Bioarchaeology

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Bioarchaeology

• Interpretation of behavior from skeletal remains

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Skeletal remains 20th c. Venda

• Evidence of chronic disease minimal
• Life expectancy high infant morality with
  middle-aged adult mortality (45 years)
• Antibiotics
• Poor living conditions no running water and no
  sanitation
• Good health ???

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What is Bioarchaeology ?

• Multi-disciplinary field
• Applying physical anthropological methodology to
  questions regarding the health and behavior of a
  past population
• Skeletal remains (the sample)

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Osteological paradox (Internal factors)

• Sample size
• Demographic non-stationary population
• Selective mortality
• Hidden heterogeneity
• unknown fraility/susceptibility to disease

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Environment(external factors)

• Exposure to infectious disease
• Nutritional adequacies or inadequacies
• Culture related activities
• Trauma
• Activity related injury (stress)
• Inter-personal violence

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Mouth

• Exposure to infectious disease
• Dental caries
• Periapical abscesses
• Periodontal disease
• Antemortem Toothloss (AMTL)
• Cultural related activities
• Dental mutilation (intentional)

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Dental Caries
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Dental Caries

• Multi-factorial disease
• Essential factors
• susceptibility of the tooth
• composition of dental plaque
• type of diet
• Modifying factors
• Saliva, fluoride, systemic disease and sex

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Dental caries

• Morphology of the tooth
• Frequency pattern
• Molars
• Premolars
• Incisors
• Canines

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Dental caries diet

• Increased incidence of dental caries with the
  appearance of intensified agriculture
• Turner (1979)
• 0 - 5.3 hunter and gatherers
• 0.4 - 10.3 mixed economy
• 2.3 - 26.9 agriculturists

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Dental caries calculations

• Frequency number of individuals affected within
  the group
• Intensity number of teeth affected divided by
  the total number of teeth in the sample
• Per mouth number of teeth affected divided by 32

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Periapical abscess
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Periapical abscess

• Infection within the alveolar bone
• Untreated dental caries or severe dental
  attrition
• Lead to AMTL

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Periodontal disease

• Observed in all human populations
• Ubiquitous in groups with poor oral hygiene and
  little dental care
• Genetics, age (over 30 years), and oral hygiene

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Periodontal disease
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Periodontal disease/abscess
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Antemortem toothloss

• Teeth can be lost to a variety of oral diseases
  or to cultural practices
• Dental mutilations
• Incisors and canines

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Antemortem toothloss
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Dental mutilation
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Dental mutilation
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Enamel hypoplasia

• Childhood stress marker
• Hereditary defects
• Localized trauma
• Nutritional intake
• Physiological stress

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Amelogenesis

• Mineralization 6 weeks utero to 8 years

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Enamel hypoplasia
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Classification of bone pathology

• Non-specific bone pathology
• variety of ailments such as physiological
  disruptions, localized infections and systemic
  infections
• Specific bone pathology
• morphology of bone lesions can be attributed to
  a certain pathology. ie. leprosy, scruvy and
  osteomyelitis

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Periosteal lesions

• Inflammatory response of the periosteum to
  injury, infection and/or poor nutrition
• Elevated, striated layer of bone over the normal
  bony cortex

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Periosteal lesions
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Cribra orbitalia

• Numerous factors most prevalent is iron
  deficiency anemia
• Superior roof of the orbits
• Sieve-like appearance on outer bony table

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Cribra orbitalia
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Leprosy

• Endemic to sub-Saharan Africa
• Mycobacterium leprae
• Peripheral nervous system neurotrophy of hands
  and feet
• Facies leprosa

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Leprosy
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Treponemal disease

• Pinta, yaws, bejel and venereal syphillis
• Non-venereal vs. venereal syphilis
• Venereal syphilis
• Caries sicca
• Sabre-shin tibiae

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Caries sicca
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Sabre-shin tibia
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Trauma

• Antemortem
• Healed fractures
• Postmortem
• Hasty excavations, poor handling of remains
  etc.
• "Peri-mortem"
• not healed and occurred when the bone was "fresh"

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Healed fractures

• Colle's fracture
• distal end of radius
• Parry fractures
• ulnar fracture
• Trephination
• cranial surgery

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Healed fractures
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Surgical trauma
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Interpersonal violence
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Interpersonal violence
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Interpersonal violence
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Degeneration skeleton

• Osteoarthritis
• Vertebral osteophytes
• Schmorl's node

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Vertebral osteophytes
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Osteoarthritis
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Schmorl's node
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Summary

• Exposure to infectious disease
• Dentition
• Skeleton
• Trauma (accidents and violence)
• Aging Skeletal degeneration
• General interpretations of behavior, health and
  social status