Mobility in Ancient Egypt from the shape and strength of the femurs (original) (raw)
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Cross-sectional analysis of long bones in a sample of ancient Egyptians
The Egyptian Journal of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, 2015
Background: As diaphyseal shape is predominantly influenced by mechanical loading history, long bone cross-sections can be used to access activity patterns. The aim of this study was to evaluate long bone cross-sectional properties in a sample of ancient Egyptians from two socioeconomic classes with different habitual activities. Material and methods: The material of the present study consisted of 174 skeletons, 71 Workers and 103 High Officials. Measurements of cross-sectional properties from CT images were taken for humerus, femur, and tibia. Cross-sectional images were obtained in the transverse plane of each bone, perpendicular to both coronal and sagittal planes. Results: Cross-sectional thickness and cortical areas of long bones were higher in male Workers than in male High Officials; the differences were significant in anterior thickness of the femur and total cross-sectional areas of both humerus and tibia, and the cortical area of the tibia. Moreover, female Workers had significantly higher values of humeral medullary area and femoral total and cortical areas than High Officials. Conclusions: Workers had higher level of skeletal robusticity than High Officials which could reflect their higher levels of mobility and physical workload. The study suggests that different activity patterns can significantly affect the bone structure.
An Exploration of Adult Body Shape and Limb Proportions at Kellis 2, Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt
American Journal of Physical Anthropology 153(3): 496-505., 2014
Several studies have shown that the human body generally conforms to the ecogeographical expectations of Bergmann's and Allen's rules; however, recent evidence suggests that these expectations may not hold completely for some populations. Egypt is located at the crossroads of Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Europe, and the Near East, and gene flow among groups in these regions may confound ecogeographical patterning. In this study, we test the fit of the adult physique of a large sample (N = 163) of females and males from the Kellis 2 cemetery (Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt) against ecogeographical predictions. Body shape (i.e., body mass relative to stature) was assessed by the femur head diameter to bicondylar femur length index (FHD/BFL), and brachial and crural indices were calculated to examine intralimb proportions. Body shape in the Kellis 2 sample is not significantly different from high-latitude groups and a Lower Nubian sample, and intralimb proportions are not significantly different from mid-latitude and other low-latitude groups. This study demonstrates the potential uniqueness of body shape and intralimb proportions in an ancient Egyptian sample, and further highlights the complex relationship between ecogeographic patterning and adaptation. Am J Phys Anthropol 153:496–505, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A diachronic examination of biomechanical changes in skeletal remains from Tombos in ancient Nubia
Homo : internationale Zeitschrift fur die vergleichende Forschung am Menschen, 2018
Using morphometric assessment, we diachronically analyse mechanical stress and limb function at the Tombos (modern Sudan) archaeological site through time and changing socioeconomic circumstances. Based on previous research, we expect that during the Third Intermediate/Napatan (c. 1070-656 BCE) people were larger and more physically active than in the New Kingdom (∼1400-1070 BCE). On the appendicular skeleton of adults 57 measurements were obtained on individuals from 67 discrete burials and 370 commingled skeletal elements. These raw measurements were analysed statistically. Individuals from the discrete burials were used to calculate body mass and estimate mechanical behaviour (torsional and bending rigidity of long bones) modeled using beam theory across several bones of the upper and lower limbs. Body mass estimates for both sexes show people during the Third Intermediate/Napatan period were statistically significantly larger. On the upper limb for both sexes, variation reflects...
Mobility in Central European Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age: Femoral cross-sectional geometry
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2006
Some scholars explain the absence of settlements in the Bohemian and Moravian Late Eneolithic (Corded Ware archaeological culture) as a consequence of pastoral subsistence with a high degree of mobility. However, recent archaeological studies argued that the archaeological record of the Late Eneolithic in Central Europe exhibits evidence for sedentary subsistence with mixed agriculture, similar to the subsequent Early Bronze Age. Because the archaeological data do not allow us to address unambiguously the mobility pattern in these periods, we used cross-sectional analysis of the femoral midshaft to test mobility directly on the human skeletal record. The results of femoral midshaft geometry do not support a high degree of mobility in the Late Eneolithic in Central Europe. This conclusion is supported mainly by no significant differences in male groups between the Late Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age in mechanical robusticity and shape of the femoral midshaft,
2021
Inferences in bioarchaeology and forensic contexts require mathematical stature estimation using long bone lengths. This study is in hand to identify predictors of femur length (FL) from epiphyseal and diaphysial width measurements that are not bound to assumptions of sex or laterality. Both standard and new measurements around dominant foramen nutricium (NF) were collected on modern femora (n=64) from Alexandria university unidentified skeletal Collection to compute linear regression models. Four equations were then validated on Ancient Egyptian sample (n=73) from Goldman’s Osteometric dataset to evaluate effect of sex subdivision on the prediction accuracy of FL and indirect stature estimation using Raxter’s formulae. Most of models reflected significant positive association r\u3e0.60) between width variables and FL. Oddly, the distance from proximal end to NF correlated weakly with FL (r=0.34). The stepwise selected equations preferred measurements around NF to midshaft where the...
"This study investigates the relationships between lower limb robusticity and mobility in a Neolithic sample (LIG) from Italy (6th millennium BP). This study tests the hypothesis that the high femoral robusticity previously observed in the LIG sample is a consequence of the subsistence strategy (i.e., high mobility on uneven terrain) practiced by LIG. Cross-sectional geometric properties of the femur and tibia at midshaft of LIG (eight males and eight females) were collected and results compared to Late Upper Paleolithic (12 males, five females), Mesolithic (24 males, 8 females), and Eneolithic (28 males, 17 females) samples from other sites throughout Europe. The results show that the LIG sample does not show the reduction of lower limb robusticity that is characteristic of the Eneolithic sample, but rather that the LIG sample is most similar to the earlier, highly mobile, populations. This high level of robusticity in the LIG sample could reflect both their pastoral subsistence strategy combined with a rugged environment, as well as their earlier temporal position within the Neolithic. The results of this study further point to significant variation in male-female mobility patterns in the region, also possibly related to pastoral behavioral patterns."
Human Biology, 2020
Inferences in bioarchaeology and forensic contexts require mathematical stature estimation using long bone lengths. This study is in hand to identify predictors of femur length (FL) from epiphyseal and diaphysial width measurements that are not bound to assumptions of sex or laterality. Both standard and new measurements around dominant foramen nutricium (NF) were collected on modern femora (n=64) from Alexandria university unidentified skeletal Collection to compute linear regression models. Four equations were then validated on Ancient Egyptian sample (n=73) from Goldman's Osteometric dataset to evaluate effect of sex subdivision on the prediction accuracy of FL and indirect stature estimation using Raxter's formulae. Most of models reflected significant positive association r>0.
Homo : internationale Zeitschrift fur die vergleichende Forschung am Menschen, 2014
Urbanization at Tell Brak began in the late 5th millennium BCE and the site reached its maximum size in the Late Chalcolithic (LC) 3, ca. 3900-3600 BCE. During that time, a large midden was formed at the edge of the early city, now known as Tell Majnuna. Rescue excavations at Tell Majnuna revealed several clusters of commingled human remains and a cemetery on the top. Several human skeletons dated to the LC 3 and Early Bronze Age (EBA) were found also at Tell Brak itself and it was possible to investigate differences in cross-sectional femoral and tibial shaft shapes between LC 3 and EBA to test the hypothesis that rapid and extensive urbanization in the LC 3 induced increase in mobility. External midshaft and subtrochanteric measurements of at least 152 femora and measurements of 55 tibiae at the nutrient foramen were taken to investigate the differences in the level of terrestrial mobility between four LC 3 and one EBA chronological subsets. Also the correlation was examined betwe...
Variation in Ancient Egyptian Stature & Body Proportions
Stature and the pattern of body proportions were investigated in a series of six time-successive Egyptian populations in order to investigate the biological effects on human growth of the development and intensification of agriculture, and the formation of state-level social organization. Univariate analyses of variance were performed to assess differences between the sexes and among various time periods. Significant differences were found both in stature and in raw long bone length measurements between the early semipastoral population and the later intensive agricultural population. The size differences were greater in males than in females. This dis-parity is suggested to be due to greater male response to poor nutrition in the earlier populations, and with the increasing development of social hierarchy, males were being provisioned preferentially over females. Little change in body shape was found through time, suggesting that all body segments were varying in size in response to environmental and social conditions. The change found in body plan is suggested to be the result of the later groups having a more tropical (Nilotic) form than the preceding populations. Am
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2008
Trotter and Gleser's (Trotter and Gleser: Am J Phys Anthropol 10 (1952) 469–514; Trotter and Gleser: Am J Phys Anthropol 16 (1958) 79–123) long bone formulae for US Blacks or derivations thereof (Robins and Shute: Hum Evol 1 (1986) 313–324) have been previously used to estimate the stature of ancient Egyptians. However, limb length to stature proportions differ between human populations; consequently, the most accurate mathematical stature estimates will be obtained when the population being examined is as similar as possible in proportions to the population used to create the equations. The purpose of this study was to create new stature regression formulae based on direct reconstructions of stature in ancient Egyptians and assess their accuracy in comparison to other stature estimation methods. We also compare Egyptian body proportions to those of modern American Blacks and Whites. Living stature estimates were derived using a revised Fully anatomical method (Raxter et al.: Am J Phys Anthropol 130 (2006) 374–384). Long bone stature regression equations were then derived for each sex. Our results confirm that, although ancient Egyptians are closer in body proportion to modern American Blacks than they are to American Whites, proportions in Blacks and Egyptians are not identical. The newly generated Egyptian-based stature regression formulae have standard errors of estimate of 1.9–4.2 cm. All mean directional differences are less than 0.4% compared to anatomically estimated stature, while results using previous formulae are more variable, with mean directional biases varying between 0.2% and 1.1%, tibial and radial estimates being the most biased. There is no evidence for significant variation in proportions among temporal or social groupings; thus, the new formulae may be broadly applicable to ancient Egyptian remains. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.