A comparative study of activity-related skeletal changes in 3rd-2nd millennium BC coastal fishers and 1st millenium AD inland agriculturists in Chile, South America

The reconstruction of patterns of physical activities, behaviour, and lifestyle in past populations is one of the goals most often pursued by bioarchaeologists. This study considers the presence of a group of markers of occupational stress (MOS) that are accepted by many in bioarchaeology as representing the impact of physical activity. To examine their presence, two past populations from northern Chile who practised two contrasting subsistence economies such as marine hunting and gathering with agricultural farmers were compared. The skeletal markers analysed were enthesophytes, osteoarthritis, spondylolysis, os acromiale, osteochondritis dissecans as well as changes in size, shape and robusticity of long bones. The aim of this study was to compare the pattern of these MOS in archaic coastal fishers (3rd-2nd millennium BC) with inland agriculturalists (1st millennium AD). One hundred and seventy-five skeletons of adult males and females curated at the Museo Arqueológico San Miguel de Azapa in Arica, Chile were analysed. It was found that early coastal populations were in general significantly more affected by these MOS when compared with later inland agriculturalists thus suggesting that the archaic way of life based on marine hunting and gathering was more physically demanding than that practised by later agricultural and farming populations. The intra-group analysis between sexes revealed that coastal males showed higher prevalence rates of these markers compared with coastal females but comparisons between agricultural males and females failed to demonstrate any significant difference in the prevalence rates for these markers. Thus suggesting a more marked sexual division of labour among the former group compared to the latter. Inter-group sex comparisons revealed that males from both groups were generally similarly affected by the MOS whereas females displayed a more varied pattern. Assuming that these markers result from physical activity and occupation, regardless of the subsistence economy practised, men from both populations performed the most physically demanding activities. Women on the other hand, would have changed their roles in society with the arrival of agriculture, thus getting progressively more involved and participating more in the demanding tasks required by the agricultural way of life. In conclusion, this study showed that the arrival of agriculture in northern Chile resulted in differences in the patterns and prevalence of activity-related pathological conditions

Remaking the Mazeway: Skeletal and archaeological evidence for a variant Ancestral Pueblo mortuary rite at Wallace Ruin (USA)

This thesis presents the results of a multi-disciplinary investigation of a variant Ancestral Pueblo mortuary rite at Wallace Ruin, southwest Colorado (USA). This multi-storey building is one of four Lakeview Group great houses connected to the Pueblo II regional system centred at Pueblo Bonito of Chaco Canyon some 100 km to the south. From c. AD 1060-1150, Wallace Ruin functioned as a ritual- economic centre with a small residential component. Then, habitation of this great house, the Lakeview Group and all domiciles within 10 kilometres ceased. However, three or more decades later at least six rooms were used as a non- residential, Pueblo III mortuary facility for a minimum of 32 individuals. This use was in marked contrast to the enduring Ancestral Pueblo practice of residential burial, usually in the extramural midden. The interrogation of several hypotheses concerning this anomaly entails a bioarchaeological approach that integrates skeletal evidence with spatial analyses regarding diachronic mortuary location choices at Wallace Ruin. Taphonomic methods that segregate bone displacements during corpse decomposition in a filled versus a void space provide accurate determinations of the depositional versus discovered mortuary microenvironments. The diachronic analysis of data from over 100 San Juan Region sites reveals additional ways in which Wallace’s Pueblo III mortuary program departs from longstanding communities of practice, whether great house or domicile. Chief among these are the use of a surface room floor and the postural arrangement of supine bodies with flexed knees upright. These results, in combination with material culture evidence, form the basis of this thesis: The Pueblo III mortuary program at Wallace Ruin is a variant rite that entails a Mesa Verde Region reformulation of a Pueblo Bonito house society. The sanctioned retrieval of objects of memory offers a plausible explanation for intentional intrusions into two mortuary contexts. Beyond addressing questions concerning Wallace Ruin, a major contribution of this study includes advancement of the house society model as an interpretive scheme for evaluating Mesa Verde Region socio-ritual dynamics. This research also demonstrates the effectiveness of anthropologie de terrain (Duday, 2006) to retrospectively determine the original status of Ancestral Pueblo mortuary microenvironments. The refinement developed for this study, in which Range of Motion criteria are used to detect large-scale movements of lower limbs during corpse decomposition, is suitable for bioarchaeological analyses the world over

Excavations at Monjukli Depe, Turkmenistan, 2010-2014, Volume 1

Soviet archaeological research in southern Turkmenistan revealed a series of small Late Neolithic and Aeneolithic villages strung along the streams that emerge from the Kopet Dag and water the narrow foothill zone separating the mountains from the Kara Kum desert. A commonly accepted premise of their work was that these communities garnered their technological knowledge if not their populations from regions to the south and west in present-day Iran. Since 2010 we have reinvestigated one of these sites, the small Late Neolithic (ca. 6200-5600 BCE) and early Aeneolithic (ca. 4800-4350 BCE) village of Monjukli Depe. Our research examines microhistories of cultural techniques as a source of insights into long-term and spatially extensive change as well as internal variations and similarities in material practices. This volume presents results of this work. A Bayesian modeling of 14C dates demonstrates a long hiatus between the Neolithic and Aeneolithic strata of the site as well as a hitherto unattested very early Aeneolithic phase (“Meana Horizon”). A sequence of densely built, well preserved Aeneolithic houses exhibits marked similarities to earlier Neolithic architecture in the region. Despite overall standardized plans, the houses reveal significant variations in internal features and practices. Similar flexibility within a set of common dispositions is evident in burial practices. Very limited quantities of pottery offer a stark contrast to the frequent occurrence of spindle whorls, indicating a substantial production of thread, and to a large and varied assemblage of clay tokens. A wide variety of fire installations attests to routinized handling of fire, which did not prevent at least one building from succumbing to a conflagration. Animal herding was heavily based on sheep and goats, while cattle figured prominently in feasts. The Meana tradition at Monjukli Depe exhibits significant structural similarities to other early village societies in Western Asia and will make this volume of interest to scholars working on similar times and contexts

Research and technology, 1992

Selected research and technology activities at Ames Research Center, including the Moffett Field site and the Dryden Flight Research Facility, are summarized. These activities exemplify the Center's varied and productive research efforts for 1992

Variations in the health status of urban populations in Roman Britain: a comparison of skeletal samples from major and minor towns

Romano-British towns are conventionally divided into those that possessed administrative powers (the major or ‘public’ towns) and those that did not (the minor or ‘small towns’). Public towns and small towns differed in terms of size and socioeconomic status, with the latter sometimes characterised as semi-rural rather than truly urban. Hitherto, research into the differing nature of the communities at public and small towns has focused primarily on variations in settlement morphology, architecture and material culture. This study provides a new perspective on the issue by examining osteological indicators of lifestyle and health in skeletal samples from these two categories of site. Roman populations from the small town of Ancaster, Lincs (N=271) and the public town of Winchester, Hants (N=330) dating to c. AD 200-410 were analysed using standard osteological methods. Data on age-at-death, growth and stature, and skeletal and dental pathology were recorded and compared using a range of statistical tests to identify potential differences. Additionally, published data for contemporaneous populations were collated for comparison. A biocultural approach was used to contextualise the data with reference to archaeological and historical evidence. Some differences in demography were observed, but were probably the result of sample biases. No marked differences in growth or stature were observed. Pathology prevalence rates were comparable for many conditions. However, higher rates of joint disease at Ancaster, and differences in the pattern of long bone trauma may point to the Ancaster population having experienced a more agrarian lifestyle, engaging in more frequent and/or extended periods of heavy labour. In contrast, there was more evidence for violent trauma at Winchester, and the frequencies of three non-specific indicators of ill health (cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis and dental enamel hypoplasia) and scurvy were higher. This suggests that people at Winchester experienced greater levels of social, dietary and environmental stress, perhaps reflecting a larger, more heterogeneous population. Dental health status was generally poorer at Ancaster, which may be due to differences in diet, oral hygiene and/or other non-dietary factors. Published data for other populations broadly support the study conclusions, although comparisons were limited by incompatibilities in methodology and data presentation. Overall, the findings corroborate existing perspectives on the socio-economic characters of public and small towns, but differences were not pronounced. The significance of the findings is discussed in relation to the nature of settlement and society in Roman Britain

Hope College Abstracts: 11th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Performance

The abstracts...are representative of student-faculty collaborative research and creative work that takes place throughout the year at Hope

Optimising outcomes in the treatment of superficial venous insufficiency

The traditional “gold-standard” treatment for symptomatic SVI affecting the GSV is conventional open surgery and stripping under general anaesthesia. Despite improved QoL and cost-effectiveness when compared to conservative management, conventional surgery is not without drawbacks. Endovenous ablative treatments have been developed, which seek to address some of these limitations. Randomised clinical trial (RCT) data has demonstrated the superiority of endovenous laser ablation (EVLA) over surgery in the short term. Attention is now focused on evaluating its mid- and long-term outcomes, and to further evolve the technique to improve patient outcomes.In this thesis, five studies were conceived to address two main objectives. Firstly, two-year follow-up of the HELP-1 RCT of EVLA versus conventional surgery was performed to assess clinical, QoL and duplex ultrasound (DUS) outcomes and identify potential for EVLA technique evolution. Four further studies were performed, aimed at improvement of patient outcomes by modification of the EVLA technique via i) pH buffering of tumescent anaesthesia, ii) concomitant treatment of varicosities, and iii) endovenous energy delivery via longer wavelength laser.Two-year outcomes from the HELP-1 RCT demonstrated continued superiority of EVLA over conventional surgery in terms of lower clinical recurrence rates, with maintained improvements in clinical and QoL outcomes. DUS outcomes identified patterns of clinical recurrence that can be addressed by simple modifications of the EVLA technique.Buffering of tumescent anaesthesia resulted in significantly reduced patient-reported periprocedural pain. Concomitant treatment of varicosities with ambulatory phlebectomy under tumescent anaesthesia demonstrated significant benefits in clinical severity and disease-specific QoL over foam sclerotherapy. Use of longer laser wavelength (1470nm) resulted in significantly reduced postprocedural pain in comparison to shorter (810nm) wavelength.EVLA is demonstrated to have significant short- and medium-term benefits over conventional surgery. Further evolution of the technique, including the modifications described, should provide additional benefit in terms of patient outcomes

Subsistence Strategy and Tibial Shape: Identifying Variation in Activity Across the Sudanese Landscape

The growing human tibia is uniquely responsive to repeated activities, resulting in identifiable morphological patterns that can be applied to ancient populations. Much of the bioarchaeological research in this area focuses on the transition to agriculture, noting a decline in bone strength and robusticity with increasing levels of sedentism. However, not all human groups adopted agriculture simultaneously or uniformly, and there continues to be variation in subsistence strategy based on climate, resource availability, and cultural practice. In Sudan, groups have continued to practice nomadic pastoralism alongside agriculture, although sedentary agricultural societies tend to be the focus of most archaeological research in the region. This work examines the difference in tibial morphology between groups utilising different subsistence practices within the same geographic region and archaeological period to explore activity-based changes to the tibia, using both cross-sectional geometry and geometric morphometrics to quantify the difference between tibial cross-sectional shapes at midshaft. The results suggest that while clear differences exist in midshaft tibial shape between the Sudanese groups practicing differing subsistence strategies, there is no one shape that is indicative of nomadism or sedentism; rather, there are general trends indicating higher mobility among more members of the nomadic group and more local movement among the members of the sedentary groups. Further, there is more similarity between females of all groups than males, problematising the idea that all individuals respond to bone remodeling activity in the same way. The conclusions presented here recommend that more research needs to be conducted on tibial shape variation in Sudan and worldwide using geometric morphometrics, as it presents a more nuanced approach than cross-sectional geometry, and that bone remodeling in response to activity must continue to be explored in light of differences in age, sex, and musculature