Rib fractures can affect morbidity and mortality in elderly individuals and the risk of their occ... more Rib fractures can affect morbidity and mortality in elderly individuals and the risk of their occurrence increases significantly with age. Clinical diagnoses of bone fragility often fail to measure the contribution of poor bone quality. An inefficient remodeling process in aging individuals results in disrepair of microfractures, allowing their accumulation to reach harmful levels. While it is established that microfractures contribute to catastrophic bone failure, it is unknown to what extent they exist in human ribs and their role in determining bone quality. Additionally, the loads habitually applied to the rib during respiration are difficult to determine and therefore absent from many discussions on adaptive responses to loading. The objective of this research is to explore individual variation in microfractures which accumulate in vivo in elderly ribs. Samples from sixth rib pairs were removed from ten elderly cadavers, stained en bloc in Basic Fuchsin Hydrochloride, and trans...
Accurate stature estimation from skeletal remains can foster useful information on health and mic... more Accurate stature estimation from skeletal remains can foster useful information on health and microevolutionary trends in past human populations. Stature can be estimated through the anatomical method and regression equations. The anatomical method (Fully: Ann Med Leg 36 [1956] 266–273; Raxter et al.: Am J Phys Anthropol 130 [2006] 374–384) is preferable because it takes into account total skeletal height and thus provides more accurate estimates, but it cannot be applied to incomplete remains. In such circumstances, regression equations allow estimates of living stature from the length of one or few skeletal elements. However, the accuracy of stature estimates from regression equations depends on similarity in body proportions between the population under examination and those used to calibrate the equations. Since genetic affinity and body proportions similarity are not always clearly known in bioarcheological populations, the criteria forselection of appropriate formulae are not ...
... However, with respect to ancestry, postcranial differences are largely nonexistent. ... Trait... more ... However, with respect to ancestry, postcranial differences are largely nonexistent. ... Traits commonly used to estimate sex in adults in metric analyses have not yet been determined in juveniles. 3.2. Morphological Ancestry Estimation in Adults As reviewed by St. ...
Most macroscopic skeletal aging techniques used by forensic anthropologists have been developed a... more Most macroscopic skeletal aging techniques used by forensic anthropologists have been developed and tested only on reference material from western populations. This study examined the performance of six aging techniques on a known age sample of 88 Southeast Asian individuals. Methods examined included the Suchey-Brooks method of aging the symphyseal face of the os pubis (Brooks and Suchey 1990), Buckberry and Chamberlain’s (2002) and Osborne et al.’s (2004) revisions of the Lovejoy et al. (1985) method of aging the auricular surface of the ilium, İşcan et al.’s (1984, 1985) method of aging the sternal end of the fourth rib, and Meindl and Lovejoy’s (1985) methods for aging both lateral-anterior and vault sutures on the cranium. The results of this study indicate that application of aging techniques commonly used in forensic anthropology to individuals identified as Asian, and more specifically Southeast Asian, should not be undertaken injudiciously. Of the six individual methods tested here, the Suchey-Brooks pubic symphysis aging method performs best, though average age estimates were still off by nearly 10 years or greater. Methods for aging the auricular surface perform next best, though the Osborne et al. method works better for individuals below 50 years and the Buckberry and Chamberlain method works better for those above 50 years. Methods for age estimation from the sternal ends of the fourth rib and vault and lateral-anterior cranial sutures perform poorly and are not recommended for use on remains of Southeast Asian ancestry. Combining age estimates from multiple indicators, specifically the pubic symphysis and one auricular surface method, was superior to individual methods. Data and a worked example are provided for calculating the conditional probability that an individual belongs to a particular age decade, though overall age estimates may still be broad.
The phenotypic expression of adult body size and shape results from synergistic interactions betw... more The phenotypic expression of adult body size and shape results from synergistic interactions between hereditary factors and environmental conditions experienced during growth. Variation in body size and shape occurs even in genetically relatively homogeneous groups, due to different occurrence, duration, and timing of growth insults. Understanding the causes and patterns of intrapopulation variation can foster meaningful informa- tion on early life conditions in living and past populations. This study assesses the pattern of biological variation in body size and shape attributable to sex and social status in a medieval Italian population. The sample includes 52 (20 female, 32 male) adult individuals from the medieval popu- lation of Trino Vercellese, Italy. Differences in element size and overall body size (skeletal height and body mass) were assessed through Monte Carlo methods, while univariate non-parametric tests and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were employed to examine segmental and overall body proportions. Discriminant Analysis was employed to determine the predictive value of individual skeletal elements for social status in the population. Our results highlight a distinct pattern in body size and shape variation in relation to status and sex. Male subsamples exhibit signifi- cant postcranial variation in body size, while female sub- samples express smaller, nonsignificant differences. The analysis of segmental proportions highlighted differences in trunk/lower limb proportions between different status sam- ples, and PCA indicated that in terms of purely morphologi- cal variation high status males were distinct from all other groups. The pattern observed likely resulted from a combi- nation of biological factors and cultural practices.
METHODS Measurements were made of 14 affected and 22 non-affected anterior premolars. All individ... more METHODS Measurements were made of 14 affected and 22 non-affected anterior premolars. All individuals are represented by the following three measurements: Mesiodistal diameter (MD): This measure was the greatest length of the tooth in the mesiodistal plane. Adjustments were made if the tooth was rotated out of 'normal'occlusion (Goose, 1963; Hillson, 1986, 1996; Moorrees, 1957; Moorrees et al., 1957). Teeth with excessive wear were excluded from the study (Keiser, 1990).
Methods for estimating body mass from the human skeleton are often required for research in biolo... more Methods for estimating body mass from the human skeleton are often required for research in biological or forensic anthropology. There are currently only two methods for estimating body mass in subadults: the width of the distal femur metaphysis is useful for individuals 1-12 years of age and the femoral head is useful for older subadults. This article provides age-structured formulas for estimating subadult body mass using midshaft femur cross-sectional geometry (polar second moments of area). The formulas were developed using data from the Denver Growth Study and their accuracy was examined using an independent sample from Franklin County, Ohio. Body mass estimates from the midshaft were compared with estimates from the width of the distal metaphysis of the femur. Results indicate that accuracy and bias of estimates from the midshaft and the distal end of the femur are similar for this contemporary cadaver sample. While clinical research has demonstrated that body mass is one principle factor shaping cross-sectional geometry of the subadult midshaft femur, clearly other biomechanical forces, such as activity level, also play a role. Thus formulas for estimating body mass from femoral measurements should be tested on subadult populations from diverse ecological and cultural circumstances to better understand the relationship between body mass, activity, diet, and morphology during ontogeny.
We present regression equations to estimate skeletal height and stature for prehistoric Native Am... more We present regression equations to estimate skeletal height and stature for prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio. The regression equations are based on skeletal height as the dependent variable and various postcranial elements and combinations of elements as the independent variables. A total of 171 individuals, 95 males and 76 females, make up the sample. The present sample includes the 64 individuals we previously used for stature estimation (Sciulli et al.: Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 83:275-280, 1990) and 107 additional individuals distributed more widely in time and space. The present more inclusive sample, however, shows the same proportional contributions to skeletal height of each skeletal height component as the previous sample. This result suggests that these proportions were a consistent feature of the prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio. Because the prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio were characterized by relatively long legs and distal elements of the limbs, stature estimation from regressions based on East Asian populations, which express in general relatively short legs and distal limb elements, will overestimate stature in Native Americans of Ohio and, possibly, all Eastern Woodlands Native Americans.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Jan 1, 1993
We present regression equations to estimate skeletal height and stature for prehistoric Native Am... more We present regression equations to estimate skeletal height and stature for prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio. The regression equations are based on skeletal height as the dependent variable and various postcranial elements and combinations of elements as the independent variables. A total of 171 individuals, 95 males and 76 females, make up the sample. The present sample includes the 64 individuals we previously used for stature estimation (Sciulli et al.: Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 83:275-280, 1990) and 107 additional individuals distributed more widely in time and space. The present more inclusive sample, however, shows the same proportional contributions to skeletal height of each skeletal height component as the previous sample. This result suggests that these proportions were a consistent feature of the prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio. Because the prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio were characterized by relatively long legs and distal elements of the limbs, stature estimation from regressions based on East Asian populations, which express in general relatively short legs and distal limb elements, will overestimate stature in Native Americans of Ohio and, possibly, all Eastern Woodlands Native Americans.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Jan 1, 1988
Significant phenotypic selection acting on the buccolingual diameters of the permanent first and ... more Significant phenotypic selection acting on the buccolingual diameters of the permanent first and second molars is established for a Late Archaic population in Ohio. Directional selection appears to be acting on an index that increases the size of the maxillary first (UM1) and mandibular second (LM2) molars and decreases the size of the maxillary second (UM2) and mandibular first (LM1) molars. Variance selection is fundamentally disruptive but results in a more integrated (highly correlated) set of characteristics in the after-selection sample.
In the present paper we discuss the demographic features of the Sandusky tradition Pearson Comple... more In the present paper we discuss the demographic features of the Sandusky tradition Pearson Complex. The Pearson Complex consists of three habitation areas and two cemeteries. The habitation areas were used by Eiden, Wolf and Fort Meigs populations, while the cemeteries are samples of the Eiden and Ft. Meigs populations. The latter cemetery is small (N=48 individuals) and not suitable for demographic analysis. However, we present the age-at-death distribution for this sample as well as describe the biocultural features of the burials. We present a paleodemographic analysis of the large (N=475 individuals) Eiden Phase skeletal series. Traditional paleodemographic analysis of this skeletal population results in demographic features of the population which are implausible for human populations (at least historically documented populations). A paleodemographic reconstruction based on uniformitarian human demographic patterns suggests that the Eiden Phase cemetery does not represent the living Eiden Phase population. We propose that the settlement pattern of the Eiden Phase population, in which only about half the year was spent at the village associated with the cemetery, may explain much of the deviation from uniformitarian demographic pattern. We hypothesize that the Eiden Phase cemetery does not represent the living population primarily because not all individuals from the population were buried at the cemetery. We also discuss methods for testing this hypothesis.
Rib fractures can affect morbidity and mortality in elderly individuals and the risk of their occ... more Rib fractures can affect morbidity and mortality in elderly individuals and the risk of their occurrence increases significantly with age. Clinical diagnoses of bone fragility often fail to measure the contribution of poor bone quality. An inefficient remodeling process in aging individuals results in disrepair of microfractures, allowing their accumulation to reach harmful levels. While it is established that microfractures contribute to catastrophic bone failure, it is unknown to what extent they exist in human ribs and their role in determining bone quality. Additionally, the loads habitually applied to the rib during respiration are difficult to determine and therefore absent from many discussions on adaptive responses to loading. The objective of this research is to explore individual variation in microfractures which accumulate in vivo in elderly ribs. Samples from sixth rib pairs were removed from ten elderly cadavers, stained en bloc in Basic Fuchsin Hydrochloride, and trans...
Accurate stature estimation from skeletal remains can foster useful information on health and mic... more Accurate stature estimation from skeletal remains can foster useful information on health and microevolutionary trends in past human populations. Stature can be estimated through the anatomical method and regression equations. The anatomical method (Fully: Ann Med Leg 36 [1956] 266–273; Raxter et al.: Am J Phys Anthropol 130 [2006] 374–384) is preferable because it takes into account total skeletal height and thus provides more accurate estimates, but it cannot be applied to incomplete remains. In such circumstances, regression equations allow estimates of living stature from the length of one or few skeletal elements. However, the accuracy of stature estimates from regression equations depends on similarity in body proportions between the population under examination and those used to calibrate the equations. Since genetic affinity and body proportions similarity are not always clearly known in bioarcheological populations, the criteria forselection of appropriate formulae are not ...
... However, with respect to ancestry, postcranial differences are largely nonexistent. ... Trait... more ... However, with respect to ancestry, postcranial differences are largely nonexistent. ... Traits commonly used to estimate sex in adults in metric analyses have not yet been determined in juveniles. 3.2. Morphological Ancestry Estimation in Adults As reviewed by St. ...
Most macroscopic skeletal aging techniques used by forensic anthropologists have been developed a... more Most macroscopic skeletal aging techniques used by forensic anthropologists have been developed and tested only on reference material from western populations. This study examined the performance of six aging techniques on a known age sample of 88 Southeast Asian individuals. Methods examined included the Suchey-Brooks method of aging the symphyseal face of the os pubis (Brooks and Suchey 1990), Buckberry and Chamberlain’s (2002) and Osborne et al.’s (2004) revisions of the Lovejoy et al. (1985) method of aging the auricular surface of the ilium, İşcan et al.’s (1984, 1985) method of aging the sternal end of the fourth rib, and Meindl and Lovejoy’s (1985) methods for aging both lateral-anterior and vault sutures on the cranium. The results of this study indicate that application of aging techniques commonly used in forensic anthropology to individuals identified as Asian, and more specifically Southeast Asian, should not be undertaken injudiciously. Of the six individual methods tested here, the Suchey-Brooks pubic symphysis aging method performs best, though average age estimates were still off by nearly 10 years or greater. Methods for aging the auricular surface perform next best, though the Osborne et al. method works better for individuals below 50 years and the Buckberry and Chamberlain method works better for those above 50 years. Methods for age estimation from the sternal ends of the fourth rib and vault and lateral-anterior cranial sutures perform poorly and are not recommended for use on remains of Southeast Asian ancestry. Combining age estimates from multiple indicators, specifically the pubic symphysis and one auricular surface method, was superior to individual methods. Data and a worked example are provided for calculating the conditional probability that an individual belongs to a particular age decade, though overall age estimates may still be broad.
The phenotypic expression of adult body size and shape results from synergistic interactions betw... more The phenotypic expression of adult body size and shape results from synergistic interactions between hereditary factors and environmental conditions experienced during growth. Variation in body size and shape occurs even in genetically relatively homogeneous groups, due to different occurrence, duration, and timing of growth insults. Understanding the causes and patterns of intrapopulation variation can foster meaningful informa- tion on early life conditions in living and past populations. This study assesses the pattern of biological variation in body size and shape attributable to sex and social status in a medieval Italian population. The sample includes 52 (20 female, 32 male) adult individuals from the medieval popu- lation of Trino Vercellese, Italy. Differences in element size and overall body size (skeletal height and body mass) were assessed through Monte Carlo methods, while univariate non-parametric tests and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were employed to examine segmental and overall body proportions. Discriminant Analysis was employed to determine the predictive value of individual skeletal elements for social status in the population. Our results highlight a distinct pattern in body size and shape variation in relation to status and sex. Male subsamples exhibit signifi- cant postcranial variation in body size, while female sub- samples express smaller, nonsignificant differences. The analysis of segmental proportions highlighted differences in trunk/lower limb proportions between different status sam- ples, and PCA indicated that in terms of purely morphologi- cal variation high status males were distinct from all other groups. The pattern observed likely resulted from a combi- nation of biological factors and cultural practices.
METHODS Measurements were made of 14 affected and 22 non-affected anterior premolars. All individ... more METHODS Measurements were made of 14 affected and 22 non-affected anterior premolars. All individuals are represented by the following three measurements: Mesiodistal diameter (MD): This measure was the greatest length of the tooth in the mesiodistal plane. Adjustments were made if the tooth was rotated out of 'normal'occlusion (Goose, 1963; Hillson, 1986, 1996; Moorrees, 1957; Moorrees et al., 1957). Teeth with excessive wear were excluded from the study (Keiser, 1990).
Methods for estimating body mass from the human skeleton are often required for research in biolo... more Methods for estimating body mass from the human skeleton are often required for research in biological or forensic anthropology. There are currently only two methods for estimating body mass in subadults: the width of the distal femur metaphysis is useful for individuals 1-12 years of age and the femoral head is useful for older subadults. This article provides age-structured formulas for estimating subadult body mass using midshaft femur cross-sectional geometry (polar second moments of area). The formulas were developed using data from the Denver Growth Study and their accuracy was examined using an independent sample from Franklin County, Ohio. Body mass estimates from the midshaft were compared with estimates from the width of the distal metaphysis of the femur. Results indicate that accuracy and bias of estimates from the midshaft and the distal end of the femur are similar for this contemporary cadaver sample. While clinical research has demonstrated that body mass is one principle factor shaping cross-sectional geometry of the subadult midshaft femur, clearly other biomechanical forces, such as activity level, also play a role. Thus formulas for estimating body mass from femoral measurements should be tested on subadult populations from diverse ecological and cultural circumstances to better understand the relationship between body mass, activity, diet, and morphology during ontogeny.
We present regression equations to estimate skeletal height and stature for prehistoric Native Am... more We present regression equations to estimate skeletal height and stature for prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio. The regression equations are based on skeletal height as the dependent variable and various postcranial elements and combinations of elements as the independent variables. A total of 171 individuals, 95 males and 76 females, make up the sample. The present sample includes the 64 individuals we previously used for stature estimation (Sciulli et al.: Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 83:275-280, 1990) and 107 additional individuals distributed more widely in time and space. The present more inclusive sample, however, shows the same proportional contributions to skeletal height of each skeletal height component as the previous sample. This result suggests that these proportions were a consistent feature of the prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio. Because the prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio were characterized by relatively long legs and distal elements of the limbs, stature estimation from regressions based on East Asian populations, which express in general relatively short legs and distal limb elements, will overestimate stature in Native Americans of Ohio and, possibly, all Eastern Woodlands Native Americans.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Jan 1, 1993
We present regression equations to estimate skeletal height and stature for prehistoric Native Am... more We present regression equations to estimate skeletal height and stature for prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio. The regression equations are based on skeletal height as the dependent variable and various postcranial elements and combinations of elements as the independent variables. A total of 171 individuals, 95 males and 76 females, make up the sample. The present sample includes the 64 individuals we previously used for stature estimation (Sciulli et al.: Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 83:275-280, 1990) and 107 additional individuals distributed more widely in time and space. The present more inclusive sample, however, shows the same proportional contributions to skeletal height of each skeletal height component as the previous sample. This result suggests that these proportions were a consistent feature of the prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio. Because the prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio were characterized by relatively long legs and distal elements of the limbs, stature estimation from regressions based on East Asian populations, which express in general relatively short legs and distal limb elements, will overestimate stature in Native Americans of Ohio and, possibly, all Eastern Woodlands Native Americans.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Jan 1, 1988
Significant phenotypic selection acting on the buccolingual diameters of the permanent first and ... more Significant phenotypic selection acting on the buccolingual diameters of the permanent first and second molars is established for a Late Archaic population in Ohio. Directional selection appears to be acting on an index that increases the size of the maxillary first (UM1) and mandibular second (LM2) molars and decreases the size of the maxillary second (UM2) and mandibular first (LM1) molars. Variance selection is fundamentally disruptive but results in a more integrated (highly correlated) set of characteristics in the after-selection sample.
In the present paper we discuss the demographic features of the Sandusky tradition Pearson Comple... more In the present paper we discuss the demographic features of the Sandusky tradition Pearson Complex. The Pearson Complex consists of three habitation areas and two cemeteries. The habitation areas were used by Eiden, Wolf and Fort Meigs populations, while the cemeteries are samples of the Eiden and Ft. Meigs populations. The latter cemetery is small (N=48 individuals) and not suitable for demographic analysis. However, we present the age-at-death distribution for this sample as well as describe the biocultural features of the burials. We present a paleodemographic analysis of the large (N=475 individuals) Eiden Phase skeletal series. Traditional paleodemographic analysis of this skeletal population results in demographic features of the population which are implausible for human populations (at least historically documented populations). A paleodemographic reconstruction based on uniformitarian human demographic patterns suggests that the Eiden Phase cemetery does not represent the living Eiden Phase population. We propose that the settlement pattern of the Eiden Phase population, in which only about half the year was spent at the village associated with the cemetery, may explain much of the deviation from uniformitarian demographic pattern. We hypothesize that the Eiden Phase cemetery does not represent the living population primarily because not all individuals from the population were buried at the cemetery. We also discuss methods for testing this hypothesis.
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