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At least 793 records · Page 44Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

Are plague pits of particular use to palaeoepidemiologists?

BACKGROUND: The demography and pattern of disease of skeletal assemblages may not accurately reflect those of the living population of which they were once a part. The hypothesis tested here was that skeletons from a mass disaster would more closely approximate to a living population than those from a conventional cemetery. METHOD: Six hundred skeletons recovered from a Black Death plague pit in London were compared with 236 skeletons recovered from an overlying medieval cemetery. Age and sex were determined by standard anthropological means by a single observer and adjustments were made to correct for those skeletons for which either or both could not be established. An estimate of age structure of the living medieval population of London was made, using model life tables. RESULTS: The age and sex distribution and the pattern of disease in the Black Death skeletons did not differ substantially from those in the control group of skeletons. Both assemblages tended to overestimate the numbers in the younger age groups of the model population and underestimate the numbers in the oldest age group. CONCLUSIONS: On the evidence from this single site, a skeletal assemblage from a mass disaster does not provide a better representation of the living population from which it was derived than that from a conventional cemetery.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Records of ectoparasites on humans and sheep from Viking-age deposits in the former western settlement of Greenland.

During recent archaeological excavations in Viking Greenland, specimens of the human flea, Pulex irritans L., and the body louse, Pediculus humanus humanus L., were recovered from several farmsteads. Bovicola ovis (Schrank) and the sheep ked, Melophagus ovinus (L.), also were found in associated deposits. The specimens were dated from about AD 990 to AD 1350. These finds raise questions about the levels of hygiene of the Viking farmers and open some interesting medical and biogeographical conundrums.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

PCR-induced sequence alterations hamper the typing of prehistoric bone samples for diagnostic achondroplasia mutations.

Achondroplasia (ACH) is a skeletal disorder (MIM100800) with an autosomal dominant Mendelian inheritance and complete penetrance. Here we report the screening of ancient bone samples for diagnostic ACH mutations. The diagnostic G-->A transition in the FGFR3 gene at cDNA position 1138 was detected in cloned polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products obtained from the dry mummy of the Semerchet tomb, Egypt (first dynasty, approximately 4,890-5,050 BP [before present]), and from an individual from Kirchheim, Germany (Merovingian period, approximately 1,300-1,500 BP), both of which had short stature. However, these mutations were also reproducibly observed in four ancient control samples from phenotypically healthy individuals (false-positives), rendering the reliable molecular typing of ancient bones for ACH impossible. The treatment of a false-positive DNA extract with uracil N-glycosylase (UNG) to minimize type 2 transitions (G-->A/C-->T) did not reduce the frequency of the false-positive diagnostic ACH mutations. Recently, it was suggested that ancient DNA extracts may induce mutations under PCR. Contemporary human template DNA from a phenotypically healthy individual was therefore spiked with an ancient DNA extract from a cave bear. Again, sequences with the diagnostic G-->A transition in the FGFR3 gene were observed, and it is likely that the false-positive G-->A transitions result from errors introduced during the PCR reaction. Amplifications in the presence of MnCl(2) indicate that position 1138 of the FGFR3 gene is particularly sensitive for mutations. Our data are in line with previously published results on the occurrence of nonrandom mutations in PCR products of contemporary human mitochondrial HVRI template DNA spiked with ancient DNA extracts.

Achondroplasia↗
PubMed1996

Osteoarthritis of the hands in early populations.

A study of the distribution of osteoarthritis of the hands was carried out in a series of 168 skeletons (77 males, 87 females, four unknown sex) from archaeological sites in England. There were substantial differences in the distribution of the disease between the sexes, but the only significant differences between the hands were shown for the second and third metacarpophalangeal joints, which were more often affected on the right side. In the males, the disease was predominantly unifocal (in 45 of the 77 cases), but in the females it was predominantly multifocal (56 of the 87 cases). Where only a single joint was affected, it was most often the first carpometacarpal joint in females, whereas in males, this joint and the first metacarpophalangeal joints were equally likely to be involved. Single-linkage cluster analysis showed that the strongest link in males was between the trapezoscaphoid and trapezoidoscaphoid joints; in the females, the strongest links were between the first carpometacarpal, the distal interphalangeal and the first metacarpophalangeal joints.

England↗
PubMed2001

Prevalence of large-joint osteoarthritis in Asian and Caucasian skeletal populations.

OBJECTIVE: To determine ethnic variations of large-joint osteoarthritis (OA) in past populations. METHODS: One thousand two hundred and nine adult skeletons, excavated from archaeological sites in Japan, China and France were assessed for OA as defined by the presence of eburnation. RESULTS: Within Asian skeletal populations, elbow OA and patellofemoral joint OA were more common in hunter-gatherers than in agriculturalists. Compared with Caucasians, the Asian skeletal population had a higher prevalence of tibiofemoral joint OA. CONCLUSION: The relative frequencies of OA within and between ethnic groups at certain joint sites have changed over time from the past to the present.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Brachycephaly and external pressure.

Browsing through some literatures, I happened to find out some records on the rite of imitation of the child's head to brachycephaly. In 1976, two skulls showing extraordinary forms were excavated out of an ancient tomb at Yean village of Daedong township in Kimhae County in Kyungnam Province, the Republic of Korea. The deformation in Yean village is judged to be an intentional frontal flattening. The frontal bone of deformed individuals is remarkably flattened by a primary deforming force. The parietal bone expands laterally and superoposteriorly as a major compensatory growth. The lambdoid or occipital flattening induced by the counterforce is light and unstable. In the facial skeleton, the maxilla shifts downward as a minor compensatory growth. These findings might be substantially correspondent to the custom in the southern area of Korea in the 4th century A.D. paragraphed by Han chuan of Wei-dynasty record, History of the Three Kingdoms. It described that the people gave a pressure onto the child's forehead with stones in order to mold it for preference. Flatheaded meant "free" among the Chinook and Salish tribes of American Indians. Babies of slaves were denied the year-long beauty treatment--a board tied to the infants' padded skull--that permanently flattened the foreheads of tribal members. Referring to these records, I presume that brachycephaly can be induced by direct extrinsic pressure at least until the soft infant's head gets hard.

Culture↗
PubMedDate not supplied

On the etiology and pathogenesis of porotic hyperostosis of the skull.

The 256 skulls and 66 skull fragments of the pre-Columbian Peruvian Indians in the Hrdlicka archeologic collection were examined for a porous bone lesion known as porotic hyperostosis. The age, sex, and geographic distribution, as well as the severity and pattern of involvement of the skull bones were noted in an attempt to define the etiology and the pathogenesis of the lesion. Porotic hyperostosis of the skull was present in 20% of the specimens and was probably caused by marrow expansion on the basis of iron deficiency. The lesion was more prevalent and severe among coastal dwellers; men and women were equally affected, and the parietal and occipital bones were the most frequently involved sites. Severe cases were observed only in infants and children, presumably because of limited marrow space and a special predilection for iron deficiency in infants, and of healing of the lesion in adults. Radiographic abnormalities included thinning of the outer table of the skull, diploic space widening, and a "hair-on-end" appearance. Sixty percent of all cases and 100% of severe cases demonstrated one or more of these findings.

Anemia, Hypochromic↗
PubMed1992

The mushroom femoral head. A radiographic investigation.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: In 1913, anthropologist Ales Hrdlicka described a number of femora as having "mushroom heads," a deformity he attributed to arthritis deformans. The authors have attempted to define the cause of this condition. METHODS: Forty of 41 femora with "mushroom" femoral heads collected by Hrdlicka were grossly inspected and examined with plain radiographs and with computed tomography. Femoral neck angulation and degree of anteversion were determined. RESULTS: Three distinct categories were established: group I, those specimens with normal angulation and short femoral necks; group II, those with varus angulation and short femoral necks; and group III, those with normal-sized femoral necks and normal femoral neck angulation. No correlation was found between degree of anteversion and the categories. Additionally, most of the mushroom deformities were related to osteophyte formation. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the changes in the femora were the result of osteoarthritis. Two groups showed evidence of growth disturbances that occurred early in life. The changes in the second group were similar to those seen in Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease.

Epiphyses, Slipped↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Acetabular alterations in untreated congenital dysplasia of the hip: computed tomography with multiplanar re-formation and three-dimensional analysis.

The alterations in acetabular morphology that occur in untreated congenital hip dysplasia (CDH) were evaluated in 29 prehistoric and four modern hemipelvis specimens using inspection, sectioning, conventional radiography, CT, and multiplanar re-formation with three-dimensional image reconstruction. Three major patterns of acetabular morphology were recognized, each reflecting a different grade of severity of dysplasia. Type I (positionally unstable or subluxatable) hips were characterized by acetabular deepening with prominent circumferential ossification within the transverse acetabular ligament and everted limbus. Type III (dislocated) hips demonstrated definite false acetabula separated from triangular remnants of the true acetabula by ossified inverted limbi. Type II (subluxated) hips revealed an intermediate pattern, with acetabular elongation and ossification of deformed limbi, but without definite pseudoacetabula. Computed tomography, particularly with three-dimensional analysis, was extremely useful in characterizing the abnormal acetabular morphology of untreated CDH. An awareness of the secondary osseous alterations of this disorder facilitates understanding the spectrum of hip instability and its soft tissue abnormalities.

Acetabulum↗
PubMed1990

Skull trepanation among the early Indians of Canada and the United States.

The authors reviewed anthropological reports of skull trepanation (trephination) among the early Indians of Canada and the United States of America. Published reports of 20 trepanations in 19 skulls are reviewed. All were believed to have been performed ante mortem. Most were from the pre-Columbian era. Eleven were from Canada (8 from British Columbia) and 8 from the United States. The location of skull perforation was parietal in 9 cases and less often frontal (3) or occipital (3). The average skull opening was oval or oblong, with a diameter of 3.0 cm. The method of trepanation was probably gradual scraping in most cases. Skull fractures were not present in any case. About 90% of the trepanations showed evidence of healing, indicating survival. The authors discuss the evidence for skull trepanation in the United States and Canada, and compare these findings to the better studied South and Central American material.

Canada↗
PubMed1999

Stone age skull surgery in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: a systematic study.

OBJECTIVE: Trephination of the cranial vault is the oldest known surgical procedure and has often been reported in the literature. The present study was performed to study the incidence, the techniques used, and possible indications for trephinations in the region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the most northeastern German state. METHODS: One hundred thirteen of a total of 115 Neolithic (c. 2000-3500 BC) skulls and eight smaller skull fragments found in the region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were examined. Defects and abrasions were detected in 31 of these skulls and underwent further examination (careful microscopic and/or endoscopic examination, three-dimensional computed tomography, and x-rays). RESULTS: Six skulls showed defects resulting from trephination, mainly located along the midline or in the left parieto-occipital region. There was good osteological evidence that at least five of these operations had been survived. Two different techniques for trephination (circular cuts and scraping) had been used. CONCLUSION: From the present study, we conclude that the incidence of trephination in Neolithic skulls in our region is at least 5% and that these operations had been survived in singular cases. There is increasing evidence that these procedures were intended to be curative.

Adolescent↗