This thesis studies the, by the Museum of London Archaeological Services (MoLAS) analyzed and shared, open source osteological database of the Chelsea Old Church cemetery site OCUoo. Based on this...Show moreThis thesis studies the, by the Museum of London Archaeological Services (MoLAS) analyzed and shared, open source osteological database of the Chelsea Old Church cemetery site OCUoo. Based on this data set, the study aims to research whether there is a correlation between obesity associated diseases, such as: osteoarthritis, gout, and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH), and body mass. In addition, it attempts to research whether there's a sex-based difference that may influence such a correlation. It does so by creating three subsidiary question that are meant to lead to answering the main question. Subsequently, a sample selection according to the criteria required for this study (adult, sex determined, availability of femoral head breadth metric data). This sample selection will be further tailored by implementing the revised Ruff et al. (2012) body mass estimation equation, before it will undergo statistical data analysis with the use of the SPSS statistics program. The result depicts a data set that's relatively balanced and has a normal distribution. It may be noted that the mean of the body mass (kg) of those with pathological diagnoses lies higher than for those without. As well as that the pathologies follow suit as expected in regard of their prevalence in a certain sex. Osteoarthritis is more common among female individuals while gout and DISH are more common among male individuals. These notions could indicate that there may be a correlation; however, the statistical analyses resulted in the acceptance of the null hypothesis as there's no statistical significance. Therefore, against expectations and contemporary studies, it can be assumed that there's no correlation between obesity-associated diseases and body mass.Show less
The goal of this thesis research is to test if the prevalence of vertebral pathological conditions reflect hard labour/tough life in the Arnhem Eusebiuskerk population and a lowstatus, middle...Show moreThe goal of this thesis research is to test if the prevalence of vertebral pathological conditions reflect hard labour/tough life in the Arnhem Eusebiuskerk population and a lowstatus, middle-status and high-status population from London. The vertebral pathological conditions that have been compared are vertebral osteoarthritis, osteophytes, intervertebral disc disease, Schmorl’s nodes and fusion. First, the prevalence of the vertebral pathological conditions have been compared between the Arnhem population and the three London populations. After that, the prevalence has been compared between the males and females within each population followed by a comparison of the prevalence across the age categories. The latter has been done for each population as well. Lastly, the male and female sample of the populations have been compared separately between the Arnhem population and the three London populations. To summarise, there does seem to be a relationship between vertebral pathology and social status in the Arnhem and London populations. Most vertebral pathological conditions are namely more prevalent in the low-status Arnhem population than in the higher status London populations. The prevalence of the vertebral pathological conditions in the lowstatus St. Arnhem population is similar to that of the low-status St. Bride’s Lower Churchyard population. Based on this, it can be inferred that the vertebral pathological conditions are more common in the lower status populations than in the higher status populations of this thesis. This could have been the result of the kind of labour these status groups were involved in. Furthermore, there does seem to be a difference in the prevalence of the vertebral pathological conditions between males and females; in three out of four populations (all except the St. Benet Sherehog population) males may have had harder working conditions than the females. When the prevalence in the male and female sample of the population were compared between Arnhem and the three London populations separately, a trend can be seen that may indicate that at least the males of the Arnhem population had harder working conditions than those in the other populations. The results have also shown that there are some biases. The first bias is that the statistically significant differences in the vertebral pathological conditions are more influenced by the male sample than by the female sample in all populations with Schmorl’s nodes likely being influenced by biological variation to some extent. Furthermore, the development of many of the vertebral pathological conditions are, at least to some extent, influenced by age in all populations.Show less
As individuals living in a society, our activities, diet, and health are influenced by our socioeconomic position in said society. This amongst others means that our socioeconomic standings play a...Show moreAs individuals living in a society, our activities, diet, and health are influenced by our socioeconomic position in said society. This amongst others means that our socioeconomic standings play a large part in our social and bodily experience, therefore also in the level and kind of labour we are involved in. Labour is often highly routinised, as certain actions and movements are performed day in day out. Therefore, labour is an important aspect of ones ‘lived experience’. Osteoarthritis, a condition causing the degeneration of synovial joints and surrounding soft tissue, is the most prevalent disease in past and current societies. It is also the most frequently used marker for establishing and examining activity patterns within archaeological populations. The aim of this study is to figure out how differences in socioeconomic status and strenuous labour are embodied in a post medieval Dutch city. In order to answer this, this study analyses the severity and prevalence of osteoarthritis in two skeletal population samples of different socioeconomic status from the same city, Eindhoven. The individuals of high status were buried inside of the St. Catharinakerk, while the low status individuals were buried in the cemetery outside of this church. The high status sample consists of 13 adult individuals and the low status sample consists of 52 adult individuals. In total 40 skeletal elements have been analysed per studied individual, 20 on the left side and 20 on the right side, by using the method proposed by Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994). Following this, the scores resulting from the study of the skeletal remains were statistically analysed using ANCOVA (Analysis of Covariance). This allows to control the sample population for a covariant, in this research age-at-death was controlled for. The statistical analysis showed that the low socioeconomic status individuals were significantly more affected by osteoarthritis in the acromial end of the left clavicle and right humeral head, while the high socioeconomic status individuals were significantly more affected in the distal radii and both left and right scaphoid. The most likely explanation for this is that the low and high socioeconomic status populations engaged in different types of activities. The low socioeconomic status individuals would have likely been subjected to repetitive and strenuous activities involving the shoulder such as lifting, pulling, holding, and carrying heavy objects. Yet, while the high socioeconomic status individuals of Eindhoven probably did not engage in the same repetitive and strenuous activities as the low socioeconomic status individuals, the prevalence and severity of osteoarthritis in the wrist does indicate that they too did experience strain on joints. This would have most likely been caused by the amount of writing the high socioeconomic status individuals had to withstand. Hence, this study concludes that osteoarthritis and thus strenuous labour is embodied differently among the high and low socioeconomic status populations of post-medieval Eindhoven.Show less
The aim of this thesis is to study the influence of status on the prevalence of non-specific stress in post-medieval London. This is researched by comparing the prevalence of two non-specific...Show moreThe aim of this thesis is to study the influence of status on the prevalence of non-specific stress in post-medieval London. This is researched by comparing the prevalence of two non-specific stress markers in and between two high-status populations (Chelsea Old Church and St. Bride’s Fleet Street) and two low-status populations (St. Bride’s Lower Churchyard and Cross Bones burial ground) from post-medieval London. The non-specific stress markers that were used in the comparisons were the prevalence of enamel hypoplasia and growth (through mean femur length). The high-status and low-status populations were compared on their own as well as together, combining Chelsea Old Church and St. Bride’s Fleet Street into one high-status population and St. Bride’s Lower Churchyard and Cross Bones burial ground into one low-status population. The four populations, as well as the aggregated populations, were divided into several age groups and the two sexes for (statistical) comparison. In the results it was found that over all, the high-status population of post-medieval London had less (severe) non-specific stress, but that when the populations were studied separately and divided into groups, the results became more nuanced. It was shown that the population from St. Bride’s Fleet Street experienced the least (severe) non-specific stress, the population from Cross Bones burial ground experienced the most (severe) non-specific stress and the populations from Chelsea Old Church and St. Bride’s Lower Churchyard experienced a similar amount (and severity) of stress.Show less
From the Dutch cemetery of Middenbeemster, individuals from the rural community of the Beemster were excavated, mostly dating to the nineteenth century. The Beemster had an agriculture-based...Show moreFrom the Dutch cemetery of Middenbeemster, individuals from the rural community of the Beemster were excavated, mostly dating to the nineteenth century. The Beemster had an agriculture-based economy, focused on dairy farming. It was a relative latecomer to modernization and farming machinery. This dissertation establishes levels of physical activity and associated social differentiation in the Beemster, based upon skeletal markers of activity in the upper limbs. These are osteoarthritis (OA) and musculoskeletal stress markers (MSM’s). OA is a joint disease, and MSM’s are the sites at which muscles attach to bone, whose morphology may be indicative of muscle use and strain. The high prevalence of OA established that this population engaged in generally strenuous physical labor, more so than contemporaneous Dutch settlements. Although OA severity increased with age, its prevalence did not, indicating that joint-related wear was already occurring in young adults. MSM’s suggested a gendered division of labor. Males had more pronounced MSM’s in all sites but the triceps brachi. Males were especially involved in activities exercising the biceps and brachioradialis, as these showed the highest sexual dimorphism. In general, the pectoralis major muscle was highly pronounced, whereas the multifunctional deltoid muscle was the least developed. There was a clear positive correlation of MSM’s with age. The high symmetry between upper limbs in OA and MSM results also points to strenuous physical activity. Two young adult females had low scores for OA and MSM’s, suggesting they led less strenuous lives and could have belonged to a more elite class. The study also evaluated the usefulness of the methods. Both need further study to become reliable, especially MSM research which is in its infancy. Osteoarthritis was concluded to be most useful on an inter-population level. There was a very low correlation between OA and MSM’s, thus combining them to reconstruct activity in past populations is of limited use. Further standardization of scoring methods is also necessary for both skeletal activity markers. Overall, this research contributed to our understanding of OA and MSM’s as activity markers, both separately and combined, while also providing new data on activity levels in a post-medieval Dutch population.Show less
