Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Variation In Cortical Bone Distribution In The Aging Adult Appendicular Skeleton, Alice Fazlollah Gooding

Doctoral Dissertations

This study considers the effects of age on the distribution of bone in the adult skeleton. Age effects on the skeleton have been studied for diagnosis of osteoporosis or as mechanical compensatory changes to bone shape with loss in density. However, adult skeletal morphology is the result of a lifetime of genetic, dietary, activity, and biochemical factors. With these influences, it unclear at what age(s) bone geometry shifts to adapt to the physiological and mechanical demands placed on it, or, how these adaptations vary within and between bones.

This research addresses these questions by examining skeletal data obtained from the …

Who Ate The Subfossil Lemurs? A Taphonomic And Community Study Of Raptor, Crocodylian And Carnivoran Predation Of The Extinct Quaternary Lemurs Of Madagascar., Lindsay Meador

Doctoral Dissertations

Madagascar’s Quaternary predator-primate guild included seventeen species of relatively large extinct lemurs. Sharing the landscape with the lemurs, were several relatively large now-extinct predators, including three raptors (two species of Aquila and Stephanoaetus mahery), a euplerid (Cryptoprocta spelea), and a crocodile (Voay robustus). This is the first research to systematically study predator-prey relationships among these extinct animals. Here I examine the bones of the extinct lemurs at six subfossil localities (Ampasambazimba, Ankarana, Grotte d’Ankazoabo, Beloha Anavoha, Manombo Toliara, and Tsirave) for evidence of and also collected metric data on these bones. I examined 1141 specimens …

An Exploration Of The Effects Of Taphonomy On Isotope Ratios Of Human Hair, Tiffany Bivens Saul

Doctoral Dissertations

Isotope analyses of human remains have been conducted with growing frequency over the past thirty years in anthropology, in both archaeological and forensic contexts. Analyses of isotope ratios of elements such as carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and strontium from teeth, bones, and hair have provided information regarding individual diet and geographic movement during different life stages. Hair grows at a predictable rate and provides a serial recording of diet and travel history for the weeks and months just prior to death. What has not been systematically studied is whether postmortem decompositional changes to the body have an effect upon isotope …

The Effects Of Racialization On European American Stress In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Kimberly T. Wren

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores disparities in stress among European Americans (EA) and between EA and African Americans (AA) in racialized communities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Comparisons among EA and between EA and AA are conducted to understand the biological consequences of racialization. Racialization is the process of assigning people to hierarchical categories for purposes of political, social, and economic discrimination. This dissertation investigates how racialization might have affected childhood stress using biocultural theory and facets of critical archaeology theory. Indicators of stress from skeletonized individuals in the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection, Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection, and the Robert …

The Effects Of Industrialization And Urbanization On Growth And Development: A Comparison Of Boys And Girls From Three Industrial European Skeletal Collections, Sarah Reedy

Doctoral Dissertations

Exposure to poor environments, malnutrition, and labor during childhood can lead to stunted height and increased mortality. Studies of skeletal samples from Industrial Era Europe show height is stunted when compared to Medieval samples, suggesting harsher conditions. While poor conditions can negatively impact all children, boys may be particularly disadvantaged, because girls can reserve nutritional components buffering them during times of stress. This study examines the environmental effects on growth in three Industrial European skeletal samples. Juveniles (0-18 years) from varied SES backgrounds were used to test three hypotheses. H1) Industrial Era children will exhibit shorter femora relative to a …

Can Long Bone Structural Variability Detect Among-Population Relationships?, Gina Agostini

Doctoral Dissertations

Phenotypic traits develop and are maintained by complex interactions between intrinsic (molecular) and extrinsic (environmental) factors. While the influence of intrinsic factors on adult craniomandibular variation has been intensively studied, less is known about limb bones, in part because it is assumed that their plasticity obscures intrinsic signals, especially those fixed early in life. While diaphyseal regions are plastic in response to activity, the extent to which they also reflect (phylo)genetic autocorrelation has not been sufficiently addressed, particularly given the common practice of comparing long bones across populations unevenly dispersed in space and time. Here I investigate the degree to …