Julia Gamble | University of Manitoba (original) (raw)

Papers by Julia Gamble

Research paper thumbnail of Developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD): perspectives from bioarchaeology

Oxford University Press eBooks, Apr 29, 2022

While most data on early-life plasticity originate from longitudinal, epidemiological or anthropo... more While most data on early-life plasticity originate from longitudinal, epidemiological or anthropological studies of living people, bioarchaeology can provide extensive insight into the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) from a deep time perspective. Human remains can yield information across the life course analogous to longitudinal analyses, considered the gold standard for studies of contemporary populations. This chapter reviews the history of DOHaD and provides an overview of how bioarchaeology can contribute to evolutionary medicine within the DOHaD framework. Using specific approaches and case studies, it explores the nature of individual frailty and stress responses as well as the influence of critical windows on growth and development on later-life health, including historical periods of famine, the Industrial Revolution in Europe (characterised by increasing socio-economic inequalities), and ways in which bioarchaeology can be used to examine life course patterns. It examines the nature of population responses to changing environmental conditions and provides a deep time perspective into how these responses have moulded past health experiences. In a world shaped by increasing socio-economic disparities, it demonstrates how the bioarchaeological record can inform our understanding of the social determinants of health. Finally, while critically evaluating both the strengths and limitations of bioarchaeological data for addressing early-life issues, it reveals the significant contributions that can be made to evolutionary medicine through examination of osteological remains from past populations, as well as the relevance of these contributions to current population adaptations.

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Research paper thumbnail of Advancing sex estimation from amelogenin: Applications to archaeological, deciduous, and fragmentary dental enamel

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2024

A significant limitation of bioarchaeological and forensic research is inaccuracy of sex estimati... more A significant limitation of bioarchaeological and forensic research is inaccuracy of sex estimation techniques for skeletal remains of pre-pubertal individuals. This means that while age estimation is relatively accurate for individuals during growth and development, the inability to estimate sex widens the error ranges of age estimates and has limited the questions that can be asked about cultural and biological sex differences in past populations. From the forensic standpoint, it restricts an examiner’s ability to estimate a key variable without expensive DNA testing. Dental enamel represents one of the hardest biological substances, and so is resilient to post-mortem degradation processes. It is frequently recovered from archaeological and forensic contexts even when other skeletal remains are too degraded for extensive recovery. One of the main proteins in dental enamel, amelogenin, is isomorphic based on sex, since it is coded by the AMELX and AMELY genes on the X- and Y-chromosomes (respectively). Recent work has demonstrated the effectiveness of proteomics in estimating sex based on the amelogenin protein using both modern and archaeological samples. The present research presents a validation study and further methodological development of the use of mass spectrometry-based peptide analysis for sex estimation. It also presents the first large scale study of peptide extraction from naturally produced enamel fragments (in addition to whole teeth), demonstrating the efficacy of enamel fragment use for sex estimation from archaeological human remains. We develop a straightforward and simple pipeline for processing the complex data for non-tryptic peptides in a timely manner, while providing a quantitative measure without the need for expensive commercial tools. Relative intensities of AMELX- and AMELY-unique peptides in individual samples were computed and an Amelogenin Sex Estimation score was derived as the difference of the log2 of these intensities. We validated our approach using samples from both modern individuals with known sex (n = 28) and archaeological individuals with osteologically-estimated sex (n = 40), yielding highly confident sex estimation rate of all samples with AMELX signals recovered, and peptide recovery unsuccessful in only one archaeological instance. This corresponds to a probability > 99 % for consistent assignment. We further analyzed samples from 86 individuals (representing 90 samples) of unknown sex, yielding a highly confident result in 83 individuals. Finally, we validated our method using data from an external study based on a different method and found a full agreement on all tested samples. Our results represent a significant methodological development with implications for archaeological and forensic human remains. Successful isolation of peptides from naturally derived fragments suggests a way forward for ethical practice and conservation, as it involves testing on samples which otherwise would provide little information.

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Research paper thumbnail of Reply to Barton et al: signatures of natural selection during the Black Death

Bartonet al.1raise several statistical concerns regarding our original analyses2that highlight th... more Bartonet al.1raise several statistical concerns regarding our original analyses2that highlight the challenge of inferring natural selection using ancient genomic data. We show here that these concerns have limited impact on our original conclusions. Specifically, we recover the same signature of enrichment for high FSTvalues at the immune loci relative to putatively neutral sites after switching the allele frequency estimation method to a maximum likelihood approach, filtering to only consider known human variants, and down-sampling our data to the same mean coverage across sites. Furthermore, using permutations, we show that the rs2549794 variant nearERAP2continues to emerge as the strongest candidate for selection (p = 1.2×10−5), falling below the Bonferroni-corrected significance threshold recommended by Bartonet al. Importantly, the evidence for selection onERAP2is further supported by functional data demonstrating the impact of theERAP2genotype on the immune response toY. pesti...

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Research paper thumbnail of Emergence, continuity, and evolution of Yersinia pestis throughout medieval and early modern Denmark

Current Biology

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Research paper thumbnail of Evolution of immune genes is associated with the Black Death

Nature

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Research paper thumbnail of Exploring stress thresholds through dental enamel defects and skeletal evidence for life history trade-offs in adults

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Research paper thumbnail of A bioarchaeological approach to stress and health in medieval Denmark: dental enamel defects and adult health in two medieval Danish populations

This research engages in a bioarchaeological analysis of two medieval Danish sites using combined... more This research engages in a bioarchaeological analysis of two medieval Danish sites using combined microscopic and macroscopic methods in order to investigate three objectives. The first was to consider the relationship between childhood stress and adult health through the joint consideration of microscopic enamel defects and adult health indicators. Given the context of these populations over a period of history characterized by changing climate and socioeconomic conditions, punctuated by famine and plague, this research also sought to examine temporal patterns in health and stress. Given the increased urbanization over the medieval period, the final objective was to consider health patterns between rural and urban populations. The results showed that the number of stress events did have an impact on later life mortality, and that there was differential expression of this relationship between males and females and between surface and internal enamel defects. A statistically significant decrease in stature was apparent after 1350 A.D. as well as an insignificant increase in tuberculosis and treponema, but an insignificant increase in age at death over time. The inter-site comparison showed higher rates of infectious disease at the rural site of Sejet, with tuberculosis in particular being significantly higher in females at Sejet. Mean age at death was also significantly lower at Sejet for the study sample, but a consideration of the broader cemetery sample showed no significant site differences, suggesting that this might be a sampling phenomenon. These patterns likely reflect the complex nature of the rural and urban interaction during this period, but also emphasize the need for further sampling. This research points to the complex relationship between stress and health and outlines the importance of developing more comprehensive etiological models and operational definitions for identifying stress indicators in dental enamel.

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Research paper thumbnail of Serious Illness and Supernatural Agents: Explanatory Models for Diseases which Defy Explanation

Serious illness which threatens mortality, does not respond to treatment, and has no obvious caus... more Serious illness which threatens mortality, does not respond to treatment, and has no obvious cause, ellicits sensations of fear, bafflement, and helplessness in those who are affected. Through ethnographic case studies, it will be shown that these patterns cross cultural boundaries. At the same time, it will be demonstrated that the explanatory models for such illnesses exist within unique cultural settings. An understanding of the effects of such illnesses on human emotion, combined with a clear view of cultural context, is essential for any examination of these explanatory models.

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Research paper thumbnail of Using LEXT laser-scanning confocal microscopy to identify enamel surface defects in archaeological caribou dentition: A pilot study from Southern Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2018

Dental enamel defects have been used extensively in past human populations to elucidate patterns ... more Dental enamel defects have been used extensively in past human populations to elucidate patterns of health and physiological disruption (often simply referred to as stress). These defects are most commonly assessed through visual examination and used to infer such information as the frequency and age at occurrence of stress events. However, a microscopic approach makes it possible to more consistently identify patterns of growth and growth disruption in greater detail than that possible with traditional macroscopic techniques. Such microscopic studies are being increasingly explored in bioarchaeology, but this area of investigation has not seen extensive application to zooarchaeological material. Consequently, enamel defects in general have not been integrated as heavily in this field. A species of particular importance within the modern context of climate change is the barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus). This species has been a crucial species to the human popu...

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Research paper thumbnail of The Bioarchaeology of Urbanization in Denmark

The medieval period in Denmark saw increasing urbanization with the development of more heavily s... more The medieval period in Denmark saw increasing urbanization with the development of more heavily structured towns focused around market centers. This was influenced by de-population in the mid-fourteenth century leading to socioeconomic and political restructuring. It has been suggested that these changes would have influenced population health, with disparities between rural and urban contexts, although bioarchaeological studies have thus far revealed inconsistent patterns. Using a microscopic approach to examine enamel developmental defects alongside mortality profiles, this research examines population differences in health and stress for urban and rural sites in and around the town of Horsens. The sample encompasses a rural site that went out of use by the mid-fourteenth century (Tirup), another rural site that saw continued use into the sixteenth century (Sejet), and an urban site that was contemporary with Sejet (Ole Wormsgade). The findings suggest site differences in mortalit...

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Research paper thumbnail of A life history approach to stature and body proportions in medieval Danes

Anthropologischer Anzeiger

Developmental plasticity, or the ability of physiological development to change in response to en... more Developmental plasticity, or the ability of physiological development to change in response to environmental pressures (external and internal), results in permanent physiological changes that can shape the later life health experiences of an individual. The timing of non-specific stress in relation to growth and development is critical to this interaction. Dental enamel provides detailed information on the timing of non-specific stress experiences, which may be considered in relation to growth in other physiological systems developing at the same time to elucidate the impact of one on the other. Examples of parallel developing systems include the immune, nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, and digestive systems (Chamley et al. 2005; MacGregor 2008; Bee & Boyd 2010). This research investigates these patterns through the consideration markers of enamel growth disruption known as accentuated striae of Retzius (AS) in relation to stature and body proportions in human skeletal remains. Anthropometrics and dental samples were collected from two medieval Danish cemetery samples. Residuals were calculated using linear regression from stature in the grave and all metrics were considered in relation to a total number of AS for each individual. A life course approach was also taken by considering AS at different stages of crown development in relation to each metric. Results indicate potential associations between AS and skeletal metrics (particularly tibial length and stature). These are most apparent in relation to AS rates in enamel developing from approximately 2 to 4.8 years of age. These results point to the utility of taking a life course approach in which enamel development is considered in relation to patterns of skeletal growth. Certain limitations and the need for further developments are highlighted by the nature of the results.

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Research paper thumbnail of Stressing out in medieval Denmark: An investigation of dental enamel defects and age at death in two medieval Danish cemeteries

International journal of paleopathology, 2017

The influence of early life stress on later life experiences has become a major focus of research... more The influence of early life stress on later life experiences has become a major focus of research in medicine and more recently in bioarchaeology. Dental enamel, which preserves a record of childhood stress events, represents an important resource for this investigation when paired with the information from adult skeletal remains, such as age at death. The purpose of this research was to use a life history approach to the exploration of sex differences in the relationship between childhood stress and adult longevity by examining accentuated striae of Retzius (AS). A medieval Danish sample (n=70) drawn from the rural cemetery of Sejet and the urban cemetery of Ole Wormsgade was considered for AS and age at death. The results suggest sex differences in survivorship, with more stress being associated with reduced survivorship in males and increased survivorship in females. A consideration of AS formation time also suggests a difference in the impact of developmental timing between male...

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Research paper thumbnail of Explorations in LEXT image and profile capture for dental enamel surface morphology

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2016

Abstract Bioarchaeology as a field of study can contribute important insights to our understandin... more Abstract Bioarchaeology as a field of study can contribute important insights to our understanding of how stress-related phenomena experienced in childhood influence later life conditions. One area that is especially effective is looking at the dental enamel surface microstructures reflecting patterns of growth and growth disruption. Since dental enamel grows incrementally, and because it does not remodel once formed, a record of growth disruption (formed during childhood) is preserved for the rest of an individuals' life. Enamel surface defects are commonly observed macroscopically as enamel hypoplasia. However, this method does not capture the smaller defects reflecting a disruption in only a few of the growth lines visible on the tooth surface. Previous approaches to the assessment of these structures have included scanning electron microscopes and polarized light microscopes with photomontaging and z-stacking capacity. This paper presents the application of the Olympus LEXT 3D Laser Measuring Microscope OLS4000 and Olympus LEXT analytical software to capture and examine dental enamel surface microstructures. The use of the LEXT for these purposes is critically assessed, and the strengths and challenges discussed. Recommendations are made for future application of this instrument to bioarchaeological research.

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Research paper thumbnail of Congruence of Methods for Determination of Sex using Real, Virtual and 3-D Printed Specimens

Revive the Past

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Research paper thumbnail of Genetic resiliency and the Black Death: No apparent loss of mitogenomic diversity due to the Black Death in medieval London and Denmark

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

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Research paper thumbnail of Genetic resiliency and the Black Death: no apparent loss of mitogenomic diversity due to the Black Death in Medieval London and Denmark

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2019

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Research paper thumbnail of Stressing out in medieval Denmark: An investigation of dental enamel defects and age at death in two medieval Danish cemeteries

The influence of early life stress on later life experiences has become a major focus of research... more The influence of early life stress on later life experiences has become a major focus of research in medicine and more recently in bioarchaeology. Dental enamel, which preserves a record of childhood stress events, represents an important resource for this investigation when paired with the information from adult skeletal remains, such as age at death. The purpose of this research was to use a life history approach to the exploration of sex differences in the relationship between childhood stress and adult longevity by examining accentuated striae of Retzius (AS). A medieval Danish sample (n = 70) drawn from the rural cemetery of Sejet and the urban cemetery of Ole Wormsgade was considered for AS and age at death. The results suggest sex differences in survivorship, with more stress being associated with reduced survivorship in males and increased survivorship in females. A consideration of AS formation time also suggests a difference in the impact of developmental timing between males and females. These results are interpreted in terms of differential frailty and selective mortality, drawing in both biomedical and cultural perspectives.

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Research paper thumbnail of Explorations in LEXT image and profile capture for dental enamel surface morphology

Bioarchaeology as a field of study can contribute important insights to our understanding of how ... more Bioarchaeology as a field of study can contribute important insights to our understanding of how stress-related phenomena experienced in childhood influence later life conditions. One area that is especially effective is looking at the dental enamel surface microstructures reflecting patterns of growth and growth disruption. Since dental enamel grows incrementally, and because it does not remodel once formed, a record of growth disruption (formed during childhood) is preserved for the rest of an individuals' life. Enamel surface defects are commonly observed macroscopically as enamel hypoplasia. However, this method does not capture the smaller defects reflecting a disruption in only a few of the growth lines visible on the tooth surface. Previous approaches to the assessment of these structures have included scanning electron microscopes and polarized light microscopes with photomontaging and z-stacking capacity. This paper presents the application of the Olympus LEXT 3D Laser Measuring Microscope OLS4000 and Olympus LEXT analytical software to capture and examine dental enamel surface microstructures. The use of the LEXT for these purposes is critically assessed, and the strengths and challenges discussed. Recommendations are made for future application of this instrument to bioarchaeological research

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Research paper thumbnail of A bioarchaeological approach to stress and health in medieval Denmark: Dental enamel defects and adult health in two medieval Danish populations

This research engages in a bioarchaeological analysis of two medieval Danish sites using combined... more This research engages in a bioarchaeological analysis of two medieval Danish sites using combined microscopic and macroscopic methods in order to investigate three objectives. The first was to consider the relationship between childhood stress and adult health through the joint consideration of microscopic enamel defects and adult health indicators. Given the context of these populations over a period of history characterized by changing climate and socioeconomic conditions, punctuated by famine and plague, this research also sought to examine temporal patterns in health and stress. Given the increased urbanization over the medieval period, the final objective was to consider health patterns between rural and urban populations. The results showed that the number of stress events did have an impact on later life mortality, and that there was differential expression of this relationship between males and females and between surface and internal enamel defects. A statistically significant decrease in stature was apparent after 1350 A.D. as well as an insignificant increase in tuberculosis and treponema, but an insignificant increase in age at death over time. The inter-site comparison showed higher rates of infectious disease at the rural site of Sejet, with tuberculosis in particular being significantly higher in females at Sejet. Mean age at death was also significantly lower at Sejet for the study sample, but a consideration of the broader cemetery sample showed no significant site differences, suggesting that this might be a sampling phenomenon. These patterns likely reflect the complex nature of the rural and urban interaction during this period, but also emphasize the need for further sampling. This research points to the complex relationship between stress and health and outlines the importance of developing more comprehensive etiological models and operational definitions for identifying stress indicators in dental enamel.

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Research paper thumbnail of Congruence of Methods for Determination of Sex using Real, Virtual and 3-D Printed Specimens

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD): perspectives from bioarchaeology

Oxford University Press eBooks, Apr 29, 2022

While most data on early-life plasticity originate from longitudinal, epidemiological or anthropo... more While most data on early-life plasticity originate from longitudinal, epidemiological or anthropological studies of living people, bioarchaeology can provide extensive insight into the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) from a deep time perspective. Human remains can yield information across the life course analogous to longitudinal analyses, considered the gold standard for studies of contemporary populations. This chapter reviews the history of DOHaD and provides an overview of how bioarchaeology can contribute to evolutionary medicine within the DOHaD framework. Using specific approaches and case studies, it explores the nature of individual frailty and stress responses as well as the influence of critical windows on growth and development on later-life health, including historical periods of famine, the Industrial Revolution in Europe (characterised by increasing socio-economic inequalities), and ways in which bioarchaeology can be used to examine life course patterns. It examines the nature of population responses to changing environmental conditions and provides a deep time perspective into how these responses have moulded past health experiences. In a world shaped by increasing socio-economic disparities, it demonstrates how the bioarchaeological record can inform our understanding of the social determinants of health. Finally, while critically evaluating both the strengths and limitations of bioarchaeological data for addressing early-life issues, it reveals the significant contributions that can be made to evolutionary medicine through examination of osteological remains from past populations, as well as the relevance of these contributions to current population adaptations.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Advancing sex estimation from amelogenin: Applications to archaeological, deciduous, and fragmentary dental enamel

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2024

A significant limitation of bioarchaeological and forensic research is inaccuracy of sex estimati... more A significant limitation of bioarchaeological and forensic research is inaccuracy of sex estimation techniques for skeletal remains of pre-pubertal individuals. This means that while age estimation is relatively accurate for individuals during growth and development, the inability to estimate sex widens the error ranges of age estimates and has limited the questions that can be asked about cultural and biological sex differences in past populations. From the forensic standpoint, it restricts an examiner’s ability to estimate a key variable without expensive DNA testing. Dental enamel represents one of the hardest biological substances, and so is resilient to post-mortem degradation processes. It is frequently recovered from archaeological and forensic contexts even when other skeletal remains are too degraded for extensive recovery. One of the main proteins in dental enamel, amelogenin, is isomorphic based on sex, since it is coded by the AMELX and AMELY genes on the X- and Y-chromosomes (respectively). Recent work has demonstrated the effectiveness of proteomics in estimating sex based on the amelogenin protein using both modern and archaeological samples. The present research presents a validation study and further methodological development of the use of mass spectrometry-based peptide analysis for sex estimation. It also presents the first large scale study of peptide extraction from naturally produced enamel fragments (in addition to whole teeth), demonstrating the efficacy of enamel fragment use for sex estimation from archaeological human remains. We develop a straightforward and simple pipeline for processing the complex data for non-tryptic peptides in a timely manner, while providing a quantitative measure without the need for expensive commercial tools. Relative intensities of AMELX- and AMELY-unique peptides in individual samples were computed and an Amelogenin Sex Estimation score was derived as the difference of the log2 of these intensities. We validated our approach using samples from both modern individuals with known sex (n = 28) and archaeological individuals with osteologically-estimated sex (n = 40), yielding highly confident sex estimation rate of all samples with AMELX signals recovered, and peptide recovery unsuccessful in only one archaeological instance. This corresponds to a probability > 99 % for consistent assignment. We further analyzed samples from 86 individuals (representing 90 samples) of unknown sex, yielding a highly confident result in 83 individuals. Finally, we validated our method using data from an external study based on a different method and found a full agreement on all tested samples. Our results represent a significant methodological development with implications for archaeological and forensic human remains. Successful isolation of peptides from naturally derived fragments suggests a way forward for ethical practice and conservation, as it involves testing on samples which otherwise would provide little information.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Reply to Barton et al: signatures of natural selection during the Black Death

Bartonet al.1raise several statistical concerns regarding our original analyses2that highlight th... more Bartonet al.1raise several statistical concerns regarding our original analyses2that highlight the challenge of inferring natural selection using ancient genomic data. We show here that these concerns have limited impact on our original conclusions. Specifically, we recover the same signature of enrichment for high FSTvalues at the immune loci relative to putatively neutral sites after switching the allele frequency estimation method to a maximum likelihood approach, filtering to only consider known human variants, and down-sampling our data to the same mean coverage across sites. Furthermore, using permutations, we show that the rs2549794 variant nearERAP2continues to emerge as the strongest candidate for selection (p = 1.2×10−5), falling below the Bonferroni-corrected significance threshold recommended by Bartonet al. Importantly, the evidence for selection onERAP2is further supported by functional data demonstrating the impact of theERAP2genotype on the immune response toY. pesti...

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Research paper thumbnail of Emergence, continuity, and evolution of Yersinia pestis throughout medieval and early modern Denmark

Current Biology

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Research paper thumbnail of Evolution of immune genes is associated with the Black Death

Nature

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring stress thresholds through dental enamel defects and skeletal evidence for life history trade-offs in adults

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of A bioarchaeological approach to stress and health in medieval Denmark: dental enamel defects and adult health in two medieval Danish populations

This research engages in a bioarchaeological analysis of two medieval Danish sites using combined... more This research engages in a bioarchaeological analysis of two medieval Danish sites using combined microscopic and macroscopic methods in order to investigate three objectives. The first was to consider the relationship between childhood stress and adult health through the joint consideration of microscopic enamel defects and adult health indicators. Given the context of these populations over a period of history characterized by changing climate and socioeconomic conditions, punctuated by famine and plague, this research also sought to examine temporal patterns in health and stress. Given the increased urbanization over the medieval period, the final objective was to consider health patterns between rural and urban populations. The results showed that the number of stress events did have an impact on later life mortality, and that there was differential expression of this relationship between males and females and between surface and internal enamel defects. A statistically significant decrease in stature was apparent after 1350 A.D. as well as an insignificant increase in tuberculosis and treponema, but an insignificant increase in age at death over time. The inter-site comparison showed higher rates of infectious disease at the rural site of Sejet, with tuberculosis in particular being significantly higher in females at Sejet. Mean age at death was also significantly lower at Sejet for the study sample, but a consideration of the broader cemetery sample showed no significant site differences, suggesting that this might be a sampling phenomenon. These patterns likely reflect the complex nature of the rural and urban interaction during this period, but also emphasize the need for further sampling. This research points to the complex relationship between stress and health and outlines the importance of developing more comprehensive etiological models and operational definitions for identifying stress indicators in dental enamel.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Serious Illness and Supernatural Agents: Explanatory Models for Diseases which Defy Explanation

Serious illness which threatens mortality, does not respond to treatment, and has no obvious caus... more Serious illness which threatens mortality, does not respond to treatment, and has no obvious cause, ellicits sensations of fear, bafflement, and helplessness in those who are affected. Through ethnographic case studies, it will be shown that these patterns cross cultural boundaries. At the same time, it will be demonstrated that the explanatory models for such illnesses exist within unique cultural settings. An understanding of the effects of such illnesses on human emotion, combined with a clear view of cultural context, is essential for any examination of these explanatory models.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Using LEXT laser-scanning confocal microscopy to identify enamel surface defects in archaeological caribou dentition: A pilot study from Southern Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2018

Dental enamel defects have been used extensively in past human populations to elucidate patterns ... more Dental enamel defects have been used extensively in past human populations to elucidate patterns of health and physiological disruption (often simply referred to as stress). These defects are most commonly assessed through visual examination and used to infer such information as the frequency and age at occurrence of stress events. However, a microscopic approach makes it possible to more consistently identify patterns of growth and growth disruption in greater detail than that possible with traditional macroscopic techniques. Such microscopic studies are being increasingly explored in bioarchaeology, but this area of investigation has not seen extensive application to zooarchaeological material. Consequently, enamel defects in general have not been integrated as heavily in this field. A species of particular importance within the modern context of climate change is the barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus). This species has been a crucial species to the human popu...

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of The Bioarchaeology of Urbanization in Denmark

The medieval period in Denmark saw increasing urbanization with the development of more heavily s... more The medieval period in Denmark saw increasing urbanization with the development of more heavily structured towns focused around market centers. This was influenced by de-population in the mid-fourteenth century leading to socioeconomic and political restructuring. It has been suggested that these changes would have influenced population health, with disparities between rural and urban contexts, although bioarchaeological studies have thus far revealed inconsistent patterns. Using a microscopic approach to examine enamel developmental defects alongside mortality profiles, this research examines population differences in health and stress for urban and rural sites in and around the town of Horsens. The sample encompasses a rural site that went out of use by the mid-fourteenth century (Tirup), another rural site that saw continued use into the sixteenth century (Sejet), and an urban site that was contemporary with Sejet (Ole Wormsgade). The findings suggest site differences in mortalit...

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Research paper thumbnail of A life history approach to stature and body proportions in medieval Danes

Anthropologischer Anzeiger

Developmental plasticity, or the ability of physiological development to change in response to en... more Developmental plasticity, or the ability of physiological development to change in response to environmental pressures (external and internal), results in permanent physiological changes that can shape the later life health experiences of an individual. The timing of non-specific stress in relation to growth and development is critical to this interaction. Dental enamel provides detailed information on the timing of non-specific stress experiences, which may be considered in relation to growth in other physiological systems developing at the same time to elucidate the impact of one on the other. Examples of parallel developing systems include the immune, nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, and digestive systems (Chamley et al. 2005; MacGregor 2008; Bee & Boyd 2010). This research investigates these patterns through the consideration markers of enamel growth disruption known as accentuated striae of Retzius (AS) in relation to stature and body proportions in human skeletal remains. Anthropometrics and dental samples were collected from two medieval Danish cemetery samples. Residuals were calculated using linear regression from stature in the grave and all metrics were considered in relation to a total number of AS for each individual. A life course approach was also taken by considering AS at different stages of crown development in relation to each metric. Results indicate potential associations between AS and skeletal metrics (particularly tibial length and stature). These are most apparent in relation to AS rates in enamel developing from approximately 2 to 4.8 years of age. These results point to the utility of taking a life course approach in which enamel development is considered in relation to patterns of skeletal growth. Certain limitations and the need for further developments are highlighted by the nature of the results.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Stressing out in medieval Denmark: An investigation of dental enamel defects and age at death in two medieval Danish cemeteries

International journal of paleopathology, 2017

The influence of early life stress on later life experiences has become a major focus of research... more The influence of early life stress on later life experiences has become a major focus of research in medicine and more recently in bioarchaeology. Dental enamel, which preserves a record of childhood stress events, represents an important resource for this investigation when paired with the information from adult skeletal remains, such as age at death. The purpose of this research was to use a life history approach to the exploration of sex differences in the relationship between childhood stress and adult longevity by examining accentuated striae of Retzius (AS). A medieval Danish sample (n=70) drawn from the rural cemetery of Sejet and the urban cemetery of Ole Wormsgade was considered for AS and age at death. The results suggest sex differences in survivorship, with more stress being associated with reduced survivorship in males and increased survivorship in females. A consideration of AS formation time also suggests a difference in the impact of developmental timing between male...

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Explorations in LEXT image and profile capture for dental enamel surface morphology

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2016

Abstract Bioarchaeology as a field of study can contribute important insights to our understandin... more Abstract Bioarchaeology as a field of study can contribute important insights to our understanding of how stress-related phenomena experienced in childhood influence later life conditions. One area that is especially effective is looking at the dental enamel surface microstructures reflecting patterns of growth and growth disruption. Since dental enamel grows incrementally, and because it does not remodel once formed, a record of growth disruption (formed during childhood) is preserved for the rest of an individuals' life. Enamel surface defects are commonly observed macroscopically as enamel hypoplasia. However, this method does not capture the smaller defects reflecting a disruption in only a few of the growth lines visible on the tooth surface. Previous approaches to the assessment of these structures have included scanning electron microscopes and polarized light microscopes with photomontaging and z-stacking capacity. This paper presents the application of the Olympus LEXT 3D Laser Measuring Microscope OLS4000 and Olympus LEXT analytical software to capture and examine dental enamel surface microstructures. The use of the LEXT for these purposes is critically assessed, and the strengths and challenges discussed. Recommendations are made for future application of this instrument to bioarchaeological research.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Congruence of Methods for Determination of Sex using Real, Virtual and 3-D Printed Specimens

Revive the Past

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Genetic resiliency and the Black Death: No apparent loss of mitogenomic diversity due to the Black Death in medieval London and Denmark

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Genetic resiliency and the Black Death: no apparent loss of mitogenomic diversity due to the Black Death in Medieval London and Denmark

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2019

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Stressing out in medieval Denmark: An investigation of dental enamel defects and age at death in two medieval Danish cemeteries

The influence of early life stress on later life experiences has become a major focus of research... more The influence of early life stress on later life experiences has become a major focus of research in medicine and more recently in bioarchaeology. Dental enamel, which preserves a record of childhood stress events, represents an important resource for this investigation when paired with the information from adult skeletal remains, such as age at death. The purpose of this research was to use a life history approach to the exploration of sex differences in the relationship between childhood stress and adult longevity by examining accentuated striae of Retzius (AS). A medieval Danish sample (n = 70) drawn from the rural cemetery of Sejet and the urban cemetery of Ole Wormsgade was considered for AS and age at death. The results suggest sex differences in survivorship, with more stress being associated with reduced survivorship in males and increased survivorship in females. A consideration of AS formation time also suggests a difference in the impact of developmental timing between males and females. These results are interpreted in terms of differential frailty and selective mortality, drawing in both biomedical and cultural perspectives.

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Research paper thumbnail of Explorations in LEXT image and profile capture for dental enamel surface morphology

Bioarchaeology as a field of study can contribute important insights to our understanding of how ... more Bioarchaeology as a field of study can contribute important insights to our understanding of how stress-related phenomena experienced in childhood influence later life conditions. One area that is especially effective is looking at the dental enamel surface microstructures reflecting patterns of growth and growth disruption. Since dental enamel grows incrementally, and because it does not remodel once formed, a record of growth disruption (formed during childhood) is preserved for the rest of an individuals' life. Enamel surface defects are commonly observed macroscopically as enamel hypoplasia. However, this method does not capture the smaller defects reflecting a disruption in only a few of the growth lines visible on the tooth surface. Previous approaches to the assessment of these structures have included scanning electron microscopes and polarized light microscopes with photomontaging and z-stacking capacity. This paper presents the application of the Olympus LEXT 3D Laser Measuring Microscope OLS4000 and Olympus LEXT analytical software to capture and examine dental enamel surface microstructures. The use of the LEXT for these purposes is critically assessed, and the strengths and challenges discussed. Recommendations are made for future application of this instrument to bioarchaeological research

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Research paper thumbnail of A bioarchaeological approach to stress and health in medieval Denmark: Dental enamel defects and adult health in two medieval Danish populations

This research engages in a bioarchaeological analysis of two medieval Danish sites using combined... more This research engages in a bioarchaeological analysis of two medieval Danish sites using combined microscopic and macroscopic methods in order to investigate three objectives. The first was to consider the relationship between childhood stress and adult health through the joint consideration of microscopic enamel defects and adult health indicators. Given the context of these populations over a period of history characterized by changing climate and socioeconomic conditions, punctuated by famine and plague, this research also sought to examine temporal patterns in health and stress. Given the increased urbanization over the medieval period, the final objective was to consider health patterns between rural and urban populations. The results showed that the number of stress events did have an impact on later life mortality, and that there was differential expression of this relationship between males and females and between surface and internal enamel defects. A statistically significant decrease in stature was apparent after 1350 A.D. as well as an insignificant increase in tuberculosis and treponema, but an insignificant increase in age at death over time. The inter-site comparison showed higher rates of infectious disease at the rural site of Sejet, with tuberculosis in particular being significantly higher in females at Sejet. Mean age at death was also significantly lower at Sejet for the study sample, but a consideration of the broader cemetery sample showed no significant site differences, suggesting that this might be a sampling phenomenon. These patterns likely reflect the complex nature of the rural and urban interaction during this period, but also emphasize the need for further sampling. This research points to the complex relationship between stress and health and outlines the importance of developing more comprehensive etiological models and operational definitions for identifying stress indicators in dental enamel.

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Research paper thumbnail of Congruence of Methods for Determination of Sex using Real, Virtual and 3-D Printed Specimens

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Research paper thumbnail of Human Population Biology

This course will involve the intensive study of the evolutionary implications of genetic variatio... more This course will involve the intensive study of the evolutionary implications of genetic variation within/between human populations in relationship to ecological and cultural variation. It will take a biocultural and evolutionary approach to the investigation of these patterns and will investigate questions relating to human biological variation on a population level. Evolutionary theory and genetic advances will be considered in relation to climatic adaptation, nutrition, energetics, disease, and stress adaptation. We will explore unique patterns in the human life cycle and in human growth and aging. We will further examine demographic patterns as they exist in the world today and as they might inform the future of human population biology.

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Research paper thumbnail of ANTH 2560 Anthropology of Illness

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Research paper thumbnail of ANTH 2880 Human Evolution

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Research paper thumbnail of ANTH 3720 Demography of Past Populations

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Research paper thumbnail of ANTH 2860 Evolution and Human Variation

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Research paper thumbnail of ANTH 2820 Human Osteology

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Research paper thumbnail of ANTH 1210 Human Origins and Antiquity

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Research paper thumbnail of Morbidity, Mortality and Mobility in Medieval Denmark: Linking Osteological and Stable Isotopic Interpretations.

Gamble J, Gough H, Boldsen J, Fayek M, Hoppa RD. 2014. Paper presented at the 41st Annual Meetin... more Gamble J, Gough H, Boldsen J, Fayek M, Hoppa RD. 2014. Paper presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Paleopathology Association. Calgary, Alberta.

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Research paper thumbnail of The impact of childhood health on later life through the assessment of dental enamel defects and skeletal pathology in Medieval Denmark. Paper presented at the 18th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists as part of the 5th Medieval Europe Conference. Helsinki, Finland (2012)

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Research paper thumbnail of Patterns in Health Spanning the Late Medieval Agrarian Crisis in Two Danish Cemetery Samples. Poster presented at the 18th Congress of The European Anthropological Association: Human Evolution and Dispersals. Ankara, Turkey (2012)

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Research paper thumbnail of Gamble J and Hoppa R. Vertebral Neural Canal Dimensions and Adult Health in Two Medieval Danish Populations. Paper presented at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Paleopathology Association. Portland, Oregon (April 2012)

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Research paper thumbnail of Gough H and Gamble J. 3D imaging: enhanced record preservation of archaeological dental remains and a potential tool for otherwise complex dental measurements. Podium Presentation at the 40th Annual Conference for the Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology, Montreal, Canada (October 2011)

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Research paper thumbnail of Gamble J and Hoppa RD. Vertebral Neural Canal Dimensions and Longevity in Two Medieval Danish Populations. Poster Presentation at the 40th Annual Conference for the Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology, Montreal, Canada (October 2011)

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Research paper thumbnail of An Investigation of The Relationship between childhood stress and adult health through the investigation of dental enamel microstructures. Presentation at the Manitoba Anthropology Conference, Winnipeg, Canada (April 2011)

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