified as demons. Rather, they were embedded in a complex of beliefs that connected them with falsehood, Catholicism, and the invisible wiles of the Devil. The operation of these beliefs is examined in the context of cases of witchcraft, as well as the representation of fairies in cheap print.     

Projectors and learned projects in early modern England

Commenting in 1692 on the “Projecting Humour that now reigns” in England, Daniel Defoe nicknamed the period the “Projecting Age.” He dated its start to c. 1680, even as he conceded that “it had indeed something of life in the time of the late Civil War” as well. Defoe was wrong. Decades earlier both Elizabethan and Jacobean commentators had inveighed against the rampant passion for schemes, a perception increasingly documented by scholars. For the most part, however, the appraisal of early modern projects has been confined to the domain of economic and social history. Monopolies, inventions, plans to ameliorate the condition of the poor and infirm, and schemes guaranteeing the enrichment of the nation, have drawn the attention of historians; only sporadic attention has been paid to the numerous scholarly projects that also proliferated during the same period. My intention here is not to be exhaustive, but to offer a snapshot of the large number of proposals that sought to establish new institutions of higher learning, usually through substantial outlays of public capital.     

Florentine networks in the Middle East in the early Renaissance

By crossing data from Florentine collections with notarial records produced in Egypt and Syria, this article focuses on the Florentine trading networks operating in the eastern Mediterranean during the fifteenth century. It highlights two factors influencing Florence’s long-distance trade in the area: political unrest characteristic of Italian Renaissance cities, and the scant interest of the Florentine government in building diplomatic and commercial institutions. Initially woven by exiled merchant-bankers and offshore companies, the network reconfigured towards the middle of the century around a group of entrepreneurs based in Rhodes, who were deeply entrenched in local finance and in business with the Islamic cities. The article provides a more complex view of relations between government institutions and Mediterranean long-distance trade by approaching the rise of the Medici in Florentine politics and their handling of the network.     

射线成像技术与商周青铜器铸接

商周青铜器生产基于独特的泥范块范法铸造技术体系,分铸铸接是实现铸件大型化和复杂化的主要途径。但直到20世纪中叶,盖滕斯才关注到这一问题。他起先采用剖切器物的方式认识铸接,又于60年代使用X射线照射成像,并使之成为古器物的常规检测方式,但结果常受器形局限。80年代起工业计算机断层扫描(CT)被用于青铜器检测,该技术不仅突破了X射线照射成像的局限,还带来了更多新的发现。新千年在日本和中国分别对青铜器做了大量检测,仅青铜铸接方面即有半环接榫、柱状销钉、铸焊等一系列新发现。本文简要回顾对青铜铸接的认识历史,揭示认知手段的变化,凸显射线成像的价值,强调问题意识和原创理论、方法和手段的重要性。     

The right to social welfare in early medieval Iceland

As a rule poor relief in medieval Europe was practised in the form of charity by Church, monasteries and rich people. They distributed their alms to the poor, who received them gratefully and humbly. From early medieval Iceland elaborate social laws have come down to us that are remarkable in their originality for the period. We shall describe these laws, and investigate their history, development and the reason of their existence.     

Dry-bone manifestations of rickets in infancy and early childhood

Rickets and osteomalacia are the subadult and adult expressions of a disease in which the underlying problem is a failure to mineralize bone protein (osteoid). The most common cause of this disease is a physiological deficiency in vitamin D. The associated problems include deformed bones and this condition is well known in pre-modern medical texts and documents as a fairly common cause of morbidity. Given these facts, it is surprising that the literature on palaeopathology provides very little evidence of this disease in archaeological human skeletal samples. The medieval sample (N=687) of human remains from Wharram Percy, North Yorkshire, England contains a remarkable subsample of eight burials in which a spectrum of pathological features is expressed. The subsample includes infants ranging in age from 3 to 18 months at the time of death. Ten abnormal bone features were identified in the subsample, including: (i) cranial vault porosity; (ii) orbital roof porosity; (iii) deformation of the mandibular ramus; (iv) deformation of arm bones; (v) deformation of leg bones; (vi) flared costo-chondral ends of ribs; (vii) irregular and porous cortex of the costo-chondral ends of the ribs; (viii) abnormality of the growth plates of long bones; (ix) irregular and porous surfaces of the metaphyseal cortex; (x) thickening of the long bones, particularly in the metaphyseal areas. Not all of these features were found in all of the cases. Nevertheless, the overall pattern of skeletal abnormality fits well with the anatomical and radiological conditions associated with rickets. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Climate change and Zhou relocations in early Chinese history

In Chinese history, the development of the Zhou tribes and the dynasties that succeeded them between 3550 and 2200 BP in the middle reaches of the Yellow River is known as the period of ‘Five Relocations’. Most of these relocations appear to have been forced by the pressure of nomadic invasions and occupations from the northern steppe. Historians simply attributed these relocations to political and military causes. However, palaeoclimatic studies show that the Zhou tribes and their successor dynasties developed at the demise of the Holocene Climatic Optimum when regional climate became highly variable and unstable. An integrated analysis of environmental change over the Loess Plateau and the Mongolian steppe facilitates a credible understanding of the linkage between climatic events and these relocations. It indicates that the relocations caused an expansion or contraction of the settled regions over the drought-prone semi-arid lands. During climatic amelioration, dry farming societies pushed upward to the Loess Plateau where increased precipitation and soil moisture allowed cereals to be cultivated. When hit by droughts and the associated disasters, both the dry farming societies and the nomadic tribes had to move southward to find an environment suitable for their food production. Migration and relocation were, therefore, basic strategies to secure the resources necessary to sustain an agricultural economy. The settled frontier was pulled back as dry farming societies from the upland plateau retreated to the lowland riverbanks of the Guanzhong Basin. Even though there were political and military intentions, climatic events played an essential role in the relocations of the Zhou tribes and the successive dynasties.