The Influence of Conditions of Life on the Formation of Morphological Features...

129
Jariability and Evolution, 2000, Vol. 8: 129134
SUMMARY OF THE THESIS
OSKAR NOWAK
Adam Mickiewicz University
Institute of Anthropology, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Poznan, Poland
THE INFLUENCE OF CONDITIONS OF LIFE
ON THE FORMATION OF MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES
OF HUMAN LONG BONES IN HISTORICAL POPULATIONS
1
NOWAK O. 2000. The influence of conditions of life on the formation of morphological features of
human long bones in historical populations, Jariability and Evolution, Vol. 8: 129134, Figs. 4,
Tabs.3, Adam Mickiewicz University, Faculty of Biology, Institute of Anthropology, Poznan.
Nowadays contemporary studies of skeletal populations are becoming very
similar to the biocultural population investigations. Although this tendency requires
large skeletal collections it, however, offers the researchers the possibility of more
complete analyses of human skeletal remains concerning the health status and the
conditions of life of the individuals. Paleoanthropological studies based on the
large American collections enabled researches to distinguishe several skeletal growth
disturbances (enamel hypoplasia, cribra orbitalia, Harris lines) resulted from harmful
environmental factors. Harris lines (HL) as the areas of atypical formation of
skeletal tissue are the records of temporary inhibition of long bone growth. Since
they include some data on the health status of the individual during his or her
growth they should be taken into account while assessing the condition of life of
the individual and the population. However, the presence of HL does not indicate
the operation of a separate disturbing factor. HL do not occur after each disease
or the starvation period. Moreover, they can disappear during the process of the
remodelling of the osseous tissue. Therefore it is reasonable to widen the studies
of HL using other morphological indicators of stress.
1
A summary of the thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Sciences in Adam Mickiewicz
University, Poznan, 1998. Professor conferring the degree: Janusz Piontek.
130 O. Nowak
The present study tries mainly to answer following question: What is the cognitive
value of Harris lines (HL) as a measure of the morphological reaction to
theconditions of life? So far, these lines have been analysed while describing the
health and diet status of a population. It is well known that HL are the specific
reaction of the organism to various factors disturbing its development. That`s
why a new research plane was proposed: are the individuals with HL different
from the ones without HL (they did not undergo the influence of the disturbing
factors or they did not react to them?) To answer this question it was necessary
to draw up hypotheses at three analytical levels (the morphological structure of
bones, individual level and population level). The metrical analysis of the collected
skeletal material enabled to find out whether the presence of HL affects the
morphology of tibia (level of the morphological structure of bones). It was
interesting, at the individual level of analysis, to investigate the possible influence
of the indicators of stress on the length and proportions of long bones (femur,
tibia, humerus and ulna). The population level enabled to asses the relationship
between the presence of HL and cribra orbitalia.
Studies of indicators of stress on skeletal material make it possible to estimate
the age of the formation of the examined phenomena, thus the developmental phase
that was disturbed. Therefore, an additional research plane appeared: did the early
life stresses affected the age of the individuals at the moment of death? We can
summarise separate aims of this study as follows:
I. What was the influence of unfavourable environmental conditions (expressed
by the presence of HL) on the morphology of long bones. Particularly, we are
interested in such questions as:
1) whether environmental unfavourable factors affected bone development and
changed their morphology;
2) which phase of the ontogeny experienced the most intensive impact of these
factors;
3) whether the disturbation of the growth process resulted in the ultimate length
and proportion of long bones;
4) whether the individuals with other stress indicators (cribra orbitalia) have
different morphology of long bones.
II. What was the influence of unfavourable environmental conditions (expressed
by the presence of HL) on the age at death of the investigated individuals, especially:
1) whether the individuals who died earlier in adult life (adultus) have the same
pattern of the formation of HL as those who died later (maturus);
2) what is the average number of HL formed in distinguished phases of ontogeny
of individuals classified at the moment of death as adultus and maturus;
3) whether the individuals who died later (maturus) experienced less intense
impact of environmental factors during the progressive ontogeny, thus they lived
longer.
The Influence of Conditions of Life on the Formation of Morphological Features... 131
The skeletal material used in this study derives from medieval cemetery in Cedynia.
The random sample of 233 skeletons of adult individuals consists of 120 males and
113 females. The recommended methods of sex and age estimations were applied
(Workshop of European Anthropologists 1980). Since the main subject of this study
were long bones, especially tibia some methods of sex estimation based on the
morphology of this bone were also used (Iscan i Miller-Shaivitz 1984; Holland 1991).
The age of the studied individuals was assessed on the basis of such criteria as:
cranial suture closure, the changes of the surface of pubic symphysis, dental attrition
and tooth loss.
The morphology of four right long bones (humerus, radius, femur and tibia) was
described according to methods by Martin-Saller (1957). Following indices of the
bone proportions were used: humerus/radius, femur/tibia, tibia/humerus, tibia/radius,
and additionally humerus radius/femur tibia index was calculated. In order to
study HL the rentgenograms of right tibiae were performed and HL were counted
on both the proximal and distal end of each tibia. The distance from the lines to the
ends were recorded to assess the age when the HL occur using the method of
Byers (1991).
The obtained results revealed that there is no clear relationship between metrical
characteristics of long bones and the presence of HL. The mean values of long
bones differentiating statistically male individuals may have resulted from the co-
existence of HL and cribra orbitalia (Figs. 12). After excluding from the investigated
group individuals with cribra orbitalia the observed differences disappeared.
Unfavourable environmental conditions that caused the formation of HL, did not
disturbed the growth of long bones and did not change their morphology. Stress
factors causing formation of HL in both sexes most intensively affected an individual`s
Fig. 1. Mean values of the measurements of the humerus (H) and radius (R) in males with and without HL
M Martin 1957
[
m
m
]
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
H(M-5) H(M-6) H(M-7a) R(M-3) R(M-4)
with HL
without HL
132 O. Nowak
ontogenesis during two time intervals, namely 36 and 612 years of life. The
disturbation of the late period of progressive ontogenesis in boys finally resulted in
more gracile bone, whereas the later the stress factors affected girls` development,
the more robust the bones were. HL did not influence the final length of the bone,
regardless the ontogenetic phase they occurred. No statistically significant differences
in bone proportions between individuals with and without HL were found (Tab. 12).
The age of the studied individuals at the moment of death was the separation factor as
Fig. 2. Mean values of the measurements of the femur (F) and tibia (T) in males with and without HL
M Martin 1957; VV Vancata 1988
[
m
m
]
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
F(M-17) T(M-3) T(VV-47) T(VV-51)
with HL
without HL
Fig. 3. Frequency of HL in the age when Harris lines form (in males)
Years of age
%
H
L
0
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
adultus
maturus
The Influence of Conditions of Life on the Formation of Morphological Features... 133
Fig. 4. Frequency of HL in the age when Harris lines form (in females)
Indices: Males Males Males
Test t
all with HL without HL
Humerus / Radius 75.3 75.3 75.3 0.22
Femur / Tibia 82.9 82.7 83.4 1.11
Tibia / Humerus 72.8 72.8 72.8 0.67
Tibia / Radius 66.2 66.3 66.0 1.24
Humerus Radius / Femur Tibia 69.8 69.9 69.7 0.96
* significant p 0.05
Table 1
Mean values of the indices of bone proportions (males)
Indices: Females Females Females
Test t
all with HL without HL
Humerus / Radius 74.1 74.1 74.6 1.60
Femur / Tibia 81.8 81.7 81.8 0.31
Tibia / Humerus 71.8 72.8 72.5 1.40
Tibia / Radius 65.3 65.9 66.0 0.28
Humerus Radius / Femur Tibia 68.5 69.6 69.5 0.91
* significant p 0.05
Table 2
Mean values of the indices of bone proportions (females)
for the average number of HL. Both males and females who died as young adults
exhibit less HL (Tab. 3, Figs. 34). HL are the record of the inhibited growth
resulting from disturbing factors of short duration, but they do not change the
morphology of bones.
Years of age
%
H
L
0
4
8
12
16
20
24
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
adultus
maturus
134 O. Nowak
It can be assumed that HL as a indicator of growth disturbances are important in
the epidemiological studies but they are useless while describing the morphology of
an individual. Therefore future studies of HL should be carried out on the basis of
large groups. At the same time a new research postulate emerges: what causes that
only some individuals in a population show clear reaction to the environmental
conditions is it the genotype or cultural factors? In order to investigate this aspect
of human biology we have to wait for the latest research results of genetics and
molecular biology.
References
Byers S. 1991. Technical note: calculation of age at formation of radiopaque transverse lines. American
Journal of Physical Anthropology, 9: 433470.
Iscan-Yasar M., Miller-Shaivitz, P. 1984. Determination of sex from the tibia. American Journal of
Physical Anthropology, 64: 5357.
Martin R., Saller K. 1957. Lehrbuch der Antropologie in systematischer Darstellung mit besonderer
Bercksichtigung der antropologischen Methoden. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgard.
Vancata, V., 1988, Ecological aspects of skeletal sexual dimorphism in microevolution of Homo
sapiens. Anthropologie, XXVI/1
Workshop of European Anthropologists., 1980. Recommendation for age and sex determination.
Journal of Human Evolution 9, 517574.
Males Females
adultus maturus adultus maturus
N 73 47 70 43
x (all individuals) 4.67 2.49 5.60 2.49
SD 3.91 2.30 3.39 2.28
Test t 3.45* 5.31*
N 49 31 56 26
x (individuals with HL) 6.96 3.77 7.00 4.12
SD 2.59 1.76 2.11 1.34
Test t 6.01* 6.37*
* significant p 0.05
Table 3
Mean value of the maximum number of HL for both sexes and age categories