Fractures, one of the most common findings in paleopathology, can reveal information about behaviour and social identity in the past. A new methodology for assessing the healing stages of fractures has recently been proposed, which could allow for additional data to be gathered from the study of fractures. Trauma, post-traumatic time interval, and injury recidivism were studied in five late Roman (c. 3rd – 4th centuries AD) British and Spanish skeletal samples. The aims of this thesis are: 1) record fractures and their healing stage using new post-traumatic time interval estimation methods; 2) determine how trauma profiles vary in the Romano-British and Spanish samples; 3) employ biocultural and life course approaches in the analysis of the results to reveal information about the culture, social identities, and environmental circumstances in the two Roman provinces under study.
The remains of 214 adults from two Romano-British and three Romano-Spanish sites were examined for the presence of long bone and rib fractures. Fracture data was analyzed by age, sex, site, bone element, and fracture type to build a profile of trauma at each of the sites. In addition, cases of multiple injury were assessed using new post-traumatic time interval methods in order to discern cases of injury recidivism.
A total of 44 individuals were identified as having 89 fractures across all the skeletal samples. Sixteen individuals had multiple fractures, eight of which were determined to have fractures of different ages using methods for determining post-traumatic time interval. Males and females had similar rates of fractures and multiple injuries. Fractures peaked among economically active young and middle-aged adults. A number of differences between the Romano-British and Spanish sample were observed with regards to trauma patterns and fracture prevalence.
The results of this research contribute to our understandings of trauma profiles and injury recidivism in Roman populations, and provide the first comprehensive trauma study of a Romano-Spanish skeletal sample. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/22614 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Jennings, Emma |
| Contributors | Brickley, Megan, Anthropology |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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