Reconstruction of Socioeconomic Status in the Medieval (14th–15th Century) Population of Grevenmacher (Luxembourg) Based on Growth,Development and Diet

Numerous historical sources describe many aspects of the estate‐based society in medieval times; the detection of socioeconomic status within populations through skeletal remains is a topic of growing interest in anthropological studies. In medieval times, it was common for members of high social rank to be buried within or next to a church. This was certainly the case in Grevenmacher (Luxembourg), where remains of a church building and an adjacent cemetery from the 13th until the beginning of the 15th century were subjected to archaeological and anthropological analysis. By integrating archaeological and anthropological elements, as well as stable isotope analysis, we documented osteological manifestations as indicators of diet differentials in two subsamples (first group consists out of 56 individuals, second one out of 184 individuals) from the medieval cemetery of Grevenmacher. We could distinguish two subsamples that we assumed as different in their socioeconomic status with regards to the burials' position in the cemetery and burial characteristics. Differences in osteological traits such as bone length, stature and body mass indicated differences in diet between sample groups. To substantiate these outcomes, stable isotopic analysis (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N) were made; the results displayed a clear separation between the sample groups on the basis of their diet. Therefore, we were able to confirm certain individuals in the medieval population of Grevenmacher in relationship to their socioeconomic status. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palaeobiology of the Medieval Population of Albano (Rome,Italy): A Combined Morphological and Biomolecular Approach

Recent years have seen increased interest in skeletal populations from the Imperial Roman Age in Italy, but much less is known about diet and standards of living in the subsequent medieval period. To fill this gap, we conducted a morphological analysis of human remains from Albano, an Italian town near Rome, as well as a stable isotope analysis of bone collagen to reconstruct diet. The sample was recovered from a Medieval cemetery (1040–1220 cal. yr. BP) located in the gardens of the historical Palazzo Doria Pamphili in Albano. A minimum number of 40 individuals (31 adults and 9 sub‐adults) were examined using standard methods. Though the general health status of the population was good, signs of cribra orbitalia and diffuse enthesopathies were noted during the morphological examination. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of the bone collagen from 24 adult humans and three faunal bones indicate that the diet of the population may be described as predominantly terrestrial and C₃‐plant based although the data for some of the individuals suggest a modest consumption of C₄‐(millet) based or aquatic proteins. No evidence of significant dietary differences between the sexes was found. The comparison of the isotope data from Albano with those from populations recovered in the same region is consistent with a shift from a terrestrial, possibly plant foods‐dominated subsistence in the Early Middle Ages to a diet with a higher contribution from animal proteins, both terrestrial and aquatic, in the Later Middle Ages. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Scale,Factor Analyses,and Neighborhood Effects

Studies of potential neighborhood effects have been constrained in most situations by the absence of small‐area data generated to characterize the local contexts within which individuals operate. Using small‐area data from the U.K. Census, this paper Illustrates the creation of bespoke neighborhoods—local areas defined separately for each individual in a sample survey—at a variety of scales, and their characterization using factor analysis techniques. Theories of neighborhood effects are uncertain as to the spatial scale at which the relevant processes operate, hence the value of exploring patterns consistent with those processes at a range of spatial scales. One problem with such comparative study is the incommensurability of regression coefficients derived from analyses using factor scores as the independent variables. The work reported here adapts a procedure introduced for reconstituting partial regression coefficients to circumvent that problem, and illustrates that patterns of voting at a recent British general election showed neighborhood‐effect‐like patterns at two separate scales simultaneously—with individual voter characteristics held constant.     

Rural Rickets: Vitamin D Deficiency in a Post‐Medieval Farming Community from the Netherlands

Rickets is caused by vitamin D deficiency as a result of limited exposure to sunlight and inadequate diet. In the 19^th century, rickets was endemic in most northern European cities. In post‐Medieval Netherlands, rickets is documented in low frequencies in a few urban samples, but has not been studied in contemporaneous rural populations. Beemster is a rural farming community in the Netherlands that was established in the 17^th century upon drained land, with the Middenbeemster cemetery in use until 1866 AD. Ninety‐five individuals from the ages of 32 weeks in utero to 15 years were examined for rickets in order to understand factors that can cause vitamin D deficiency in rural, non‐industrialized populations. To identify rickets in the Beemster sample, ten features were scored, with bending deformities of the lower limb and one other feature, or at least three non‐bending features, having to be present in order for diagnosis. Nine individuals (9.5%) had evidence of rickets—a high prevalence, especially for a rural community where ample sunlight was available. The two and three year old Beemster infants were most heavily affected with an age‐specific prevalence of 30.4%. Two three‐month‐old infants also had rickets. Some of the affected may have developed rickets secondarily, as a result of a different illness, but cultural practices including prolonged swaddling, occlusive clothing, and keeping the young indoors, are suggested to have contributed to this high rickets prevalence. Dietary variables including poor weaning foods and common episodes of malnutrition may have also contributed to vitamin D deficiency. This study demonstrates the value of careful analysis of pathological conditions in subadults and highlights that rickets was not only a disease of cities, but affected populations that would appear to have been at low risk, because of maladaptive cultural practices. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring subsistence and cultural complexes on the south coast of Papua New Guinea using palaeodietary analyses

We present the results of a palaeodietary study of a skeletal sample (～800–300 BP) from the south coast of Papua New Guinea (Nebira, site ACJ) using multiple stable isotope analysis of bone collagen. The carbon, nitrogen and sulphur stable isotope ratios of 28 individuals (n = 12 males, n = 13 females and n = 3 subadults) suggested the diet at Nebira was based on C₃ plants (likely starchy vegetable staples) and included protein resources from the surrounding forested areas and C₃/C₄ savannah grasslands such as wallaby and other wild animals. Domestic species (e.g. Sus scrofa, Canis familiaris and Gallus gallus) may also have been consumed but could not be differentiated from wild species by stable isotope analysis. There were no significant differences in stable isotope values between males and females, but the δ³⁴S values of the juveniles suggest they may have consumed varied protein resources. The sulphur stable isotope ratios indicate there was no discernable marine component in the diet of any of the individuals from Nebira. The stable isotope results are interpreted within a wider context of Papuan south coast trade and exchange systems in an attempt to understand local interaction in the region.     

Comments on economic change and the prehistoric fur trade in Northern Sweden

In this study, we used stable isotope analysis and radiocarbon dating to study diet, mobility and chronology in two late medieval/historical coastal populations in northern Norway. We have shown that the individuals buried at Kirkegårdsøya date between 1331 and 1953 cal AD and had a homogenous marine diet, whereas the individuals buried at Gullholmen had a more heterogeneous diet, consisting of both terrestrial and marine proteins and date between 1661 and 1953 cal AD. We have demonstrated that reindeer protein was not an important part of their diet, and also discussed the importance of correcting for the marine reservoir effect in populations with a coastal subsistence. Our interpretation is that individuals buried at Kirkegårdsøya primarily belonged to a Coastal Sámi community, although Norwegians with a similar diet (and likely comprising a minor population in the area) cannot be ruled out. The more varied diet and mobility at Gullholmen could, as predicted, indicate that these individuals may have had a more diverse cultural affinity.     

Enamel hypoplasia in Danish and Lithuanian Late Medieval/Early Modern samples: a possible reflection of child morbidity and mortality patterns

Numerous studies and various interpretations of the prevalence of linear enamel hypoplasias (LEH) based on populations living in different cultural and economic conditions are causing some confusion and raising doubts about whether or not such LEH are reliable indicators of life conditions. An analysis of LEH prevalence patterns was performed on the adults of three populations: Tirup—a Danish Medieval rural population of the 12–14th centuries (131 individuals), Subačiaus str. in Vilnius—a Lithuanian Late Medieval urban population of the 16–17th centuries (88 individuals), and the aristocracy—a Lithuanian pooled sample population from several churches of the 15–18th centuries (66 individuals). Statistical testing of the influence of population affinity, sex and age at death was also performed. Since the same investigator scored all the samples, possible inter‐observer error bias was minimized. In all the populations, LEH formation ages were similar. Statistically significant sex differences were found only in the aristocratic sample (with higher male frequency). It was found that the town population was characterized by the highest frequency of affected individuals, with the highest severity and highest number of stress episodes per individual. A reliable relationship with age at death was found only in the town sample: individuals with more numerous and more marked LEH had shorter life expectancies in adulthood. Different “most vulnerable years” for subsequent life expectancies were noted for different populations. A tentative explanation of these differences could be the pooled effect of differential morbidity and mortality. It seems that the rural population experienced the highest morbidity and nutrition deficiency as well as the highest child mortality whereas, in the urban sample, high morbidity was accompanied by a lower child mortality. Both lower morbidity and mortality seem to be characteristic for the aristocracy. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing Collector Bias: A Geometric Morphometric Analysis of a Collection of Isolated Clovis Points from the Midcontinent

Clovis points are found across the contiguous United States as isolated surface finds and as elements of assemblages in surface and subsurface deposits. Despite being scattered over the continent, Clovis points exhibit a remarkable degree of standardization, yet there is still a demonstrable level of variation in their shapes across regions. Including isolated points in regional comparative analyses would significantly increase sample sizes and spatial coverage of these analyses; however, the effects of collector bias—the tendency to collect the most typical and aesthetically pleasing points—are unknown. Here, we examine the shape of a sample of isolated Clovis points from the midcontinent using geometric morphometric techniques. We show that resharpening had little effect on the shape of points and that our sample of isolated points are similar in shape to points from assemblages in the midcontinent. Our findings suggest that isolated points have research potential when collector bias is limited.     

EVALUATION OF THE ANALYTICAL POTENTIAL OF LASER‐INDUCED BREAKDOWN SPECTROMETRY (LIBS) FOR THE ANALYSIS OF HISTORICAL GLASSES*

The novel and—for archaeometrical applications—still rarely used Laser‐Induced Breakdown Spectrometry (LIBS) was tested on various standard glasses for its spectrometric performance. LIBS is an almost non‐destructive method based on the time‐resolved detection of optical emission following direct laser ablation. A frequency‐quadrupoled Nd:YAG laser at 266 nm was found to cause a hardly visible crater of c. 200 µm in diameter. The application of an innovative high‐resolution Echelle spectrograph allows the fast and simultaneous determination of up to 90 elements in the spectral range from 200 to 780 nm, with a resolution of 10–30 pm under ambient conditions. In principle, LIBS has a high analytical potential for archaeometry; in particular, for the determination of light elements (Li, Be, B and others). Because the measurement parameters (laser energy, delay time and number of pulses) do not independently influence the emission signal, their optimization proved to be complex and is rather a compromise for the range of elements. The effects of sample distance, surface roughness and the accumulation of depth profiles were studied. Problems arose for the determination of sodium and potassium in higher contents due to self‐absorption effects. Quantification tests using a silicon line as internal standard yielded a precision range between 3% and 20% relative, but in general no satisfying accuracy for a number of elements. However, these problems might be overcome in the near future by improved spectrometer set‐ups and matrix correction approaches.     

Investigating Identity and Life Histories: Isotopic Analysis and Historical Documentation of Slave Skeletons Found on the Cape Town Foreshore, South Africa

Isotopic analysis of skeletons excavated during the 1950s has confirmed that they are the remains of shipwreck victims: slaves on board the Portuguese slaving brig Pacquet Real when it sank on 18 May 1818. Twenty-five slaves drowned and the remaining 133 became Prize Negroes at the Cape. The isotopic signatures are consistent with values expected for people living in an African village eating a terrestrially based diet. Analyses of different skeletal elements, i.e., teeth, long bone, and rib, are shown to be a valuable tool in tracing change or consistency in diet during a person's life, because different skeletal elements form at different stages of life and, subsequently, remodel at different rates. A comparison of isotope ratios from different skeletal elements indicates a change in diet in all these individuals, probably coincident with their enslavement. Variation between individuals in the isotopic composition of diets eaten early in life is sufficiently large to deduce heterogeneous origins for the group.     

Exploring the context and elements of local environmental stewardship: An embedded case study of the Niagara Region,Canada

Environmental stewardship—a concept that describes the relationships between humans and the environment—is gaining increased attention as an approach that can address planetary sustainability issues. In-depth empirical investigations of local environmental stewardship are needed to understand how social-ecological context influences stewardship, as well as the arrangement of conceptual elements in applied settings. This study addresses these needs by conducting an in-depth exploration of environmental stewardship in the Niagara Region of Canada. A single embedded case study design is employed, with environmental stewardship initiatives constituting the individual units of analysis with the case. Analysis of the spatial arrangement of a total of 89 initiatives indicated that initiatives tended to cluster closer to the Niagara River and in more populous municipalities. The significance of collaboration, tensions between the environment and economic development, and concerns about political impacts emerged as themes across contextual factors. The configuration of stewardship elements reveals interesting discrepancies between initiatives and previous stewardship research focused on larger scales, individuals, and organizations. Further analysis is encouraged to illuminate environmental stewardship in other settings as well as advance relational understanding of conceptual elements.     

Using plant microfossils from dental calculus to recover human diet: a case study from Tell al-Raqā'i,Syria

Dietary reconstructions based on plant microfossils, such as starch grains and phytoliths, have been useful in increasing our understanding of past human populations. Microfossils have been recovered from sediments, stone tools, and, more recently, dental calculus. Methods for recovering microfossils from dental calculus have yet to be firmly established and there is some question about potential damage to the teeth. Using a sample of teeth from the middle Holocene site of Tell al-Raqā'i, Syria, we tested using a dental pick to sample the calculus. ESEM images taken before and after sampling show no damage to the enamel surface, and examination of the recovered microfossils show that this method provides ample material for study, even when not all of the calculus is removed from the tooth. Preliminary identification of the plant microfossils suggests that these individuals were consuming a variety of plant foods, but that domesticated cereals such as wheat and barley made up a surprisingly small portion of their diet.     

Regional Financial Arrangements in the Global Financial Safety Net: The Arab Monetary Fund and the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development

The so‐called global financial safety net provides backstop insurance during financial crises. The three elements of the global safety net — the IMF, regional financial arrangements (RFAs) and bilateral swap agreements — underwent substantial changes after the global financial crisis. How have these changes influenced their use? What role do RFAs have in the safety net? This contribution addresses these questions by examining the timeliness, volume and policy conditionality of liquidity provision of each of the three elements, using a data set of 50 RFA member countries from the period 1976–2015. The article presents case studies of the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD) to create a deeper institutional understanding of the governance mechanisms of regional funds. The authors find that today's global financial safety net produces inequalities in emergency liquidity provision. In terms of volume, RFAs improve the safety net only for small member countries — about one‐third of the countries in the sample can access sufficient liquidity regionally. The experiences of AMF and EFSD demonstrate that intra‐regional asymmetries of RFAs play a contradictory role: while the participation of large economies leverages liquidity provision, it simultaneously creates difficulties for the governance of the regional body.     

Death in Flames: Human Remains from a Domestic House Fire from Early Iron Age,Denmark

This paper presents osteoarchaeological analyses of the human skeletal material from a burnt down house in Jutland, Denmark, dated to the first century bc . We describe how the osteological analyses of this complex site were approached and illustrate how we reconstructed the death of the human victims. Besides basic osteological analyses, we also tried to reconstruct the posture of the deceased humans using 12‐in. posable wooden mannequins. Along with bones from several domestic animals, skeletal elements from six human individuals were recovered. All individuals were located in the eastern end of the house—the byre end. The demographic structure indicates a small family household. Our posture reconstruction further proposes that they did not die of asphyxiation while sleeping: At least two of the individuals were lying face down, trying to protect themselves. Two other individuals were lying on their side in crouching positions, which cannot be ruled out as examples of pugilistic attitude. However, we suggest this is rather unlikely. The humans could have died as they failed to rescue their invaluable animals from the fire. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Isotopic Evidence for Marine Consumption and Mobility in the Atacama Desert (Quillagua,Northern Chile)

Archaeological research in the Atacama Desert has recovered evidence of considerable cultural variability. This variability seems to have increased during the Late Intermediate Period (AD 950–1400). The oasis of Quillagua, located at the margins of the Loa River in northern Chile, between the Andes and the coast (70 km from the Pacific Ocean), has shown important evidence regarding this cultural diversity. The variety in the archaeological evidence found at Quillagua has been interpreted as the result of two different cultural influences at the oasis: the Pica‐Tarapacá who occupied the coastal and inland regions to the north of Quillagua and the Atacama who occupied the oasis and fertile areas southeast of Quillagua. Here, we present the results of stable carbon, nitrogen and oxygen isotope analyses of 23 individuals recovered from the Cementerio Oriente in Quillagua, in order to test whether the observed cultural variability is also reflected in diet and mobility patterns. Results from carbon and nitrogen isotope measurements indicate the importance of marine protein, as well as a contribution of maize in the diet of some individuals. Four individuals show low δ¹⁸O values, suggesting a possible highland or non‐local origin, whereas values for the remaining individuals are consistent with lowland populations. Together, the results support the idea that the Quillagua oasis represented an important site of interaction between the Tarapacá and Atacama cultures, with close contacts with the coast but also with the presence of individuals from the highlands. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A novel method for integrated age and sex determination from archaeological cattle mandibles

Analysis of ancient cattle husbandry is compromised by the need for conventional analysis of sex and age at death to use different elements of the skeleton, usually from different individuals. We demonstrate a technique using aDNA acquired from cattle mandibles and combined with age-at-death estimation based on dental eruption in the same specimens. Application to small sample groups from two sites in Na h-Eileanan Siar (the Scottish Western Isles) show a high success rate, and demonstrates the potential for a more nuanced interpretation of ancient cattle husbandry.     

Prehistoric Human and Ungulate Remains from Preston Docks,Lancashire, UK: Problems of River Finds

Isolated and usually undated human crania from riverine deposits in the British Isles present something of an archaeological mystery. The large numbers sometimes involved—several hundred from the River Thames alone—together with the recovery of unassociated metal artefacts have been taken to imply some or other “ritual” activity. We offer a taphonomic investigation of human crania and ungulate remains obtained from dock excavations during the 1880s at Preston in Lancashire in northwestern England. Although apparently recovered in close spatial proximity, a series of AMS determinations on crania of humans, aurochsen (Bos primigenius) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) has established at least a Neolithic to Saxon age range for the sample. Such a chronological span for a diverse assemblage when considered against modern forensic studies of the taphonomy of bodies in water strongly implies that the human crania need represent no more than an accumulation of elements that normally separate quite naturally from the rest of the body. While the reasons for initial entry to the water may well have included “ritual” activity in one or more case there is simply no reason to infer such behaviour for the human sample as a whole in the absence of direct evidence.     

Skeletal Kinship Analysis Using Developmental Anomalies of the Foot

Developmental anomalies of the skeleton are often treated as mere curiosities, but in some contexts, they may prove useful to bioarchaeologists for answering questions about the past. One such use can be found in skeletal kinship analysis, where discrete traits can help to identify close genetic relatives in archaeological cemeteries. Previous research suggests that discrete traits used for skeletal kinship analysis should have several characteristics—they must obviously be heritable, but in addition, they should be easy to score as present or absent, their frequencies should not vary by age or sex, and they should be low frequency traits. Low frequency traits are less likely than higher frequency traits to be found in two individuals merely by chance. In this study, we consider 17 developmental anomalies of the human foot as candidates for use in skeletal kinship analysis. The traits are evaluated in terms of the characteristics described above, after which kinship analyses are attempted on two different populations. Ten of the anomalies are found to be good candidates for skeletal kinship analysis, including accessory navicular, four different forms of brachydactyly, three types of tarsal coalition, and two forms of the os intermetatarseum. When frequencies of these traits were examined and compared to a reference sample in three cemeteries, however, only a single group of six possible genetic relatives were identified. The results suggest that skeletal kinship analysis using individual heritable traits is perhaps best applied to small cemeteries or burial clusters rather than larger cemeteries containing many different lineages. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biosocial archaeology of the Early Neolithic: Synthetic analyses of a human skeletal population from the LBK cemetery of Vedrovice,Czech Republic

Bioarchaeology is a powerful tool in the examination of prehistoric collections of human skeletal remains. Application of a few bioarchaeological techniques (ancient DNA, carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, and dental micro-wear) to the human osteological remains from the Early Neolithic LBK settlement of Vedrovice (Moravia), has allowed us to reconstruct not only broad cultural patterns but also the life histories of the individuals with insights into diet, migrations, ancestry, personal identity, social position and life experience. Vedrovice acted as a gateway settlement for a farming community with close ties to western Hungary and northeast Bohemia. The individuals showed clear differences in status and migration histories, giving glimpses of more complex social practices and patterns than could have been determined through the traditional culture-historical studies.     

ROMAN WINDOW GLASS: A COMPARISON OF FINDINGS FROM THREE DIFFERENT ITALIAN SITES

Thirty‐three samples of window glass and five glass lumps coming from three Italian archaeological sites—the Suasa excavations (Ancona, settled from the third century bc to the fifth to sixth centuries ad ), the Roman town of Mevaniola (Forlì‐Cesena, settled from the Imperial Age up to the fourth century ad ) and Theodoric's Villa of Galeata (Forlì‐Cesena, settled from the sixth century ad onwards)—were analysed to track the changes in the chemical composition and manufacturing technology of window glass through the centuries. The aims of this study were: (1) to establish the origin of the raw materials; (2) to verify the chemical homogeneity among samples coming from different sites and/or produced using different techniques; and (3) to sort the samples into the compositional groups of ancient glass. The analysis of all the chemical variables allowed two groups to be distinguished: (a) finds from Mevaniola and Suasa; and (b) finds from Galeata. All the samples had a silica–soda–lime composition, but the analysis of minor elements—in particular, of Fe, Mn, and Ti—made it possible to split the samples into two groups, with the higher levels of these elements always found in the Galeata samples (HIMT glass). In conclusion, it can be asserted that the main differences between the samples are related to their chronology.