Jaime Ullinger Dept. of Anthropology, Ohio State University Susan Guise Sheridan Dept. of Anthropolo

1
Jaime Ullinger Dept. of Anthropology, Ohio State
University Susan Guise Sheridan Dept. of
Anthropology, University of Notre Dame
Bert de Vries History Department, Calvin
College
Table 1. Talar and Tibial Non-Metric Traits
a
b
c
MEDIAL FACET
LATERAL FACET
MEDIAL EXTENSION
LATERAL EXTENSION
R
L
R
L
R
L
R
L
47 / 68
38 / 62
37 / 61
38 / 59
31 / 52
28 / 55
3 / 51
4 / 46
St. Stephens
TALUS
6 / 14
10 / 15
13 / 15
11 / 15
7 / 13
8 / 15
1 / 14
2 / 14
Umm el-Jimmal
-
-
31 / 58
33 / 59
5 / 57
2 / 56
St. Stephens
TIBIA
-
-
7 / 10
7 / 9
0 / 9
0 / 8
Umm el-Jimmal
e
f
d
The results suggest that repetitive
hyperdorsiflexion of the foot, as represented by
markers on the talus and tibia, occurred
similarly in these two Byzantine monastic and
secular communities. The pattern present in
both groups is similar to that found in other
studies, where there are significantly more
lateral facets than medial facets (Singh, 1959
Rao, 1966 Satinoff, 1972). Previous studies
have also noted that there are significantly more
squatting facets in females than in males
(Pandey and Singh, 1990 Boulle, 2001a). It
should be noted that the monastic community was
composed almost entirely of males, while the Umm
el-Jimal collection contained men and women.
Boulle (2001b) separated talar facets into
conventional and pressure. Both types were
present in the monastic group, although the
significance of this is not known. Boulle
(2001b) suggested that the pressure facets
denote late developing squatting facets, and
may indicate that this Byzantine group was
squatting at both younger and older ages,
comparable to her ancient French samples. The
tibial retroversion results for the St. Stephens
collection indicate this pattern as well (data
available on the Kovacik et al. poster about the
knee joint). The manner in which the monks were
kneeling may indicate hyperdorsiflexion of the
foot however, the assymetrical nature of the
osteoarthritis should have been reflected in
these facets if the foot was hyperdorsiflexed
while kneeling. The act of kneeling, however,
also shifts the individuals weight onto the
knees, while the act of squatting maintains
weight-bearing on the ankle joint. This may also
influence the absence of these facets with
kneeling behavior. Further study involving the
metatarsals (following Ubelaker 1979) should shed
light on the involvement of the foot in
kneeling. The presence of squatting facets in
the monastic community at similar frequencies to
its contemporaries (although we only have small
samples) indicates that the monks may have been
using habitual postures similar to non-religious
individuals, in addition to the unusual
repetitive behavior that they also engaged in.
Figure 1. Non-metric indicators of squatting
on the talus a) no squatting facets EBND
10.710 b) medial squatting facet EBND 7.417
c) lateral squatting facet EBND 23.511 d)
lateral squatting facet , pressure type EBND
26.162 e) medial extension EBND 20.192 and,
f) lateral extension EBND 23.218.
a
b
c
Barnett CH. 1954. Squatting facets on the
European talus. J Anat 88509-513. Bautch R.
1999. On Bended Knee  Correlations liturgical
and anthropological from a Fifth-century
monastery. Koinonia, XI.2155-167. Boulle E.
2001a. Evolution of two human skeletal markers of
the squatting position a diachronic study from
antiquity to the modern age. Am J Phys Anthropol
11550-56. Boulle E. 2001b. Osteological
features associated with ankle hyperdorsiflexion.
Int J Osteoarchaeol 11345-349. Buikstra JE,
Ubelaker DH, editors. 1994. Standards for data
collection from human skeletal remains.
Fayetteville, AK Arkansas Archaeological
Survey. Driscoll M, Sheridan, SG. 2000. Every
Knee Shall Bend Liturgical ascetical prayer in
V-VII century Palestine. Worship
74(5)453-68 Finnegan M. 1978. Non-metric
variation of the infracranial skeleton. J Anat
12523-37. Pandey SK, Singh S. 1990. Study of
squatting facet/extension of talus in both sexes.
Med Sci Law 30159-164. Rao PDP. 1966. Squatting
facets on the talus and tibia in Australian
Aborigines. Archaeol Phys Anthropol Oceania
151-56. Satinoff M. 1972. Squatting facets on
the talus and tibia in Ancient Egyptians. J Hum
Evol 1209-212. Singh I. 1959. Squatting facets
on the talus and tibia in Indians. J Anat
93540-550. Ubelaker DH. 1979. Skeletal evidence
for kneeling in prehistoric Ecuador. Am J Phys
Anthropol 51679-686.
Figure 2. Non-metric indicators of squatting
on the distal tibia a) no squatting facet EBND
5.437 b) medial squatting facet EBND J.348
and c) lateral squatting facet EBND9.74.