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
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
