The impact of social experiences of physical and structural violence on the growth of African enslaved children recovered from Lagos, Portugal (15th-17th centuries)

The Decolonial Turn in Forensic Anthropology

Forensic anthropology has matured into a formidable and fully fledged discipline that includes specialty graduate programs, diversified employment opportunities, an expanding scope, and improved regulation. As part of this maturity, and in step with other branches of science and the humanities, forensic anthropology has also experienced an upswing in discourse on decolonization and decoloniality. From its inception and throughout its history, anthropology has been a colonial venture that observes humans under a Western gaze. As a critique of the universality and superiority of Western systems of knowledge, the decolonial turn constitutes alternative ways of thinking and doing and provides space for these epistemes to circulate and thrive. In this synthesis, decolonization efforts within forensic anthropology are organized into five "C's" of appraisal: categories, casework, curricula, competence, and collections. Namely, these efforts feature the debates around sex, ancestry, and structural vulnerability estimation (categories); the expansion of humanitarian action and community involvement and the challenges to positivism, neutrality, and objectivity (casework); the assessment of how we educate, train, and value expertise (curricula and competence); and the interrogation of how we extract knowledge from the dead (collections). From the undercurrents of these five, a sixth C, care, is unveiled. Given the academic and practical value of forensic anthropology, especially vis-à-vis its consequences for colonized peoples, these discourses become imperative for the continued relevance of a colonialist field in a postcolonial world.

Exploring the Laws of Developmental Direction Using a Documented Skeletal Collection

OBJECTIVES

Many human growth studies note a trend of differential variation in limb segment lengths, where distal elements show greater variability than their proximal counterparts. This has been attributed to their developmental sequence, where bones further from the head develop later and are more impacted by fluctuating growth conditions. We aimed to explore limb dimensions within this framework, known as the laws of developmental direction, in children (0.09-11.75 years) from a documented skeletal collection of low socioeconomic status.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Z-scores were generated for diaphyseal length measurements of six limb bones. Differences between mean z-score values of the limbs, as well as of the proximal and distal segments of each limb, were assessed using paired samples t-tests.

RESULTS

The lower limb was significantly more stunted in growth relative to the upper limb (p ≤ 0.001), as was the distal segment of the upper limb relative to the proximal segment (p ≤ 0.001). In contrast, the distal segment of the lower limb was significantly less stunted in growth relative to the proximal segment (p ≤ 0.001).

DISCUSSION

The findings of increased sensitivity in the lower limb relative to the upper limb and in the distal segment of the upper limb relative to its proximal segment are consistent with the laws of developmental direction. However, the finding of greater sensitivity in the proximal segment of the lower limb relative to the distal segment does not align with the theorized developmental gradient. These results reveal the complexity of human growth and developmental plasticity in response to biocultural factors.

Health inequality in medieval Cambridge, 1200-1500 CE

Health inequality is not only a major problem today; it left its mark upon past societies too. For much of the past, health inequality has been poorly studied, mostly because bioarchaeologists have concentrated upon single sites rather than a broader social landscape. This article compares 476 adults in multiple locations of medieval Cambridge (UK). Samples include ordinary townspeople (All Saints), people living in a charitable institution (the Hospital of St. John), and members of a religious order (the Augustinian Friary). These groups shared many conditions of life, such as a similar range of diseases, risk of injury, and vertebral disk degeneration. However, people living on charity had more indicators of poor childhood health and diet, lower adult stature, and a younger age at death, reflecting the health effects of poverty. In contrast, the Augustinian friars were members of a prosperous, well-endowed religious house. Compared with other groups, they were taller (perhaps a result of a richer diet during their adolescent growth period); their adult carbon and nitrogen isotope values are higher, suggesting a diet higher in terrestrial and/or marine animal protein; and they had the highest prevalence of foot problems related to fashionable late medieval footwear. As this illustrates, health inequality will take particular forms depending upon the specificities of a social landscape; except in unusual circumstances where a site and its skeletal samples represent a real cross-section of society, inequality is best investigated by comparison across sites.

Skeletal Markers of Physiological Stress as Indicators of Structural Violence: A Comparative Study between the Deceased Migrants of the Mediterranean Sea and the CAL Milano Cemetery Skeletal Collection

Structural violence is an indirect form of violence that can lead to physiological consequences. Interestingly, these physiological disruptions may affect the skeletons and can therefore provide relevant information on violence and way of life in the analysis of skeletal remains. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that migrants who died in the Mediterranean Sea would present physiological cranial stress markers such as cribra orbitalia (CO), porotic hyperostosis (PH), and linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) more frequently and more severely than Italians of the 20th century. With this intent, a total of 164 crania were examined: 139 from deceased migrants recovered from a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea in 2015, aged between 16 and 35 years old, and 25 of the same age from the CAL Milano Cemetery Skeletal Collection. Both presence and severity of CO, PH, and LEH were evaluated. The data obtained were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank and independence Chi-squared tests to compare the results between the two samples and to test whether there was an association between the sample of migrants and the occurrence of lesions. As a result, CO and PH appeared more frequently and more severely in the migrant sample. In addition, migrants were significantly associated with CO, PH, and LEH (p-values < 0.05). Although this does not imply in any way that CO, PH, and LEH are specific to migration, they should be regarded as indicators of structural violence.

Biological mortality bias in diaphyseal growth of contemporary children: Implications for paleoauxology

Objectives

Biological mortality bias is the idea that individuals who comprise skeletal samples (non‐survivors) are a specific subset of the overall population, who may have been exposed to greater stress during life. Because of this, it is possible that studying growth in a skeletal population misrepresents the growth and health of survivors in that population. Using a modern sample, this study investigates whether biological mortality bias in growth may be present in archaeological skeletal samples.

Materials and methods

Postmortem computed tomography scans of 206 children aged under 13 years were collected from two institutions in the United States and Australia. The sample was separated into children who died from natural causes as proxies for non‐survivors and from accidental causes as proxies for survivors. Differences in long bone length for age were assessed through analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and z‐score analysis, and these results were compared with studies linking anthropometrics and mortality risk in nonindustrialized societies.

Results

Differences in growth favoring survivors were greater for girls than for boys and seemed to increase over age. The effect in nonindustrialized societies was 1.5 to 5 times the magnitude of that in our contemporary sample.

Conclusions

A greater growth delay in girls than in boys has been documented in historical identified collections, and skeletal samples consistently become more stunted relative to modern standards over the course of growth. Our findings on biological mortality bias could explain part of these growth delays and impact interpretations of past ontogenetic environments.

Interpreting error in the estimation of skeletal growth profiles from past populations: An example demonstrating skeletal growth in historic African American communities

OBJECTIVES

The study of growth in the past is a critical component of bioarcheological analyses. However, our understanding of growth in the past is subject to a number of methodological challenges. This study aims to model the skeletal growth of past populations by considering the challenges associated with the data collection process and the challenges associated with the age estimation procedures.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We use skeletal remains from two historic African American cemeteries in the American South to model femoral diaphyseal length-for-age. We estimate the age of each individual using dental development techniques and present growth curves as both a product of the maximum likelihood (MLE) age estimate and the estimated posterior age distribution. Growth was compared against a reference sample from the University of Colorado Child Research Council Study.

RESULTS

The results of our analyses showed that femoral diaphyseal length in two historic African American communities is small-for-estimated age as compared to a modern reference sample. However, the magnitude and characterization of this difference is variable when taking into account the broader posterior age distribution.

DISCUSSION

Both samples may be small-for-age due to physiological stress associated with racism, inequality, and the compounding effects of early urbanization. However, the interpretation of growth in the past is muddled when considering the relationship between the study sample and the reference sample, when accounting for uncertainty in the age estimation procedure, and the error-inducing steps taken during the data collection process. Future interpretation of skeletal growth in the past must include a full account of the possible sources of error in order to present an accurate representation of growth.

Height and health in Roman and Post-Roman Gaul, a life course approach

OBJECTIVE

The present study explores growth and health in Roman (1st-3rd centuries CE) and Post-Roman (4th-7th centuries CE) Gaul, incorporating a life-course approach, to better understand the influence of Roman practices and lifestyles on health, and the impact of cultural change from the Roman to the Post-Roman period.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The skeletal remains of 844 individuals were analyzed for non-specific signs of physiological stress, including growth disruption (diaphyseal and adult maximum femur length), dental enamel hypoplastic defects (DEH), cribra orbitalia (CO), and periosteal reaction of the tibiae (Tibia PR).

RESULTS

The Gallo-Roman sample demonstrated shorter femoral lengths, and higher rates of DEH and Tibia PR. Post-Roman groups demonstrated longer femoral lengths and higher rates of CO.

CONCLUSIONS

Gallo-Roman individuals may have been more regularly exposed to infectious pathogens throughout childhood, inhibiting opportunities for catch-up growth, resulting in high rates of DEH and shorter femoral lengths ('intermittent stress of low lethality'). This could be the result of overcrowding and insalubrious urban environments. Higher rates of CO in the Post-Roman samples may have been influenced by dietary changes between the periods.

SIGNIFICANCE

The intertwined and often synergistic relationships between early life environment, nutrition and settlement structure is highlighted, helping to further understandings of life experiences during the Roman and Post-Roman periods.

LIMITATIONS

It was not possible to obtain sufficient data from northern regions during the Gallo-Roman period, limiting this analysis.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Further application of life course approaches can reveal subtle patterns in stress indicators.

Skeletal evidence of structural violence among undocumented migrants from Mexico and Central America

OBJECTIVES

We examine the prevalence and sociodemographic risk factors of skeletal indicators of stress in forensic samples of undocumented migrants from Mexico and Central America.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Cranial and dental remains of 319 migrants recovered in the Arizona and Texas borderlands were assessed for porotic hyperostosis (PH), cribra orbitalia (CO), and linear enamel hypoplasias (LEH). Logistic regression models for each condition were estimated to test for associations with biological sex, age, recovery location, and whether individuals were identified. Additional models estimated for a subsample of identified migrants included region of origin, residential context, and community indigeneity.

RESULTS

The full sample shows moderate crude prevalence of CO (9.6%) and LEH (34.1%), and a high prevalence of PH (49.6%). Significantly higher odds of PH are associated with being male (2.16 times higher), unidentified (1.89 times higher), and recovered in Arizona (3.76 times higher). Among identified migrants, we fail to find associations significant at the p < 0.05 level between skeletal stress and all sociodemographic variables except age.

DISCUSSION

The factors associated with PH may be related to influences on decisions to migrate and diversity among migrant sending regions. The skeletal evidence for early life stress is generally consistent with common public health concerns among impoverished communities in the region. The lesions themselves are viewed as embodied risk of physiological disturbance when resource access is structured by higher-level social, economic, and political forces. Forensic anthropologists would benefit from increased sensitivity to embodied structural violence among the vulnerable individuals and communities they serve.

Toward a bioarchaeology of urbanization: Demography, health, and behavior in cities in the past

Urbanization is one of the most important settlement shifts in human history and has been the focus of research within bioarchaeology for decades. However, there have been limited attempts to synthesize the results of these studies in order to gain a broader perspective on whether or how urbanization affects the biology, demography, and behavior of humans, and how these potential effects are embodied in the human skeleton. This paper outlines how bioarchaeology is well-suited to examine urbanization in the past, and we provide an overview and examples of three main ways in which urbanization is studied in bioarchaeological research: comparison of (often contemporaneous) urban and rural sites, synchronic studies of the variation that exists within and between urban sites, and investigations of changes that occur within urban sites over time. Studies of urbanization, both within bioarchaeology and in other fields of study, face a number of limitations, including a lack of a consensus regarding what urban and urbanization mean, the assumed dichotomous nature of urban versus rural settlements, the supposition that urbanization is universally bad for people, and the assumption (at least in practice) of homogeneity within urban and rural populations. Bioarchaeologists can address these limitations by utilizing a wide array of data and methods, and the studies described here collectively demonstrate the complex, nuanced, and highly variable effects of urbanization.

Evidences of trauma in adult African enslaved individuals from Valle da Gafaria, Lagos, Portugal (15th-17th centuries)

The aim of this work is to discuss the frequency of traumatic bone injuries in a quite unique skeletal assemblage of enslaved people from Valle da Gafaria, Lagos, Portugal (15th-17th centuries). In all, 30 males, 58 females, and 15 individuals of unknown sex were included in the study. The skeletal remains were macroscopically observed for traumatic lesions. When present, the traumatic bone injuries were classified as having occurred ante or perimortem. The antemortem lesions were also studied through radiological analysis. Traumatic lesions were identified in 11 men (36.7%), 23 women (39.7%) and two individuals of unknown sex (13.3%). From these 36 individuals, 61.1% presented antemortem trauma, 25.0% perimortem trauma and 13.9% exhibited simultaneously ante and perimortem trauma. The mechanism of all traumatic injuries was blunt force trauma. From the 9965 analysed bones, 186 exhibited traumatic lesions (87 antemortem, 97 perimortem, and two with both ante and perimortem lesions). The bone more affected by antemortem trauma was the 5th right intermediate foot phalange (40.0%) and by perimortem trauma was the skull (11.4%), probably related to accidents and interpersonal violence, respectively. When analysed by sex, the only significant differences were found in the skull and the right 5th proximal foot phalanges, men (57.1%) presenting more lesions than women (15.4%). The obtained results are consistent with an arduous life, corroborating historical sources which document labour accidents, physical punishments and hard work in the populations of slaves.