Ectopic Lower Third Permanent Molar within the Mandibular Condyle: An Archaeological Example

Migration of mandibular third molars to abnormal anatomic locations is not unknown. Examples reported in the clinical literature are mainly in the ascending ramus of the mandible and the neck of the mandibular condyle, and only four cases have hitherto been reported actually within the mandibular condyle. This case reports on an ectopic lower third molar within the right mandibular condyle in a 19th century male skeleton from Wolverhampton, West Midlands, UK. Examples of this nature have not been found to be described in the bioarchaeological literature; therefore, this case study probably represents the first case reported in this field. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Clay‐shoveler's fracture: an uncommon diagnosis in palaeopathology

An archaeological case of clay‐shoveler's fracture was observed in an adult male exhumed from a Roman necropolis dated to the 1st–3rd century AD and located in the city of Barcelona, Spain. Clay‐shoveler's fracture is a breakage of a lower cervical or upper thoracic spinous process as a result of mechanical stress. Different mechanisms have been related to this injury, generally in labour‐related contexts. This paper reviews the literature concerning this uncommon finding, focusing especially on its mechanism and on activity‐related lesions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Retromolar Space: A Morphological Curiosity Observed Amongst the Protohistoric Arikara and Mandan

The retromolar space (RMS), defined in palaeoanthropology as a space posterior to the third molar, between the distal edge of the tooth and the anterior margin of the ascending ramus when the mandible is held in lateral view, has been described as an autapomorphic trait unique to Neanderthals despite its presence in anatomically modern humans. This study examined RMS prevalence in a sample of protohistoric Arikara and Mandan Amerindians to determine what craniofacial morphology is correlated with the RMS. It was hypothesised that the feature would be present in the Amerindians studied and associated with a long cranial length, a large nasal height, midfacial prognathism, a broad mandible, and dental wear. The results indicated that RMSs were present in the Arikara and Mandan and significantly correlated with cranial length, cranial breadth, nasal height, bizygomatic breadth, basion‐nasion length, basion‐nasiospinale, mandible length, gonial angle, bigonial breadth, and dental wear. Thus, RMSs are associated with a dolichocephalic skull, wide cranial and facial breadth, a prognathic face, large nose and a corresponding wide and long mandible with a reduced gonial angle. This suggests that the RMS is the result of these features merging together in the craniofacial complex and should not be considered a Neanderthal autapomorphy. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Splitting Urban Waters: The Politicisation of Water in Barcelona between Populism and Anti-Populism

The current literature on remunicipalisation is focused either on theoretical concepts (e.g. right to the city, commons, return of the political) or on the “insurgent” actors involved in this process, overlooking the counter-politicisation of the economic agents and the resulting struggles for power and legitimation. This paper examines, by means of an interpretative qualitative methodology and by critically engaging with Ernesto Laclau’s approach to populism, the complexities of the ongoing dialectic of populist and anti-populist antagonism between socio-political actors and private companies, with a focus on the discourse on remunicipalisation of water in Barcelona.     

Contextual effects on subjective national identity

Does the interaction between context and individual‐level features affect political attitudes? By using the case of Catalonia, a receiver region of international and national immigration since the fifties, this paper intersects a classic acculturation model and a newly reemerging literature in political science on contextual determinants of political behaviour to analyze how context affects subjective national identity. Results reveal that environment matters. The Percentage of Spain‐born population in the municipality is statistically significant to account for variance in the subjective national identity, even after controlling for age, sex, origin, language and left–right orientation and other contextual factors. This conclusion suggests that researchers should not underestimate the direct effect of the environment on feelings of belonging in contexts of rival identities.     

Analysis and interpretation of flint toolmarks found on bones from West Tump long barrow,Gloucestershire

West Tump is a Neolithic chambered tomb originally excavated in 1880. The mound was found to contain a mixed skeletal assemblage, the majority of which was disarticulated. Between 2000 and 2001 material from the site including human bone was re‐examined with a portion of this project focused on taphonomic evidence observed on the human skeletal material. Amongst the factors selected for investigation were deliberate toolmarks. Three specimens were identified as exhibiting toolmarks. Analysis demonstrated that the observed features were cutmarks, consistent with the use of flint tools. However those on two of the specimens were found to be both post‐mortem and recent. The cutmarks observed on the remaining specimen, a right clavicle, were identified as having been inflicted during the peri‐mortem period and consistent with decapitation. British Neolithic mortuary practice has been the subject of ongoing debate since the earliest excavations of relevant sites, but until very recently few assemblages from such contexts have been re‐examined and much of the data in use has derived from sources of considerable age and questionable reliability. The selective removal of specific skeletal elements (particularly skulls) has repeatedly been described in the literature regarding the collective funerary monuments of this period. It has often been assumed that such practices took place after the soft tissues had decayed. One of the examples discussed, suggests this may not always have been the case and the potential significance of this finding is discussed in addition to a possible interpretation of the cutmarks seen on the remaining specimens. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can Dasymetric Mapping Significantly Improve Population Data Reallocation in a Dense Urban Area?

The issue of reallocating population figures from a set of geographical units onto another set of units has received a great deal of attention in the literature. Every other day, a new algorithm is proposed, claiming that it outperforms competitor procedures. Unfortunately, when the new (usually more complex) methods are applied to a new data set, the improvements attained are sometimes just marginal. The relationship cost‐effectiveness of the solutions is case‐dependent. The majority of studies have focused on large areas with heterogeneous population density distributions. The general conclusion is that as a rule more sophisticated methods are worth the effort. It could be argued, however, that when we work with a variable that varies gradually in relatively homogeneous small units, simple areal weighting methods could be sufficient and that ancillary variables would produce marginal improvements. For the case of reallocating census data, our study shows that, even under the above conditions, the most sophisticated approaches clearly yield the better results. After testing fourteen methods in Barcelona (Spain), the best results are attained using as ancillary variable the total dwelling area in each residential building. Our study shows the 3‐D methods as generating the better outcomes followed by multiclass 2‐D procedures, binary 2‐D approaches and areal weighting and 1‐D algorithms. The point‐based interpolation procedures are by far the ones producing the worst estimates.     

Waterfront redevelopment and urban policy: The case of Barcelona,Cardiff and Genoa

In this article, waterfront redevelopment is linked to the recent development of urban policy and to relations between port and city. This is discussed with the empirical study of three European regional capitals (Barcelona, Cardiff and Genoa) of different size, how the redevelopment was done and how the projects link with the development of urban policy. The redevelopment of Baltimore's Inner Harbour has influenced strongly the physical outcome of the projects in these three cities but it is very difficult to achieve similar success because of the differences in time, space, local culture, etc. Each case demonstrates that a strong market‐ and property‐led approach has serious weaknesses when heavy public subsidies are used for improving the infrastructure but the private sector has not been able to fulfil its part in time. The question of social justice of waterfront redevelopment is raised at the end of the article.     

‘On mind‐blindness (optic agnosia)’, a classical clinico‐pathological report,and its author Wilhelm von Stauffenberg (1879–1918)*

Abstract

Two photographs from the beginning of our century still instructively illustrate the phenomenon of visual agnosia: the perplexed face of an old lady confronted with objects clears after touching them. This patient with bilateral posterior cerebral infarction was followed for seven years at the Munich Medicine Department of Friedrich von Müller (1858–1941) who had a strong interest in neurology. His assistant Wilhelm von Stauffenberg (1879–1918) reported the case in great detail, including anatomical analysis performed under Constantin von Monakow (1853–1930). Promoted to “Privatdozent”; in 1913 on the basis of this report, Stauffenberg's work included several additional, similarly extensive clinico‐anatomical case studies but was not limited to problems of cerebral localisation. Under the influence of the Burghölzli group in Zürich he started to practice psychotherapy. Stauffenberg, deeply interested also in the arts and in literature, was the physician of the poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) from 1914. He succumbed to pneumonia in 1918.     

Cartography and Urban Planning: The City Plan of Barcelona by Miquel Garriga i Roca (1856–1862)

ABSTRACT

Due to the passing of Spanish laws that promoted the creation of urban cartography and the need to redevelop an overcrowded city, the Barcelona City Council commissioned the architect Miquel Garriga i Roca in 1856 to create a municipal plan. During the following six years he compiled what is known as the Plan of Barcelona, a collection of cartographical documents that depicts with unprecedented levels of detail how Barcelona appeared right after the demolition of the city walls. This paper explains how and why the maps were commissioned, how they were made, and the resultant cartographical output.     

Comparison of 3D Landmark and 3D Dense Cloud Approaches to Hominin Mandible Morphometrics Using Structure‐From‐Motion

The objective of this study is to compare landmark‐based assessment of hominin mandible morphological variation with that from a high‐density point cloud, using 3D models constructed from structure‐from‐motion (SfM) surface capture techniques. Surface models of nine hominin mandible casts were created using SfM photogrammetry. The morphology of these models was described using traditional geometric morphometrics based on identification of landmarks. This was compared to the morphological variation described by the differences between high‐density point clouds, which do not rely on anatomical landmarks, using an iterative closest point algorithm. The landmark‐based approach grouped the anatomically modern human and Neanderthal mandibles with reasonable success. The high‐density point cloud approach also grouped these successfully, but was able to incorporate information from a specimen that was insufficiently preserved to be included in the landmark data set. This improved the accuracy of the grouping. The use of high‐density point clouds from surface capture to analyse hominin mandible morphology allows for greater amounts of information to be included and offers a potential method to identify shape affinity that is as successful as landmark‐based geometric morphometrics.     

New data on the structure of the Early Devonian lungfish,Dipnorhynchus

A skull of a young specimen of Dipnorhynchus sussmilchi (Etheridge Jr), from the base of the Bloomfield Limestone Member (mid-Emsian, probably perbonus Zone) at Taemas, has both sides of the skull roof preserved, but the cheeks are missing. The posterior end of the endocranium, up to its dorsal extremity, provides new data on the endolymphatic sacs, and the attachment of the epaxial muscles. The endolymphatic region is compared with that of Chirodipterus australis. The palate is not fully formed and the marginal ridges are not fully developed. The fine structures around the dermopalatines and the pterygoids are preserved, indicating the manner in which the plates grew. The position of the parasphenoid is clearly outlined against the pterygoids, and confirms the view that this primitive genus of dipnoans did not have the pterygoids divided by the parasphenoid. All these features provide new information and comparison with Dipterus valenciennesi, the next oldest genus on which the same regions are preserved. In addition, a new mandible from a horizon low in the Cavan Bluff Formation is well preserved and provides information on the external bones of Dipnorhynchus.     

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.     

Between a principled and a consequentialist logic: theory and practice of secession in Catalonia and Scotland

This paper inquires into whether the three types of arguments usually formulated in the normative literature on the legitimacy of secession – i.e. communitarian, choice, and remedial arguments – are articulated (or not) by separatist parties in Catalonia and Scotland. It concludes that these actors do use such arguments, but they tend to merge them in different combinations making a pluralist case for independence rather than developing monist reasoning as most political philosophers do. Furthermore, it finds a fourth type of argument which is under‐theorised in the relevant literature. This is an instrumental argument whereby independence is depicted not as an end in itself, but as a means to achieve better welfare and governance for the national population. It further proposes a fourfold theoretical scheme that links communitarian and choice arguments to a principled logic based on the belief in the existence of an absolute right to self‐determination and remedial and instrumental arguments to a consequentialist logic that legitimates secession on the condition that it serves the achievement of specific ends.     

The application of 3D‐microprofilometry as a tool in the surface diagnosis of fossil and sub‐fossil vertebrate hard tissue. An example from the Pliocene Upper Laetolil Beds,Tanzania

Non‐contact optical 3D‐profiling instruments are often used in the study of surface modifications on fossil mammalian bone. The advantage of optical laser scanning for the study of fossil and sub‐fossil bone is its non‐contact nature, allowing the investigation of fragile and poorly preserved surfaces. The high resolution and fast measuring rate of this method make it an alternative to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigation if topography is to be visualized. This study analyses clusters of incisions in a suid humeral fragment from the Pliocene Upper Laetolil Beds. The marks show a characteristic crest structure that is also frequently found in mandible marks produced by the Australian termite species Mastotermes darwiniensis. The marks from the Laetolil Beds are, therefore, interpreted as also being caused by insect mandible action. An as yet unknown large insect species capable of modifying bone with their mandibles is thus postulated in the palaeohabitat represented by the hominid‐bearing Upper Laetolil Beds. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The fourth molar in a mandible found in a Jomon skeleton in Japan

A fourth molar in a mandible occurs very rarely, even in clinical surveys involving a large number of modern people. Having encountered a case with the fourth mandibular molar in a prehistoric skull in Japan, we would like to report on the macroscopic morphology of the case using X-rays, and to discuss the case with reference to literature concerning supernumerary teeth in the molar region.     

Open Warfare or the Odd Skirmish? Bell Beaker Violence in the North‐Eastern Iberian Peninsula

Archaeological examples of violence in prehistory have increased in recent years. The evidence, methodology employed and interpretation of the data have been diverse, but in each case the myth of the ‘peaceful past’ is questioned. This work provides new data on the issue from the north‐eastern Iberian Peninsula, associated with the Bell Beaker culture (c.2800–2350 cal BC). Material from two megalithic tombs, Can Gol I and Can Gol II (Barcelona Province), in particular a set of flint arrowheads, has been revisited. Use‐wear analysis on the arrowheads confirmed the presence of impact fractures. This indicates that the arrowheads were not funerary offerings, but that they entered the graves lodged in the bodies of the deceased. The data from the only site with evidence of massive death by violence in the neighbouring region (Costa de Can Martorell) reinforce the hypothesis of episodes of conflict and violence during prehistory. However, the interpretation of the nature of such violence remains open to debate: was it an act of warfare or an occasional skirmish? And is the image of the Bell Beaker warrior identified in other European contexts also applicable to this area?     

Pelvic stress injuries in a small‐bodied forager

The assumption of natural selection for obstetric adequacy would predict the occasional discovery of skeletal evidence for inadequacy, yet such cases are rare. Here stress injuries to the pelvic ring are associated with an asymmetrical pelvis caused by partial agenesis of the right sacral costal process. The small, middle‐aged woman lived about 2000 years ago and pursued a physically vigorous life as a coastal forager on the South African Cape coast. The right sacral costal process (ala) is about 5 mm narrower than the left. This sacral hemiagenesis led to pelvic asymmetry, and concomitant instability. The six articular faces of the pelvis show the normal surfaces replaced by disorganised, porous new bone and extensive eburnation. The left pubic face shifted dorsally, making contact with the ventral aspect of the right pubis. The most distinctive aspect is the presence of osteitis pubis, or pubic symphysis stress injury, which is clinically associated both with difficult childbirth and with vigorous athletic activities. Adjustments to the altered pelvis include erosions and osteophytes at sites of ligament attachment, and prominent bilateral insertion areas on the tibiae for the stabilising iliotibial band. While habitual activities may explain some pelvic features, such as the bilateral bevelling of the acetabular borders, it is postulated that childbirth exacerbated the joint instability and the subsequent deterioration. This case joins a small literature on the condition of pubic symphysis stress injury, and illustrates the mechanisms through which natural selection for pelvic size and shape characteristics may have occurred. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Scapular stress fracture: a palaeopathological case consistent with crutch use

This report describes a defect on the right scapula of a 50 to 60 year old male slave who had been buried extra‐muros in the Le Colombier cemetery of Vaison‐la‐Romaine (5^th to 6^th century AD) in Vaucluse, France. This injury can only be described as a stress fracture, most likely associated with heavy and persistent use of the humerus in abduction. Other bony defects on the skeleton included early signs of ossification of the glenohumeral joint, slight vertebral discopathy, and osteoarthrosis on the right hip. A relationship between scapular stress fractures and walking devices has been described in the current medical literature, and taking this in consideration, possible aetiologies for this scapular defect include either consistent use of a crutch or routine physical labour. Little information is available on either stress fractures or assisted walking devices in antiquity; therefore this information is a valuable contribution to palaeopathology. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.