RESUMO
Recent advances in the methods of skeletal age estimation have rekindled interest in their applicability to paleodemography. The current study contributes to the discussion by applying several long established as well as recently developed or refined aging methods to a subsample of 121 adult skeletons from the early medieval cemetery of Lauchheim. The skeletal remains were analyzed by 13 independent observers using a variety of aging techniques (complex method and other multimethod approaches, Transition Analysis, cranial suture closure, auricular surface method, osteon density method, tooth root translucency measurement, and tooth cementum annulation counting). The age ranges and mean age estimations were compared and results indicate that all methods showed smaller age ranges for the younger individuals, but broader age ranges for the older age groups.
Assuntos
Osso e Ossos/anatomia & histologia , Demografia , Paleontologia/métodos , Adolescente , Adulto , Determinação da Idade pelo Esqueleto , Arqueologia/métodos , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Europa (Continente) , Feminino , Alemanha , História Medieval , Humanos , Úmero/anatomia & histologia , Masculino , Paleontologia/história , Análise para Determinação do Sexo , Estados Unidos , Adulto JovemRESUMO
A comparative analysis of trace element data of human skeletal material from four archaeological sites is presented. We show that the state of histomorphological preservation of bone, which is a measurement for the degree of its diagenetic alteration, closely corresponds to the Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca ratios at an intra-population level. This study challenges the validity of dietary studies that are based on the presently used procedures for sample preparation and subsequent evaluation of strontium and barium concentrations.