Archaeologically-Retrieved Human Skeletons - Case Study Example

The Revealing Nature of the Human Skeleton It has often been difficult for archaeologists to determine just how very ancient people lived in their daily activities and lifestyles because of a general lack of any kind of written or oral history regarding these people. While tools and materials can often be found in burial places, giving indications of what was important to these people, these do not always give evidence of the types of activities the people practiced on a regular basis. Artworks, statues and other materials found within burial sites can also sometimes give hints as to the types of activities the society held important, but again, this does not necessarily reflect the daily activities of the people, tending to focus instead upon ceremonial events. Perhaps a greater clue as to the daily activities, social structures and other lifestyle features of earlier populations can be found within the bones of the people themselves. By studying archaeologically-retrieved human skeletons, much can be determined about the common activities of the people under investigation. Human remains can inform today’s world about pre-recorded human civilizations regarding such issues as how people lived and how they died, whether they were peaceful, stationary and lived in large groups or if they were warlike, mobile and lived in small units or some combination of the above. The field of osteology is dedicated to determining just what the skeletal record reveals about the ancient world by learning to interpret several factors such as gender and age of the individual at the time of death, their size as compared to today’s human frames, development, possible signs of disease, lifestyle clues based on dental analysis and finally cause of death based on any bones that are found. The prevalence of bones in a given area can suggest a more stationary lifestyle or community, a ceremonial burial site or a massive scene of death, such as a pestilence that destroys in relatively short order. Identification of these elements of the skeletal record is particularly difficult because most ancient bones are not found as part of a complete skeleton. Instead, bones are most often found in various states of decay and dismemberment, singly or in groups mixed up with other remains (“Human Remains”, 2006). The condition in which bones and teeth are found can sometimes provide valuable clues as to the types of food the individual ate and how balanced the nutritional content of his or her diet might have been, sometimes confirming evidence in the vicinity, such as ceremonial burial jars containing similar types of foods. “Skeletal remains offer an important source of information for the study of human variation. Archaeological skeletons from specific localities are more homogeneous both genetically and in terms of the environments whence they came than are dissecting room or anatomical skeletal series … The use of archaeological series becomes especially important when conclusions are drawn about intrapopulation variability for a range of topics in which sex and age may be important influencing factors” (Larsen, 1999). Historical developments, such as the intermixing of differing racial stocks or the conversion to farming from hunting and gathering, can be determined through the skeletal record as can the effects of changing food sources over long periods of time. The evolution of the human has also been somewhat traced as differences between various types of bones are noted, such as the femur bone between a modern human and one found from a Neandertal. High mortality rates among young women can indicate a problem with childbirth while high mortality rates among children could indicate subsistence living with periods of starvation. Signs of violent deaths can indicate wars or simply a violent society while signs of healing can indicate a caring and supportive community structure. Several of these clues leave their own physical traces upon the bones themselves while others must be searched for using modern technology and equipment. One of the key skeletal clues regarding the way ancient people lived is found in a common ailment that is known by several different names including degenerative joint disease (DJD), osteoarthritis or osteoarthrosis. This is a form of arthritis that is characterized by a degeneration, or breaking down, of the cartilage in the joints. In conjunction with this break down, there is usually an accompanying overgrowth of bone, a narrowing of the joint space, a hardening of the bone within the joint surfaces and a creeping deformity in the joints themselves (Burnett, 2005). While the disease can strike in several places, most commonly in the hands, fingers, knees, hips and spine, the cartilage of the joints breaks down faster when the joint is in more constant use. “Over many years and with activity and use of a joint, the cartilage may become frayed, injured, torn and may even wear away entirely. When this occurs, the bone surface on one side of the joint tends to rub or glide against the bone on the opposite side of the joint, providing a less elastic joint surface, and generating higher contact pressures at the end of the bone” (Burnett, 2005). With these kinds of major changes happening in the joints during the individual’s lifetime, it is easily understood that the disease would leave recognizable and permanent features upon the skeletons. Because this form of arthritis is the most common bone disease experienced by human beings and it can reach highly severe levels, restricting or removing activities from daily life, the presence of this disease in ancient remains can indicate which body actions made up a significant part of daily life just as the level of disease progression can indicate the extent of community care. Studies involving looking at evidence of degenerative joint disease have taken place on skeletons dating back to the dinosaur age, where several different joints were found to have been affected by the disease, thought to have been caused in part upon the type of dinosaur and its most regular activities (Wells, 1964). Neandertal remains have also provided evidence of degenerative joint disease, particularly in the jaw and spine, indicating that these individuals subsisted on a diet of things that were difficult to chew. Wells (1964) has suggested that, like the remains of ancient Nubians that have been found, the spinal compression could be the result of frequent stress placed upon the head as individuals used the tops of their heads, or used a tumpline across the forehead, as a means of carrying or dragging heavy objects. “Degenerative joint disease is frequently linked to motor patterns that create stress in joint regions. It is expected that in a prehistoric population any variations in such motor patterns that are related to specialized roles should be reflected in the distribution of degenerative involvement in skeletal material” (Tainter, 1980: 309). According to Sokoloff (1969), there are two main types of stress that can act on joints to bring about the degeneration seen in skeletal remains. These are mechanical stress which would be indicative of the individual’s routine pressurized activities such as carrying heavy pots of water upon a head or constant kneeling for planting and systemic stress which would include heredity, nutrition, age, sex and hormones. While it remains impossible to tell the difference between the causes for onset of DJD in the skeletal remains and difficult to make estimates based on age, thanks to modern differences in general lifestyles and life expectancies from those of ancient peoples, some estimates can be made regarding the types of activities repeated during the individual’s lifetime. Those joints that bear more weight, such as the knee and the hip typically show earlier affects of DJD, but studies have also demonstrated that “in addition to type of activity, duration, amplitude and sense (torsion vs. compression) are all significant. They vary independently and produce variable effects” (Jurmain, 1999: 10). For this reason, it is believed that cumulative strain over many years and/or repeated minor stresses in smaller activities can bring on earlier onset of DJD just as the everyday activities of a group of people may predict just which joints might be affected earliest or most heavily. An example of this can be found among the remains of the Woodland people of the northern third of the North American continent. Joint stress demonstrates some of the types of activities these people were engaged in during a specific period of time. Early studies of the Cahiague show considerable stress on the spine without too much damage on any other joints (Harris, 1949). In many of the studies, it is indicated that there is a generally low incidence of DJD found in most Woodland populations (Parks, 2000) indicating they must have had a relatively healthy diet and lifestyle. However, minor damage occurred in the hip areas consistent with repeated squatting motions, illustrating the concept that bone disease could help pinpoint certain repeated activities of the individual studied. Another study indicated that the highest levels of DJD were found in shoulder, hip and clavicle joints with a much smaller incidence of the bone disease in the elbow, wrist and ankle (Anderson, 1964). This type of affect was consistent with what was known of the society’s basic lifestyle, which was primarily subsistence farming and fishing. In addition, differences were noted between the male and female skeletons in terms of just where more advanced stages of DJD were located. According to Trigger (1976), responsibilities for the survival of the society were typically divided between the men and women. While women were expected to do work that would keep them close to the village, such as farming and domestic duties, men often spent long periods of time away from the village hunting, fishing and fighting with other tribes. In this division of labor, women often spent long periods of time kneeling or crawling as they took care of the crops including all planting, tending and harvesting, in addition to preparing the food for eating or storage, such as grinding the corn (Trigger, 1976). Consistent with these activities, more advanced stages of DJD were found in the knees, elbow and wrist joints of female skeletons. The men, off hunting, fishing and fighting wars were engaged in activities such as shooting an arrow from a bow or hauling large fish out of the water. These activities were demonstrated with higher concentrations of DJD in the elbow, shoulder and on the dominant side of the male. While both men and women had DJD in the elbow joint, the pattern of its development was also different, reflecting the different angle of the bones as they either ground corn with the hands primarily palm down or shot a bow with the hands primarily sideways. Other studies have also indicated the use of studying evidence of degenerative joint disease in skeletal remains as a means of verifying or hypothesizing the lifestyles of the individuals involved. A study conducted in 1991 (Bridges) compared the DJD evidence in two separate populations known to have different lifestyles, one was a group of hunter-gatherers and the other was a group of farmers. While the study showed that both groups had similar prevalence of DJD with a tendency for it to show up in the shoulder, elbow or knee, the hunter-gatherer group had more severe cases than the agricultural group. Another study compared the remains of black and white Americans with early Indians and Alaskan Eskimos (Jurmain, 1978). In this study, it was shown that the elbow joints of Eskimos are more likely to be affected by DJD to a more severe extent than all the other groups, which was thought to be the result of greater mechanical stress in daily living activities such as fishing and hunting activities in the cold north. The Indian group was shown to be the least affected by DJD and blacks showed a slightly higher tendency than whites to develop this bone disease at the elbow. As more studies investigate the specific relationships between degenerative joint disease and repeated or heavy mechanical activity, greater knowledge may be gained regarding the lifestyles and nature of earlier societies. It has been shown how the presence of DJD in specific joints can indicate specific activities just as the pattern of wear can indicate, to some extent, the types of motions that were engaged on a repetitive basis, such as squatting, grinding motions or other pressure motions. As more becomes understood regarding the development of the disease, differences in degree of development may begin to pinpoint specific functions within a society, perhaps even pointing out those activities that might have been considered specifically gendered or stratified among various sharply defined social classes. This is well demonstrated in the Woodlands people studies and suggested somewhat in studies that have been conducted on other tribes and people, both ancient and modern. A lower prevalence of the disease among the more richly or carefully buried citizens could indicate a better diet or less stressful, manual lifestyle while a severe case in a specific joint area could indicate a poorer diet or more menial lifestyle. A great deal remains to be learned regarding degenerative joint disease and how it develops, including more consistent studies into the specific causes and the development of a means of distinguishing between mechanical and systemic onset, but some clues as to the lifestyles of earlier civilizations can be extracted from the skeletal remains even when little else is known about the people being studied simply by examining the wear and tear on their joints. Although it might be thought that the study of bones found during archaeological digs is somewhat irreverent, disrespectful of humans who have walked the planet before, they have proven a valuable resource not only in helping us determine the nature of civilizations that have passed before us, but also into the nature of ourselves. Through the remaining skeletal record, we are able to determine the nature and general makeup of entire civilizations that have left little to no record behind them other than their own bones. By studying the condition of these bones, we are able to understand whether they were peaceful and supportive of each other or hostile, how they ate, how they lived and what types of physical motion they were regularly engaged in. Illnesses and physiological changes can be traced as we note the various ways in which we are different from our ancestors. As we have learned more about the types of societies our earliest ancestors formed, how they lived and how they changed as a result of changes in their natural order, we have become more aware of ourselves and how we began to form our present beliefs and societies as well as what we might begin to expect for our future. Works Cited Anderson, JE. “The People of Fairty: An Osteological Analysis of an Iroquois Ossuary.” National Museum of Canada Bulletin. Vol. 143, (1964), pp. 28-129. Bridges PS. “Degenerative Joint Disease in Hunter-Gatherers and Agriculturalists from the Southeastern United States.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Vol. 85, (1991), pp. 379-391. Burnett, Stephen. “Degenerative Joint Disease.” Health Encyclopedia: Diseases and Conditions. Drug Infonet. (July 11, 2005). July 9, 2007 Harris, RI. “Osteological Evidence of Disease Amongst the Huron Indians.” University of Toronto Medical Journal. Vol. 27, (1949), pp. 71-75. “Human Remains.” Archaeology Expert. (2006). July 9, 2007 Jurmain, RD. Stories from the Skeleton: Behavioral Reconstruction in Human Osteology. Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach Publishers, 1999. Larsen, Clark Spencer. Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Parks, Mirenda Ann. “Occurrence of Degenerative Joint Disease in the Radius: Analysis of Skeletal Remains from the Poole-Rose Ossuary.” Louisiana: Baylor University, 2000. Sokoloff L. The Biology of Degenerative Joint Disease. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969. Tainter, Joseph A. “Behavior and Status in a Middle Woodland Mortuary Population from the Illinois Valley.” American Antiquity. Vol. 45, N. 2, (April 1980), pp. 308-313. Trigger, BG. The Children of Aataentsic I: A History of the Huron People to 1660. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1976. Wells, C. Bones, Bodies, and Disease: Evidence of Disease and Abnormality in Early Man. London: Thames and Hudson, 1964. Read More