Osteoarthritis (OA), is the most commonly occurring joint disease, it affects the synovial joints and is characterized by degenerative changes in the joint structure. Furthermore, it is one of the...Show moreOsteoarthritis (OA), is the most commonly occurring joint disease, it affects the synovial joints and is characterized by degenerative changes in the joint structure. Furthermore, it is one of the diseases used in examining activity patterns within populations. This research makes use of two population samples, one with low-status individuals from Arnhem, buried in a cemetery outside the St. Eusebius’ Church, and one with high-status individuals from Zwolle, buried within the Broerenkerk. The aim of the research is to see if there are any remarkable differences between the prevalence of OA in the low-status population and the high-status population. To answer this question, 37 individuals from Arnhem and 55 individuals from Zwolle were analyzed. Males, females and indeterminate sexes were included in the sample as well as individuals from the early young adult age group to the old adult age group. 34 joints of all individuals (seventeen left and seventeen right) were scored plus the vertebral column and ribs. The scores were given on the basis of specific scoring systems for each joint and were put in a table ending up with a final score for all individuals. From these scores, it is evident that the females in Zwolle have a higher prevalence of OA than the females in Arnhem, the males of both samples are equally distributed. Considering the age groups, the two youngest age groups have a higher prevalence in the sample of Arnhem and the two oldest age groups have a higher prevalence in the sample of Zwolle. Status-difference might be the cause for these differences. However, the professions during the post-medieval period were similar in both cities. Regarding the most affected joints in both samples, the low-status population has the highest prevalence of OA in the arms, while the high-status population has the highest prevalence of OA in the legs. This difference could be explained by considering activity induced OA versus weight induced OA. Concluding from this study, there are some differences between the two samples regarding sexes and age groups. However, the total prevalence of OA in the Arnhem sample is slightly lower (5%) than the prevalence of OA in the Zwolle sample. Therefore, it seems unlikely that there is a difference between the prevalence of OA in low-status and high-status populations. This is confirmed by statistical analyses.Show less
Nutritional and socio-economic status are often considered as being closely related. In skeletal collections, these forms of status are studied using non-specific stress indicators. This research...Show moreNutritional and socio-economic status are often considered as being closely related. In skeletal collections, these forms of status are studied using non-specific stress indicators. This research focusses on one nutritional status. Pelvic inlet morphology is repeatedly suggested to be a good proxy for nutritional status, but this never has been systematically analysed. This thesis examines pelvic inlet morphology together with other indicators, namely cribra orbitalia and maximum femoral length for two samples of different socio-economic status. This to verify the usefulness of the shape of the pelvic inlet as a nutritional status indicator. This research shows that the relationships between the different indicators are not significant, that they differ between subsamples and that they do not all follow the expected pattern. The correlations between pelvic morphology and cribra orbitalia, and between pelvic morphology and maximal femoral length, suggest that if pelvic morphology is influenced by periods of stress, it results of different causes of stress or different periods of stress than the other indicators, since most correlations are quite low and some of them contradict each other within subsamples. Furthermore, sex is found to influence individual measurements of the pelvis, but it has no real effect on the pelvic inlet index. Lastly, the individuals from Arnhem seem to have a slightly lower nutritional status than those from Zwolle, but differences are not pronounced. Even though the results are not significant and confounding factors are numerous, this is the first study that explores pelvic measurements in relation to nutrition for the Northern Europe and the first to provide pelvic data for Dutch samples.Show less
