Ch 10- Bio Archaeological Approaches to the past

Question 1

Burial “Population”

Answer 1

• One or a few communities that used a discrete area as a burial ground or cemetery
• Individuals who came from a specific area and who died over a relatively short period of time

Question 2

Grave Goods

Answer 2

Ex. - Lithic tools, stone tools, bone tools, ceramics, beads or jewelry, carved objects, burial wrappings or clothing, food offerings
- Artifacts put on the individual who had passed away

Question 3

Body Position

Answer 3

• On back, side or front
• Extended, flexed or seated
• Hands crosses, feet crossed

Question 4

Deviant Burial

Answer 4

• Differs from the norms of that culture

Question 5

Estimating Sex (5 stage scale)

Answer 5

• Female (F)
• Probable Female (PF)
• Indeterminate (I)
• Probable Male (PM)
• Male (M)

Question 6

1st and 2nd more reliable features for determining sex of skeleton

Answer 6

1st- Pelvis

2nd- Skull (eye orbits, brow ridges, chin)

Question 7

Estimating Age at Death

For non Adults <19

Answer 7

• Dental formation and eruption
• Epiphyseal fusion
  • Both complete by 20-25 years

Question 8

Estimating Age at Death

For Adults >20

Answer 8

• Pubic symphysis
• Tooth wear and loss
  • Strongly related to diet

Question 9

Estimating Age at death

- Stating range

Answer 9

• 2 years +/- 1 year = 1-3 years
• 25 years old +/- 5 years = 20-30 years
*Skeletal degeneration stops at 50 years, no way to tell past the age of 50

Question 10

How does bioarchaeology help us determine how well people lived?

Answer 10

• Can assess types and levels of disease/trauma, types and levels of activity/workload, patterns of growth, aspects of diet, infant mortality

Question 11

Paleopathology - What is it

Answer 11

“The study of ancient disease, disorder, and trauma”

- Complex interplay of behaviour, environment, and physiology

Question 12

Paleopathology - Can we be sure which disease they had?

Answer 12

• Can’t identify the specific disease or disorder but can say a period of ill-health occurred
BUT
• Some exceptions including tuberculosis, and syphilis we can tell 99% for sure what the cause was
• Not often the case though

Question 13

Growth Arrest Features - What are they and what do they do

Answer 13

• Episodes of disease, malnutrition or trauma can stop a child from growing until they are resolved
• If this happens for a week or longer it can get recorded in the bones and teeth
• Can cause the child to stop growing

Question 14

Determining Stature

Answer 14

• Can measure the length of a single bone and use regression equations so make an estimate
• Different populations would have had different statures- Can’t compare statures of different populations

Question 15

Osteoartiritis

Answer 15

• Loss of cartilage in a joint
• Usually because of mechanical stress
• Causes bony outgrowths along joint margin called osteophytes
• Bone surfaces rub together producing a polished surface called “eburnation”

Question 16

Paleodemography - Definition

Answer 16

• Life expectancy at birth. How old were people when they died as a proportion of the entire sample (‘population’)

Question 17

Paleodemography - In children

Answer 17

• Many infants and children died in pre-modern populations (around 30-50%)
• Skeletons of infants and children may be poorly preserved and not recovered
• Children may look underrepresented when they are not

Question 18

Paleodemography - In adults

Answer 18

Can see if males vs. females were exposed to different risks
• Late teens early 20s for women you will see increased mortality (because of risks in giving birth)
• Adult age estimation methods are imprecise (large age ranges), especially as people get older

Question 19

Diet “You are What you Eat”

Answer 19

Chemical signature of what you eat gets recorded in your bones and teeth and can remain there for thousands of years

• In the protein part of bone which is collagen
• Collagen is the organ component in bone

Question 20

Stable Isotopes (2 and what are they)

Answer 20

Carbon (C)
-	Carbon 12 
-	Carbon 13 
Nitrogen (N)
-	Nitrogen 14 
-	Nitrogen 15

Question 21

Stable Carbon Isotopes

Answer 21

• Plants take in carbon via 3 photosynthetic pathways
  • C3, C4, CAM
• C4 plants (corn) take in more C13 isotopes than C3 and CAM plants
• A person with a diet high in corn will have a higher C13/C12 value than a person with a diet low in maize

Question 22

Stable Nitrogen Isotopes

Answer 22

Increase in N15 through the food chain
• Lowest in plants, intermediate in omnivores, highest in carnivores
• Humans who eat a lot of meat have high N15/N14 values
• Allows us to determine what type of plant was eaten, how common animal protein was, and what type of animal protein it was (from water vs. land animals)

Question 23

Still Water Marsh - Diet and Workload

Answer 23

Diet
- Varied and probably usually adequate but periods of malnutrition occurred, and iron may have been low
Workload
- Walked a lot (they were foragers)
- Especially the men- tells us how labour was divided
- Had joint problems by middle age

Question 24

Still Water Marsh - Disease/ Trauma and Life Expectancy

Answer 24

Disease/ Trauma
- No specific infections - Relatively healthy
- A few broken bones, but nothing out of the ordinary
Life Expectancy
- Not many lived into ‘old adulthood’ (50+ years)

Question 25

How can we tell birthplace and if they migrated?

Answer 25

Strontium Isotopes
• Dental enamel
• Dental enamel forms during childhood and thereafter does not change
- So, we can tell where they were born and where they migrated to

Question 26

The Neolithic Revolution

- Also known as?

Answer 26

“The ‘Forager-Farmer’ transition”

• Mounds/ hills created by many generations of human occupation (living and rebuilding on the same spot)

Question 27

The Neolithic Revolution

- Diet

Answer 27

• Not much change- Grains, wheat, barley, with protein from sheep and cattle
• Less caries

Question 28

The Neolithic Revolution

- Physical Activity

Answer 28

• Work load fairly high but mobility increased in the latest period
• Big differences between individuals- suggests inequality

Question 29

The Neolithic Revolution

- Burial Context

Answer 29

• Well-preserved mud-brick houses clustered into neighbourhoods, stacked on top of one another
• Individuals, mostly non-adults, buried in the houses

Question 30

The Neolithic Revolution

- History- Houses

Answer 30

• Elaborate rooms, adorned with art, showing multigenerational occupation