Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
community health correlates that merit their being assessed separately (e.g., Roberts et al.,
2002; Roberts and Buikstra, 2003 ; Powell and Cook, 2005; Mutolo et al., 2012 ).
Like (1) porotic hyperostosis and (2) cribra orbitalia (both too often generically referred to
as anemia), (3) nonspecific infection has been a useful measure of comparative community or
social group stress. These three conditions are often collectively evaluated with subadult long
bone length (reflective of compromised growth), the dental enamel defects referred to as
linear enamel hypoplasia (or LEH), which flag health stressors affecting the integrity of
dental enamel (Hammerl [Chapter 10], this volume), and, of course, age-at-death (Uhl
[Chapter 3], this volume) and sex (Moore [Chapter 4], this volume). Other stress markers
that have been effectively used include radiographically detected subadult growth interrup-
tions (Harris lines) (e.g., Mays, 1995; Ameen et al., 2005; Papageorgopoulou et al., 2011 ) and
rickets/osteomalacia ( Ortner and Mays, 1998 ; Mays et al., 2005; Pinhasi et al., 2006; Brickley
et al., 2007; Brickley and Ives, 2008 ).
Degenerative Joint Disease and Occupational Stress Markers
The joints of the body are mechanical constructs that permit or constrain movement at the
juncture of two or more bones. They fundamentally consist of a circumscribed area of cush-
ioned bone-to-bone contact surrounded by tissues that stabilize the juncture and tissues that
enable movement. There are three types of pathological changes at the joint that have been
the focus of paleopathological interest. The first is the reactive change visible on the joint
(articular) surface that is often generically referred to as degenerative joint disease (DJD).
The type of change varies with the nature of the joint surface and includes osteoarthritis
( Figure 7.3 a), vertebral osteophytosis, Schmorl's nodes, necrotic foci, and osteochondritis dis-
secans (see Aufderheide and Rodr´guez-Mart´n, 1998; Ortner, 2003 for definitions and
descriptions). The second type of reactive change is extra-articular and consists of small
smooth-planed cortical surface remodeling due to bone-to-bone pressure (i.e., a facet)
FIGURE 7.3 (a) Osteoarthritis of the distal humeral joint with porotic pitting and eburnation (polish) of the joint
surface. (b) Left image of the humeral head illustrates the normal area of insertion of the subscapularis muscle
(arrow) and the right image illustrates the area (arrow) with mechanical damage (enthesopathy). (c) On a clavicle,
a deep lesion (syndesmosis) (arrow) is evident at the insertion of the costoclavicular ligament.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search