22022018

Question 1

Bioarchaeology

Answer 1

= Scientific study of human remains frm archaeological sites

• Commonly apply on decedents of indigenous ppl
• Can study a range of issues including:
  1. Subsistence
  2. Nutrition
  3. Occupational stress
  4. Biological profile of populations
  5. Mobility (migration and interaction)

Question 2

1. Subsistence

> Bone isotope studies

Answer 2

1. C3 pathway plants: sugars low in 13C
   > e.g. apple, barley, grape, peas, potato, organic, radish, sugar beet, wheat
2. C4 pathway plants: sugars high in 13C
   > e.g. maize, millet, grasses, sorghum, sugar cane
   > Eating animals > consume grasses indirectly
   * -> General diet
   - In combination with other archaeological records

Question 3

1. Subsistence

> Strontium (Sr)

Answer 3

• Seafood = rich in Sr
  > Therefore higher Sr ratios = higher proportion of marine foods in diet
• Ratio of Sr / Ca (Calcium)
  
  • Animals “discriminate” against Sr; plants don’t.
  • Animals use more Ca
    > Can look at Sr/Ca ratio to determine proportion of meat in the direct
    > Can compare human bone isotopes ratios in human bones to those in carnivores to those in vegetarian animals (browsers) to see where humans fall

Question 4

1. Subsistence

> Microbotanical residues recovered frm human dental calculus

Answer 4

• Examine teeth (Mickleburgh and Pagan-Jimenez, 2012)
  > Study target: pre-Columbian Caribbean
  > Look at preserved starch grains, phytoliths
  > Every time of eating leaves residue
  > How these molecules are preserved / damaged
  > Processing (e.g. compare natural maize molecules to the maize molecules left @residue > smashed OR natural)

Question 5

2. Nutrition

> Porotic hyperostosis AND Cribra orbitalia

Answer 5

- Cribra orbitalia 
= caused by iron deficiency anemia
> Social status, equality 
> How ppl ate VS nutrition equality
> Need big samples of skeleton to generate reliable data of a specific population / at specific time 
> Reinforce other types of data

Question 6

2. Nutrition

> Harris lines

Answer 6

• Cause = periods of malnutrition

Question 7

2 Nutrition

> Enamel hypoplasia

Answer 7

• Cause = periodic nutritional stress

- Symptoms: lines on teeth

Question 8

3. Occupational stress

Answer 8

• Repetitive motions, or body positions can leave permanent signature on skeleton.
• Most common examples are overdeveloped muscle attachments from manual labor/strenuous exercise
• e.g. See trends in Skeletal robust city during the transition frm hunting and gathering to agriculture, across the world
• Increase in humoral and femoral robusticity, esp in women
• e.g. Ear exostosis (a hard tissue in ear that can be preserved): surfer’s” ear @mid altitude population
  > Affect hearing ability
  > If: found @archaeological ppl
  > Suggest: spend a lot of time on diving / cold water activity

Question 9

4. Biological profile of populations

Answer 9

• e.g. Village of Burlington, VT, ca. 1812-1815
  > Downtown near lake Champlain @Military burials, camp Burlington
  1. Written record: identifying the war of 1812 soldiers
  2. Adopt osteological analysis
  > Construct biological profiling, preservation of age features
  3. Found enlistment record
  > Provide death record / background info
  4. Preservation of hair

Question 10

Osteological Analysis

Answer 10

1. Sex
2. Age
3. Stature
4. Ancestry
5. Pathology
6. Trauma

Question 11

Taphonomic influences

Answer 11

• Bone preservation

- Grave disturbance

Question 12

Preservation of age features

Answer 12

Method:

1. Pubic symphysis
2. Cranial suture closure, maxillary suture closure
3. Auricular surface
4. Eternal rib ends
5. Dental attrition, 3rd molar eruption
6. Vertebral arthritic changes
7. Basilar synchondrosis
8. Medial clavicle

Question 13

Preservation of hair

Answer 13

• Further perform DNA analysis

Question 14

• Old Burial Ground

Answer 14

• History: bodies removed and placed in other places (?)
• Site in Burlington
• An estimated 375-400 burials in the Old Burial Ground
• UVM studied 144 grave shafts identified within the area of courthouse explanation (ca. 40% of cemetery)
• 45% of the 144 (n=65) had been completely exhumed
• 35% of the 144 (n=50) were only partially exhumed
• 20% of the 144 (n=29) where completely intact
  1. Age (frm remains): sub-adults 53.3%, adults 46.7%
  VS Age (frm gravestone data): sub-adults 39.4% (55% of sub-adults under 1.5yrs); adults 60.6%
  > Why difference btw % sub-adults excavated and % represented by gravestone data
  > Possible reason: bones of sub-adults are smaller > smaller grave
  > Original exhumes missed more small graves, hence more were “left behind” to be discovered archaeologically
  > 55% sub-adults under 1.5yrs due to early mortality (medication)
  2. Average age:
• Including all individuals 30.7yrs VS including only adults 49.1yrs; male adults 52.1 yrs VS female adults
  > Why such a low average for all individuals? Why differences btw men and women?

Question 15

War of 1812 soldiers and Adult males at St. Johnsbury similar in large stature. Why?

Answer 15

• Selectivity for big soldiers
• Larger soldiers = higher survival rate > natural selection?
  *- Farmers (occupation of regular army soldiers farmer = 55.3%)
  > Heavier, active, food production

Question 16

5. Mobility

Answer 16

Methods:

• Oxygen isotope analysis
• Strontium isotope analysis
• DNA analysis

Question 17

5. Mobility

> Oxygen isotope analysis

Answer 17

• Oxygen isotope ratios vary depending on source of oxygen
• Ex. arctic rain lower ratio than tropic rain
• Ratio in bone dependent on dietary water source
• Possible indicator of place of origin
• e.g. look at hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios @hair
  > Examine migration pattern from south to north (burials)
• Nativity of War of 1812 Soldiers who died in Burlington, based on enlistment records (close to VT)
  > Distribution of oxygen isotope ratios in atmosphere

Question 18

5. Mobility

> Strontium isotope analysis

Answer 18

• Map of the Caribbean displaying mean 87Sr / 86Sr values of plant and animal samples for each island/region
• Measure in animal samples (control)
  > Compare to measurements in human samples

Question 19

5. Mobility

> DNA analysis

Answer 19

• Categories:
  1. Male / female
  2. Congenital disease
  3. Infectious disease
  4. Mobility (migration / interaction)
• Problems:
  1. Preservation
  > Often can extract only mtDNA due to poor preservation, particularly in tropics. Can typically only assign to haploggroup
  > Broad family only (NOT specific enough)
  2. Need genealogical info and samples for historic (living) comparisons
  > Get hair from the decedent of the population (find them!)
  3. Expensive
• e.g. Preachers Cave, Bahamas individual, DNA extracted from bone collagen (teeth)
  > Exclude Mayan region
  > Most likely related to mid-eastern regions (clade branches off the South American lineage)
  > Compare to language family
  > See nx slide for key findings

Question 20

5. DNA analysis

> example: DNA from Lucayan Taino individual frm Preacher’s Cave, Bahamas

Answer 20

• Female
• CLosely related to South American lowland Arawak speakers frm the Amazon and Orinoc River valleys
• No evidence for inbreeding, i.e., broad sphere of interaction/intermarriage
• Modern Caribbean genomes = closely related
  > Wiped out the whole population by Spanish: race, identity and indigenous politics > affect modern politics