Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-j4qg9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-11T23:04:50.413Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Minding the Gaps: A Methodological Approach to Inter-Individual Variability in Skeletal Completion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jess L. Beck
Jess L. Beck*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109 ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In order to ensure sufficient sample sizes, bioarchaelogical studies of individual health in prehistory must often rely on assemblages that demonstrate high inter-individual variability in skeletal completion. Determining whether higher insult frequencies in particular individuals result from their greater skeletal preservation is a key step in understanding ancient health and disease. This study uses a simple new z-score residual approach to control for inter-individual differences in skeletal completion while comparing multiple variables. To test this method, a sex- and age-balanced sample of 85 adult individuals was selected from five Middle and Late Woodland sites in Illinois: Helton (11GE540), Gibson (11C5), Ledders (11C132), Ray (11BR104,) and Carter (11GE624). Data on the frequency of nine different health indicators were collected, and statistically significant period- or sex-based differences in osteoarthritis, alveolar resorption, and hypoplasias were observed, illustrating the utility of this approach for bioarchaeologists concerned with the effects of skeletal completion on assessments of prehistoric health.

Las investigaciones bioarqueológicas sobre la salud del individuo en la prehistoria frecuentemente se basan en conjuntos que demuestran una alta variabilidad interindividual en la preservación del esqueleto para garantizar tamaños de muestras suficientes. Un aspecto clave para comprender la salud y las enfermedades antiguas es determinar si las frecuencias más altas de patologías en ciertos individuos son el resultado de su mayor preservación en el esqueleto. Esta investigación compara múltiples variables utilizando una nueva y sencilla aproximación residual z-score para controlar las diferencias interindividuales en la preservación del esqueleto. Para poner a prueba este método se seleccionó una muestra de sexo y edad balanceada de 85 individuos de cinco sitios del Woodland medio y tardío en Illinois – Helton (11GE450), Gibson (11C5), Ledders (11C132), Ray (11BR104) y Carter (11GE624). Se recogieron datos sobre la frecuencia de nueve indicadores de salud y se observaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas basadas en el período o el sexo para la osteoartritis, la resorción alveolar y la hipo-plasia, lo cual demuestra la utilidad de esta aproximación para los bioarqueólogos interesados en los efectos del esqueleto completo en las evaluaciones de la salud prehistórica.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 81 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 148 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by the Society for American Archaeology.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Buikstra, Jane, and Ubelaker, Doulgas (editors) 1994 Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains. Arkansas Archaeological Survey Research Series No. 44, Fayetteville.Google Scholar
Cohen, Mark N., and Armelagos, George J. 1984 Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Cohen, Mark N., and Crane-Kramer, Gillian M. M. 2007 Ancient Health: Skeletal Indicators of Agricultural and Economic Intensification. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Conner, Michael D. 1984 Population Structure and Biological Variation in the Late Woodland of West Central Illinois. Unpublished PhD. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Cook, Delia C. 1979 Subsistence Base and Health in Prehistoric Illinois Valley: Evidence from the Human Skeleton. Medical Anthropology 3:109–124.Google Scholar
Cook, Delia C., and Buikstra, Jane E. 1979 Health and Differential Survival in Prehistoric Populations: Prenatal Dental Defects. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 51:649–64.Google Scholar
Flotow, Mark 2006 The Archaeological, Osteological, and Paleodemographical Analysis of the Ray Site: A Biocultural Perspective. Rediscovery. Vol 5. Illinois Association for Advancement of Archaeology, Lewiston.Google Scholar
Goodman, Alan H., Armelagos, George J., and Rose, Jerome C. 1980 Enamel Hypoplasias as Indicators of Stress in Three Prehistoric Populations from the Lower Illinois River Valley. Human Biology 52: 515–528.Google Scholar
Goodman, Alan H., and Martin, Debra L. 2002 Reconstructing Health Profiles from Skeletal Remains. In The Backbone of History: Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere, edited by Richard H. Steckel and Jerome C. Rose, pp. 11–60. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
King, Jason L., Buikstra, Jane E., and Charles, Douglas K. 2011 Time and Archaeological Traditions in the Lower Illinois Valley. American Antiquity 76:500–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, Joseph B., Szpunar, Carole B., and Buikstra, Jane E. 1979 Chemical Analysis of Excavated Human Bone from Middle and Late Woodland Sites. Archaeometry 21:115–129.Google Scholar
Perino, Gregory 2006 The 1973 Carter Mounds Excavations, Greene County, Illinois. In Illinois Hopewell and Late Woodland Mounds: The Excavations of Gregory Perino 1950–1975, Studies in Archaeology No. 4, edited by Gregory Perino, Kenneth B. Farnsworth, and Michael D. Wiant, pp. 565–587. Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program, University of Illinois, Urbana.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard H., and Rose, Jerome C. 2002 The Backbone of History: Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tainter, Joseph A. 1975 The Archaeological Study of Social Change: Woodland Systems in West-Central Illinois. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.Google Scholar