Understanding our evolutionary history as a species has since long been one of the most attracting and controversial themes of the scientific investigation. From its geographical position, outstanding fossil record and richness of human diversity, the Horn of Africa and, particularly, the Ethiopian region offers an unmatched opportunity to investigate our origins from a genetic perspective. To carry out a genome-wide survey of this region, 13 out of the estimated 80 extant Ethiopian populations were typed on an Illumina Omni 1M SNP array. The results showed a good concordance between genetic and linguistic stratification and, overall, a complex population structure placing the Ethiopians in between North and Sub Saharan Africans, due to the recent non African gene flow which was dated at around 3000 years ago. Furthermore the SNP array data unveiled putative traces of the out of Africa migrations as well as, in two of the typed populations, signatures of genetic adaptation to high altitude. To obtain an unbiased, high resolution representation of the Ethiopian genetic landscape, 25 individuals from each of five populations were newly collected and sequenced on an Illumina HiSeq platform. These populations were chosen, from among the ones typed on the SNP array, to represent the main components of Ethiopian genetic diversity. Of the 25 samples per population, 24 were sequenced at low depth to generate a broad list of genetic variants, while one sample from each was sequenced at high depth to provide a higher resolution list of variants peculiar to each analysed population. The 125 Ethiopian genomes thus sequenced, while overall consistent with the genotyping results, described the Ethiopian populations in a less biased way than the SNP array data. Furthermore estimation of past effective population size fluctuations from the individual genomes unveiled a unique pattern in the ancestry of the Ethiopian populations in the early stages of human evolution. These results provide a data resource which can be used in future analyses.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Vitamin D deficiency at Middenbeemster and Hattem is the result of cultural variables that limit an individual’s exposure to sunlight. During growth spurts, such as the pubertal growth spurt, high demand for vitamin D puts individuals at an increased risk for developing conditions such as rickets. This thesis aims to determine whether adolescent rickets can be identified in archaeological skeletal remains, and how to quantify the observed changes. The current work also aims to use the prevalence of adolescent rickets to understand the underlying social changes affecting individuals in the Netherlands in the 17th to 19th centuries. Two collections of archaeological human remains from the 17th to 19th century Dutch sites of Middenbeemster (n=246) and Hattem (n=117) were evaluated using macroscopic, metric, radiographic, and micro-CT analysis of skeletal remains. Adolescent individuals were evaluated for signs of active adolescent rickets, and adults were evaluated for signs of residual adolescent rickets. Statistical analysis found that measurements quantifying shape changes at the distal ulna, medial clavicle, and sacral angle can be used to identify adolescent rickets in a skeletal sample. Adolescent rickets at Middenbeemster and Hattem was found to be distributed equally amongst males and females and was found to occur less frequently than rickets in infants and children from the same population. Rickets in adolescents was most likely caused by the onset of new jobs or roles resulting in individuals remaining indoors for long periods of time. Rickets may have also been caused by illness. By identifying rickets in adolescents, this thesis provides a window to view the changing roles of individuals as they begin to occupy new spaces in their transition from children into adults, thus providing a novel way to investigate the lives of adolescents. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

A região do Deserto de Atacama, norte do Chile, possui condições propícias para a conservação arqueológica. Uma grande quantidade de esqueletos ali bem preservados vem permitindo um intercâmbio rico entre estudos bioantropológicos e arqueológicos. Dentro desse contexto, o presente estudo concentra-se nos esqueletos humanos subadultos de San Pedro de Atacama. O universo amostral é de 90 esqueletos subadultos (menores de vinte anos) de três cemitérios diferentes: Solcor-3, Coyo-3 e Quitor-6; a datação desses cemitérios varia de 250 até 1240 A.D. A inferencia da qualidade de vida biológica foi feita através de oito marcadores osteólogicos. Duas abordagens foram realizadas neste estudo: a comparação do estilo e da qualidade de vida biológica entre períodos da pré-história atacamenha e a análise mundial. A primeira delas comparou quatro períodos distintos da pré-história atacamenha: anterior à influência do Império Tiwanaku, auge da influência Tiwanaku, fase final da influência Tiwanaku e posterior à influência Tiwanaku. A hipótese central a ser testada nesta abordagem é a de que houve uma melhoria significativa na qualidade de vida biológica na região de San Pedro de Atacama durante o auge da influência Tiwanaku. A segunda abordagem consistiu na junção dos quatro períodos em uma amostra única. Estes dados caracterizaram a qualidade de vida biológica dos subadultos atacamenhos, e foram comparados com populações do restante do mundo. Objetivou-se testar se a qualidade de vida biológica em San Pedro enquadrava-se na estratégia de subsistência agricultora. Os resultados da comparação entre os períodos corroboraram a hipótese inicial apenas para o marcador cáries, uma vez que os demais marcadores apresentaram um padrão bastante variado. Os resultados da análise mundial, por sua vez, mostraram que San Pedro de Atacama se encontra dentro da amplitude de variação da categoria \"agricultores\". No entanto, foi constatado que, com exceção de cáries, os marcadores osteológicos apresentaram alta variação nas diferentes populações mundiais de uma mesma estratégia de subsistência. Os marcadores cáries, abcessos e hipoplasias em San Pedro ficaram acima da média agricultora enquanto hiperostose porótica, infecções e traumas ficaram abaixo. Em suma, encontrou-se um padrão complexo, no qual cada marcador osteológico é sensível a um conjunto de condições culturais e naturais próprias da história da população atacamenha / Desert of Atacama region, northern Chile, shows excellent conditions to preserve archaeological remains. A high number of skeletons exumated allows a rich interchange between archaeology and biological anthropology. This study analyzed subadult skeletons from San Pedro de Atacama. The sample is composed by 90 subadult skeletons (less than twenty years) from three burial sites: Solcor-3, Coyo-3 e Quitor-6; they are dated from between 250 to 1240 A.D. Style and biological quality of life were infered throught eight osteological markers. Two approaches were carried out in this study: comparison of style and biological quality of life between Atacameneans prehistoric periods and world-wide groups. The first compared four prehistoric periods of San Pedro: before the influence of Tiwanaku Empire, peak of Tiwanaku influence, final period of Tiwanaku influence and after Tiwanaku influence. The main hypothesis tested in this approach is the significative improvement of biological quality of life in San Pedro de Atacama during the peak of Tiwanaku influence. The second approach joined the skeletons from the four periods in a single sample. These data caracterized the biological quality of life of Atacameneans subadults. The aim was testing if the biological quality of life in San Pedro de Atacama would be within the variation found in agricultural subsistence strategy. The results of the periods\' comparison show that only caries frequencies corroborated the main hypothesis, while the other markers presented a variable pattern. Results of the world-wide analysis showed that San Pedro is within the range of agriculture category. However, it was found out that, except for caries, the osteological markers showed high variation in different world-wide populations within the same subsistence strategy. Caries, abscess and hypoplasias in San Pedro de Atacama were above the world-wide agricultural mean, while porotic hyperostosis, infections and traumas were below. In brief, it was found a complex pattern, in which each osteological marker responds to a particular group of natural and cultural characteristics of the prehistory of Atacamenean population.

Datés de 10.000 BP, les hommes de Paijan, chasseurs-cueilleurs, sont les plus anciens témoins des premiers peuplements de l'Amérique du Sud. Il s'agit d'une série exceptionnelle par leur ancienneté et le nombre d'individus (19). Les sépultures, individuelles et primaires ont été mises au jour au sein de campements et d'ateliers de taille, en plein air, sur les terrasses qui bordent les vallées arides issues des Andes et dans le désert littoral. Le contexte taphonomique a permis de définir des pratiques inhumatoires dans le contexte paléo-indien de l'Amérique du Sud. Les descriptions anthropologiques classiques ostéologiques des restes humains, ainsi qu'une étude statistique unie et multivariée des populations amérindiennes anciennes (Lauricocha, La Tablada de Lurin, de Huaca Prieta), des populations précolombiennes tardives (Puerto Chicama, El Brujo), ainsi que les populations subactuelles de l'extrême sud américain, ont permis de définir un changement biologique au cours de la transition culturelle précéramique-céramique, avec apport d'un nouveau pool génétique.

Objectifs : les deux principaux objectifs de cette thèse sont : (1) utiliser, tester et évaluer la qualité d'une méthode d'estimation d'âge dentaire (Braga et al., online first) la plus à même de rendre compte des caractéristiques de la maturation macrostructurale des dents définitives, (2) tester à l'aide d'un questionnaire, spécialement développé dans le cadre de cette étude, les éventuelles incidences d'un certain nombre de facteurs biologiques et socioéconomiques sur l'estimation de l'âge dentaire. Matériel : un échantillon de 863 enfants, recrutés dans le sud de la France, âgés de 3,5 à 16 ans est constitué. L'ensemble des sujets est caractérisé par une orthopantomographie et un questionnaire rempli par les parents. Méthode : une nouvelle méthode d'estimation d'âge dentaire basée sur la méthode de codage de Demirjian et al. (1973) et sur le théorème de Bayes (1763) est présentée. Cette méthode respecte l'originalité des séquences de minéralisation dentaire (approche Bayes Dépendant) et permet, grâce à l'emploi de probabilités a priori uniformes, la comparaison de résultats obtenus pour un même échantillon test à partir de deux référentiels distincts. Résultats : cette étude confirme l'influence du sexe sur l'estimation de l'âge dentaire, les filles présentant des avances d'âge dentaire par rapport aux garçons. L'influence de l'origine géographique sur l'estimation de l'âge dentaire n'est quant à elle pas avérée dans le cadre de l'application de l'approche Bayes Dépendant. Il semble néanmoins que l'origine géographique soit responsable d'une certaine variabilité au niveau des séquences de minéralisation dentaire. Le poids à la naissance, l'âge de la mère à la naissance de l'enfant, le type d'allaitement, le fait, pour la mère, d'avoir fumé ou non durant la grossesse, ou encore l'âge des premiers pas, n'ont pas d'influence sur la qualité de l'estimation de l'âge dentaire. L'influence du niveau socioéconomique sur l'estimation de l'âge dentaire demeure non significative. Néanmoins, les résultats obtenus, notamment pour les filles, semblent indiquer un retard d'âge dentaire chez les enfants « pauvres » relativement aux enfants « non pauvres ».

Pour appréhender l'histoire du peuplement autochtone de Guyane française, six populations indiennes (Palikur, Emerillon, Kaliña, Wayampi, Apalaí et Matsiguenga) ont été examinées pour les marqueurs de l'ADN mitochondrial et du chromosome Y, et trois testées pour sept loci autosomaux. Après extraction de l'ADN des sérums ou hématies prélevés sur le terrain, les fragments ont été amplifiés par PCR, analysés par digestion enzymatique et séquençage automatique à la recherche des composantes biologiques amérindiennes principales. Notre travail démontre que chez les populations amérindiennes, la dérive génétique n'explique pas toute la variabilité génétique. Notamment, l'interprétation associant anthropobiologie, ethnologie, linguistique et histoire a révélé son utilité. Enfin, ce travail a montré l'implication directe des groupes non amérindiens dans la dynamique de mise en place des populations indiennes de Guyane française.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal