Constitutional Design of the Executive: Vice Presidencies in Comparative Perspective

Given the history of the institution in the U.S., it is perhaps not surprising that few democracies have adopted a vice presidency. But, why do any countries have vice presidencies? What, if any, functions do they fulfill? In this paper we examine constitutional provisions for vice presidencies in 29 presidential democracies throughout the world. Specifically, we examine the extent to which the office of the vice presidency fulfills three possible institutional purposes: succession, legislative, or executive functions. Almost all vice presidencies included in our analysis fulfill the role of successor in the event of a presidential vacancy. Of those that have additional duties, most are assigned executive functions, while a few are assigned legislative functions. On the whole, the paper provides empirical evidence that vice presidencies seem to be marginal institutions.     

Identification of tarsal coalition and frequency estimates from skeletal samples

Tarsal coalition is a congenital defect that results when adjacent tarsals fail to separate properly during embryonic development. Anatomically, coalitions present as non‐osseous bridges of cartilage or fibrocartilage – and occasionally as osseous bridges – between two neighboring bones. In skeletons, non‐osseous tarsal coalitions are recognizable as matching lesions between two bones at predictable locations. These coalitions are of interest because they are known to be heritable and are therefore useful for tracing genetic relatives in archaeological cemeteries, because they can be misinterpreted in skeletons as trauma or joint disease, and because they can result in associated pathology. However, despite a considerable literature on tarsal coalition, estimates of coalition frequencies disagree considerably, perhaps due to biases inherent in clinical sampling. In order to gain a better estimate of tarsal coalition frequencies in human populations, data were gathered on 342 European‐Americans from the Terry Collection (Smithsonian Institution), 536 South Africans from the Dart Collection (University of Witwatersrand, South Africa), and 756 medieval Danish skeletons (Anthropological Database, Odense University). The Danish skeletons are archaeological, with sample sizes by coalition type ranging from 366–507 individuals. Examples of eight different types of intertarsal coalition were identified among the 1634 skeletons examined. Overall frequency estimates for tarsal coalition ranged from 2.1%–3.5%. South Africans exhibited significantly higher frequencies in the midfoot, with naviculocuneiform I coalition (1.0%) the most common type. Conversely, no coalitions of the midfoot were found among the Euro‐Americans or medieval Danes. Instead, these groups exhibited calcaneonavicular coalition as the most common type in the hindfoot (2.0% and 2.1% respectively), while calcaneonavicular coalition was among the least common in the South Africans (0.2%). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Polydactyly in the prehistoric American Southwest

General surveys of skeletal collections from Arizona for evidence of trauma and pathology led to the identification of polydactyly in two subadults. Polydactyly is a congenital condition characterised by the presence of extra digits on the hands or feet. Both affected subadults exhibit a sixth digit in the form of a branching fifth metatarsal. One of the affected individuals is an infant from the Tapia del Cerrito site exhibiting Y‐shaped fifth metatarsals indicative of postaxial type A polydactyly. The second individual is a juvenile from the Nuvakwewtaqa (Chavez Pass Ruin) site exhibiting a left fifth metatarsal with a lateral branch, also diagnosed as postaxial type A polydactyly. These two cases appear to be the first examples of polydactyly from archaeological contexts identified among subadults, and bring the total number of known cases from the American Southwest to six. Discovery of so many examples of this relatively rare condition amongst the Puebloan people of the Southwest adds to the evidence that, rather than simply being an artistic motif, rock art depictions featuring hands and feet with six digits were probably inspired by observation of the condition amongst living people. Furthermore, burial treatment of the Tapia del Cerrito infant suggests that polydactyly may have conferred a special status on the bearer. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Accessory navicular: A heritable accessory bone of the human foot

The accessory navicular is a supernumerary bone of the human foot located medial to the navicular tuberosity and represents a secondary center of ossification that has failed to fuse to the main body of the navicular. Three forms of the accessory bone have been identified: Type I is an independent ossicle that is often embedded within the tibialis posterior tendon; Type II is a triangular accessory bone that attaches to the navicular tuberosity by means of a cartilaginous or fibrocartilaginous bridge; and Type III represents a fused Type II, which forms a hook‐like protuberance extending from the tuberosity. The Type II accessory navicular is the most common of the three forms and is the most readily identifiable in skeletal material since it causes the navicular tuberosity to become abnormally flattened and porous. The purpose of this study was to describe the various manifestations of the accessory navicular in dry bone, to present and compare frequency data for several skeletal populations, and to consider questions of laterality and sex bias in trait expression. In total, the skeletons of 497 Danes, 460 Euro‐Americans, 300 African Americans, 100 Japanese, and 205 Europeans were examined for the presence of the Type II accessory navicular. Overall frequencies for the five groups ranged from 2% in the African American sample to 5% in the Japanese sample. Since several family pedigrees have documented the accessory navicular as being an inherited skeletal defect, the relatively low frequency found in the present study makes this trait a potentially useful indicator of genetic relatedness within archaeological cemeteries. In addition, the trait was found to occur more often unilaterally than bilaterally and there was nearly equal incidence among males and females. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.