Chronic maxillary sinusitis (CMS) is a much debated topic and the current clinical literature states that up to 40% of the maxillary sinusitis cases can be caused by dental disease. This is called...Show moreChronic maxillary sinusitis (CMS) is a much debated topic and the current clinical literature states that up to 40% of the maxillary sinusitis cases can be caused by dental disease. This is called odontogenic maxillary sinusitis (OMS). Unilateral CMS is even believed to be induced by dental disease in approximately 75% of the cases. In bioarchaeology, odontogenic sinusitis has been somehow understudied, since very few archaeological studies on sinusitis have taken dental disease into consideration. Studying the impact of dental disease can give more contextualisation to previous studies on respiratory disease, including CMS. Both CMS and dental disease can be observable in archaeological context as various skeletal changes. This thesis research aims to test if the presence of CMS is related to the presence of dental disease within two post-medieval populations from Arnhem and Middenbeemster. The dental pathological conditions that are included here are periapical abscesses, periodontal disease, ante-mortem tooth loss and oroantral fistulae. First, the relation between CMS and dental disease has been investigated for the sample in its entirety, as well as on the intrasite level. After this, differences in the prevalence rates of OMS were investigated on the intersite level (i.e., between populations and between sex groups across populations). Chi squared tests and the Fisher’s Exact Test were used to test the hypotheses. The results show that there is no statistically significant correlation between the presence of chronic maxillary sinusitis and the presence of dental disease. Moreover, the differences in the prevalence rates of CMS did not hold any statistical significance either. It can be suggested that other factors, such as climate, smoking, or hazards as the result of urbanisation, have played a bigger role in the development of chronic maxillary sinusitis in the current sample. Although not significant, there was a stronger correlation between CMS and dental disease in the rural sample than in the urban sample. A stronger relationship was also observed in females than in males. Therefore, it might be suggested that dental disease played a more important role in the development of CMS among these subgroups. Furthermore, it is observed that OMS is slightly more prevalent in the urban population and has a slight female predominance.Show less
Osteoarchaeological research is focused on profiling and understanding human remains of the past. The goal is to gather as much information as possible from the human remains. The first steps, and...Show moreOsteoarchaeological research is focused on profiling and understanding human remains of the past. The goal is to gather as much information as possible from the human remains. The first steps, and arguably the most important ones, are the estimation of sex, age and stature. These form the base of any osteoarchaeological research and help build a profile of the research population. The determination of an individual’s sex, age and stature will always be an estimation and can never be determined with 100% accuracy. This also means the process of building a profile is very time consuming. This difficulty is often exaggerated by the preservation of the human remains and methodology used. Osteoarchaeology also suffers greatly from inter and intraobserver variation. These problems become more severe when the sample size gets larger or when more traits are examined. Due to these problems, osteoarchaeological research can be very difficult and is never an exact science. Researchers are constantly trying to develop new methods to reduce the amount of time it takes to estimate sex, age and stature and to get the highest accuracy rates possible. For sex estimation, the skull and pelvis are regarded as the two most reliable aspects of the human skeleton. Several different methods have been developed focusing on these two aspects. New methods are often developed on a regional reference population. To implement such a method in a different region or country it is necessary to test its effectiveness on skeletal material with known data. In this thesis, a mathematical approach to sex estimation called the Diagnose Sexuelle Probabiliste method (DSP) is tested on a skeletal collection from the Middenbeemster, the Netherlands. Archival data was available for 118 individuals, of which 99 were eligible for the DSP method. The DSP method uses 4 to 10 measurements of the os coxa to estimate the chance of the individual being male or female. The big upside of this method, compared to other commonly used methods, is its ease of use. No extensive knowledge of the human skeleton is needed to gather the required measurement data for the method to be used. Even so, the creators of the method claim high accuracy levels and imply that DSP is equally, if not more, reliable than other existing methods. The results of this thesis indicate that, on Dutch populations, the DSP method is as accurate and robust as the creators claim. For the 99 individuals, DSP was able to estimate the sex of 85 of them (86%), with an accuracy of 97.6%. Only 2 individuals were incorrectly estimated to be male. From the measurements of the remaining 14 individuals the DSP method could not estimate the sex with enough certainty, leaving these individuals as undetermined. The DSP method proves to be robust and very accurate on Dutch skeletal material and should be considered a viable method for the estimation of sex. The ease of use of this method, compared to other sex estimation methods, is its strongest aspect. The method is not time consuming and can be performed without extensive knowledge on the subject, which could save a lot of time and effort in (osteo)archaeological research in the Netherlands.Show less
The commingling of human skeletal remains poses a recurrent challenge for osteoarchaeologists. Prior to any comprehensive analysis, the reassociation of these remains is required. Over the past...Show moreThe commingling of human skeletal remains poses a recurrent challenge for osteoarchaeologists. Prior to any comprehensive analysis, the reassociation of these remains is required. Over the past seven decades, numerous methodologies have emerged to address this challenge. However, each method exhibits limitations, prompting the necessity for the advancement of current techniques and the introduction of novel approaches. Among these evolving methods, the portable X-ray fluorescence technique stands out. Originally not designed for application on human remains, its appeal lies in its non-destructive nature and cost-effectiveness, drawing keen interest from osteoarchaeologists and forensic anthropologists. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of portable X-ray fluorescence in sorting commingled archaeological remains buried in the Netherlands. It involves the examination of 40 adults, 20 unearthed from Arnhem and 20 from Middenbeemster, dating back to the post-medieval period. The research initiates by investigating both intra-skeletal and inter-skeletal chemical variation, further exploring the potential factors contributing to these differences. Throughout the analysis, multiple sorting attempts are conducted to ensure a thorough exploration of the technique's capabilities. The results indicate statistically significant chemical variation within the same skeleton and among different individuals. In terms of intra-skeletal variation, from the 12 skeletal elements tested in each individual, only four pairs of bones (humerus–femur, rib–mandible, tibia–parietal, and tibia–rib) did not exhibit variation in the concentrations of chemical elements. With regard to inter-skeletal variation, 23 out of the 30 elements detected by the pXRF, and 14 out of the 15 ratios explored, demonstrated significant differences. Variation was also observed between males and females, as well as between sites. For the differences among the adult sub-groups that were noted, no generalizations can be made unless further research is conducted. Finally, the reassociation attempts reveal that the most successful sorting cases involved two individuals from different sites, utilizing principal components derived from ratios, while the tooth measurements were excluded. Key ratios influencing the sorting process included Mn/K, Mn/S, Mn/Fe, K/Fe, Sr/Ca, Ca/P, Pb/Ca, S/Sr, and Sr/Pb. While the method showed promise when a small number of individuals were involved, it lacked consistency. Therefore, it should be used in conjunction with other methods until further research is conducted.Show less
This thesis will look at the prevalence of cam-type femoroacetabular impingement among three medieval and post-medieval populations from the Netherlands in order to identify a pattern or trend in...Show moreThis thesis will look at the prevalence of cam-type femoroacetabular impingement among three medieval and post-medieval populations from the Netherlands in order to identify a pattern or trend in the said prevalence. These could in turn be linked to biological sex, environment and historical period and offer new insights in the lifestyle, in particular physical activity, of historical populations from the Netherlands. The results of this thesis could in turn also contribute to a better understanding of femoroacetabular impingement in the modern age. The trend that the femoral heads of the males in this sample are significantly less spherical than in females may be related to a sex-based labour division. Males would have done the bulk of the heavy work which put more strain on their lower limbs. The most important takeaway from this thesis is that femoroacetabular impingement, in particular cam-type, is not a new disorder. It is present in a wide range of populations from different environments and historical periods. The activity levels and physical load on the proximal femur of modern professional athletes may be comparable to ancient populations who were involved in physically demanding professions daily. The environment and diet might play a larger role in all of this than anticipated.Show less
The focus of this study is to assess sexual dimorphism of non-metric and metric characteristics of the mandible of a Dutch post Medieval rural population from the Middenbeemster polder in the...Show moreThe focus of this study is to assess sexual dimorphism of non-metric and metric characteristics of the mandible of a Dutch post Medieval rural population from the Middenbeemster polder in the province of Noord Holland in the Netherlands. The mandible is not seen as a reliable feature for sex estimation in research on Dutch Medieval populations based on non-metric traits. Studies on populations around the world show that the mandible is a reliable tool for estimating sex, provided that metric measurements of the mandible are used. This study focuses on the re-evaluation of the mandible as a reliable tool for sex estimation by studying both non-metric and metric sexual dimorphism of the mandible in a Dutch population. The development of a technique that reliably estimates mandibular sex in Dutch medieval populations would be a great contribution to the field of bioarchaeology. Sex estimation is paramount for the reconstruction of demographic structures of past societies. In this thesis sexual dimorphism based on both non-metric and metric is assessed. 90 samples from the Middenbeemster with known sex are used for measurement and observations. This sample consists of 40 females and 50 males. The non-metric scores are compared to known sex to assess reliability. The metric measurements are analysed using binary logistic regression and tree modelling to assess if the specific measurements are reliable in estimating sex of an unknown individual. The overall accuracy of the non-metric sex estimation is very low and therefore not reliable for further use. The metric measurements have a higher reliability rate, especially the bigonial breadth and the mean of the maximum ramus height. With the use of these two measurements a cross validated classification accuracy of 80.2 percent can be achieved. In conclusion, after re-evaluating the mandible it appears that the mandible can be used with high accuracy in sex estimation in the Dutch population of Middenbeemster and maybe in other North Western European populations from the post Medieval time period, which has to be assessed by future research.Show less
This research uses the disease of osteoarthritis in order to investigate the activity patterns of a rural and an urban environment in the Netherlands during the post-medieval period. It produced...Show moreThis research uses the disease of osteoarthritis in order to investigate the activity patterns of a rural and an urban environment in the Netherlands during the post-medieval period. It produced two datasets with matching criteria obtained from the skeletal assemblages of the heavily researched rural site of Middenbeemster and the relatively new urban site of Arnhem. Historical literature is combined with osteoarthritis prevalence give a more clear and detailed image of past activity patterns. This literature has provided this research with the knowledge that Middenbeemster was a dairy farming community, while Arnhem was a city with a focus on the beer brewing industry. Different markers on the bones associated with osteoarthritis resulted in differences in osteoarthritis prevalence. This differences were not only investigated within the environments but also between the environments. In the urban environment a sexual division of labour was seen, while in the rural environment men and women performed similar strenuous activities. Besides this, it is evident that industrial city life was more strenuous on the bodies of individuals than farming life was during the post-medieval period in the Netherlands.Show less
A sample of 101 individuals from the osteological collection of Middenbeemster, a 19th century Dutch rural population, was analysed for scorbutic lesions denoting the prevalence of scurvy within...Show moreA sample of 101 individuals from the osteological collection of Middenbeemster, a 19th century Dutch rural population, was analysed for scorbutic lesions denoting the prevalence of scurvy within the population. The method used for this analysis was recently published by Snoddy et al. (2018), and collected features described throughout the paleopathological and clinical literature, as well as adding two new lesions to create a system with a weighted diagnosis. The sample was analysed for the presence or absence of these features and the individuals were given a diagnosis ranging from a probable, to possible, to an unlikely diagnosis of scurvy. The prevalence was found to be 74,5% in the total sample, with 80,95% within the non- adults, and 73,75% in the adults respectively. The individuals diagnosed with probable scurvy were found to also exhibit lesions associated with rickets, osteomalacia, and iron deficiency anaemia. It was also found that younger individuals under 6 years of age and adults over 50 were the most likely demographic to suffer from scurvy. Further research should further investigate Snoddy et al.’s (2018) proposed lesions, examine comorbidity with associated conditions, and investigate a genetic predisposition towards the development of the disease.Show less
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
Sex estimation methods commonly used in osteoarchaeology involve the pelvis and skull. If the pelvis, cranium or other big-sized bones are damaged or cannot be found in a burial, new methods for...Show moreSex estimation methods commonly used in osteoarchaeology involve the pelvis and skull. If the pelvis, cranium or other big-sized bones are damaged or cannot be found in a burial, new methods for estimating sex are needed. This study aims to determine the degree of sexual dimorphism from the first proximal hand phalanges, in order to explore the possibility of using this particular bone for sex estimation. The sample used in this study was taken from Middenbeemster skeletal collection housed in Human Osteoarchaeology Laboratory, Leiden University. The skeletal collection from the 17th - 19th century was chosen because it has individuals of known sex and age. A total of 103 first proximal hand phalanges obtained from 64 adult individuals (22 males and 42 females) were used in this study. There were seven measurements used to analyze the degree of sexual dimorphism, including maximal length and diaphyseal and epiphyseal widths, both mediolaterally and anteroposteriorly. The degree of sexual dimorphism in the first proximal hand phalanx of Middenbeemster skeletal collection is up to 22.38%, indicated by left APWM. The lowest degree of sexual dimorphism is shown by the left ML. Five out of seven measurements used in this study show the left side has a higher degree of sexual dimorphism than the right. The results of this study indicate that the first proximal hand phalanx can potentially be used for sex estimation.Show less
Establishing age-at-death is important to forensic and biological anthropologists for identification and demographic analyses, but some degree of error is unavoidable. In human osteoarchaeology,...Show moreEstablishing age-at-death is important to forensic and biological anthropologists for identification and demographic analyses, but some degree of error is unavoidable. In human osteoarchaeology, there is a general assumption that there is worse preservation with increasing age of adult skeletal remains resulting in inaccuracies in paleodemographic reconstructions. This thesis examines skeletal material from the 17th to 19th-century Middenbeemster cemetery in the Netherlands to understand taphonomic processes that cause age and sex biases in the preservation of the adult pelvic girdle. Skeletal age estimation techniques have focused on the iliac auricular surface and pubic symphysis. However, the morphological features that are considered for age estimation methods of the pubic symphyseal surface, iliac auricular surface, and sacrum get destroyed or damaged to the point where the morphological features are no longer or only partially observable, which, in turn, affects the accuracy of these age estimation methods. The degeneration pattern in human remains from individuals aged 50 years and older becomes too unclear to put into smaller age groups, which is further complicated by taphonomic factors. Differences in bone preservation are caused by several taphonomic processes that affect the pelvic girdle of old adults more than young and middle aged adults. The general results show that the pelvic girdle of old adults is less well-preserved than young and middle adults, and that adult female pelvises are less complete than males. This research supports the view that age biases in preservation are more important than sex biases.Show less
