The Study of Entheses: Proposal of a Standardised Scoring Method for Twenty-Three Entheses of the Postcranial Skeleton

Entheses are always visible on the bone, although with variable forms and degrees of expression. The term »robusticity « indicates the »normal« osseous markings at entheses, while »enthesopathy«, indicates the presence of enthesophytes or osteolytic areas1–3. A scoring method for enthesopathy development has already been proposed3. In this paper, a standardised descriptive and photographic scoring method is proposed for the robusticity of 23 postcranial skeleton entheses. For each enthesis, 3 levels of development are described, corresponding, in general, to a weak-moderate expression (degree 1), strong development (degree 2) and very strong development (degree 3). The interobserver error of about 20% seems acceptable given the great morphological variability of these traits

Enthesopathies – Proposal of a Standardized Scoring Method and Applications

Enthesopathies are alterations that could be present at entheses. Two types of enthesopathies have been defined: osteophytic (OF) and osteolytic (OL). In the present paper, we propose a standardized method to score the degree of development of each form of enthesopathy. With this method, the intra- and interobserver errors are less than 5%. The standard was used to study a sample (113 individuals) deriving from osteological collections from the late XIX-early XX century. Information about the age, sex and occupation of the individuals is available. This study demonstrated an effect of age on the form and the degree of development of enthesopathies. The influence of factors related to sex and occupation cannot be excluded. Therefore, functional interpretations of data on enthesopathies in osteoarchaeological series must take account of the estimated age and sex of the specimens and the distribution of the lesions within a single skeleton

Age Determination on Long Bones in a Skeletal Subadults Sample (b-12 Years)

The skeletal age on the basis of the diaphyseal length of long bones was assessed. To this aim a sample of subadults skeleton, dated to last century, coming from the cemetery of Bologna was studied. The sample is composed by 79 males and 70 females between 0 and 12 years, whose chronological age and sex are known. Some information can be obtained by the means, standard deviation and graphs of the specimens grouped in age classes. The comparison with other studies confirms the interest of using standards based on direct measurements on long bones of known age and similar to the skeletal populations under study

Recherches sur la collection d’enfants et d’adolescents d’âge et de sexe connus de Bologne (Italie) : diagnose de l’âge sur la base du degré de maturation osseuse

Notre étude porte sur la diagnose de l’âge des enfants et adolescents à partir du degré de maturation du squelette, en particulier de l’apparition des centres d’ossification et de leur fusion successive. Une grande partie des standards actuellement utilisés proviennent d’enfants vivants ou de collections ostéologiques nord-américaines. Afin d’apporter une contribution dans ce domaine de recherche et d’élaborer des standards assez proches des caractéristiques des squelettes provenant des fouilles de nos régions, nous avons effectué une recherche sur deux échantillons de la collection de Bologne. Les individus analysés sont d’âge et sexe connus et datés du début du xxe s. : 137 squelettes d’enfants (de 0 à 8 ans) provenant de Bologne et 131 squelettes d’adolescents et jeunes adultes (15-25 ans) de Sardaigne.The purpose of this study is the assessment of age at death in immature human skeletons through observation of the degree of skeletal maturation, in particular the appearance of ossification centres and their successive fusion. Most of the methods employed are based on studies of living children or on American skeletal collections. Our aim was to shed light on the assessment of skeletal age maturation on European populations by analysing two samples from the Bologna collection dated to the beginning of the 20th c. AD. The skeletons analysed are those of immature individuals of known age and sex; 137 were children (0 to 8 years) from Bologna, and 131 were juvenile (15-25 years) from Sardinia

Proposal of a Data Collection Form to Record Dento-Alveolar Features –Application to Two Roman Skeletal Samples from Italy

Bones and teeth are an important source of information about the lifestyle, health status and dietary habits of past populations. Modifications and lesions of the periodontal tissues also provide information about the health status and behavior of an individual or of an ancient population. In this paper a method to record some dento-alveolar features of both deciduous and permanent teeth is described. The forms that we propose make it easy to record the data in a Microsoft® Excel sheet. The form for adults has been applied to two Roman Imperial age skeletal samples from northern Italy – Casalecchio di Reno (II–V c. AD, Bologna) and Emilia Romagna, and central Italy – Quadrella (I–IV c. AD, Isernia, Molise)

Musculoskeletal Stress and Adult Age Markers in the Krapina Hominid Collection: the Study of Femora 213 Fe.1 and 214 Fe.2.

The purpose of this study was to examine morphological markers of activity and age on femora 213 Fe.1 and 214 Fe.2 of the Krapina hominid collection. This study is part of a large research on the Krapina collection aimed at studying morphological markers of activity (entheses, enthesopathies, articular modifications) and age, as well as dento-alveolar alterations and pathologies. For this purpose, we apply scoring methods that we have devised and standardized on modern Italian skeletal collections with known age, sex, activity during life, cause of death, etc.. This approach has been used to study other human skeletal series and it allows us to obtain homogeneous data that can be more easily compared and interpreted. On the basis of our recent investigations of Upper Palaeolithic skeletal remains of Taforalt (Morocco, 12000–11000), we also intend to re-examine the cutmarks on bones of the Krapina hominid collection to provide further knowledge about possible funerary practices of these Neandertalians. The study of markers of activity and age on femora 213 Fe.1 and 214 Fe.2 revealed strong robusticity and a postero-lateral position of the m. gluteus maximus enthesis, indicating morphological and size differences with respect to modern humans. The strong mechanical stress on the lateral parts of the proximal end of the femur seems to be confirmed by the partial dislocation of the hip joint suggested by the articular features observed on two coxal bones. Finally, we used our results to re-assess the attribution of age to the individuals represented by these two specimens

Evolution and Creation

STATISTICA re-proposes a note of Fiorenzo Facchini — a distinguished anthropologist of the University of Bologna — published on the Osservatore Romano (17/01/2006) and cited by New York Times (18/01/2006). As the reader can easily observe, the strength of the Darwinian thought has provoked a deep reflection also inside the catholic tradition, witnessed here by a scientist that is at a same time a man of the church. After Darwin, such tradition has been forced to modify deeply its philosophical view about the real world

Evolution and Creation

STATISTICA re-proposes a note of Fiorenzo Facchini — a distinguished anthropologist of the University of Bologna — published on the Osservatore Romano (17/01/2006) and cited by New York Times (18/01/2006). As the reader can easily observe, the strength of the Darwinian thought has provoked a deep reflection also inside the catholic tradition, witnessed here by a scientist that is at a same time a man of the church. After Darwin, such tradition has been forced to modify deeply its philosophical view about the real world