This project investigates the development of asymmetry throughout growth by using bilateral asymmetry of the humerus as a proxy for handedness. A large skeletal sample of non-adults combined with a smaller sample of adults, primarily from British archaeological sites, was examined in order to detect when handedness appears in the human skeleton. Traditional measurements were combined with 3D data in order to provide a comprehensive picture of bilateral asymmetry. Results of this work indicate a striking trend from left to right-handedness during growth and development, with infants and toddlers exhibiting left-sided asymmetry and older children and adolescents demonstrating right-sidedness. Interestingly, this trend is consistent with what has been observed behaviourally in children, suggesting that biomechanical forces strongly influence bilateral asymmetry in the upper limb bones. In addition to examining handedness throughout growth, this research also explores bilateral asymmetry more generally as it is impossible to fully understand handedness without observing how asymmetry varies according to different factors. Although this work supports the hypothesis that all human populations are right-handed, there are subtle differences between groups. Results indicate that British populations became more asymmetrical over time, with this becoming most pronounced during the Industrial Revolution. Differences in degree of asymmetry between males and females was also noted, suggesting differences in activity between the two groups, as well as supporting the notion that the male and female skeleton differ in how they respond to biomechanical forces. Overall, this work provides a comprehensive analysis and discussion of how handedness presents in the human skeleton.

This project investigates the development of asymmetry throughout growth by using bilateral asymmetry of the humerus as a proxy for handedness. A large skeletal sample of non-adults combined with a smaller sample of adults, primarily from British archaeological sites, was examined in order to detect when handedness appears in the human skeleton. Traditional measurements were combined with 3D data in order to provide a comprehensive picture of bilateral asymmetry. Results of this work indicate a striking trend from left to right-handedness during growth and development, with infants and toddlers exhibiting left-sided asymmetry and older children and adolescents demonstrating right-sidedness. Interestingly, this trend is consistent with what has been observed behaviourally in children, suggesting that biomechanical forces strongly influence bilateral asymmetry in the upper limb bones. In addition to examining handedness throughout growth, this research also explores bilateral asymmetry more generally as it is impossible to fully understand handedness without observing how asymmetry varies according to different factors. Although this work supports the hypothesis that all human populations are right-handed, there are subtle differences between groups. Results indicate that British populations became more asymmetrical over time, with this becoming most pronounced during the Industrial Revolution. Differences in degree of asymmetry between males and females was also noted, suggesting differences in activity between the two groups, as well as supporting the notion that the male and female skeleton differ in how they respond to biomechanical forces. Overall, this work provides a comprehensive analysis and discussion of how handedness presents in the human skeleton.

Inaug.-diss.--München. / Curriculum vitae. "Verseichnis der benützten literatur": p. 31-32.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1980. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-142).

<p> Middle Mississippian is a both a cultural and temporal (1200 CE&ndash;1400 CE) archaeological context of Midwestern North America. This cultural tradition is associated with mound building, specific art motifs, arguably stratified societies, intensive agriculture, and specific ritual/mortuary practices. Burial sites can be very valuable to archaeologists because of the purposeful interaction between the living and the deceased and reconstruct cultural elements such as social identity and group membership. While American archaeology continues to be fieldwork-focused, there are a considerable amount of cultural resources housed in museum collections that could provide data for research into pre-Columbian lifeways in North America. This project used archived excavation information from past fieldwork to ask modern contextual questions about sites that are archaeologically inaccessible. These field notes and reports as well as a recent inventory of the curated human osteological remains were used to analyze the mortuary patterns (e.g., grave accompaniments, burial orientation, burial location, segregation by age or sex) of nine Middle Mississippian period sites from what is now the Kentucky Lake reservoir of west-central Tennessee. Among the results of the mortuary assessment is the recognition that sex, rather than rank or social role, is a primary identity marker.</p><p>

No description available.

Understanding the process of decomposition is extremely important and aids in criminal investigations, especially when attempting to estimate the post mortem interval (PMI). Although several studies have been conducted on the decomposition patterns in surface remains, much less is known about this process in buried remains. By quantifying decomposition rates, factors influencing decomposition and research on the process of decomposition can be standardised and validated in a South African setting. The aim of this study was to record decomposition stages and rates of buried remains and to compare it to that of remains decomposing on the surface. Twenty five pigs (Sus scrofa; 45-80 kg) were buried and excavated at different post mortem intervals [7 days (1 week), 14 days (2 weeks), 33 days (1 month), 92 days (3 months) and 183 days (6 months)]. Stages of decomposition were scored according to separate categories for different anatomical regions based on standardised methods, and photographed. The point values for each region were added to determine the total body score (TBS), which represents the stage of decomposition for each pig. When studying decomposition, accumulated degree days (ADD) are effective in standardising the effect of variables (i.e., temperature) that influence the decay process. It also enables researchers to replicate experiments and compare results. In this study, ADD were used to measure the rate of decomposition and to compare decomposition rates between buried and surface remains. Results indicated that early stages of decomposition occured rapidly for both surface and buried remains within 7-33 days. Differences in the degree of decay were especially noticeable with the buried, 7 day interval pigs that displayed variations in discolouration in the lower abdomen and trunk. Between 14 and 33 days, buried pigs displayed common features associated with the early stages of decomposition, such as discolouration and bloating. The pigs then reached a stage of advanced decay where little change was observed in the next ±90-183 days after internment. Similar patterns of decomposition were observed for surface remains with rapid decay during the early stages of decay where after a plateau phase was reached during advanced decay. However, as expected, the surface remains reached higher TBS scores during similar intervals. iii In this study, the decomposition rates of buried remains were mostly influenced by being buried at an average depth of 0.75 m which could have resulted in lower in-soil temperatures and limited insect activity at a depth of 0.75 m on the remains. Also, adipocere presented itself on the remains with the 33 day PMI pigs, the 92 day PMI pigs and 183 day PMI pigs. Adipocere is capable of degrading over a prolonged period which reduces the rate of decay in a conducive environment (i.e., burial in soil). Overall, surface and buried pigs decompose with similar patterns, but buried pigs decompose at a much slower rate, reaching lower TBS values relative to similar PMIs in surface remains. This suggests that burial does have a significant effect on the rate of decomposition. Results from this study suggest that when using TBS guidelines on buried remains in the Central Highveld region of South Africa, buried remains will have, on average, a lower TBS score (7.4) than surface remains within a similar post mortem interval. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Anatomy / Unrestricted

This research project, conducted at Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico, studied 48 free-ranging female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) for 13 months to assess the response strategies of females to new males. Rhesus macaque society is composed of a stable core of multi-generational matrilines, with males generally transferring from their natal group at puberty, and migrating periodically throughout their lives. A female, therefore, will always be familiar with her female group members, but will be unfamiliar with recently transferred or peripheral males in her group. Matched pairs of females of varying age, rank, and parity, from two social groups, were followed across the entire reproductive cycle, to observe interactions with males. Hypotheses were developed from several models predicting female response to males under certain conditions (intra-group competition model, inter-group competition model, mate choice model, infanticide model, group history model), and the behavioral data were analyzed to test the hypotheses. Results indicate that all females do not follow the same strategies when interacting with males, and neither do all females of the same relative rank, age, reproductive state, or maternal experience. The major effect on a female's response to males demonstrated in this project was her group membership. The model proposed to explain the results generated by this research is a group history model which relies on behavioral flexibility over a female's lifespan and suggests that as a the nature of a female's social group changes and evolves, her relationships with, and responses to, different categories of males will change also.

Collagen is an extremely stable protein that comprises 90% of the organic fraction of bone. Specific nutritional deficiencies and diseases are known to impair collagen synthesis and alter its typical amino acid composition. This study investigates the possibility that altered amino acid composition is evident in the pathological individuals of a large, well-preserved collection of archaeological remains. Femoral cortical bone samples from 59 adults from the NAX cemetery (A.D. 350-550) near Wadi Halfa, Sudan, and five modern samples are examined for collagen preservation and amino acid composition. Elemental analysis of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen content indicates that protein preservation in the NAX samples is excellent. Only two have nitrogen contents below that of fresh bone, although seven samples display C/N ratios suggestive of diagenesis. Amino acid analyses, using both ninhydrin and OPA detection to obtain complete profiles, reveal depletion of the less stable amino acids (specifically, serine, methionine, isoleucine, tyrosine, and phenylalanine) and low levels of breakdown products in the NAX sample, which otherwise retains the characteristic composition of collagen. Porotic hyperostosis in the Nubian population is a childhood condition stemming from iron deficiency anemia. It was anticipated that amino acids dependent on iron for their formation--hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine--would be depleted in this group in comparison to a nonpathological group, however, only phenylalanine is reduced significantly. The early onset of osteoporosis in the ancient Nubian population also is nutritionally linked, however, no significant differences are found. A final group comprised of individuals with both porotic hyperostosis and osteoporosis reveals a significant elevation of a breakdown product but no other differences. The results indicate that differential degradation of amino acids occurs as a consequence of postmortem diagenesis. The lack of statistically significant differences attributable to pathology suggests that the biological stress was not chronic or severe enough to alter amino acid composition. Normal collagen synthesis appears to be maintained at the expense of mineralization.

The study was conducted to create an understanding of a particular group of people from urban India who had no knowledge of reading and writing. I have defined the term contemporary orality as a culture that retains almost all the psychodynamics of primary orality but yet interacts with literacy. In the extensive literature of comparative media theory, little ethnographic work had been done about contemporary oral cultures and their knowledge-systems. This introductory term is being used as a substitute for two commonly used labels--illiterates and residually oral. The ethnographic questionnaire was designed in such a way as to find that contemporary oral subjects have a specific way of constituting knowledge which is different from the way literates conceptualize about knowledge. Writing has to be personally interiorized to affect thinking processes. This research was undertaken in two parts. The first set of interviews were conducted in summer of 1990 and a more extensive version followed during the summer of 1991. A total of 87 oral people were interviewed. The results indicate that contemporary oral subjects conceptualize many aspects of knowledge (for example, work, space, time, nature, religion, law, government, etc.) differently from literates. The research subjects retain many of the basic psychodynamics of primary orality, as discussed in the writings of Walter Ong, except for the emphasis on memory. While memory had been crucial for primary oral cultures, its importance is vastly reduced in contemporary orality. The sociodynamics of contemporary orality, i.e., its close interaction with literates and literacy, effects the way oral subjects retain information. They depend on literates for recalling events, times, dates and amounts. Thus, this dissertation establishes the distinction between primary and secondary orality by introducing the cultural label of contemporary orality and by defining its particular psychodynamics and sociodynamics.