Chapter 10: Bioarchaeology Approaches Flashcards
What is bioarchaeology? (5)
- study of human biological component of the archaeological record; study of human skeletons to explore:
- paleopathology
- paleodemography
- diet
- genetic history
What is skeletal analysis? (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
What is a burial population? (2)
- individuals who came from a specific area or died over a relatively short, measurable time period
- example: Stillwater Burials, NV
Describe the Stillwater Burials in Nevada. (2)
- excavations led by C. S. Larsen
- 500 individuals; 54 from intact burials
What are some issues with determining burial population? (3)
- burial practices
- example: charnel houses where mid-Atlantic Indigenous groups allowed bodies to decay and ritually prepared bundle burials
- post-depositional processes
Which characteristics of the pelvis and skull are used to determine sex? (4)
- 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
What ratio of sexes was present at the Stillwater Burials?
2x more males than females, but many could not be aged
How do bioarchaeologists determine age at death using teeth and bone fusion patterns?
crown formation and tooth eruption
How do bioarchaeologists use bone fusion to determine age? (2)
- 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
What are a couple examples of bone degenerative features? (2)
- pubic symphysis wear
- tooth wear
What range of ages was present at the Stillwater Burials?
from infants to individuals over 50 yrs old
What is paleopathology?
study of ancient patterns of disease, disorders, and trauma
What is disease and trauma? Provide some examples. (5)
- 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
What sorts of disease and trauma were present at the Stillwater Burials? (2)
- only 4 individuals with iron deficiency
- only 18 individuals with trauma
What are a couple of examples of arrested growth and development? (2)
- Harris lines
- Enamel hypoplasias
What are Harris lines? (2)
- horizontal lines near ends of bones indicating episodes of physiological stress
- tend to disappear later in life because bone remodels as it grows
What are enamel hypoplasias? (4)
- 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
What forms of arrested growth and development were present at the Stillwater Burials? (4)
- 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
What sorts of trauma are associated with workload? (3)
- 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
What kind of workload trauma was present at the Stillwater Burials? (3)
- each adult suffered from osteoarthritis
- men in hips, ankles, and feet
- women in lower backs
How is biomechanics used to interpret functional morphology? (4)
- 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
What sort of functional morphology was present at the Stillwater Burials? (3)
- 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
What are dental caries, and what do they indicate? (2)
- dental cavities
- prevalence of dental caries indicates diets high in sugars and starches
What was the frequency of dental caries at the Stillwater Burials? (2)
- very low rate of caries, but high frequency of tooth loss due to excessive dental wear
- also suffered from abscesses
What was the frequency of dental caries at the Catalhoyuk Burials? (2)
- higher incidence of caries than among Stillwater hunter-gatherers
- highest among adults
What does the ratio of stable carbon isotopes indicate? (3)
- 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
What does the ratio of stable nitrogen isotopes indicate? (2)
- carnivores lose nitrogen-14 through urination but maintain nitrogen-15
- diets rich in meat indicated by higher ratio of nitrogen-15 to nitrogen-14
What does bone chemistry indicate about the diet of those of the Stillwater Burials? (3)
- 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
What is molecular archaeology?
study of ancient artifacts and biological remains at an atomic or molecular level
What is aDNA? (5)
- 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
