Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Dean Falk, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Anthropology. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 21, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

The Mycenaean cemetery at Kallithea Laganidia is the first comprehensive study of a cemetery sample from the periphery of the Mycenaean world. Previous studies have focused primarily on remains from palace centers. Even though it is known that the Mycenaeans populated Achaea , very little is known about this more rural population. Archaeologically and bioarchaeologically the region of Achaea has been neglected by formal and organized research, and as a result almost nothing is known about the population. This project has three aims. First, to provide new demographic data about sex, age, health, and the culture of these Mycenaeans. Secondly, via osteological analysis, to examine the hypothesis that the social stratification indicated by the associated grave goods in the tombs is reflected in the spatial orientation of each tomb and the health status of the individuals buried in the graves. Finally, to address the issue of “orphaned” archaeological collections, excavated in rescue operations, which then languish in storage for years or decades. The Kallithea Laganidia cemetery was in use from LHIIIA to LHIIIC and consists of one tholos and 23 chamber tombs. The tholos is a monumental high status tomb, and was in use both before and after the construction and use of the chamber tombs. Five of the chamber tombs were selected as a representative sample of the cemetery for this thesis. The tombs contained both men and women, and adults and children were represented among the tombs, indicating that they should provide a reasonable cross section of the population that buried their dead at Kallithea Laganidia. This osteological data showed and confirmed that the status differences seen in the grave goods from the tombs are also reflected in the tombs according to spatial distribution. The varying quality of burial offerings among the tombs of Kallithea Laganidia suggest that the tombs closer to the tholos contain burials of the socially elite, and the tombs farther away from the tholos contain burials of lower social classes. The pathology data collected, and more specifically the dental pathology data, do reflect social stratification among the sample’s five tombs, particularly when looking at antemortem tooth loss and severe dental wear. In addition, there are indications of status or behaviour differences between the sexes. Kallithean women seem to have been exposed to infection during life more often than men. Women have higher rates of infectious disease, and indications of more antemortem cranial trauma than men. Also, the presence of men, women, and children among secondary burials within these tombs suggested that there is a familial or linear tie within each tomb. The Kallithea Laganidia cemetery has the potential to yield new and informative data about the Achaean Mycenaean population. From this small sampling of 38 burials from five tombs, already the demography and paleopathology of this peripheral group is beginning to be deciphered.

Thesis ( Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-211). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2004. / Advisor: S. R. Saunders. Includes bibliographical references (leaves189-209). Also available online.

Embora estudadas há décadas, a origem e dispersão de treponematoses permanecem como questões das mais acirradamente discutidas. No intuito de enriquecer esta discussão, a presente tese avalia sistematicamente 45 coleções osteológicas de populações costeiras do sul-sudeste do Brasil datadas entre 5000 anos AP e 1500 AD. Foram combinadas três metodologias numa abordagem conservadora para estabelecer o diagnóstico diferencial entre sífilis venérea, congênita, endêmica (bejel) e framboesia (yaws). Dentre os 768 indivíduos estudados foram encontrados 22 casos suspeitos de treponematose, inclusive com lesões tipo Caries sicca e tíbia em forma de sabre (sinais patognomônicos). A frequência geral resultante (22/768=2,86%) é certamente uma subestimativa. Houve 4 casos claros de sífilis venérea e 9 de framboesia, sendo os demais inconclusivos. Não foi observado nenhum caso claro de bejel e nos sítios com mais de um tipo suspeito, os diagnósticos eram iguais ou inconclusivos. Não houve tampouco um padrão geográfico ou temporal claro na distribuição dos casos de treponematose. Algumas outras paleopatologias (Cribra orbitalia, hiperostose porotica, periostite e osteomielite) foram estudadas no intuito de testar se os grupos acometidos por treponematose apresentam maior estresse fisiológico. Esta hipótese foi confirmada; embora as causas para maior susceptibilidade à estresse fisiológico e treponematoses em alguns sítios em comparação com outros permaneçam em aberto. Algumas tendências temporais foram observadas, porém necessitam de confirmação. Ao longo dos milênios parece ter havido uma frequência decrescente de Cribra orbitalia, osteomielite, periostite e remodelação óssea. Por outro lado, parece ter havido uma frequência crescente nos aumentos de porosidades cranianas (Hiperostose porótica, porosidade serpentinosa craniana) e de treponematoses de 5000 anos AP a 1500 AD. Se os diagnósticos aqui apresentados forem confirmados, corrobora-se a hipótese pré-Colombiana. Por outro lado, a hipótese Colombiana da origem da sífilis há somente 500 anos, assim como a Unitária (de acordo com a qual a treponematose é uma doença com manifestações moduladas por fatores climáticos e bioculturais) não explicariam a distribuição das treponematoses aqui encontradas. / Although studied for decades, origin and dispersal of treponemal diseases remain one of the most discussed issues in paleopathology. Aiming to enrich this discussion, the present study systematically evaluates 45 osteological collections from coastal groups aged 5000 BP to 1500 AD, exumed from sites in south-southeastern Brazil. Three different methods were combined and used in a conservative approach to establish differential diagnosis between venereal syphilis, yaws and bejel. Amongst the 768 individuals studied there are 22 cases with possible treponematosis, including some with Caries sicca and saber shin tibiae (patognomonic signs). The final frequency (22/768=2,86%) is certainly an underestimation. There are 4 cases affected with venereal syphilis and 9 with yaws. The remaining 9 cases are inconclusive. No clear case of bejel was found and in those sites were more than one individual was affected, the diagnoses were either the same or were inconclusive. No clear temporal nor geographic pattern of distribution was found. Some other paleopathologies were also studied (cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis, periostitis and osteomyelite) in order to test if those groups affected with treponematoses also showed more physiological stress. Although this hypothesis was confirmed, the reasons that some groups were more susceptible to physiologial stress and treponemal diseases than other remains open. Some temporal tendencies were observed but need confirmation. There seems to have been a decrease in frequency of cribra orbitalia, osteomyelitis, periostitis and bone remodellling across time. On the other hand, there is also a upward shift in the frequency of porotic hyperostosis and treponematoses from 5000BP to 1500AD. If the candidate cases presented here would be confirmed, the pre-Columbian hypothesis seems more plausible. On the other hand, the Columbian hypothesis on the recent origin of syphilis, as well as the Unitarian hypothesis (according to which treponematosis is one disease with clinical manifestations influenced by climatic as well as bio-cultural factors) does not explain the distribution of treponematoses found herein.

The identification of metabolic diseases is a crucial aspect of osteoarchaeological analysis and of paleopathological studies. This study is specifically concerned with the study of scurvy and its bony manifestation. This investigation considers the recognition of the bony lesions of scurvy in adult skeletons that originate from English archaeological contexts dating to the Post Medieval period. In order to identify scorbutic bony lesions, assemblages were analysed that derived from the Georgian period Navy that were known to suffer from endemic scurvy, namely Haslar hospital near Portsmouth and Stonehouse hospital in Plymouth. These assemblages were complemented by two Non-Naval skeletal collections of a broadly contemporaneous time period, one of which was a prison assemblage from Oxford Castle in Oxford and the other was from Darwen, Lancashire and consisted of a Primitive Methodist cemetery. For the purpose of this study, an extensive literature review was carried out and a specially modified scurvy recording form was created. In total three hundred and fifty-eight skeletons were analysed using the scurvy recording form on which a total of twenty-one potential scorbutic indicators were scored. The data was then subject to statistical analysis and a set of primary and secondary scorbutic indicators was established. The primary scorbutic lesions were femur, sphenoid, posterior maxilla, scapula, endocranial and mandible. Nine secondary lesions were also established and these were lesions of the foot, humerus, ulna, radius, hand, clavicle, innominate, fibula and the ectocranial surface of the skull. In total, 66.7% of the Haslar assemblage was found to have suffered from scurvy, followed by Plymouth with 20.6%, Darwen with 16.4% and Oxford Castle with 7.9%. It was found that scurvy could be identified in adult skeletal material through the recognition of a number of lesions that could not be attributed to any other disease process. The results indicated that scurvy was present in all of the skeletal collections studied but was more common in the Naval assemblages. This is an important development in the detection of scurvy in the archaeological record and is crucial in the reconstruction of past diets and metabolic disease patterns.

Since the first modern investigations into Egyptian mummies in the 1970s, anthracosis and silicosis have regularly been found in mummified lungs (Tapp, 1975; Walker et al, 1987). Anthracosis, lung irritation caused by carbon particles, is well researched in modern populations but very little is known about the disease in ancient times. Similarly, little is known about the prevalence of silicosis, caused by the inhalation of particles of silicon, in ancient times. It has been assumed that carbon was inhaled through the combustion of fuel for cooking and illumination whilst silicon came from the desert environment.This study aims to test these assumptions by characterising the shape, size and elemental composition of the organic and inorganic particles contained within ancient lung tissue. When these particles are compared against surrogate carbon and silicon particles, it may be possible to identify them and reveal their aetiology.Surrogate carbon particles were produced through controlled combustion of fuels the ancient Egyptians are likely to have used. The modern silica containing sand was collected from various archaeological sites in Egypt. A sonication method was used to extract particles from ancient tissue. After extraction, individual ancient particles were isolated and examined for size and shape analysis using light microscopy. The surrogate particles were examined in the same manner. The particles were then imaged using environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and elemental profiles determined by energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX). Bulk analysis by mass spectrometry was then employed to qualitatively and quantitatively analyse the elements contained within ancient lung particles and the modern surrogates. Electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA) was used to map the deposition and elemental composition of inorganic compounds in sections of ancient lung. Further information on the bonds and chain length of soots were obtained through FTIR and Raman spectroscopy.Results have shown the presence of anthracosis and birefringent particles in all ancient lung tissues examined by this study. Both organic and inorganic ancient particles have been found to be respirable (ie, less than 10 microns in diameter) and were present in the lung pre-mortem. EDX and ICP-MS results show the inorganic particles to consist of aluminium silicates (sand) and calcium carbonate (limestone). FTIR and Raman spectroscopy were not accurate enough to detect the ancient or surrogate soot bonds and were not suited to this study.

Using skeletal and material remains respectively, archaeologists and physical anthropologists attempt to reconstruct the lives of past peoples. The combination of these two types of evidence within one discipline is referred to as bioarcheology. Bioarcheology includes studies in palaeodemography and palaeopathology, as well as exploring theories of mortuary behavior, lifestyle and activity, violence and interpersonal activity, and technology. This thesis contains a brief history of bioarcheology, followed by how it can be used worldwide to explore what we can discover about past populations and their culture by studying their skeletal and archaeological remains, specifically through palaeopathology. Topics covered include acquired skeletal pathologies, congenital diseases, infectious diseases, dental diseases, metabolic and endocrine diseases, and nutrition. The thesis also includes analysis of case studies conducted using a bioarcheological approach and specifically addresses why it is important for archaeologists and physical anthropologists to work together and unite bioarcheology. The ultimate objective of this thesis is to demonstrate that bioarcheology can assist in filling a void between physical anthropology and archaeology.

The identification of metabolic diseases is a crucial aspect of osteoarchaeological analysis and of paleopathological studies. This study is specifically concerned with the study of scurvy and its bony manifestation. This investigation considers the recognition of the bony lesions of scurvy in adult skeletons that originate from English archaeological contexts dating to the Post Medieval period. In order to identify scorbutic bony lesions, assemblages were analysed that derived from the Georgian period Navy that were known to suffer from endemic scurvy, namely Haslar hospital near Portsmouth and Stonehouse hospital in Plymouth. These assemblages were complemented by two Non-Naval skeletal collections of a broadly contemporaneous time period, one of which was a prison assemblage from Oxford Castle in Oxford and the other was from Darwen, Lancashire and consisted of a Primitive Methodist cemetery. For the purpose of this study, an extensive literature review was carried out and a specially modified scurvy recording form was created. In total three hundred and fifty-eight skeletons were analysed using the scurvy recording form on which a total of twenty-one potential scorbutic indicators were scored. The data was then subject to statistical analysis and a set of primary and secondary scorbutic indicators was established. The primary scorbutic lesions were femur, sphenoid, posterior maxilla, scapula, endocranial and mandible. Nine secondary lesions were also established and these were lesions of the foot, humerus, ulna, radius, hand, clavicle, innominate, fibula and the ectocranial surface of the skull. In total, 66.7% of the Haslar assemblage was found to have suffered from scurvy, followed by Plymouth with 20.6%, Darwen with 16.4% and Oxford Castle with 7.9%. It was found that scurvy could be identified in adult skeletal material through the recognition of a number of lesions that could not be attributed to any other disease process. The results indicated that scurvy was present in all of the skeletal collections studied but was more common in the Naval assemblages. This is an important development in the detection of scurvy in the archaeological record and is crucial in the reconstruction of past diets and metabolic disease patterns.

There is a general belief that a decline in health of prehistoric people occurred with the adoption and intensification of agriculture. However, recent bioarchaeological research in Southeast Asia does not seem to fit this model. An investigation of subadult health is particularly useful to assess this issue because immature individuals are very responsive to environmental changes. The increase of archaeological investigation in this region has provided an adequate sample to address this important aspect of human health using subadults. The aim of this thesis was to produce a synthesis of subadult health and disease from late prehistoric Mainland Southeast Asia and assess whether there was evidence for a change in health with agricultural intensification. The samples, comprising a total 325 individuals, are from seven sites in Thailand, six from the Northeast and one from the Southeast coast, and collectively span from c. 4000 to 1500 B.P. Two hypotheses were developed based on previous bioarchaeological research in Southeast Asia. Firstly, there would be maintenance in health with the intensification of agriculture. Secondly, contrary to the first hypothesis, an increase in infectious disease in the later samples was predicted. A biocultural research approach was used, where health and disease were assessed in relationship to evidence of the natural and cultural milieu. A comparative analysis of health indicators was carried out among the sites to assess whether there were any changes in health over time in response to environmental changes. Non-specific indicators of health were used in the assessment of palaeodemography, growth, growth disruption, dental health and skeletal pathology. Analysis of mortality, fertility, growth, growth disruption and dental health found no differences among the sites that could be explained by temporality. These results support the first hypothesis, that health was maintained. The skeletal pathology results tentatively suggested an increase in these indicators in the later sites. An analysis of multiple indicators of stress in the populations indicated a possible decline in health, interpreted with environmental evidence suggesting an increase of infectious disease at the later sites. However, they suggest that the earliest site of Khok Phanom Di had extremely poor health. Thus, the second hypothesis was only partially supported. Environmental evidence was used to provide possible explanations for these results. The heterogeneity of the health indicators support recent interpretations of localised environments of the sites. Also, retention of a broad-spectrum subsistence economy with agriculture may have overridden some of these changes that were seen in other parts of the world. Khok Phanom Di and the later sites were undergoing major changes in their natural and cultural environment, which could have resulted in an increase of infectious disease. These health results are consistent with suggestions that Khok Phanom Di was a distinct genetic population from those at the Northeast Thai sites. This biocultural interpretation emphasises the importance of understanding the environmental context in which these people lived.