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Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anthropology

Bioarchaeology

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"When The Voices Of Children Are Heard": Evaluating The Biological Effects Of Socioeconomic Status On Children In Postmedieval London., Ashley R. Ezzo Aug 2021

"When The Voices Of Children Are Heard": Evaluating The Biological Effects Of Socioeconomic Status On Children In Postmedieval London., Ashley R. Ezzo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the most vulnerable members of society, children (and their treatment) may reveal important sociocultural and socioeconomic praxes throughout human history. During the Postmedieval period, children, especially low socioeconomic status (SES) individuals, participated in the workforce. By examining the demographic distributions and paleopathological profiles of juvenile skeletal remains from high SES (St. Bride’s Crypt and Chelsea Old Church) and low SES (St. Bride’s Lower and Crossbones) Postmedieval (1700-1850 CE) London cemeteries, we can better understand how SES impacted the biological health and mortality of children. While results indicated higher mortality risk associated with low SES circumstances, most differences in pathological …


Experimental Immunology And The Potential For Osteopathological Reconstructions : Pursuing An Experimental Foundation For The Skeletal Inflammatory Index., Megan Elizabeth Duncanson May 2019

Experimental Immunology And The Potential For Osteopathological Reconstructions : Pursuing An Experimental Foundation For The Skeletal Inflammatory Index., Megan Elizabeth Duncanson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individuals who mount a strong inflammatory response may produce a shift in the systemic levels of inflammatory mediators, which may lead to a potential hyper-inflammatory phenotype (HIP). Systemic inflammation can increase severity in local inflammatory processes detected in bone lesions. This thesis investigated in vitro if human immune cells pre-treated with inflammatory inducers would affect the inflammatory response against Porphyromonas gingivalis or Staphylococcus aureus (both associated with osteological lesions). We exposed human peripheral blood mononuclear cells to bacterial lysates, or pro-inflammatory cytokines. Sequentially, we exposed the same culture to either P. gingivalis or S. aureus. The final expression of …


Minimum Number Of Individuals: A Methodological Comparison Using Human Remains From Caves Branch Rockshelter In The Cayo District Of Belize, Caitlin Elizabeth Stewart Jan 2019

Minimum Number Of Individuals: A Methodological Comparison Using Human Remains From Caves Branch Rockshelter In The Cayo District Of Belize, Caitlin Elizabeth Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The analysis of human remains in archaeological contexts is often complicated by the presence of highly fragmented and commingled remains. The standard methods used to help quantify the number of individuals and elements in these contexts are based upon the segmentation of whole bones. The methods provide standardization and are flexible enough to allow for the idiosyncratic nature of each context. However, this results in a lack of transparency, which is necessary to reanalyze the same sample or to compare “like” contexts, as the data collected will vary.


Detecting Evidence Of Systemic Inflammation From Osteological Markers In The Indian Knoll Population Of Ohio County, Kentucky., Krysta Wilham Dec 2016

Detecting Evidence Of Systemic Inflammation From Osteological Markers In The Indian Knoll Population Of Ohio County, Kentucky., Krysta Wilham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Indian Knoll is an Archaic shell midden site located in the Green River region of west-central Kentucky, and was excavated twice in the first half of the 20th century. While Indian Knoll has been the subject of frequent bioarchaeological studies, the present study presents an osteological analysis of the relationships between skeletal markers commonly associated with local inflammatory processes, and that have the potential to be used as proxies for systemic inflammation. The analysis revealed a significant positive association in the presence of periodontal disease (PD) and periosteal lesions (PL), suggesting a potential underlying hyper-inflammatory status or phenotype. These …


Bioarchaeological Assessment Of Diet And Changes In Femoral And Humeral Stable Isotopic Values Among Subadults At Medieval Alytus, Lithuania., Katherine Page Jan 2014

Bioarchaeological Assessment Of Diet And Changes In Femoral And Humeral Stable Isotopic Values Among Subadults At Medieval Alytus, Lithuania., Katherine Page

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Establishing a chronology of variation in isotopic values can reveal frailty associated with biological and social age, as well as highlight individuals who vary from typical patterns. Although general dietary characteristics and infant feeding practices were previously unknown for subadults excavated from the cemetery at Alytus, Lithuania (14th-18th centuries), previous research concludes that Alytus' subadults experienced high rates of physiological, metabolic, non-specific stress, in addition to specific diseases like tuberculosis. To investigate nuanced relationships between diet and mortality, nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes from the femoral and humeral midshaft diaphyses of 70 subadults (32 weeks gestation to16 years) were analyzed. …


Diet At Medieval Alytus, Lithuania: Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotope Analysis Of Bone And Dentin Collagen, Katie Whitmore Jan 2014

Diet At Medieval Alytus, Lithuania: Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotope Analysis Of Bone And Dentin Collagen, Katie Whitmore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Baltic region was a vibrant center of power and economic prosperity in medieval Europe; Lithuania in particular. Until now, little stable isotopic analysis has been utilized to assess diet in this region during this time period. The aim of this study was to undertake a preliminary assessment of the composition of diet at late medieval Alytus (late 14th to early 18th centuries) from bone (N=35) and dentin (N=38) collagen samples. The stable carbon isotopic data suggest a diet primarily comprised of C3 plants such as barley, rye, wheat, and flax, and animals consuming C3 plants. The stable nitrogen isotopic …


Childhood Growth In An Oneota Community: Examining Long Bone Growth Differences In The The Juveniles At Norris Farms 36, Whitney Broughton Jan 2014

Childhood Growth In An Oneota Community: Examining Long Bone Growth Differences In The The Juveniles At Norris Farms 36, Whitney Broughton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Oneota migration into the central Illinois River valley around ad 1300 resulted in a number of different interactions with Mississippian groups. Milner and colleagues (1991) identified significant numbers of perimortem injuries at the Norris farms 36 cemetery, along with biological markers for poor health, such as cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis. They suggested that the threat of violence may have forced the Oneonta at Morton village to limit subsistence activities to circumscribed areas close to the settlement, thereby reducing the resource base and negatively impacting the health of the community. However, recent research (Bengtson et al. 2012; Bengtson and O'Gorman …


Age As A Factor In Inter-Tissue Spacing Of Stable Carbon Isotope Values In Juvenile Human Remains From The Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, Annie Laurie Norris Jan 2012

Age As A Factor In Inter-Tissue Spacing Of Stable Carbon Isotope Values In Juvenile Human Remains From The Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, Annie Laurie Norris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although stable isotope analysis is routinely utilized in bioarchaeology and relies on principles that are well-understood, there are still fundamental issues that have not been thoroughly investigated. This thesis examines the relationship between inter-tissue spacing of carbon stable isotope values (δ13C) and age in juvenile human remains. Analyses of tissues within the same individual reveal disparate isotopic values for a variety of physiological and biological reasons discussed herein. This project examines the distance between the δ13C values in bone collagen, skin, hair, and nail, and examines how these distances vary between different age groups, utilizing data collected from 52 well-preserved …


Diagnosing Anencephaly In Archaeology: A Comparative Analysis Of Nine Clinical Specimens From The Smithsonian Institution Nation, Stevie Mathews Jan 2008

Diagnosing Anencephaly In Archaeology: A Comparative Analysis Of Nine Clinical Specimens From The Smithsonian Institution Nation, Stevie Mathews

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The inclusion of human fetal skeletons in the archaeological record can reveal much about past cultures' perception of life and death. The preservation of fetal remains in the archaeological record is a rarity, and the discovery of pathological skeletons is even rarer. A fetal skeleton from a Roman period cemetery (c. 31BC - 303AD) in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, displays what are thought to be classic skeletal indicators of the neural tube defect, anencephaly. The published literature concerning the skeletal diagnosis of anencephaly is scant so in order to diagnose this individual it is pertinent to create a diagnostic standard. …