Chapter 10: Bioarchaeology Approaches

Question 1

What is bioarchaeology? (5)

Answer 1

• study of human biological component of the archaeological record; study of human skeletons to explore:
• paleopathology
• paleodemography
• diet
• genetic history

Question 2

What is skeletal analysis? (2)

Answer 2

• begins with human anatomy and osteology or the study of bone
• bioarchaeologists are interested in understanding whether or not their samples represent a burial population

Question 3

What is a burial population? (2)

Answer 3

• individuals who came from a specific area or died over a relatively short, measurable time period
• example: Stillwater Burials, NV

Question 4

Describe the Stillwater Burials in Nevada. (2)

Answer 4

• excavations led by C. S. Larsen

- 500 individuals; 54 from intact burials

Question 5

What are some issues with determining burial population? (3)

Answer 5

• burial practices
• example: charnel houses where mid-Atlantic Indigenous groups allowed bodies to decay and ritually prepared bundle burials
• post-depositional processes

Question 6

Which characteristics of the pelvis and skull are used to determine sex? (4)

Answer 6

• sciatic notch: U-shaped indentation in the innominate’s posterior position
• subpubic angle: formed where two halves of the pelvis come together
• skull’s robusticity
• biological characteristics fall on a continuum: comparisons within the burial population made to assess male versus female designations

Question 7

What ratio of sexes was present at the Stillwater Burials?

Answer 7

2x more males than females, but many could not be aged

Question 8

How do bioarchaeologists determine age at death using teeth and bone fusion patterns?

Answer 8

crown formation and tooth eruption

Question 9

How do bioarchaeologists use bone fusion to determine age? (2)

Answer 9

• epiphyses: ends of bones that fuse to the main shaft or portion of bone at various ages
• sutures: fibrous joints found in the skull that fuse at various ages

Question 10

What are a couple examples of bone degenerative features? (2)

Answer 10

• pubic symphysis wear

- tooth wear

Question 11

What range of ages was present at the Stillwater Burials?

Answer 11

from infants to individuals over 50 yrs old

Question 12

What is paleopathology?

Answer 12

study of ancient patterns of disease, disorders, and trauma

Question 13

What is disease and trauma? Provide some examples. (5)

Answer 13

• skeletal conditions resulting from iron deficiency
• porotic hyperostosis: skull becomes porous in appearance
• cribra orbitalia: bone of the upper eye sockets takes on a spongy appearance
• evidence of bone breakage: healed vs unhealed bones

Question 14

What sorts of disease and trauma were present at the Stillwater Burials? (2)

Answer 14

• only 4 individuals with iron deficiency

- only 18 individuals with trauma

Question 15

What are a couple of examples of arrested growth and development? (2)

Answer 15

• Harris lines

- Enamel hypoplasias

Question 16

What are Harris lines? (2)

Answer 16

• horizontal lines near ends of bones indicating episodes of physiological stress
• tend to disappear later in life because bone remodels as it grows

Question 17

What are enamel hypoplasias? (4)

Answer 17

• horizontal linear defects in tooth enamel also indicating episodes of physiological stress
• stay in place and record the period of stress as well as duration of stress
• distance from root to tip of hypoplasia = time of stress
• width of hypoplasia line = length of time of the stress

Question 18

What forms of arrested growth and development were present at the Stillwater Burials? (4)

Answer 18

• 2/3 of individuals sustained enamel hypoplasias
• most happened between ages of 3 and 4
• less intense than other known Native American groups
• disease and trauma evidence are low in this group; Larsen concluded it was due to food-supply stress during the past 3000 years

Question 19

What sorts of trauma are associated with workload? (3)

Answer 19

• osteoarthritis: joint disorder created by loss of cartilage, typically resulting from mechanical stress
• expressed on a bone as a bony growth (osteophyte) that forms a lip around the edge of a bone’s epiphysis or between vertebrae
• eburnation: polish on bone articular surface resulting when cartilage is long gone and the bones have been rubbing together

Question 20

What kind of workload trauma was present at the Stillwater Burials? (3)

Answer 20

• each adult suffered from osteoarthritis
• men in hips, ankles, and feet
• women in lower backs

Question 21

How is biomechanics used to interpret functional morphology? (4)

Answer 21

• long bone cross sections: long bone cross-sections to understand mechanical stresses
• cross sections of the arm and leg to assess shape and levels of stress
• bones adapt to stressors by changing shape
• oval-shaped cross-sections provide better support for heavy loads carried over great distances

Question 22

What sort of functional morphology was present at the Stillwater Burials? (3)

Answer 22

• men had more oval-shaped femurs than women
• but humeri were not statistically different
• men were more mobile, supporting the data from the osteoarthritis study

Question 23

What are dental caries, and what do they indicate? (2)

Answer 23

• dental cavities

- prevalence of dental caries indicates diets high in sugars and starches

Question 24

What was the frequency of dental caries at the Stillwater Burials? (2)

Answer 24

• very low rate of caries, but high frequency of tooth loss due to excessive dental wear
• also suffered from abscesses

Question 25

What was the frequency of dental caries at the Catalhoyuk Burials? (2)

Answer 25

• higher incidence of caries than among Stillwater hunter-gatherers
• highest among adults

Question 26

What does the ratio of stable carbon isotopes indicate? (3)

Answer 26

• gives indication of importance of carbon-4 vs carbon-3 and CAM plants in the diet
• remember: carbon-4 plants uptake more carbon-13 than the other pathways
• diets rich in carbon-4 plants will have significantly higher ratios of carbon-13 to carbon-12

Question 27

What does the ratio of stable nitrogen isotopes indicate? (2)

Answer 27

• carnivores lose nitrogen-14 through urination but maintain nitrogen-15
• diets rich in meat indicated by higher ratio of nitrogen-15 to nitrogen-14

Question 28

What does bone chemistry indicate about the diet of those of the Stillwater Burials? (3)

Answer 28

• fall closer to the Ontario hunters (meat-eaters) than to population from Pecos Pueblo, NM (maize-dependent)
• mixed diet of animal and plant resources
• strontium and human dispersal/diaspora

Question 29

What is molecular archaeology?

Answer 29

study of ancient artifacts and biological remains at an atomic or molecular level

Question 30

What is aDNA? (5)

Answer 30

• ancient DNA recovered from organic materials found in archaeological contexts
• DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid is the macromolecule that forms the basis of your chromosomes and the gene segments of the code or “recipe” of an organism’s make-up
• Nuclear DNA: genetic material found in a cell’s nucleus; represents individual’s inherited traits
• Mitochondrial DNA: genetic material found in mitochondria of cells; inherited only from the mother
• PCR or polymerase chain reaction is used to amplify ancient DNA segments, often sets of single nucleotide polymorphisms