Sex estimation of non-adult skeletal remains has long been regarded as a problematic or even an unattainable objective within physical anthropology and forensic science. Few extant methods have...Show moreSex estimation of non-adult skeletal remains has long been regarded as a problematic or even an unattainable objective within physical anthropology and forensic science. Few extant methods have been able to match the accuracy rates of methods designed for adult remains and those that have failed to achieve similarly acceptable rates when tested on a population other than the one on which the method was originally developed. Due to this, children are habitually excluded from archaeological investigations since a major component of their biological profiles is considered inaccessible. A definitive and reliable technique to estimate sex in non-adult osteological remains would contribute greatly to the field of osteoarchaeology, allowing for the refinement of osteological age estimation and growth studies as well as more perceptive interpretations of the social, economic, or environmental implications of osteological evidence. In this thesis, a population-specific statistical approach to non-adult sex estimation based on the crown and cervical dimensions of the permanent canines and maxillary first molars was tested on the documented post-medieval skeletal collection of Middenbeemster, the Netherlands. The odontometrics of the adult component of the population (n = 76) were used to develop 14 binomial logistic regression formulae, which were subsequently applied to the non-adult individuals of the same population (n = 15). Though the two formulae based on the maxillary first molar odontometrics performed little better than chance, all 12 of the formulae based on the permanent canines achieved accuracy rates above 75%, with eight surpassing 85% and five achieving 100% accuracy. It was demonstrated that as little as one dimension of the permanent maxillary or mandibular canine can be used to estimate sex with an acceptable level of confidence. Due to the necessity of a permanent canine, this method is only applicable to individuals aged five years and above at the time of death, including adult individuals whose state of preservation does not allow for morphometric sex estimation or whose morphological sex estimate was indeterminate. By allowing reliable sex estimation in non-adult skeletal remains, this method makes it possible to gain insights into the past lives of non-adult individuals, who all too often seem invisible in archaeological and historical narratives.Show less
There are two main issues that pose a problem with inferring health from the skeletons of past populations. Selective mortality refers to the fact that we can only research individuals who died and...Show moreThere are two main issues that pose a problem with inferring health from the skeletons of past populations. Selective mortality refers to the fact that we can only research individuals who died and that they might not be representative of all individuals that existed at that age. Heterogeneity in frailty refers to the possibility that not all individuals are equal in terms of their risk of getting sick or dying and the factors that contribute to this difference might be hidden. This study addresses these two problems by looking at tooth crown sizes between individuals who died in childhood versus adulthood, as well as looking at the tooth crown sizes between teeth that show signs of physiological stress (enamel hypoplasia) and teeth that do not. Teeth might turn out smaller than their maximum genetic potential under developmental stress. It is researched if this same developmental stress caused individuals to be frailer than their peers, which might be reflected in reduced longevity and vulnerability to physiological stress episodes. The mesiodistal and buccolingual tooth crown sizes are measured for the entire dentition of 115 individuals between seven and 50+ years of age from the predominately 19th century Middenbeemster cemetery (the Netherlands). The results show that four buccolingual tooth crown dimensions (maxillary first molar, mandibular canine, first premolar and second molar) were significantly smaller for subadults than for adults, with all buccolingual dimensions having a tendency to be at least a bit smaller. For three of these dimensions, the significantly reduced tooth crown size is wholly attributed to the juveniles having smaller tooth crowns. Six dimensions of four teeth (maxillary second premolar and first molar, mandibular second premolar and first molar) were significantly smaller for teeth with and without enamel hypoplasia. These results indicate that increased frailty, which is reflected in a reduced tooth crown size, does affect mortality, more so for the juveniles than for adolescents. Besides a higher mortality risk, a higher risk of undergoing physiological stressors during early childhood, reflected in enamel hypoplasia presence, is also shown for individuals with reduced tooth crown sizes. Enamel hypoplasia lesions, thus, more likely reflect a weaker individual rather than a stronger individual. This study shows that selective mortality and hidden heterogeneity in frailty are issues that need to be considered in reconstructions of the health of past populations, however teeth are an excellent means to compare circumstances during the period of growth between survivors and non-survivors and to identify if these might account for the differences in longevity.Show less
In this thesis, the size and shape differences between male and female zygomatic bones and zygomatic arches are examined in order to better understand and improve the macroscopic sex estimation...Show moreIn this thesis, the size and shape differences between male and female zygomatic bones and zygomatic arches are examined in order to better understand and improve the macroscopic sex estimation methods that are currently used for these regions. These regions are used in macroscopic osteological methods of sex estimation but the exact nature of the differences is poorly understood: Is it a difference in shape, in size, or both, and where are the differences located exactly? In osteological methods, it is thought that the male zygomatic is more square in shape with a larger marginal tubercle than in females. For the zygomatic arch, the male arch is said to be thicker than that of females. For the orbit, the male orbit is purportedly more square and the female orbit more round. This thesis uses three dimensional (3D) models and geometric morphometrics to investigate sexual dimorphism of the zygomatic and zygomatic arch. Geometric morphometrics is a method that uses images, in this case 3D scans of crania. On the images, landmarks are indicated. Four sets of landmarks are examined in this thesis: All landmarks together, landmarks on the zygomatic, landmarks on the zygomatic arch, and landmarks on the orbits. These landmarks are then analyzed with a general procrustes analysis, which removes rotation, location, and size. This means that only shape remains. Two different principal component analyses (PCA) follow. The first is a normal PCA, while the second includes size to examine the form (shape with size). Differences are looked for in size, shape, and form. Because shape can change with size (allometry) the occurrence of this is also examined. The material that is analyzed is 65 crania (29 females and 36 males) from the Middenbeemster cemetery in the Netherlands, mostly from the 19th century. The results show differences between males and females in size and in form, but no clear difference in shape. Allometry is present in the zygomatic, the zygomatic arch, and orbits, but only in the orbits does allometry explain more than 10% of the change in shape. The allometry in the orbits corresponds to the differences noted by the macroscopic method mentioned above. All the differences between males and females come from a difference in size. Only for the zygomatic arch, does form work better than size in differentiating the sexes. Differences in shape do not clearly differentiate between males and females. The accuracy for the size differences for all the landmarks and the zygomatic are both 83%. The form of the zygomatic arch also has an accuracy of 83%. This thesis has contributed to our knowledge about the location of differences between males and females for the zygomatic bone, zygomatic arch and orbits. The differences are mainly in size, and for the zygomatic arch in both size and shape (form). With this knowledge we can improve upon the macroscopic methods for sex estimation.Show less
The estimation of sex is a vital step in the osteological analysis of adult human remains. The methods available for this purpose generally rely on the presence of a well-preserved pelvis or...Show moreThe estimation of sex is a vital step in the osteological analysis of adult human remains. The methods available for this purpose generally rely on the presence of a well-preserved pelvis or cranium. However, these bones are not always available. Other skeletal elements have successfully been used for this purpose. In this thesis, the sexual dimorphism of the proximal femur in a post-medieval Dutch population is assessed using seven different measurements: femoral neck width (FNW), femoral neck axis length (FNAL), trochanter-diaphysis distance (TD), greater-lesser trochanter distance (TT), greater trochanter width (TW), trochanter-head distance (TH) and the vertical head diameter (VHD). The sample, from the predominately 19th century Middenbeemster site in the Netherlands, consists of 68 individuals and includes 50 individuals with known-sex and known age-at-death. Additional to the assessment of sexual dimorphism, a sex estimation method was chosen and tested for accuracy. The C5.0 algorithm was used to generate a decision tree predicting sex. The results show that all measurements studied are sexually dimorphic and are easily reproduced with low intra- and interobserver error. Furthermore, left and right do not differ significantly. An unexpected result is that age had a statistical correlation with measurement size. This is a topic that needs further research. Lastly, the sex estimation method did not yield sufficiently accurate results (62.4% accuracy) but a newly generated decision tree gained a better sex allocation accuracy of 85%. To conclude, this thesis supports that the sexual dimorphism of the femur is valuable for sex estimation of adult skeletal remains, especially when more sexually dimorphic elements of the skeleton are not accessible for analysis.Show less
The research in this thesis is part of an archaeological study about the excavation of the old graveyard around the St. Plechelmus Basilica in Oldenzaal, The Netherlands. Between 2011 and 2013,...Show moreThe research in this thesis is part of an archaeological study about the excavation of the old graveyard around the St. Plechelmus Basilica in Oldenzaal, The Netherlands. Between 2011 and 2013, 2750 individuals were exhumed from this graveyard, and two atypical mass graves were encountered. A selection of 200 skeletons divided over five matrices , including the individuals from the mass graves, has been studied with advanced scientific methods, including ancient DNA by Forensic Laboratory for DNA Research, Leiden University Medical Center. The meticulously conducted DNA research has resulted in generally very good quality DNA with no indications of contamination and with genetic profiles suitable for genetic kinship testing. Statistical analyses were carried out on the autosomal, Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA data to test for kinship relationships, which resulted in indications of various genetic relationships. This thesis focuses on skeletons from matrix D, including one of the mass graves, consisting of 48 individuals. The DNA research demonstrates no genetic kinship for the six individuals in the mass grave. There were clear indications for kinship for five pairs of individuals from the non-mass grave area of matrix D. This thesis demonstrates the successful use of ancient DNA analyses for reconstructing kinship relationships in an archaeological context.Show less
The human capacity for speech and language is one of the characteristics that separates us from other animals. When and how the ability to use complex language emerged has not yet been resolved....Show moreThe human capacity for speech and language is one of the characteristics that separates us from other animals. When and how the ability to use complex language emerged has not yet been resolved. Furthermore, it is still not fully understood how the huge variety of different languages that exist on our planet has developed. Important in the production of speech are the cognitive and morphological expressions of underlying genetic makeup, which find their phenotypic expression in combination with complex environmental factors. Current research at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics is based on a theory of genetic bias that states that subtle differences in genotype, expressed as phenotype, can influence speech production at the individual level. If a population-wide shift in phenotype occurs, subtle differences in speech can propagate and amplify through inter-generational cultural transmission of language. With this theory of genetic bias as a guideline, this study attempts to analyse the morphological variation within and between two Dutch historical skeletal collections: Klaaskinderkerke (13th-17th centuries) and Middenbeemster (AD 1829-1866). A thorough background of the anatomy and physiology of speech production is provided, as well as the relation with the skeletal vocal tract. Using three-dimensional surface scans of the crania from these samples, geometric morphometric analyses are used to reveal, segment and explain shape and size variation in a quantative manner, resulting in highly visual output in the original anatomical context. Multivariate statistics enable an assessment of which combinations of multidimensional shape variables allow a differentiation between the two samples and the sexes. Results show that overall, shape variation in the skeletal vocal tract between Klaaskinderkerke and Middenbeemster was too small to allow for a statistical differentiation between them. Sexual shape dimorphism was also not found to be significant. In constrast, when comparing the four sex-by-sample groups, males from Klaaskinderkerke and females from Middenbeemster did show separation. Size variation allowed a distinction between males and females, which is expected in human sexual dimorphism, and also between the samples, which might be related to climatic circumstances or different lifestyles. For both significant shape and size differences, however, future research will have to further investigate the complex relationship between shape, size, allometry, sex, and external factors. In conclusion, at this time, quantifiable differences in vocal tract shape that could indicate a morphological bias could not be supported. The results obtained in this thesis can function as an addition to this new approach in linguistics. The morphological data that were gathered can be added to a growing normative database for phenotypic variation around the world, to be compared to linguistic variation. In contrast to currently used modelling techniques, osteoarchaeology can contribute a direct assessment of morphological variation through time, aiding in the discovery of potential mechanisms behind the development of the range of languages spoken today. For the samples used here, specifically, further research might reveal if a morphological bias played a role in the development from Middle Dutch into modern Dutch.Show less
Analysing trabecular bone morphology to interpret the behaviour of past populations has become more popular these last few years. Due to its non-destructive method of collecting data, microCT has...Show moreAnalysing trabecular bone morphology to interpret the behaviour of past populations has become more popular these last few years. Due to its non-destructive method of collecting data, microCT has been widely used in the field of palaeoanthropology in an effort to study the locomotion of extant and extinct primates, fossil hominins and past populations of modern humans. One problem with these studies is that they all rely on the assumption that adult trabecular bone morphology accurately reflects changes in mechanical loading during life. Ontogenetic studies of the human os coxae have indicated that this may not be the case. This study attempts to remedy this issue by investigating the ontogenetic trajectory of trabecular bone development in the talus of a modern human population from the 19th Century Netherlands. Trabecular bone variables such as bone volume ratio, connectivity density, trabecular number, thickness and degree of anisotropy of the talus were recorded using microCT for 55 individuals aged between 3 weeks and 50+ years and compared across age groups. Results show that talar trabecular morphology reflects mechanical loading during life and that abrupt changes in variables such as connectivity density and bone volume ratio can be used to identify the onset of independent walking in human infants.Show less
When the body endures physiological stress during childhood it will react by disrupting the growth of skeletal elements. By doing so, the body will be able to utilize nutrients for survival rather...Show moreWhen the body endures physiological stress during childhood it will react by disrupting the growth of skeletal elements. By doing so, the body will be able to utilize nutrients for survival rather than putting energy towards growth. When a physiological disruption leaves a permanent mark on the skeleton or dentition it is called a non-specific indicator of stress. A small vertebral neural canal is one such non-specific indicator of stress. The vertebral neural canal is the hole in each vertebra through which the spinal cord passes. A small vertebral neural canal is an indicator of physiological stress during childhood. This thesis examines the relationship between physiological stress and urbanization by studying the vertebral neural canal size. Adults from St Mary Graces, a medieval skeletal collection with a mixed socioeconomic status, and St Bride’s Lower, a post-medieval collection with a low to middle class socioeconomic status, were analyzed for this study. Both archaeological sites are located in London, England, which was already an urban settlement during medieval times, but became even more urbanized during the post-medieval period. Measurements of the inner and outer diameter of the vertebral neural canal were taken. Statistical analysis was used to determine whether there were any differences in vertebral neural canal size between the two archaeological sites. The data was also used to establish whether there were any differences in vertebral neural canal size between sexes and age groups. Results show that the physiological stress did not increase with increased urbanization in the St Bride’s Lower sample and that males benefited more from the further urbanization of London than the females. The study also showed that only the inner diameter, and not the outer diameter, provided information on physiological stress. Overall, this study has further defined the possibilities and limitations of using the vertebral neural canal diameter as an indicator of stress and increased our understanding of the impact of urbanization on physiological stress.Show less
Humans are adapters. We not only adapt ourselves to the environment, more often than not we adapt the environment itself to suit our needs, our wishes, and our ideas. This urge to change does not...Show moreHumans are adapters. We not only adapt ourselves to the environment, more often than not we adapt the environment itself to suit our needs, our wishes, and our ideas. This urge to change does not stop with the environment. The human body itself is often used as a canvas where we express who we are, where we express our identity. This thesis discussed one type of such expression of identity: artificial cranial modification (often abbreviated as "ACM"). As the modification can only be done successfully on individuals younger than three years old, it does not express individual identity but rather the group identity the individual's parents belonged to. This makes cranial modification an interesting field of research, which can tell archaeologists many things about past populations. The two populations studied in this thesis originate from the Bolivian Andes; an area with a high percentage of modified crania but a low percentage of research. The aim of this work is thus to add to the information of cranial modification in the Bolivian Andes, which was done through the study of 60 mostly Tiwanaku-period (500 - 1000 CE) crania from two different Andean regions: the Altiplano, and the Cochabamba valles. The Cochabamba valles, although emulating the Tiwanaku culture, remained very much independent, a fact which is confirmed in the results of this thesis. The most striking difference turned out to be the influence of sex on modification presence, which was found to be statistically significant in the valles sample and not in the Altiplano crania. Other differences were found as well: annular modification is much more frequent in the Altiplano, with tabular being more popular in the valles. The annular types are mostly cylindrical in the valles whereas the conical variant is more common in the Altiplano. Occipitally curved tabular modifications only occur in the Altiplano, with the lambdoidally flattened variant being most common. Frontally curved tabular modifications, then, only occur in the valles. Lastly, erect modifications occurred relatively more in the Altiplano sample, where it made up half of the tabular subtypes, than in the valles. Osteological effects of ACM on the cranium were studied as well. These did not indicate regional results, showing that, all cultural differences aside, the populations were not too different from each other. The non-metric traits that seemed to be influenced by cranial modification in the sample are the prevalence of the left infraorbital foramen, right pterygo-spinous bridge and left tympanic dehiscence, as well as the metopic suture retention. The results show that although the populations lived near, and were in contact with, each other, regional cultural differences do exist. Extrapolating findings of the Altiplano's Tiwanaku culture to the rest of the Bolivian Andes is thus not correct, something that should be kept in mind for future (much needed) research in the area. This thesis was made possible by the archaeological museum INIAM of the Universidad Mayor de San Simón in Cochabamba and the zooarchaeological laboratory from the Universidad Mayor de San Andres in La Paz, which granted access to their collections.Show less
Congenital syphilis is a disease which still affects thousands of people throughout the world in a modern society. If untreated, congenital syphilis can be extremely debilitating and can even cause...Show moreCongenital syphilis is a disease which still affects thousands of people throughout the world in a modern society. If untreated, congenital syphilis can be extremely debilitating and can even cause death. Although the cure for congenital syphilis is relatively simple with modern medicine, this was not always the case. Congenital syphilis was responsible for thousands of deaths in the past, yet this is not visible in the archaeological record. There are several reasons why the true prevalence rate of congenital syphilis is not visible in the archaeological record such as, the common underrepresentation of juvenile skeletal remains. it is however possible that some potential cases of congenital syphilis are being misdiagnosed in the archaeological record because of the confusion surrounding the diagnostic criteria. By improving the diagnostic criteria of congenital syphilis, new archaeological cases may become evident.Show less
This research examines fracture risks in post-Medieval the Netherlands. The challenges of daily life as well as interpersonal violence means humans are always at risk of fractures to the skeleton....Show moreThis research examines fracture risks in post-Medieval the Netherlands. The challenges of daily life as well as interpersonal violence means humans are always at risk of fractures to the skeleton. Given the occurrence of fractures across societies archaeologists have the opportunity to compare the fracture risk between populations and investigate the effects of social and economic standing. Research into long bone fractures in the Netherlands has been done for medieval sites, but not for post medieval sites. This research addresses this gap in fracture research. The main question of this research is: What can the analysis of long bone fractures tell us about life in various places in post-medieval the Netherlands. The first sub question tests the hypothesis that the position, and pattern of fractures was influenced by the socioeconomic status and lifestyle of the inhabitants of Middenbeemster. The second and third sub questions compare the frequency and distribution of long bone fractures (clavicle, humerus, radius, ulna, femur, tibia, and fibula) from four post-medieval the Netherlands sites (Eindhoven, Gouda, Middenbeemster and Roosendaal) from different socioeconomic backgrounds (e.g. low and high status) and living environments (e.g. urban and rural). The data from the Middenbeemster sample was collected by the author the other data was drawn from reports and books. There were three main findings in this research. First, it found that the assemblage from Middenbeemster has fractures that are consistent with traditional farming injuries, but differed from those described in other bioarchaeological studies, suggesting that farming in post-medieval the Netherlands might have been different or posted different dangers from those in other places. Second it found that the urban site of Eindhoven had significantly more long bone fractures compared to the rural site of Middenbeemster. There was also a difference in the distribution of fractures between the sites. This suggests that in post-medieval the Netherlands urban living had more risks of long bone fractures than rural living. Third, there was no difference in the long bone fracture rate between the high status site of Gouda and the low status site of Roosendaal. This shows that socioeconomic status did not have a significant effect on fracture risk. This thesis has broadened our understanding of fracture risk in post-medieval the Netherlands by providing some preliminary conclusions about the relationship between environmental and socioeconomic factors and fracture risk. This research, however, still requires more comparative data sets to confirm these preliminary conclusions, and test new hypotheses.Show less
Skeletal and dental growth and development is investigated in 39 perinate and infant skeletons aged between 32 weeks gestation to 42 weeks after birth in order to determine the accuracy of three...Show moreSkeletal and dental growth and development is investigated in 39 perinate and infant skeletons aged between 32 weeks gestation to 42 weeks after birth in order to determine the accuracy of three ageing methods and to assess possible periods of increased stress in the sample. The skeletal remains belong to a recently excavated, partly documented cemetery, from Middenbeemster, a rural village in the Netherlands, dating mainly to the nineteenth century. Three ageing methods were chosen to be evaluated, the accuracy of which had not been systematically investigated: 1) the deciduous Demirjian stages by Liversidge and Molleson (2004); 2) the dental height regression equations by Liversidge and colleagues (1993), and; 3) skeletal age estimation using 26 measurements form 18 different bones utilising six different standards (Black and Scheuer 1996; Fazekas and Kósa 1978; Maresh 1955; Molleson and Cox 1993; Saunders et al. 1993; Scheuer and McLaughlin-Black 1994). Accuracy of the methods is tested on a subsample of ten individuals for whom age at death is known from the Beemster district archives, and the results are further evaluated using the entire sample. Results from individuals of known age indicate high levels of accuracy for skeletal age and dental height with mean difference to chronological age of only -0.4 and +0.6 weeks, respectively. The deciduous developmental stages significantly overestimate chronological age by +5.5 weeks. These observed trends are confirmed in the entire sample were age was compared to the sample mean. In neonatal remains, skeletal age is most accurate regardless the standards used, but for post-neonates only the Maresh (1955) standard provides accurate results (+1.9 weeks). Dental developmental stages are more accurate in individuals less than two months (+2.4 weeks), increasing in older individuals to +5.2 weeks. Dental height gave an outstanding performance with consistent high levels of accuracy in neonatal (+1.6 weeks) and post-neonatal remains (+0.15 weeks), making it the preferred method for age estimation in the infant category. The mortality pattern followed a normal declining curve with the greatest percentage of individuals dying during the neonatal period. Skeletal development lagged behind dental development by about one month in almost 70% of the individuals, showing a trend of an increasing amount of delay with age. But differences in age between skeletal and dental development were not unambiguously pointing to a stress induced delay and more research is needed to clarify the observed trends. This thesis provides new information on the accuracy of dental and skeletal ageing methods of infant remains and should guide our application of these methods in future research of north-west European skeletal samples.Show less
Determining the sex of subadults is seen as important for osteology and social studies. Within osteology several methods exist to determine the sex of subadults, but all these methods are under...Show moreDetermining the sex of subadults is seen as important for osteology and social studies. Within osteology several methods exist to determine the sex of subadults, but all these methods are under discussion. Often, the researchers who created the methods had high accuracies, but when it was later on retested by other researchers, the accuracy rates dropped. Within this research twelve non-metric methods were tested on known-sex subadults from Middenbeemster (n = 43). The twelve non-metric methods of this research are the elevation of the auricular surface, the greater sciatic notch angle, the greater sciatic notch depth, the arch criterion, the iliac crest, the protrusion of the chin, the anterior dental arcade, the eversion of the gonion region, the complete mandible, the mentum, the mandibular angle and the orbital morphology. The accuracy rates for each method were calculated and in addition separate accuracy rates were obtained for the pelvis, the skull and the overall skeleton. All the obtained accuracy rates were low. In addition, the statistical analyses indicate that the methods cannot be used to determine the sex of subadults. These low accuracy rates might be explained through with several factors. A population difference between the Middenbeemster sample and the sample of the other researchers might explain the low accuracy rate. In addition, some researchers have proved that there is less sexual dimorphism in Dutch populations than in other populations. Disease and malnutrition can also cause low accuracy rates. And inter- and intraobserver error can also cause low accuracy rates. In addition, this research was limited by a small sample and a overrepresentation of females within the sample. A division in five age groups made clear that there might be several methods that are age-related and not sex-related. It seems that the twelve non-metric method cannot be used to determine the sex of subadults, but more research is needed to get a better understanding of these methods.Show less
In modern clinical sources, the prevalence of infectious ear diseases is usually higher in urban environments as opposed to rural environments. Due to overcrowding, poor hygiene and high intensity...Show moreIn modern clinical sources, the prevalence of infectious ear diseases is usually higher in urban environments as opposed to rural environments. Due to overcrowding, poor hygiene and high intensity of contact with other people, infectious diseases tend to spread more easily in such environments. In this research, the research questions is: Are we able to see differences in the prevalence of infectious ear diseases between the skeletal populations from an urban and a rural site? Also, the populations are examined to which ear diseases can be identified in skeletal populations. The skeletal populations used are from Alkmaar and Middenbeemster. The population from Alkmaar originates from the 15th and 16th century, and consists of 37 usable skeletons. The population from Middenbeemster originates from mainly the 19th century and consists of 60 usable skeletons. The ear ossicles, tympanic cavities, external ears and mastoid processes are examined for pathological conditions. In total, the number of individuals affected by ear diseases was 18 in Alkmaar and 25 in Middenbeemster. Infectious diseases were found most frequently, followed by neoplasms and congenital diseases. Overall, more infectious diseases were found in Middenbeemster as opposed to Alkmaar. No significant differences in prevalence of infectious ear diseases or overall ear sickness were found. It can therefore be suggested that living environment did not affect the prevalence of infectious ear diseases and overall ear sickness in these historical populations. Possible explanations for the masking of these differences can be the osteological paradox, smoking, air pollution and socio-economic status. This research shows that ear diseases can be identified within skeletal populations from the Netherlands. Not only infectious diseases, but also congenital diseases and neoplasms are identified. This research can be a starting point for further research on ear diseases in general and infectious ear diseases specific.Show less
