Osseous Frame Index calculations of the early medieval South-West Germany (original) (raw)
Related papers
Body Mass and Body Mass Index estimation in medieval Switzerland
Bulletin der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Anthropologie 17(1–2): 35–44 (2011)
Body mass (BM) and furthermore body mass index (BMI) are well-known proxies used in medicine as a diagnostic tool to identify weight problems, health risks, and to assess biological standards of living within populations. The prediction of body mass (BM) from skeletal material is still challenging, although many studies have indicated that BM can be estimated from human skeletal remains and results have been acquired from early hominines. The present paper applies BM estimation formulae (Auerbach and Ruff 2004, Grine et al. 1995, McHenry 1992, Ruff et al. 1991) to skeletal populations from Switzerland (5th–15th c. AD; 291 males, 221 females) with the aim to reconstruct the BM and the BMI within a specific geographical and temporal setting. Correlation between the robusticity of the lower limbs in terms of external bone dimensions with BM and BMI were tested. Parameters such as sex and age were considered. The method of Auerbach and Ruff (2004) offered the most reliable results. The mean body weight and the BMI for males was estimated 71.7 kg (s.d. 6.4) and 26.0 (s.d. 2.3), and for females 59.0 kg (s.d. 5.5) and 24.8 (s.d. 2.3) respectively. External bone dimension were highly correlated to body weight in males and females suggesting the strong correlation between biomechanical loading and long bone shape and size. The BMI was slightly increasing from adult to mature and slightly diminishing afterwards.
Body mass and body mass estimation in medieval Switzerland
Body mass (BM) and furthermore body mass index (BMI) are well-known proxies used in medicine as a diagnostic tool to identify weight problems, health risks, and to assess biological standards of living within populations. The prediction of body mass (BM) from skeletal material is still challenging, although many studies have indicated that BM can be estimated from human skeletal remains and results have been acquired from early hominines. The present paper applies BM estimation formulae (Auerbach and Ruff 2004, Grine et al. 1995, McHenry 1992, Ruff et al. 1991) to skeletal populations from Switzerland (5th–15th c. AD; 291 males, 221 females) with the aim to reconstruct the BM and the BMI within a specific geographical and temporal setting. Correlation between the robusticity of the lower limbs in terms of external bone dimensions with BM and BMI were tested. Parameters such as sex and age were considered. The method of Auerbach and Ruff (2004) offered the most reliable results. The mean body weight and the BMI for males was estimated 71.7 kg (s.d. 6.4) and 26.0 (s.d. 2.3), and for females 59.0 kg (s.d. 5.5) and 24.8 (s.d. 2.3) respectively. External bone dimension were highly correlated to body weight in males and females suggesting the strong correlation between biomechanical loading and long bone shape and size. The BMI was slightly increasing from adult to mature and slightly diminishing afterwards.
Frail or hale: Skeletal frailty indices in Medieval London skeletons
To broaden bioarchaeological applicability of skeletal frailty indices (SFIs) and increase sample size, we propose indices with fewer biomarkers (2–11 non-metric biomarkers) and compare these reduced biomarker SFIs to the original metric/non-metric 13-biomarker SFI. From the 2-11-biomarker SFIs, we choose the index with the fewest biomarkers (6-biomarker SFI), which still maintains the statistical robusticity of a 13-biomarker SFI, and apply this index to the same Medieval monastic and nonmonastic populations, albeit with an increased sample size. For this increased monastic and nonmonastic sample, we also propose and implement a 4-biomarker SFI, comprised of biomarkers from each of four stressor categories, and compare these SFI distributions with those of the non-metric biomarker SFIs. From the Museum of London WORD database, we tabulate multiple SFIs (2- to 13-biomarkers) for Medieval monastic and nonmonastic samples (N = 134). We evaluate associations between these ten non-metric SFIs and the 13-biomarker SFI using Spearman’s correlation coefficients. Subsequently, we test non-metric 6-biomarker and 4-biomarker SFI distributions for associations with cemetery, age, and sex using Analysis of Variance/Covariance (ANOVA/ANCOVA) on larger samples from the monastic and nonmonastic cemeteries (N = 517). For Medieval samples, Spearman’s correlation coefficients show a significant association between the 13-biomarker SFI and all non-metric SFIs. Utilizing a 6-biomarker and parsimonious 4-biomarker SFI, we increase the nonmonastic and monastic samples and demonstrate significant lifestyle and sex differences in frailty that were not observed in the original, smaller sample. Results from the 6-biomarker and parsimonious 4-biomarker SFIs generally indicate similarities in means, explained variation (R2), and associated P-values (ANOVA/ANCOVA) within and between nonmonastic and monastic samples. We show that non-metric reduced biomarker SFIs provide alternative indices for application to other bioarchaeological collections. These findings suggest that a SFI, comprised of six or more non-metric biomarkers available for the specific sample, may have greater applicability than, but comparable statistical characteristics to, the originally proposed 13-biomarker SFI.
SKELETAL HEALTH OF LATE NEOLITHIC POPULATIONS FROM BOHEMIA
Anthropologie XLVII/3, 2009
We studied pathologies of the skeletal remains from 5 Czech burial-grounds dated into late Neolithic - Corded Ware Culture and Bell Beaker Culture, namely Vikletice, Radovesice, Čachovice, Kněževes and Brandýsek. The whole collection consisted of 257 individuals. Our main goal was to document the occurrence of pathologies of these populations in the Bohemia territory. Then we compared body size and shape of late Neolithic with early Neolithic populations (Linear Pottery Culture). Our hypothesis was that these parameters would differ in these two Neolithic periods. Our next hypothesis was that the health status of two studied cultures (CWC and BBC) had not differed and that there would not be significant difference in their Health Indexes, body size and shape. Firstly we determined basic paleodemographic data as sex, age at death, stature, weight and BMI. Then we macroscopically evaluated skeletal material looking for pathologies as anemia, infections, degenerative joint diseases, dental health, trauma and tumors. As the last thing we calculated Health Index described and used to determine skeletal health by Richard H. Steckel et al. (2002b) for the American populations from 4000 BC. We identified several types of pathologies: hypoplasia, intravital tooth loss, caries, abscesses, cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis, osteoperiostitis/osteomyelitis, traumas as fractures, cut and stab injuries, trephinations and tumors. The Health Index value was 79.87 for this late Neolithic period populations. According to our research, body size of late Neolithic populations changed in comparison with the early Neolithic populations. We did not prove significant differences between Corded Ware and Bell Beaker Culture in body size nor health status.
Topoi-an International Review of Philosophy, 2019
The research project LiVES (living conditions and biological standard of living in prehistoric Europe and South West Asia), funded by the Emmy-Noether-Programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and running from 2011 to 2019, focused - among other things - on the relationship between protein-intake and body height in prehistoric humans as a possible proxy for health and diet 1 . In order to obtain a sufficient amount of data relating to prehistoric body heights within the project’s timespan, which could then be correlated with relevant environmental, chronological and socio-historic variables, it was necessary to acquire and convert datasets from two already existing data collections: the Mainzer Lochkartenarchiv fur prahistorische und historische Anthropologie (Mainz punch card archive for prehistoric and historic anthropology) and the Geneva- based Anthropological Data Acquisition and Management (ADAM); they were eventually integrated with a new and regularly updated online ...
Stress and frailty in Medieval Prussia: Interpretations from skeletal remains at Bezławki
2018
Health is routinely studied in living populations using quantifiable measurements such as allostatic load and frailty. In recent years, particularly since the introduction of the osteological paradox, there has been increased interest among bioarchaeologists in how these concepts can be applied to the study of health in past populations. Although health is not directly observable in skeletal remains, assessment of frailty can be useful for understanding the implications of long-term exposures to stress on well-being and mortality. This study builds upon past research in this area by incorporating commonly observed indicators of physiological stress, such as dental disease and osteoarthritis, into a cumulative index that can be used to assess frailty in archaeological populations. A sample of 37 individuals (males, n=15; females, n=16; indet., n=6) between the ages of approximately 14 and 65 years from the Late Medieval site of Bezławki in northeastern Poland, were examined for evidence of 13 biomarkers of physiological stress related to nutritional deficiencies, growth disruption, infection, and trauma. These categories were chosen based on their potential to affect the lifestyles of individuals in the past and present. Following examination, each individual was assigned a frailty score, which was then compared across groups within the population. While results indicate no statistically vi TABLE OF CONTENTS
Stature and body mass estimation from skeletal remains in the European Holocene
American journal of …, 2012
Techniques that are currently available for estimating stature and body mass from European skeletal remains are all subject to various limitations. Here, we develop new prediction equations based on large skeletal samples representing much of the continent and temporal periods ranging from the Mesolithic to the 20th century. Anatomical reconstruction of stature is carried out for 501 individuals, and body mass is calculated from estimated stature and biiliac breadth in 1,145 individuals. These data are used to derive stature estimation formulae based on long bone in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).