Revealing Degenerative Joint Disease on Earlier Societies - Essay Example

The Revealing Nature of Degenerative Joint Disease on Earlier Societies 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 for evidence of degenerative joint disease, much can be determined about the common activities of the people under investigation. Degenerative joint disease is also known as osteoarthritis, DJD or osteoarthrosis. It 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 disease in ancient remains can indicate what 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. 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). March 12, 2007 Harris, RI. “Osteological Evidence of Disease Amongst the Huron Indians.” University of Toronto Medical Journal. Vol. 27, (1949), pp. 71-75. Jurmain, RD. Stories from the Skeleton: Behavioral Reconstruction in Human Osteology. Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach Publishers, 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