Biological Homogeneity and Familial Segregation in the Iron Age Population of Alfedena (Abruzzo,Italy), Based on Cranial Discrete Traits Analysis

The Iron Age necropolis of Alfedena has been well-known since the last century. In this study 10 non-continuous traits of the cranial skeleton are examined in a series of 94 adult individuals (54 males and 40 females). The division of the Alfedena necropolis into tomb circles has permitted the investigation of the possible existence of familial segregation. Our analysis has shown us that the individuals inhumated in the different tomb circles have a common genetic substrate probably attributable to the strong endogamy present in this population.     

Conflict in Pre‐Hispanic Northwest Argentina: Implications Arising From Human Bone Trauma Patterns

The time span ranging from ca. 900 to 1450 A.D. in the South‐Central Andes has been traditionally posited as a period of social unrest, political disintegration and large‐scale conflict due to, primarily, environmental causes. However, the osteological record of traumatic injuries in a sample of 223 adult and subadult crania from different areas of Northwest Argentina does not clearly correspond to the expected scenario of pervasive and formalized armed attacks. Cranial trauma prevalence in the sample is low (17.48%), and no statistically significant differences were met between the sexes. No differences were found when comparing trauma prevalence between settlements or regions, suggesting that location or function of the sites may not have influenced in trauma frequencies. This information more comfortably agrees with a scenario of conflict where several sources of violence may have caused the record of traumatic injuries (i.e. raids, ambushes, etc). These results serve to problematize how conflict is expected to be expressed in the archaeological record, especially in osseous human remains, what sources of violence may have generated the traumatic patterns observed and the intensity of conflict in this region in particular and in the pre‐Hispanic Andes in general. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Craniofacial morphology,diet and incisor use in three native American populations

It has been difficult to infer behaviours related to anterior tooth use in fossil hominids owing to a lack of broad‐based comparative studies of the relationships between front tooth use and craniodental features in modern humans. In this study, we seek to establish such a neontological baseline by exploring aspects of craniodental form among populations of recent humans that are inferred to have differed in habitual levels of ingestive and paramasticatory processing using the incisors. Morphometric data are compared among samples from three human populations: Aleutian Islanders (n=25); Arikara from the Mobridge Site, SD (n=19); and a late Woodland Bluff group from Jersey County, IL (n=24). Data for various biomechanically relevant dimensions were collected using standard callipers, while three‐dimensional (3D) coordinate data for 28 cranial landmarks were recorded using a video‐based image analysis system. These data indicate that several aspects of cranial form thought to influence the efficiency of force production on the incisors differ among the examined groups, including the positions and size of the primary masticatory muscles and the position of the dentition. For most dimensions, the Aleut sample exhibits the most mechanically advantageous configuration, the Illinois Bluff group the least advantageous configuration, while the Arikara are intermediate in form. This pattern corresponds to differences in the intensity of incisor loading among these groups, as inferred from both ethnographic reports and incisor microwear data. These results, therefore, suggest that cranial form in humans varies with subsistence‐related differences in masticatory force production and that quantitative studies of masticatory system configuration may provide useful information for studies of hominid palaeobiology. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Culturally modified skeletal remains from the site of Huamelulpan,Oaxaca, Mexico

A series of crania from the site of Huamelulpan, Oaxaca, Mexico (400 BC to AD 800), were examined. Four showed notable cultural modifications. One exhibited a healed trephination, while the other three were perforated through the frontal. The cultural context and significance of these modifications is discussed, especially in relationship to the site of Monte Albán, where trephination was more common than anywhere else in Mesoamerica. The post-mortem cranial perforations appear to be connected with the practice of ancestor veneration. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Murder or mortuary behaviour? An Iron Age enigma from Northeast Thailand

During the excavation of the Iron Age site of Noen U-Loke, in the Mun River Valley, northeast Thailand, in 1998 an unusual case of possible fatal cranial trauma in an elderly woman was recovered. Her skull was cleaved across the centre from side to side. The woman was buried with her head inside a ceramic pot, which is unusual for the site, but with jewellery similar to that in other burials. She was interred in a large cluster of graves, with a high proportion of infants and children. Her burial treatment suggests that she was not being treated punitively. The position of the mandible shows that the cleavage is not a postmortem artifact but it is not possible to determine the reason for it or whether it was the cause of her death or occurred immediately afterward. It is an unusual and intriguing enigma. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The population of East Sicily during the second and first millennium BC: the problem of the Greek colonies

Knowledge of Sicilian biology during the past is very important in understanding the complex processes that characterized the population of the Mediterranean Basin. The problem of the first Greek settlement in Sicily is essential in understanding and reconstructing the indigenous biological tissue of an island that was and still is a fundamental crossroads for migratory strategies. In this research we studied ten Sicilian series chronologically attributed to the second and first millennium BC , using discrete cranial traits. The results show that the first biologically significant Greek presence in eastern Sicily could go back to the Bronze Age, while the cosmopolitan Hellenistic city of Syracuse showed the nature of the biological pattern during the first millennium BC . Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the causes of perforations in archaeological domestic cattle skulls: New evidence

An example of ante‐mortem cranial perforations in the skull of a European wisent (Bison bonasus) from Armenia is presented. The implications for reinterpreting the possible causes of this condition in ancient domestic cattle (outlined in a previous paper) are briefly discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A metric study of three types of artificial cranial modification from north‐central Peru

Artificial cranial modification (ACM) involves the alteration of cranial vault shape by cultural means, and is performed during infancy while the cranial bones remain soft and malleable. The direction of normal cranial growth is altered through the application of external forces. In this study, three types of ACM from north‐central Peru (posterior flattening, bilobed and circumferential) were analysed using standard craniometric techniques. The aim was to determine the effects of these forms of ACM on craniofacial morphology, and the extent to which different types of ACM could be distinguished from one another and unmodified crania on the basis of these measurements. Significant differences between artificially modified and unmodified crania, and between different types of ACM, were demonstrated in cranial vault shape for all types. Significant differences in facial morphology were found only in the bilobed group compared with the unmodified crania. Canonical variates analysis (discriminant analysis) confirmed that major differences between modification types and unmodified crania were in measurements and angles of the cranial vault. While the results show some similarities to previous studies, they add to the variability in the patterns and extent of differences documented to date. It is suggested, based on these results and visual observations, that interpopulation variation in ACM within major modification categories may explain some of the variability in results between studies, an explanation which has previously received insufficient recognition but which remains to be tested since varied methodology between studies may also be a contributory factor. While previous studies have often sought to generalise about the effects of ACM, the examination of the differences between populations even within major ACM categories may offer new insight into cultural variation in modification techniques between populations and the nature of craniofacial development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trepanation in the Chachapoya region of northern Perú

This paper discusses trepanation frequency data from the Chachapoya region of the northern highlands of Perú. New data from three skeletal samples are presented: Kuelap, Laguna Huayabamba, and Los Pinchudos, as well as isolated crania housed at the Chachapoya Museo Instituto Nacional de Cultura. The vast majority of the trepanations are circular in shape, except for one individual exhibiting as many as three roughly square trepanations. Evidence for healing is prevalent, with examples of both associated periosteal reaction of nearby outer table bone, as well as for healing of the insult itself. Only one case demonstrates a clear association between a traumatic injury and a trepanation event. The purpose or function of the remaining cases of trepanation, however, remains elusive. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.