choosing three general methods and/or theoretical approaches normally used to study human remains,...

7/30/2019 Choosing three general methods and/or theoretical approaches normally used to study human remains, discuss if …

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/choosing-three-general-methods-andor-theoretical-approaches-normally-used 1/6

200854491

1

Introduction

Aim of this work is to examine three methods and theoretical approaches and discuss

how they could be applied to study human societies. I tried to focus on three methods

that are somehow interlinked together and they support each other in some way. I will

support my claims and finds with case studies to further get into the topic. I chose to

focus on Study of growth in general, how size and shape of skeleton is affected by

environment and diet which leads me to stable isotopes analysis which can also be

used to identify social structure within a society based on different diet. Last method I

would like to get into is Metric variation in the skull and postcranial skeleton which is

linked back to study of growth.

Study of growth

Study of growth is part of anthropology that dates back some three hundred years1

and

consist of many methods and theories that were developed over time. Many of those

were somehow wrong and lead to many mistakes like one in 1960’s when sedative and

hypnotic drug Thalidomide2

was administered to pregnant woman to treat some of the

discomforts of pregnancy. It was later discovered that it causes severe birth defects and

was withdrawn from sale.

But thanks to many other studies about growth based on present cases it was

discovered that environment, diet, altitude, climate, migration and socioeconomic status

are reflected on growth and overall development of society.

It was discussed whether people of same “race” with similar body features look like this

because of the genes or not. Partially yes but it was discovered that this isn’t particularly

true. According to this ideology northern Europeans were tall with relatively long and

narrow heads, while southern Europeans were shorter and with relatively round skills.

Franz Boas found that children of Italian and Jewish European migrants to United

States were significantly taller and heavier than their parents. Interestingly even shape

of their skull has changed. Franz Boas argued that environment and culture is more

important than genes when it comes to physical appearance.

1Bogin, B. (1999) Patterns of human growth p.2

2Bogin, B. (1999) Patterns of human growth p.19



200854491

3

carbon 12 - 6 protons, 6 neutrons

carbon 13 - 6 protons, 7 neutrons

δ 13C = [13C/12C -1] x 1000

nitrogen 14 - 7 protons, 7 neutrons

nitrogen 15 7 protons, 8 neutrons

δ 15N = [15N/14N - 1] x 1000

As variations are really small they are measured in parts per thousand.

These ratios differ in different food types and this difference is then passed to bone

collagen. This can be very helpful when we want to know what kind of food were they

consuming. For example meat has higher values of nitrogen as veggies. Marine plants

have higher nitrogen value than terrestrial plants and also marine animals have higher

delta values of nitrogen than do terrestrial have3.

We can get those values from bone collagen or from teeth. Values from bones

represent only last few years of diet and thus can’t be used to determine diet from

childhood to adulthood. For this we can use teeth. Apart from bones they grow in layers

so we can take sample from layer we want to measure. This gives us a possibility to get

a glimpse on diet ranging from early stages of life till death.

I would like to support this claim with case study from Cahokia Mound 72 4. Researchers

analyzed bones of 272 human burials dating to the Lohmann and early Stirling phases

(ca. 1050 –1150 AD) of the Mississippian period. Results clearly showed how different

was diet of low and high status individuals. Where individuals from low status graves ate

more maize protein than high status individuals by approximately 10%. Intriguing

enough carbon isotopes values shows that low status women from mass graves ate

60% more maize as high status individuals. Compared to low status individuals, high

status individuals ate more fish protein than their low status counterparts. This support

claims about different diet for high and low status individuals within a society.

3Mays, S (2010) The Archaeology of Human Bones. Routledge, London p. 268

4Ambrose, SH, Buikstra, J and Krueger, HW (2003) Status and gender differences in diet

4at Mound 72, Cahokia, revealed by isotopic analysis of bone. Journal of Anthropological

4 Archaeology 22: 217-226 4



200854491

4

By this example I wanted to demonstrate how stable isotopes can help in studying of

hominins. This gives us idea how society was divided and that clearly poor are

accessible food for them where high status individuals are better food and thus were

much healthier.

I would also just like to mention other isotopes that can help us, and be applied to study

homins. Those are heavy isotopes Strontium and Lead and help us to track down

indiviudal original location if he migrated and thus find out whether he was born in

location of his death or not. Strontium is formed from the radioactive decay of rubidium

in the bedrock, meaning the older the bedrock, more strontium in bones of individual. To

be able to pinpoint its location we have to know about local geology and geology of

surrounding. Very often Oxygen isotopes are used to help with acquiring a precise

location. Oxygen is found in water and amount of isotopes found in water vary from

depending on temperature, altitude and distance from shore. Higher the temperature,

higher the oxygen levels.

After these examples I’m confident saying that stable isotopes analysis is very helpful

when it comes to study of hominis. We can learn much about their diet and migration

just from studying these factors.

Metric Variation in the Skull

Is measuring skull - craniometry and is mostly used to investigate relationship between

populations and for discerning evidence for migration of peoples in the past. There are

many factors that affect skull shape and in general taking measurements of skull where

there are no right angles is difficult. Skull shape can be affected by artificial means. In

some cultures babies heads were wrapped in bandages to elongate them or shape can

be affected by disease. But measurements of skull can only be taken from those that

were not affected by any of this and thus only from healthy individuals.

I would like to illustrate possibility of applying this measurements on study of hominins

from various regions that are neighbouring each other on Study of Spielman and

Smouse from 1976 where they measured number of heads from different villages from

same area of Venezuela and northern Brazil. Measured population was scattered over



200854491

5

area of about 200 by 300 kilometres5. This settlements were divided into nine clusters

by genetics. Research proved by measurements that individuals from different village

cluster were distinct from each other. Differences in those measurements were big

enough to allow correct assignment of individual to his correct village cluster. There is

more of these examples but I won’t get into them because it is not the purpose of this

work.

This support my opinion that those measurement may be used to help us identify

people from same region and assign them to correct point of origin within the area. This

can also be used to find relationship status and theoretically we could be able to

distinguish patterns and identify families since individuals from same family share some

features reflected on the skull which would show up in the measurements.

Conclusion

I tried to choose three methods and theoretical approaches that work together and can

be used together to provide us with more than satisfactory results. Of course there is

much more into each one of them and range of their possibilities when it comes to study

of hominis is much wider than is wrote here I reckon I was able to get a good

impression on how it could be done and provided relevant data to support it.

5Mays, S (2010) The Archaeology of Human Bones. Routledge, London p. 102



200854491

6

Bibliography

Mays, S (2010) The Archaeology of Human Bones. Routledge, London

Ambrose, SH, Buikstra, J and Krueger, HW (2003) Status and gender differences in diet

at Mound 72, Cahokia, revealed by isotopic analysis of bone. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 22

Bogin, B. (1999) Patterns of human growth

Hogan DP, Astone NM. (1986) The transition to adulthood. Annual Review of Sociology

12:109-30

Molleson, T and Campbell, S. (1995) Deformed Skulls at Tell Arpachiyah: the social context. In Campbell, S and Green, A. (eds) The Archaeology of Death in the Ancient Near East. pp: 45-55.

Vodanovic, M, Peros, K, Zukanovic, A, Knezevic, M, Novak, M, Slaus, M and Brkic H.

(2012) Periodontal disease at the transition from the late antique to the early medieval period in Croatia. Archives of Oral Biology 57: 1362-1376.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable_isotope

Sparks, Corey S., Jantz, Richard L. Changing Times, Changing Faces: Franz Boas'sImmigrant Study in Modern Perspective, American Anthropologist, Volume 105, Issue 2,pages 333 –337, June 2003

Peter E. Smouse, Richard S. Spielman and Myoung H. Park, Multiple-Locus Allocation

of Individuals to Groups as a Function of the Genetic Variation Within and Differences

Among Human Populations

The American Naturalist , Vol. 119, No. 4 (Apr., 1982), pp. 445-463




choosing three general methods and/or theoretical approaches normally used to study human remains,...

Documents