In the 1980s, archaeological studies near the village of Valkenburg, South-Holland, unearthed the skeletal remains of individuals buried at the Valkenburg-Marktveld cemetery during the Roman period...Show moreIn the 1980s, archaeological studies near the village of Valkenburg, South-Holland, unearthed the skeletal remains of individuals buried at the Valkenburg-Marktveld cemetery during the Roman period. Part of multiple Roman fortifications along the Limes dating from 40 A.D. onwards, the cemetery was likely used as a burial ground for inhabitants of the Valkenburg fort or nearby vicus, a civilian settlement. The cemetery comprised at least 250 cremated individuals as well as 47 inhumations, which is a striking find that contradicts the common Roman practice of cremation. Due to these inhumated skeletal remains, the site provides an unique opportunity to employ osteoarchaeological analysis to reconstruct the lives of individuals that lived in the Roman Frontier region. This thesis utilizes cross-sectional geometry and bilateral asymmetry analysis to infer activity patterns among individuals at the Valkenburg-Marktveld cemetery, as current research on the differences in bone geometry between different demographic groups within Roman communities in the Lower Rhine area is limited. The study further investigates the factors and potential activity patterns that might influence those variations, such as biological age and sex. To do so, it builds on the initial osteoarchaeological study conducted by Lonnée and Maat (1998), who reported the estimated sex and age-at-death of each individual. Following this, each relevant bone in the upper and lower limbs was measured on various points to generate the indices for each point of measurement, as well as calculate the percentage directional asymmetry (DA%) and absolute asymmetry (AA%). The resulting values were then compared statistically between the biological sexes and age-at-death categories. While statistical significance is limited, the interpretation of data highlights the potential of these analyses in inferring activity patterns. Results from the analysis indicate that males tend to display more robust and symmetric upper and lower limbs than females, which are likely attributable to biological factors or a wider range of activities in males. Age-at-death categories exhibited inconsistencies with patterns described in other study, which is possibly due to natural variation or the limited preservation and availability of the skeletal material. Despite the limited number of individuals that could be examined, this thesis contributes valuable insights into the application of cross-sectional geometry and bilateral asymmetry analysis in osteoarchaeological studies, complementing historical data and broadening our understanding of activities in Roman frontier regions.Show less
Exploring the junction of artificial intelligence (AI), osteology and, forensic anthropology, this thesis validates the application of neural networks (NN) for accurate age-at-death estimation in...Show moreExploring the junction of artificial intelligence (AI), osteology and, forensic anthropology, this thesis validates the application of neural networks (NN) for accurate age-at-death estimation in skeletal remains. Because of the lack of accurate age-at-death estimation methods and the discrepancy between biological and chronological ages, there a high demand for objective and unbiased approach. A previous study developed DRNNAGE, a NN solution to estimate age-at-death and reported a promising accuracy in predicting age-at-death (95%) and a mean absolute error (MAE) of ~6 years. In this study, the reproducibility and the accuracy of DRNNAGE prediction will be validated employing an archaeological Dutch medieval skeletal sample from the Middenbeemster collection (MB11). The sample consisted of 52 individuals with an age range of 19-101 years. Through a multifactorial transition analysis, 101 features were scored according to two or three levels of senescent change. The results show that the DRNNAGE provides a considerably reliable estimate of age-at-death with an accuracy of 87.9%, with a relatively strong correlation between the estimated and archival ages (Spearman’s r=0.7204). Interestingly, DRNNAGE performed with improved accuracy on individuals over 50 years. In conclusion, DRNNAGE is recommended for applications in elderly individuals and is suitable in archaeological contexts. Further research into different population contexts is needed. As the implementation of AI is still in the early stages, the possibilities of AI collaboration can achieve are infinite.Show less
Porous lesions of the eye orbits, cranial vault, femoral neck and proximal humerus are called porous lesions. Traditionally the first two, cribra orbitalia and cribra cranii, have been considered...Show morePorous lesions of the eye orbits, cranial vault, femoral neck and proximal humerus are called porous lesions. Traditionally the first two, cribra orbitalia and cribra cranii, have been considered to originate from iron deficiency anaemia. As such, they have been used as a proxy for studying iron deficiency and anaemia in ancient populations, even though there is still no consensus on their aetiology. In this study, we apply the technique of portable X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry to skeletons from the archaeological sites of Middenbeemster and Arnhem in order to measure the elemental concentrations of their bones in a non-invasive way. For both sites, no significant differences in iron concentrations were found between individuals with and without cribra femora. This seems to indicate that iron deficiency anaemia is not the underlying cause of cribra femora.Show less
This thesis aims to observe and test the accuracy of a new age at death method (SanMillán–Rissech’s method) and whether this method can be applied to skeletons of Dutch individuals in the future....Show moreThis thesis aims to observe and test the accuracy of a new age at death method (SanMillán–Rissech’s method) and whether this method can be applied to skeletons of Dutch individuals in the future. Estimating the age at death of adults is essential for the human identification process both in archaeological and forensic context. The SanMillán–Rissech’s method uses seven variables that are divided into states describing the different morphological conditions of the acetabular region. These seven variables each get a score that fits the current condition of that acetabular region the best. The scores of the seven variables of the acetabulum are used to calculate the estimated age of the individual. The SanMillán–Rissech’s method was tested on a sample consisting of 75 individuals, 42 females and 33 males. The individuals who are tested on are from a late 19th-century cemetery of the Keyserkerk in a rural settlement called the Middenbeemster in the Netherlands. The test sample from the Middenbeemster collection had a mean absolute error of 12.42 years for the males and 13.04 years for the females based on mixed-sex and the Portuguese and American collection reference samples. The obtained results of the test are also compared to the results of different studies. The studies were done on collections from Portugal, Colombia, and North America. The comparison presents that the age estimations for the Middenbeemster test sample were less accurate compared to the Lisbon, Colombian, and American collections test samples. The SanMillán–Rissech’s method is less accurate compared than the Buckberry & Chamberlain method as well. However, the SanMillán–Rissech’s method is slightly more accurate for females than the Suchey & Brooks’ method. Though, the Suchey & Brooks’ method performs with more accuracy when estimating the age at death of males. More research is required to say whether SanMillán–Rissech’s method can be applied to the skeletons of Dutch individuals. Other studies state that this method is a promising alternative for estimating the age at death (especially for older adults who are above the age of 65 years). However, it is advised to test the method further on test samples using sex-specific and more biologically proximate references samples.Show less
