Megan B Brickley

• Ph.D.
• Professor at McMaster University

The results of the re-analysis of the bone from West Tump long barrow, Gloucestershire, which was originally excavated in the late nineteenth century, are presented in this paper. The study revealed that the young woman and her baby mentioned by the excavator are in fact a juvenile of indeterminate sex and a dog. It is possible that this represents...

Objectives Porotic lesions of the skull (cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis) are one of the most common types of lesion identified in archaeological human bone and have also been found in hominins and non‐human primates. Because of the frequency with which such lesions are found there has been extensive debate on the possible causes and whet...

Objectives: With a growing interest in the mother-infant dyad and the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis among biological and medical anthropologists, this study set out to provide all the information required to evaluate if mineralization defects in dentine might be caused by vitamin D deficiency in the critical first 1000 day...

Objective: Unhealed hip fractures are underrepresented in the archaeological record, suggesting that better identification criteria are required. This paper evaluates whether a sample of documented perimortem hip fractures displayed classic perimortem features and which features may facilitate better identification of such fractures in the archaeo...

Historical records highlight that by the 17th century, urbanization in the Netherlands had profoundly altered food production, trade, and socioeconomic structures. The specific effects on diet and health, however, remain relatively underexplored. This preliminary study addresses this gap by analyzing dietary patterns through stable carbon (ẟ13C) an...

Abstract: Venereal syphilis was a common disease across Europe throughout the 16th-20th centuries, yet little palaeopathology research has addressed its presence in historical Canadian communities. When syphilis is transmitted from mother to fetus in utero, it causes congenital syphilis, which commonly results in neonatal mortality and significant...

Disability is part of the human experience, yet until recently, the lived experiences of individuals affected by physical impairment have been overlooked in bioarchaeological studies. Disability is a social construct; how we define disability is culturally specific, which makes identifying disability in archaeological contexts difficult. However, b...

Objective: To use the prevalence of prenatal/infancy interglobular dentine (IGD) as a proxy for suboptimal vitamin D status and explore its link to mortality, biological sex, cultural behaviours and environmental factors during the end of the pre-industrial/ beginning of the industrial period. Materials: 50 skeletons from the St. Antoine cemetery (...

Objectives The skeleton embodies an individual's environment and lived experiences. Studying childhood growth disruption can, therefore, aid in understanding the experiences of children in the past. This study evaluates growth disruption in a medieval Toulousian subadult sample to explore factors that may have influenced childhood growth and mortal...

Objectives This research aimed to replicate the Swinson, D., Snaith, J., Buckberry, J., & Brickley, M. (2010). High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in the investigation of gout in paleopathology. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology , 20, 135–143. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.1009 method for detecting uric acid in archeological human re...

Malaria is a disease of global significance. Ongoing changes to the earth's climate, antimalarial resistance, insecticide resistance, and socioeconomic decline test the resilience of malaria prevention programs. Museum insect specimens present an untapped resource for studying vector-borne pathogens, spurring the question: Do historical mosquito co...

Anemia is a globally significant condition, both today and throughout history. Studying how it affected past communities contributes to understanding its impact on vulnerable groups. However, anemia diagnosis in skeletal remains is challenging, and improving methods for diagnosis is necessary for moving forward. In current clinical practice, sterna...

Objective: This paper reviews factors confounding the understanding of the past occurrence of anemia. Using the evidence gathered, a framework is presented of ways forward to enable greater confidence in diagnosing acquired anemia in paleopathology, facilitating insights into longer-term perspectives on this globally relevant condition. Results: T...

This study tested a new method to identify microfractures in sternal ribs using micro-CT and investigated whether microfractures could be correlated with other lesions used to diagnose nonadult scurvy in the past.

During the 18th-19th centuries, high rates of infant mortality were observed in Pointe-aux-Trembles, a rural community near Montréal, Québec. Historical sources suggested infant feeding practices, such as wet-nursing, played a role in these high mortality rates. Stable isotope analysis can reconstruct the breastfeeding and weaning practices of past...

The development of techniques for investigating disease in past groups coupled with growing interest in non-adults in the archaeological record can increase our understanding of childhood health. Although there has been considerable interest in rickets, to date no comparisons have been made between skeletal indicators of rickets and mineralization...

Past and present institutions (e.g., state and public hospitals, assisted living facilities, public nursing homes) have struggled with structural issues tied to patient care and neglect, which often manifests in the form of fracture trauma, and may explain why institutionalized individuals are at higher risk for this injury. Six hundred individuals...

Objectives: Identifying scurvy and rickets has important implications for understanding adaptations and variability among past communities, and bioarchaeologists now regularly evaluate these conditions. Due to the increased number of studies, cases with less clear-cut lesions and variable preservation are now frequently reported. Despite an improv...

The development of techniques for investigating disease in past groups coupled with growing interest in non-adults in the archaeological record can increase our understanding of childhood health. Although there has been considerable interest in rickets, to date no comparisons have been made between skeletal indicators of rickets and mineralization...

Objective: This project aims to provide an objective approach to suggesting cases of adolescent rickets using the presence of anterior sacral angulation and interglobular dentine. Materials: Sacra from 49 individuals from Hattem and 150 individuals from Middenbeemster, and second and third molars from five individuals from Hattem were analyzed....

Objectives Although trauma is one of the most significant areas of study in paleopathology, most studies focus on fractures of single anatomical elements. Paleopathological research on regional trauma, such as of the thorax, is rare. This paper explores the causes, complications, and consequences of adult thoracic trauma using clinical data in orde...

Objectives Puberty is a period of rapid growth and development, and the age of onset and duration of puberty may serve as an indicator of developmental stress during childhood. In this study, we compare pubertal timing and tempo in individuals from two Roman Imperial cemetery sites, integrating biological and social factors to better understand pub...

Previous isotopic studies of Roman diet for individuals buried at Isola Sacra (first–fourth centuries C.E.; Italy) have focused on variation in adult diet or the critical stages of breastfeeding and weaning during infancy and childhood; however, little is known about the characteristics of diet when a child transitioned through adolescence to adult...

Increased cortical porosity is associated with a heightened risk of skeletal fragility due to bone loss and structural decay in adults. However, few studies have examined the etiology of cortical porosity in infants and children. This study examines whether age‐related changes in femoral growth and locomotor development influence femoral midshaft c...

Poster presented at the ASBMR 2022 Annual meeting, Austin Texas. This study has been published in full and is available in open access: Mays S, Brickley MB. Is Dietary deficiency of calcium a factor in rickets? Use of current evidence for our understanding of disease in the past. Int J Palaeopathol 36: 36-44 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2...

Objective Rickets is considered an indicator of vitamin D deficiency in palaeopathology, but a strand of biomedical thought maintains that dietary calcium deficiency may sometimes play a part in its causation. Our aim is to evaluate the extent to which low calcium intake should be considered as a factor in biocultural interpretations of rickets. M...

This article presents outcomes from a Workshop entitled “Bioarchaeology: Taking Stock and Moving Forward,” which was held at Arizona State University (ASU) on March 6–8, 2020. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the School of Human Evolution and Social Change (ASU), and the Center for Bioarchaeological Research (CBR, ASU), the Workshop...

Adolescence is a key phase of the life course in modern western society, yet the study of adolescence in past populations has only recently developed. In this paper, we explore patterns of biological and social changes during adolescence, some of the challenges associated with this type of research, and how bioarchaeologists can explore this transi...

Incremental analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in tooth dentine is used to explore child and adolescent diet among individuals in the Late Roman Michelet Necropolis (Lisieux, France; 4‐5th centuries CE). We analysed 292 incremental sections from 46 second and third molars to explore dietary patterns between the ages of 4.5 and 23.5 yea...

Objective : By applying a joint medico-historical and paleopathological perspective, this paper aims to improve our understanding of factors influencing past vitamin D deficiency in ten Dutch 17th to 19th-century communities of varying socioeconomic status and settlement type. Materials : Vitamin D deficiency is evaluated in 733 individuals of bot...

Objectives: Skeletal variation in cortical bone thickness is an indicator of bone quality and health in archeological populations. Second metacarpal radiogrammetry, which measures cortical thickness at the shaft midpoint, is traditionally used to evaluate bone loss in bioarcheological and some clinical contexts. However fragmentary elements are re...

Intersectionality, the theory named by Kimberlé Crenshaw, outlines how multiple elements of an individual's social identity overlap to create and preserve societal inequalities and discrimination. Recently bioarchaeology's engagement with inter-sectionality has become increasingly explicit, as the field recognizes the lived experience of multiple a...

Objective: This paper looks to broaden the methodological possibilities for diagnosing osteomalacia in archaeological bone using micro-CT analysis. Increasing the identification of osteomalacia in paleopathology will provide support for important interpretive frameworks. Materials: Nine embedded and two unembedded rib fragments were sourced from...

The Bioarchaeology of Metabolic Bone Disease, Second Edition is a comprehensive source dedicated to better understanding this group of conditions that have significant consequences for health in both past and present communities on a global scale. This edition presents an updated introduction to the biology and metabolism of mineralised tissues tha...

Objective This case study describes a perimortem hip fracture in a documented individual from the Robert J. Terry Skeletal Collection. The purpose of this paper is to comprehend how co-occurring conditions contributed to fracture risk and to understand the effect of the injury on this individual. Materials and Methods A 73-year-old female from the...

Gendered experiences are not static but are influenced by other aspects of identity. This study investigates the influence of interrelated aspects of identity on diet through an analysis of dental health at Late Roman Win-chester (fourth and fifth centuries A.D.), England. Specifically, we investigate the influence of age and social status on gende...

References: Brickley, M.B. Ives, R. & Mays, S. (2020). The Bioarchaeology of Metabolic Bone Disease, Second Edition

Secondary osteoporosis is failure of bone mass to develop in the growing skeleton, or loss of bone mass in the immature or adult skeleton, primarily due to reduced mechanical loading arising as a consequence of disease or injury. The condition can be either localised or systemic, depending upon the nature of the underlying disease or injury. Guidan...

Osteoporosis is a disease characterised by low bone strength leading to fragility and increased fracture risk. Bone strength is represented by two components: bone mineral density (BMD) and bone quality. Bone mass in old age is dependent both on the peak bone mass achieved and its subsequent rate of loss. Deterioration of bone mass and bone quality...

In anaemia oxygen normally transported to various tissues is insufficient to meet physiological needs. Production of insufficient, or abnormal, red blood cells (RBCs), or increased destruction of RBCs may lead to anaemia as RBCs transport oxygen. Anaemia is the most widespread condition in the world with an estimated quarter of the global populatio...

Scurvy is the clinical manifestation of severe deficiency of vitamin C and causes depressed osteoblastic activity and defective collagen formation, resulting in damage to blood vessels with associated haemorrhagic phenomena. It is the skeletal responses to haemorrhage (porosity and / or sub-periosteal new bone formation) that are key to the identif...

When two or more pathological conditions exist at the same time and are thought likely to be causally related they are described as co-occurring; such relationships are especially pertinent to some of the metabolic bone diseases. The presence of one condition may potentially modify the manifestation of another, accentuating the difficulties of diag...

There have been considerable developments in the investigation, and integration of information on metabolic bone diseases into bioarchaeological research since the publication of the first edition of this book in 2008. In this chapter the current state and future directions of bioarchaeological investigations of the metabolic bone diseases are eval...

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble hormone that can be synthesised by the body from sunlight or some dietary sources. Deficiency of vitamin D leads to the production of poorly mineralised bone and dentin. Guidance for diagnosis of active, healed and recurrent episodes of deficiency in individuals of all ages using macroscopic, radiographic and microscopic...

Paget’s disease of bone (PDB) is a focal disease of bone remodelling. It is usually diagnosed in older adults. The precise causes of PDB remain incompletely understood. There seems to be a strong genetic component, but environmental factors appear likely to be important in triggering disease in susceptible individuals. Approaches to diagnosis are s...

The metabolic bone diseases are characterised by disruptions to normal formation, mineralisation, and removal of mineralised tissues. These processes are affected differently in the various diseases and therefore produce a range of alterations in tissues, related in part to biological age and sex, diet and mechanical loading. The normal actions of...

The types of information that can be used to assess the metabolic bone diseases in bioarchaeological investigations are set out and reviewed. Sources such as collections of human and animal remains, from various contexts, and clinical and biomedical data are considered alongside the contributions that come from other branches of anthropology. Appro...

The first chapter provides an introduction to The Bioarchaeology of Metabolic Bone Disease, Second Edition, setting out the conditions covered: scurvy, rickets and osteomalacia, age-related-bone loss and osteoporosis, secondary osteoporosis, Paget’s disease of bone, anaemia, and approaches to recognising disease co-occurrence; conditions in the met...

Ancient writers tell us that in the Roman Empire, puberty took place between 12 and 20 years of age. However, literary sources can be heavily biased and often represent the attitudes and experiences of higher status individuals living within Rome, rather than the greater population of the Roman Empire. The current study goes beyond these literary s...

Taking the innovative step of considering individuals of all age groups and disease states via aspects of a life course perspective, this study aims to shed light on biocultural factors contributing to vitamin D deficiency in the Roman period assemblage from Isola Sacra, Italy (1st-3rd century AD) comprising 678 individuals (307 non-adults, 371 adu...

The aims of this study are twofold: first to consider vitamin D deficiency during two periods of growth, and second, consider vitamin D deficiency with respect to evidence for migration and mobility in a skeletal assemblage (n = 169) from Aventicum, Roman Switzerland (1st‐3rd c. CE). Vitamin D deficiency was evaluated macroscopically, and individua...

While rib fractures are commonly found in archaeological collections, few studies have examined ribs exclusively, likely due to issues of preservation. This study investigates rib fractures across three Roman (1st-7th c. CE) civitas: Winchester, UK (n=533), Lisieux Michelet, France (n=392), and Barcelona, Spain (n=92). Further, this study compares...

Objectives This study investigates vitamin D deficiency patterns in individuals from birth to the beginning of adolescence. Microscopic computed tomography (micro‐CT) evaluation of interglobular dentine (IGD) in teeth provides information on the age of disease onset and the number of deficient periods per individual, which will increase our underst...

Download the paper here: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Y466,rVDBNqRu This contribution presents the first application of micro-computed tomography (μCT) to study pathological mineral defects associated with vitamin D deficiency, namely interglobular dentine (IGD), within the mineral matrix of archaeological teeth from three French medieval cases...

Pseudofractures, lucent bands that occur due to a build-up of osteoid, are a key feature of osteomalacia. In paleopathology, pseudofractures are often marked by small, linear cracks in the cortex of the bone surrounded by irregular, bony spicule formation. Radiography can be used to help diagnose pseudofractures, both clinically and in paleopatholo...

This study investigates the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and regional mobility in three individuals (2 males, 1 female) from En Chaplix, a Roman period cemetery in Aventicum, Switzerland. Skeletal evidence for vitamin D deficiency was confirmed histologically through the presence of IGD (interglobular dentine). Three permanent teeth sp...

Objective: This study uses biomechanical data from tibiae to investigate the functional consequences of lower limb fractures. Adults with malunited fractures are hypothesized to have experienced altered mobility, indicated by asymmetric tibial cross-sectional geometries (CSG). Materials: Ninety-three adults from Roman (1st to 4th centuries CE) Anc...

Objectives The aims of the study are to investigate the effects of latitude, settlement type, age, and sex on the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency disease in the Roman Empire using human skeletal remains from cemetery sites (1st to 6th cent. AD). Materials and Methods Data from 2,787 individuals (1,143 subadults, 1,644 adults) from 18 cemeteries...

Paleopathologists have a long history of recording and interpreting evidence for infectious and metabolic diseases seen globally in preserved bodies and skeletons from archaeological sites. People today often experience co‐morbidities, as did our ancestors, but little specific research in paleopathology has addressed synergies between these two cat...

Purpose: This study provides guidelines on how IGD can be differentiated from other microstructures that naturally occur in dentine. Interglobular dentine (IGD) has recently been linked to disruption in vitamin D, calcium, and phosphorous pathways offering a valuable method to investigate vitamin D deficiency in archaeological individuals, but not...

Les lésions squelettiques liées à une carence en vitamine D sévère s'identifient aisément chez les individus en cours de croissance mais sont plus subtiles chez les personnes dont la maturité squelettique est achevée. En effet, le remodelage osseux peut rendre difficile l'identification des épisodes carentiels passés. A travers cette étude nous avo...

This study uses biomechanical data from the tibia to investigate functional consequences of fractures to the legs (femora, tibiae, and fibulae) in adults from Roman Ancaster, UK and Vagnari, Italy (1st to 4th centuries AD). We hypothesized that some leg bone fractures would cause altered mobility, evident as tibial cortical bone loss and asymmetry,...

The assessment of residual rickets in paleopathology is difficult, relying on often subtle indicators such as long bone bending deformities, the identification of which is hindered by poor preservation. Interglobular dentin (IGD) in teeth has emerged as a feature associated with vitamin D deficiency, offering promising results. This study sought to...

Paleopathological investigations of conditions linked to vitamin D deficiency have increased in the last twenty years, and a suite of skeletal lesions has been established to aid in the diagnosis of vitamin D deficiency disease in subadults and adults. This paper analyzes the occurrence of these lesions in a large skeletal series comprising 3541 Ro...

This study investigates morphological changes in pulp chambers of living and archaeological individuals with past vitamin D deficiency. Living individuals (n = 29), four with detailed medical and dental records and three groups of archaeological individuals (n = 25) were radiographed; selected individuals were further evaluated histologically for t...

Objectives: Accurate age estimates are foundational for bioarchaeological research, yet the ability to accurately age older adult skeletons remains elusive. This study uses a new version of pulp/tooth area calculations to investigate chronological age of older archaeological individuals. Materials and methods: Pulp/tooth area ratios were calcula...

Three places still available at 15th June 2018. A schedule for the course is now available. This five-day practical course is aimed at researchers who plan to use teeth to learn more about vitamin D deficiency and wish to use radiological and histological assessment techniques developed at McMaster (see references). The course will teach partici...

This study investigates morphological changes in pulp chambers of living and archaeological individuals with past vitamin D deficiency. Living individuals (n = 29), four with detailed medical and dental records and three groups of archaeological individuals (n = 25) were radiographed; selected individuals were further evaluated histologically for t...

Famine is a complex calamity that has affected communities across the world throughout human history. While many social sciences have recognized the sociopolitical dynamics of famine conditions, it is only recently that this theoretical approach has been utilized in bioarchaeological research. This article aims to provide an overview of how the ter...

The Michelet necropolis in Lisieux, France, dating to the late Roman and Merovingian period, comprises of a large number of well-preserved subadult remains offering a unique opportunity to better understand childhood trauma in the past. The focus of this study was to determine the amount, type and mechanisms of trauma evidenced in subadults from th...

The oxygen and strontium isotope composition of human bones and teeth are used to investigate human geographic origins and mobility in the archaeological record. We measured the oxygen (¹⁸O/¹⁶O) and strontium (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) isotope ratios in 14 teeth and 22 bone sections from 19th century soldiers who died in the Battle of Stoney Creek, Ontario, and w...

Vitamin D deficiency is now widely recognized as one of the most common health conditions in the world, with important consequences for overall health. Levels of deficiency appear to be rising, but the extent to which past humans were affected by vitamin D deficiency and the roles of this hormone in past human health are currently unknown. The disc...

Skeletal trauma and cross-sectional evidence for physical activity were assessed in the limb bones of 1st to 4th century AD Roman adults from Vagnari, Italy (n=66). Vagnari was an imperial estate with evidence for important economic activities that involved manual labor; as such, it was hypothesized that the residents of this community regularly en...

Extremity fractures can result in nerve and soft tissue damage, prolonged immobilization, pain, and use-avoidance, all of which may lead to limb disuse and bone atrophy. This research used biomechanical methods to investigate the long-term repercussions of fractures. Fracture type, location, malunion, and secondary complications (e.g., osteoarthrit...

Vitamin D deficiency is a product of biophysical and biocultural factors; both are important in determining levels of vitamin D deficiency. Recent work on past communities suggests vitamin D deficiency was more widespread than previously thought; as in the current community urban living and cultural factors could lead to deficiency in those living...

Skeletal trauma and biomechanical adaptations were assessed in the limb bones of sixty-six 1st to 4th century A.D. Roman adults from Vagnari (Italy). Vagnari was an Imperial Estate with archaeological evidence that agriculture, viticulture, and transhumance were important economic activities. Biomechanical and fracture analyses of the Vagnari sampl...

Vitamin D deficiency is now widely recognized as one of the most common health conditions in the world, with important consequences for overall health. Levels of deficiency appear to be rising, but the extent to which past humans were affected by vitamin D deficiency and the roles of this hormone in past human health are currently unknown. The discove...

There is increasing awareness that human lives are multidimensional, and cannot be explained or understood through one facet of identity. Within bioarchaeology, however, studies tend to focus on inequalities of sex or social status independently, and rarely consider multiple aspects of identity concurrently. This research uses the feminist framewor...

Scurvy is known to have been present in many past communities but recognising the condition in adult skeletal remains poses significant challenges. Fifty skeletons of Protestant prisoners who died between 1746 and 1747 were excavated in 1986–1987 from the walls of Old Quebec, Canada. Documentary sources indicate scurvy was present, and those consid...

Fracture analyses were integrated with biomechanical data on long bone cross-sectional areas to investigate post-traumatic extremity disuse at the Roman period sites of Ancaster, UK (n=181) and Vagnari, Italy (n=66). Poor functional outcomes can be affected by a fracture’s location, type, and associated complications (e.g., osteoarthritis, malunion...

Assessments of body mass are commonly used to evaluate the health and nutrition status of living children. Child health status is also used as a sensitive indicator of socio-political stresses within a community. The current study estimated living body masses of subadults from a skeletal collection recovered from the Michelet necropolis dating to t...

Hip fractures have high incidence rates in many current groups and are associated with high morbidity, mortality, and considerable expenditure. Although hip fractures associated with significant traumatic events can occur at any age, many hip fractures occur in older adults. To date, few hip fractures have been reported from archaeological skeletal...

Second metacarpal (MC2) radiogrammetric methods are often used in palaeopathological studies to identify cortical bone loss, such as that associated with advancing age and osteoporosis. MC2 radiogrammetry is typically limited to complete elements and consequently excludes a number of individuals who, because of increased fragility related to bone l...

Disease co-occurrence is defined as the presence and interaction of multiple diseases in a single individual. The phenomenon occurred in the past, but detailed analyses of individuals affected by co-occurrence seldom appear. This paper presents 12 possible cases of scurvy and rickets co-occurrence from the Saint-Amé skeletal collection in Douai, Fr...