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Children at Work: Looking for Evidence in Past Societies
... There have been some intriguing avenues to pursue related to the identification of children through fingerprints (Kamp et al. 1999;Fowler et al. 2019;Králík et al. 2008;Králík and Novotný 2003), finger flutes (Van Gelder 2015Nowell and Van Gelder 2020;Sharpe and Van Gelder 2006) or fingernail impressions (Dorland 2018), but problems of sample size or preservation are commonly an issue. To address analytical issues, there is a requirement for continued development of robust methodologies that are based on different kinds of material evidence (Baxter 2005;Kamp 2015; Le Roy and Polet 2019;Lillehammer 2015;Romero 2015;Sofaer 2015). Through these efforts, we begin to recognize varying skill levels and their connections, resulting in valuable information about past practices. ...
This paper analyses decorative data from Late Woodland ceramic assemblages to investigate scaling practices and its role in learning experiences. Ceramic samples from Middle Ontario Iroquoian and Late Ontario Iroquoian villages were divided into four size classes based on a neck diameter/thickness ratio: Very Small, Small, Medium, Large. A motif distribution analysis and a microstylistic study of element width were then conducted to evaluate the relationship between decorative practices and size dimensions. The results of the motif distribution indicate differences associated with decorating smaller and larger pots, as well as decorative similarities. The results from Student t and ANOVA statistics do not indicate statistical differences related to element width means for Very Small pots. Overall, the findings suggest that beginner potters began their pottery experience by focusing on making smaller vessels, which allowed them to establish a basis for achieving pottery proficiency later in their lives. This paper proposes a methodology to strengthen understanding of social learning traditions in the Great Lakes that is applicable across spatiotemporal contexts.
This collection of historic archaeology articles offers lessons for both prehistoric and historic archaeologists. The articles illustrate the impossibility of discussing childhood without taking into account the intertwining of adult and child into a single cultural system. Adults and children live in the same historic milieu and affect and are affected by the same social and material circumstances. Children are relevant to all topics and all topics are relevant to children. The chapters demonstrate the need to take into account fine-grained differences in place, time, and social category that are sometimes elided by historic archaeologists and routinely by prehistoric scholars.
Lower levels of physical activity are often linked to higher socio‐economic status (SES) in past societies. As an activity marker, changes at muscle attachment sites known as entheseal changes (EC) have been used with varying efficacy. This study investigates this proposed link between EC as a physical activity marker and socio‐economic status within one well‐defined temporo‐geographic context. EC data from 16 entheses in three skeletal collections from the post‐medieval town of Aalst, Belgium, were evaluated using the Coimbra method. The skeletal assemblages represent distinct socio‐economic groups, evidenced by historical and dietary isotope data. The Louis D'haeseleerstraat sample represents lower class individuals (n=46), the Hopmarkt sample middle class individuals (n=110), and the Saint Martin's church (n=13) higher class individuals. EC data are tested for correlation to status, age, and sex. EC patterns did not differ significantly between the SES groups at any entheses except the M. iliopsoas and common extensor, where the higher class showed more EC. Within the populations, at the Hopmarkt sexual differences were only observed in the Achilles tendon attachment, whereas at the Louis D'haeseleerstraat sexual differences were present in the M. triceps brachii, M. brachioradialis, and quadriceps entheses. Only some entheses showed a significant correlation with age, and these were inconsistent between populations. EC are not a reliable indicator of socio‐economic status in post‐medieval Aalst. This could suggest that the hypothesis that the wealthy were less physically active oversimplifies the lives of people in the past. It could also suggest that EC is not a suitable proxy for physical activity, or that it cannot be used without in‐depth knowledge of the types of activities performed by various socio‐economic groups in addition to consideration of all other etiological factors. This study illustrates the caution necessary when using EC as a proxy for social status in past societies.
Objectives:
Despite subsisting on a low-cariogenic diet comprising virtually nothing more than potatoes and dairy products, poor oral health affected the quality of life for the poor of nineteenth-century Ireland. This study investigates potential biocultural reasons that may explain why this was the case.
Material and methods:
A total of 6,860 teeth and 9,889 alveoli from 363 permanent dentitions from the skeletal remains of impoverished adult Irish males and females who died between 1847 and 1851 in the Kilkenny Union Workhouse were examined for evidence of dental caries, periodontal disease and ante-mortem tooth loss. Caries rates were quantified and assessed by crude prevalence, frequencies, corrected caries rates and a t-health index, and evaluated by sex and age groups.
Results:
A higher rate of caries was present among 18-25-year-old males than females, while the opposite relationship was evident for older age groups. The prevalence rates of periodontal disease and ante-mortem tooth loss increased with age. When assessed by corrected caries rates, tooth decay is observed at a lower rate compared to contemporaneous lower to upper-class population samples from London.
Discussion:
Despite being low cariogenic foods, the potato starch and milk lactose of a nineteenth-century Irish laborer's diet would have lowered oral pH-values thereby increasing the risk of bacterial fermentation in dental plaque resulting in caries. Nutritional features alone cannot explain the high rates of dental caries observed in the Kilkenny workhouse population sample, however, and lifestyle factors, particularly habitual clay-pipe smoking, is considered a significant cause of poor oral health.
Sites of ceramic production have been discovered throughout the area that was once the Roman Empire; as a result, it is becoming increasingly clear that this industry was, in the Roman and late antique worlds, organised in numerous ways. In consideration of the organisational diversity in ceramic production attested during the period, this article presents some of the findings from the excavations of a late antique complex of ceramic workshops at the site of Sagalassos in order to consider archaeological evidence in terms of, not only the organisation of the manufacturing process, but also structures of workshop decision-making. Several lines of archaeological evidence are outlined, and argue for a model of independent work units integrated into a larger organisational structure of decision-making, and possibly even ownership, across the complex. In addition, the motivation to invest in a multi-workshop complex during the late antique period at Sagalassos is contextualised within the wider history of local and regional economic development.
A new research way of palaeopathology has recently opened: it concerns the study of the impact of the human activities on
the skeleton and the reconstitution of these activities. Being interested essentially in the activity-induced skeletal markers,
we carried out this study on 354 human skeletal remains. The Hungarian series represents a larger sample (263 skeletons from
the 10th century; collections of the Department of Anthropology, József Attila University, Szeged, Hungary). We considered
also as comparison series a collection of 91 skeletons dating from the Late Antiquity (4th century A.D.) from Provence (France),
stored in the collections of the Centre Archéologique du Var (Toulon, France). The present work is based on the results of
a general palaeopathological analysis with a particular attention to the possible activity-linked microtraumatic lesions.
Articular and periarticular markers of activity were detected as secondary degenerative joint diseases and mechanical enthesopathies.
In spite of the high rate of non-specific cases, the alterations reveal several possible activities, historically and archaeologically
well documented as riding on horse-back in the Hungarian series. The sexual inegality in the distribution of the macrotraumatic
lesions (male predominance of the fractures and sprains in the Hungarian series) reveals also some information about the activities
of the ancient Hungarians.
The open-air sites occupied by reindeer and horse hunters during the late Magdalenian of the Paris Basin in France are located in an area rich in good quality flint that was mostly collected on the river banks and knapped in the camps' flint workshops. In contrast, Magdalenians from the Swiss settlements of Champréveyres and Monruz came to hunt horses in the Lake Neuchâtel area where flint is scarce. In the first case, the strong norms that organize the late Magdalenian operational sequences in knapping as well as the abundance of the raw material allow for the identification of the transmission of the knapping skill. Several levels of competence achieved by learners of different stages are identifiable—from beginners to trained apprentices. These different levels can be related to different age groups. On the Swiss sites, such evidence is very scarce in comparison with the Paris Basin.
Reduction models have a long and significant history in stone tool analysis. This is particularly true for bifacial technologies, but is the case for some other tool forms as well. Recent advances in recognizing learning and skill transmission in stone tool manufacture, however, raise a number of questions about the suitability of previous middle- and high-level approaches for understanding the organization and execution of chipped stone technologies. This paper considers how the use of some stage- or series-based reduction models, combined with certain theoretical perspectives, actually obscures evidence for learning. Using an example of Folsom biface reduction and point production from the Hanson site in Wyoming, this article explores how archaeologists can improve their understanding of skill variation and the process of learning.
This paper presents new results regarding lithic recycling in three flint assemblages from Qesem Cave, a late Lower Paleolithic site in Israel assigned to the Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex (AYCC). The study focuses on the similarities and differences in lithic recycling at the cave between the Amudian and Yabrudian industries as well as within the Amudian industry. Variability in recycling is evident at both the inter-industry level (between the Amudian and Yabrudian) and the intra-industry level (within the Amudian). In light of the results, we discuss the role of lithic recycling in the two AYCC industries at Qesem Cave, shedding new light on AYCC lithic variability in general and human behavior at Qesem Cave in particular.
En archéologie, la pratique cavalière est abordée à partir de sources iconographiques ou écrites, de vestiges matériels (mors, éperons et étriers), d'ossements de chevaux et, parfois, de vestiges humains. En anthropologie biologique, plusieurs marqueurs osseux de cette pratique (parfois regroupés sous l'intitulé « syndrome du cavalier ») ont été reconnus. Toutefois, l'analyse des marqueurs osseux d'activité (MOA) nécessite le respect de règles méthodologiques strictes qui n'ont pas toujours été suivies dans les études antérieures de la pratique cavalière. L'étude du squelette du jeune sujet [20-39 ans] du site de « La Tuilerie » à Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne), probablement un guerrier de haut rang de l'époque mérovingienne, ouvre de nouvelles pistes de recherche pour distinguer un ensemble fiable des modifications associées à cette pratique. Ce jeune individu présente des lésions et une adaptation osseuse structurelle, l'ovalisation de l'acetabulum, probablement liées à la pratique équestre. Cette étude confirme l'intérêt de mettre en place un protocole d'étude stricte associant l'utilisation conjointe des données archéologiques, anthropologiques et médicales pour distinguer des critères spécifiques de reconnaissance de la pratique cavalière.
IntroductionHistory of Activity StudiesMethodological ConsiderationsProspects for Future ResearchReferences
An individual has a theory of mind if he imputes mental states to himself and others. A system of inferences of this kind is properly viewed as a theory because such states are not directly observable, and the system can be used to make predictions about the behavior of others. As to the mental states the chimpanzee may infer, consider those inferred by our own species, for example, purpose or intention, as well as knowledge, belief, thinking, doubt, guessing, pretending, liking, and so forth. To determine whether or not the chimpanzee infers states of this kind, we showed an adult chimpanzee a series of videotaped scenes of a human actor struggling with a variety of problems. Some problems were simple, involving inaccessible food – bananas vertically or horizontally out of reach, behind a box, and so forth – as in the original Kohler problems; others were more complex, involving an actor unable to extricate himself from a locked cage, shivering because of a malfunctioning heater, or unable to play a phonograph because it was unplugged. With each videotape the chimpanzee was given several photographs, one a solution to the problem, such as a stick for the inaccessible bananas, a key for the locked up actor, a lit wick for the malfunctioning heater. The chimpanzee's consistent choice of the correct photographs can be understood by assuming that the animal recognized the videotape as representing a problem, understood the actor's purpose, and chose alternatives compatible with that purpose.
As pioneer studies at the Magdalenian sites of Pincevent and Etiolles have shown, refitting analyses can reveal the presence of those learning the craft of flint knapping, i.e. children. This approach was successful especially at Upper Palaeolithic sites. Learners can be recognized by their incompetent flaking, and also by typical beginners' errors such as 'face battering' and 'stacked steps,' as shown in experiments by Shelley (1990). For reasons unknown to me, and in contrast to the Upper Palaeolithic, it is quite unusual to come across children in the literature about the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic. In most cases, 'flint failures' from these periods are attributed to poor-quality raw material. In this paper it is argued, by means of several examples, that in many cases children may be responsible. In his monograph about the main Saalian find level in the Maastricht-Belvédère quarry, De Loecker (2006) mentions that at Site K relatively many cores show phenomena such as stacked steps and face battering. It is suggested that this reflects the presence of children practising their flint knapping skills, rather than the poor quality of the local raw material. The absence of the classic Levallois technology, and the use of the simpler discoidal cores instead, may also be seen in this light. This article describes a series of implements from several sites of the Rhenen Industry in The Netherlands, dating from the Early Middle Palaeolithic. A 'pic' and a handaxe-like core reveal incompetent flaking, and the pic-like object also shows 'face battering' on both faces. These artefacts, as well as several small cores and a 'micro-Levallois-flake,' are interpreted as specimens made by learners in the art of flint working. A miniature handaxe, only 4.4 cm long, is tentatively interpreted as an instructive toy made by an adult for a child. Finally, a few enigmatic objects from the Late Middle Palaeolithic in the northern parts of The Netherlands are also interpreted as pieces worked by children. In the discussion chapter, the literature is searched for further possible examples of this phenomenon. It is concluded that the activities of children are overlooked in studies of the older phases of the Palaeolithic.
The anterior band of the medial collateral ligament (MCL) is an important stabilizer for valgus stress at the elbow. When practised intensively and repetitively, activities using overhead throwing motions can injure this ligament and its insertion. If these activities occur when the epiphyses are not yet fully fused, traction forces can result in bony detachments in the area of the MCL insertion. This study was based on commingled graves found in 16 Middle and Late Neolithic caves from Belgium. We recorded the presence of MCL lesions on 196 humeri and studied the relation between lesions, siding, and robusticity. 5.1% of the humeri displayed MCL lesions, which affected only the right robust humeri. Our results suggest a social division in throwing activities in Belgium during the Neolithic. They also suggest that throwing practice started from a young age, which invites us to re-examine the role of teenagers in prehistoric societies.
The analysis of subadult skeletons from the Iron Age Hallstatt graveyard and archaeological findings from the contemporaneous salt mine close-by, yield promising new insights. The cemetery is located in a barely accessible mountain valley, next to the highly organised Iron Age salt mining manufacture. The way of mining is largely known from finds in the ancient mines, including distinct, repeated tasks for the miners. The finding of small-sized leather shoes and a child´s cap in these salt mines posed the question whether children were involved in the mining process. Therefore, the 40 available subadult skeletons were analysed systematically for joint changes maybe related to early workload. Signs of osteoarthritis, on selected joint surfaces of long bones and the vertebrae, high skeletal robusticity, vertebral osteochondritis and compression, and osteochondritis dissecans were among the skeletal lesions observed. The cervical vertebrae and the distal femoral joints were affected to the greatest extent.
The study of trauma in non-adults (<18 years) from archaeological assemblages is relatively recent, partly because immature bones present distinct injury patterns, while rapid healing and remodelling can erase macroscopic evidence. However, non-adult trauma provides information about age-related differences in risk, and the lifestyles and social roles of immature individuals. This study recorded possible fractures in 135 non-adults from a churchyard and a church assemblage from medieval and post-medieval Flanders, to evaluate the presence of fractures and analyse type, prevalence, age distribution, and socio-economic differences. Eighteen individuals presented lesions, including typical non-adult injuries. Prevalence was generally low , but some trends emerged. The churchyard had a higher prevalence, and these individuals likely had a lower social background compared to the church, suggesting socio-economic differences. In the churchyard assemblage older non-adults showed an increased prevalence, possibly related to occupational risks since many children and particularly adolescents, worked as servants, labourers, or apprentices.
Lowell, Massachusetts, is considered as the birthplace of the industrial revolution in the United States. Established in 1822 by a group of Bostonian entrepreneurs, the new textile factories harnessed the Merrimack River to power their waterwheels using a system of canals. This work attracted groups of emigrant Irish workers from Boston, a process that continued into the middle of the century, particularly in the wake of the Great Irish Famine (1845–1852). We are fortunate that two volumes known as The Hanavor Burial Records exist that provide a window into the lives and deaths of the early Irish settlers in Lowell. Some 1450 entries dating to the period between 1849 and 1865 provide details of the occupation of the deceased. This study focuses on Irish pre-teen and teenage workers; their age-at-death profile, the nature of the work they undertook, and the causes of their deaths are examined.
Methods that examine finger and hand prints are still rarely used in the analysis of archaeological artefacts, even though objects made from clay have perfectly preserved traces of their creators, left hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Information coded in these prints can be examined by searching for repetition and distribution of individual or typical characteristics. This article focuses on the breadth of papillary lines and how it changed as the person grew. The prints left on ceramic objects from the thirteenth–eighteenth century layers at Vilnius Castle were examined and children's prints were identified on approximately twenty-five percent of the material with dermatoglyphics. Analysis of the results serves as the basis for assessing the nature and scale of child labour.
In France, during the Neolithic period (5700–2100 BC), several cultural groups have been identified. In the Early Neolithic, burials were simple and gathered in small groups. This was followed by monumentalization and collectivization during the Middle Neolithic, before becoming exclusive at the end of the Neolithic. The aim of this research is to focus on children within these various contexts in terms of funerary practices, age distribution and burial location (either adjacent to domestic structures or within strictly funerary contexts). Proposals for division by age classes of a social nature for each Neolithic period and for the large regional areas distinguished within France are also advanced. We then observe two main issues considering the exclusion of some age classes and the unique case of collective burial sites.
The epidemic of obesity continues at alarming rates, with a high burden to our economy and society. The American Gastroenterological Association understands the importance of embracing obesity as a chronic, relapsing disease and supports a multidisciplinary approach to the management of obesity. Because gastrointestinal disorders resulting from obesity are more frequent and often present sooner than type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease, gastroenterologists have an opportunity to address obesity and provide an effective therapy early. Patients who are overweight or obese already fill gastroenterology clinics with gastroesophageal reflux disease and its associated risks of Barrett's esophagus and esophageal cancer, gallstone disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease/nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and colon cancer. Obesity is a major modifiable cause of diseases of the digestive tract that frequently goes unaddressed. As internists, specialists in digestive disorders, and endoscopists, gastroenterologists are in a unique position to play an important role in the multidisciplinary treatment of obesity. This American Gastroenterological Association paper was developed with content contribution from Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, The Obesity Society, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, endorsed with input by American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and Obesity Medicine Association, and describes POWER: Practice Guide on Obesity and Weight Management, Education and Resources. Its objective is to provide physicians with a comprehensive, multidisciplinary process to guide and personalize innovative obesity care for safe and effective weight management.
Changes in the behaviour of both children and adults, as a response to increasing levels of violence in the Northern Sinagua area near modern Flagstaff, Arizona, demonstrate the need to consider childhood as a diachronic phenomenon. During the thirteenth century AD, the Sinagua moved to larger and increasingly fortified settlements and abandoned extensive use of dispersed field houses. Ramifications for children may have included larger peer groups, fewer tasks that took them far away from their home settlement and less participation in ceramic manufacture. Both of the latter changes would have had the important unintended consequence of reducing the children's preparation for adult tasks.
The social stage of adolescence is examined from a cultural perspective according to initiations and rites of passage. The first part of the article focuses on these ceremonies as performed within traditional societies. The rites of passage model is articulated according to the three sequences of separation, transition, and incorporation. The functions and desired impacts of these ceremonies are reviewed. Distinctions in the practice of initiations and rites of passage are addressed according to timing and gender. The latter half of the article explores the nature of adolescent initiations and rites of passage in contemporary Western society according to their expression within faith-based, school-based, societal-based, and culturally-based contexts. Adolescent-constructed initiations are examined relative to their problem-based nature which, interestingly, is shown in the corollary of youth interventions based on the rites of passage model. The article concludes with summarizing remarks on the practice of adolescent initiations in the twenty-first century.
One assumption that persists in the field of archaeology is that it is easier to observe children within historic sites through toys or burials than it is to observe children within a prehistoric setting through lithic production. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current position of children within the prehistoric archaeological literature and to provide case studies of research that focus specifically on how children can be observed within lithic analysis.
Experimental replications show that ridge breadth measurements from fingerprints on archaeological artifacts call be used to estimate the age of the individual who produced the prints. While the greatest amount of variability in human ridge breadth is due to the growth during development from birth to adulthood, there is also variability due to hand and body size, sex, and ethnicity. Despite these confounding variables, the variability due to age is great enough to allow the separation of children's prints from those of adults using ridge breadths. The utility of this measurement is illustrated with a short case study using ceramic: vessels and figurines from northern Arizona. This discovery has great potential for, illuminating some of the roles that children played in prehistory.
The proposal that and increase in hominid fertility could result from contributions made by offspring to their mother's subsistence is examined, using theree lines of evidence. The first point contrasts the low rate of reproduction in the closely related great ape taxa with the situation existing in modern humans and with the available evidence for earlier hominids. The second source of data is an examination of the factors which affect modern human fertility and how they might have been infleuced by the level of food supply in the past. The third approach is an assessment of the types of contributions actually made by children in hunter/gatherer and hunter/horticultural groups at the present time. A survey of fourteen groups at this level reveals that in twelve cases children contribute to a wide range of activities that reduce subsistence stress on thier mothers. In the two groups in which the level of contribution is low, the reproductive rates are also decreased. Evidence from these three sources suggests that both direct and indirect contributions by children to their own and their mother's subsistence base may have contributed to the success of humans in populating the world.
L'éthologie peut-elle servir de modèle conceptuel pour l'étude de l'interaction sociale? Chercher dans une autre discipline des sorties à certaines impasses empiriques de la sociologie présente un danger: en prenant l'éthologie comme inspiratrice méthodologique, l'analyse des interactions risque alors de reposer sur des modèles qui ne prennent pas en compte la dimension sociale. Ainsi de l'emploi que Goffman fait de la théorie éthologique de la ritualisation. Mais des connexions plus fécondes se manifestent avec la nouvelle éthologie (l'éthologie cognitive) et la primatologie, qui se proposent explicitement de rendre compte des comportements sociaux complexes liés à des types d'interaction. /// Can ethology be used as a conceptual model in order to study social interaction? Seeking the answer to certain empirical difficulties in sociology within a different discipline may be rather dangerous: taking methodological inspiration from ethology to analyse social interactions would mean that the models have not taken social dimensions into consideration. The same can be said for the use which Goffman makes of the ethological theory of ritualization. But with the modern ethology (cognitive ethology) and primatology, connections are more productive, as these disciplines now explicitly describe complex social behaviour related to types of interaction. /// Kann die Ethologie als Konzeptmodell zur Studie der sozialen Interaktion dienen? Die Suche in einer anderen Disziplin nach Ausgängen zu gewissen empirischen Sackgassen der Soziologie bietet eine Gefahr: indem sie die Ethologie als methodologische Inspirationsquelle benutzt, läuft die Analyse der Interaktionen Gefahr, sich auf Modelle zu gründen, die die Gesellschaftsdimension nicht berücksichtigen. Das ist der Fall bei Goffman in seiner Verwendung der ethologischen Ritualisationstheorie. Fruchtbarere Verbindungen zeigen sich jedoch mir der neuen Ethologie (kognitive Ethologie) und der Primatologie, die ausdrücklich darauf zielen, komplexe soziale Verhaltensweisen wiederzugeben, die mit Interaktionstypen zusammenhängen. /// ¿Puede servir la etología como modelo conceptual para el estudio de la interacción social? Buscar en otra disciplina salidas a ciertos atolladeros empíricos de la sociología presenta un peligro: al tomar la etología como inspiradora metodológica, el análisis de las interacciones corre el riesgo de reposarse sobre modelos que no toman en cuenta la dimensión social. Así, del empleo que Goffman hace de la teoría etológica del ritual. Pero unas conexiones más fecundas se manifiestan con la nueva etología (la etología cognotiva) y la primatología, que se proponen explícitamente de dar cuenta de los comportamientos sociales complejos ligados a unos tipos de interacción.
In this paper, osteological and archaeological data are brought together to further our understanding of childhood in the early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik culture (LBK; c. 5500–5000 cal bc). In many characterizations of LBK society, fixed representations of sex or identities based on subsistence strategies pervade, with children rarely considered and then only as a specialized and separate topic of study. As a challenge to this view, a summary of the current models of childhood in the LBK culture is presented and debated with reference to the burial rites of children. A period of ‘middle’ childhood is proposed for the LBK culture. The osteological evidence suggests that childhood could be a time of dietary stress, perhaps with sex-based differences from childhood, and examples of the diseases and traumas suffered are discussed. Finally, the possibility that the children were actively contributing to acts of personal violence is raised. While the recognition of identity making as a continuous process remains a powerful exploratory route to investigating prehistoric societies, we argue that this should not discourage us from seeing identity as formed over the entire lifecourse.
This article focuses on Neolithic skeletons associated with the first monumental cemeteries of Western Europe and specifically those of the Cerny culture (Paris Basin, France). While this cultural context is an agrarian one, numerous arrowheads derived from complete hunting equipment are present in numerous graves. The goal of this work is to evaluate the morphological and pathological differences among the individuals according to the presence of arrowheads in their graves. It is postulated that those buried with such artifacts practiced archery, unlike their counterparts. Only adult males were selected for study to limit the effect of non-mechanical factors such as age- and sex-related modifications. The corpus consists of 36 males reliably identified among the 101 Cerny adults currently available. Thirteen men are associated with arrowheads. Variations in morphology and robusticity are evaluated on the basis of the external geometric properties of the appendicular skeleton. Entheseal changes to fibrocartilaginous attachment sites of upper and lower limbs are also examined. Both nonpathological skeletal adaptations and pathological indicators are consistent and reveal significant differences between the two groups compared. Functional adaptation is observed in the forearm bones and the clavicle in response to mechanical loads, and enthesopathies suggest repeated forceful use of upper limb muscles. These osteological changes specifically reflect the higher intensity upper limb activity of the men buried with arrowheads and correspond with the medical data on known archers, suggesting that this specific forceful task is linked to the practice of archery. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Inspired by De Loecker's recent book (2006) about the main Saalian find level in the Maastricht-Belvédère Quarry, several aspects of the Early Middle Palaeolithic Site K are being discussed. First, it is argued that apprentices in the art of flint working were active here: most probably children. The reason is the presence of relatively many cores showing phenomena such as stacked steps and face battering, which are characteristic of apprentices (Shelley 1990). The absence of the classic Levallois technology, and the use of the simpler discoidal cores instead, is interpreted as an adaptation to children who are learning to knap flint, rather than as a result of poor-quality raw material. Secondly, the spatial distribution of the relatively high number of burnt flint artefacts (5.7%) is analysed. A proportion map, illustrating the percentages of burnt artefacts in all square metres with at least ten artefacts shows two clusters with locally high percentages in the southern part of the excavated area. A statistical analysis, including chi-square or binomial tests for each square metre, reveals that these clusters can hardly be the result of chance, and may therefore be interpreted as hearth locations.
Identified skeletal collections, that is, skeletons for which sex, age at death and occupation at death are known, have been used to test methods for recording entheseal changes (EC). By testing methods on identified collections, the sensitivity of EC for recording activity levels can be ascertained prior to applying the methods to test hypotheses in archaeological contexts. However, the definition of occupational categories used for this research may, in itself, be a source of bias. The aim in this study was to test how categorising occupation affected the interpretation of EC. Male skeletons (n = 211) from two Portuguese identified skeletal collections were used. Three methods for categorising occupations, all of which have been previously published, were used each dividing occupations into five, three and two categories, respectively. Fibrocartilaginous entheses were recorded and EC scored as present/absent. Results showed that the method for categorising occupation affected the frequencies of EC found in occupational categories for specific entheses. Frequencies that were significantly different between occupational categories for one method were not necessarily significant for others. This demonstrates that the sensitivity of the occupational categorisation does affect the results. However, using logistic regression, we found age to have a greater effect than occupation. These results demonstrate the need for standardised occupational categories, as well as the importance of considering age. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Free-ranging vervet monkeys, Cercopithecus aethiops, who had learned to ignore playbacks of one type of call by an unreliable signaller subsequently also ignored playback of an acoustically different call by the same individual if the calls had similar referents. Such transfer did not occur if either the identity of the signaller changed or if the two calls had different referents. After repeatedly being played an intergroup call in the absence of other groups, vervets also ignored an acoustically different intergroup call given by the same individual. The monkeys did not transfer habituation, however, if the new call was given by a different individual. In tests where the referents of two calls were different, the monkeys also failed to transfer habituation across call types. Vervet monkeys who had learned to ignore an unreliable leopard alarm call did not later ignore an eagle alarm call, even when the signaller remained the same. Results suggest that vervets, like humans, process information at a semantic, and not just an acoustic, level.
Current images portray childhood as primarily a time of play and learning, de-emphasizing children's economic contributions and relegating them, like women, to the less-visible realm of the home. Ethnographic and historic literature amply demonstrates that age categories are constructs and, thus, exhibit considerable temporal and cross-cultural variability. Nevertheless, archaeologists have tended to ignore prehistoric children, perhaps viewing them as only peripheral to central research concerns, or to treat them stereotypically. The archaeological record provides opportunities for the exploration of numerous aspects of childhood and archaeologists are encouraged to respond to the challenge.
Nondietary function is an important concern in the study of the human dentition and its role in adaptation. The purpose of the present investigation is to describe and interpret a pattern of dental wear in the anterior dentition of precontact hunter-gatherers that inhabited the western Great Basin. These data are discussed in light of ethnographic documentation as a means by which the archaeological record is linked with associated behavior of the representative populations. A series of 171 dentitions from a group of archaeological localities was examined. Of 1,931 teeth observed, 16 of these showed narrow (0.4–2.0 mm) transverse grooves located on the midocclusal surfaces of anterior teeth. The grooves were restricted in occurrence to five older adult males.
Documentation of prehistoric and historic western Great Basin aboriginal populations indicates an adaptation that involves use of plant materials in the production of a variety of utilitarian objects, such as fish nets, basketry, funerary bags, fowling bags, and rope. In postcontact contexts, the anterior dentition has been shown to play an important role in the preparation of materials used for the production of this equipment. It seems most likely, then, that the grooves observed herein resulted directly from the use of the dentition as part of the tool assemblage for the production of other tools.
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