The process of urbanisation was important during the Late Middle Ages in Europe. Traditionally, the rise of urban centres has been associated with unhealthier living conditions, compared to the...Show moreThe process of urbanisation was important during the Late Middle Ages in Europe. Traditionally, the rise of urban centres has been associated with unhealthier living conditions, compared to the countryside. However, this so-called ‘urban graveyard effect´ has been challenged by more recent historical and osteological research. Particularly, osteoarchaeologists have assessed the possible difference in living conditions between urban and rural areas through physiological stress markers, such as linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH). In the Netherlands, up to date, a specific and detailed osteoarchaeological analysis of the effect of urbanisation in children has not been done. To address this question, this thesis has studied the individuals from the Late Medieval urban centre of Alkmaar and rural village of Klaaskinderkerke, focusing on the prevalence, number of episodes, and age distribution of LEH in canines. The results show a lack of difference between Alkmaar and Klaaskinderkerke. High levels of prevalence and number of episodes are present in both populations; in addition, the defects followed a similar age distribution. Therefore, as historical sources also point out, these socioeconomic changes did not only affect the city but also the countryside. In the Netherlands, both spaces changed during the Late Middle Ages, and both had great importance in the rising Dutch economy. The high levels of physiological stress in the city and the countryside support the idea that this Dutch economic development did not mean an improvement in living conditions for people. In summary, living in the countryside was as physiologically stressful as living in the city.Show less
The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between osteoarthritis (OA) and age. Archaeological studies with a similar aim had been conducted before. However, none of these studied the...Show moreThe aim of this study is to assess the relationship between osteoarthritis (OA) and age. Archaeological studies with a similar aim had been conducted before. However, none of these studied the progression of osteoarthritis in relation to advancing age. Understanding the relationship between OA progression and age apart from OA prevalence and age, might show the differences in strength of age as a factor predisposing individuals to develop OA compared to other factors stimulating the degeneration of the joint. Knowledge of the strength of the correlation between osteoarthritis and age is especially useful for it enables discrimination between joints that are under great influence of age and those that show a less clear or no correlation. Those joints exhibiting a strong correlation should therefore preferably be avoided in archaeological studies where osteoarthritis is used as a marker of occupational activity. In order to test the strength of age related osteoarthritis and OA progression, a 18th-19th known age skeletal population from Middenbeemster, Netherlands, was studied an analyzed. All peripheral synovial joints were studied for osteoarthritis and the progression of OA was assessed with help of existing grading methods and a combination of OA identification criteria primarily based on Waldron (2009). The prevalence and progression of OA in relation with advancing age was studied per joint and per sex. Patterns observed were compared with clinical and archaeological studies in order to see if the patterns and results observed in the Middenbeemster sample were similar to or deviated from patterns observed in these clinical and archaeological studies. The outcome of the statistical analysis and the observed patterns showed that a strong correlation between the prevalence and progression of OA in relation to age was observable for the acromio-clavicular joint, sterno-clavicular joint, temporo-mandibular joint and the acetabulo-femoral joint. This trend persisted when studied separately for males and females. The strong correlations between osteoarthritis in these joints and age have been supported by clinical and archaeological studies. However, for the humero-ulnar joint (HUJ), distal radio-ulnar joint (DRUJ), gleno-humeral joint (GHJ), tibio-femoral joint (TFJ) and patello-femoral joint (PFJ) weak correlations for age related osteoarthritis were observed suggesting that other influences than age stimulated the development and progression of OA in these joints. For the remaining humero-radial joint, proximal radio-ulnar joint, radio-carpal joint, ulno-carpal joint and talo-crucal joint no correlations were found between OA and age. These joints can therefore be used to study occupational activity related osteoarthritis in archaeological populations. The HUJ, DRUJ, GHJ, TFJ and PFJ might be used to study occupational activity related OA, despite their weak correlation, for the patterns observed for these joints in the Middenbeemster sample in combination with clinical and archaeological studies suggest a stronger influence of other factors than age predisposing individuals to develop OA at these locations.Show less
The mandible is one of the many structures of the human skeleton that can be characterized by large amounts of inter(between)-individual morphological variation. The primary aim of this thesis is...Show moreThe mandible is one of the many structures of the human skeleton that can be characterized by large amounts of inter(between)-individual morphological variation. The primary aim of this thesis is to provide the one of the first large-scale systematic investigations upon which the relationship between mandibular morphological variation and speech production capabilities and language change can be explored, a subject that has seen little previous research. In order to accurately capture the shape and size of the human mandible, three-dimensional geometric morphometrics are used on adults (18-49 years of age) from two Dutch archaeological sites: Alkmaar (AD 1484-1574, n= 37) and Middenbeemster (AD 1829-1866, n= 51). The results indicate that there is a large amount of overlap of shape variation between individuals and that the variation within the groups is quite large compared to the variation between groups. Overall, the mandibles belonging to individuals from Alkmaar are significantly larger while mandibles from Middenbeemster are smaller on average. The average male mandible from Alkmaar has a superiorly-posteriorly shifted anterior portion of the corpus. The male individuals from Middenbeemster show less antero-posterior curvature in the anterior part of the corpus and slightly more projecting chins. The females show no significant differences between the sites. Moreover, the sample from Middenbeemster shows sexual dimorphism which is dominated by differences in size. The differences are mainly located in the corpus and probably caused by dissimilarities in the mandibular symphysis in terms of robusticity. For the individuals from Alkmaar, there is no significant dimorphism in the shape captured by the landmarks presented here, except at the ramus, and specifically at the gonial angles. Therefore, the expression of sexual dimorphism shifts between these sites. These results are probably linked to the general softening of the diet that occurred between these time-periods due to processing improvements and different dietary components due to the Industrial Revolution, but more research on this subject is needed. This thesis contributes to our understanding of shape variation and sexual dimorphism in the mandible. It has shown that sexual dimorphism has changed over a small period of time in a geographical area in North Holland and represents the first time that three-dimensional geometric morphometrics have been applied to human skeletal remains in the Netherlands. It also provides one of the first steps upon which researchers can begin to investigate the potential role of mandibular morphology on variation in language and speech production. While unsuccessful in finding a direct correlation between language and mandibular morphology, this thesis demonstrates the complexity of this issue as it appears difficult to separate the effect of language from other, more prominent factors such as diet, mastication and tooth status. These factors need to be overcome before future research can tackle questions regarding language change and its relationship with mandibular morphology. Thus, this thesis will serve as one of the stepping stones that can be used to perform cutting-edge research on this complex but interesting subject.Show less
This research will discuss the different types of fractures that occur in a sample of the Dutch Middenbeemster collection from the Post-medieval graveyard and determine their prevalence rate. The...Show moreThis research will discuss the different types of fractures that occur in a sample of the Dutch Middenbeemster collection from the Post-medieval graveyard and determine their prevalence rate. The fracture types may possibly provide information regarding the lifestyle of the individuals. The characteristics of antemortem skeletal trauma will also be reviewed. Signs of healing indicate the trauma occurred at least a week before death and is called antemortem trauma. The various types of fractures and their cause(s), whether direct or indirect trauma injury, will be explained further. What the prevalence rate and the fracture patterns can say about the lifestyle of the Middenbeemster population will be addressed as well in order to provide some more insight into the lives and activities of the inhabitants of Middenbeemster that were interred in the cemetery of the ‘Keyserkerk’ in primarily the mid-nineteenth century.Show less
