Multidisciplinary analysis of a mummy from the War of the Pacific.

The War of the Pacific (1879-1884) was a big scale war between Chile against the alliance of Peru and Bolivia. One of the most important battles, the "Batalla del Campo de la Alianza" was situated in the desert near Tacna, Peru. The conditions of this environment favored the conservation of the dead soldiers after many years. Decades ago, the Natural History Museum of Concepción in Chile, received a naturally mummified individual of a probably Chilean soldier as a donation; its uncertain context was never studied nor confirmed. Considering this, our investigation analyzed this body under exploratory methods, ballistic analysis, archaeological contrast, 14C radiocarbon dating, ancient DNA, and isotopic analysis to reconstruct the biological profile of this mummy. The results indicated that the mummy belongs to an adult man between 33-39 years of age (> 1.50 m) and has a perimortem wound in the left flank of the abdomen. CT scan and X-rays revealed the presence of a bullet (Comblain II or Gras) hosted near the L2 vertebra. It is possible that the individual died of bleeding from a gunshot wound done by a long-distance firearm projectile from an inferior level, whose trajectory was from left to right, with slight inclination towards the top, and without a projectile exit. Other analyses confirmed the historical context and suggests the Chilean origin of the mummy. Despite the passage of time and other factors, it was possible to reconstruct the death of this individual thanks to technology and approaches from different disciplines.

A new methodology to estimate flat foot in skeletal remains - the example of Mediterranean collections.

Flat feet (pes planus) are considered a postural defect caused by the collapse of the longitudinal arch, producing complete or near-complete contact of the sole of the foot with the ground. Pes planus has been well-studied in clinical literature and paleoanthropology but has not been approached extensively in bioarchaeology. The main difficulty is related to the diagnosis of this pathology based exclusively on bone remains. In this work, we propose a metric and morphological method to discriminate flat foot in dry bones. Thus, we studied 390 pairs of adult feet in a fair state of preservation from archaeological contexts from Spain, Italy, and Oman. Morphological variability, angles, and dimensions of both the normal bones and the bones displaying flat foot characteristics were analyzed. We found a correlation between the presence of flat foot and some morphological and metric features, mainly in the subtalar and Chopart joints. These results are expressed through a combination of morphological and metric variables, which are useful to discriminate between these two groups. No markedly significant differences of flat foot frequencies between the Spanish and Italian series were found across centuries. However, we noticed a notable increase of the prevalence of flat foot in the contemporary collection, possibly due to the consequences of a rise in life expectancy and modern styles of footwear.

Morphological and biomechanical implications of cuboid facet of the navicular bone in the gait / Implicaciones morfológicas y biomecánicas de la faceta cuboídea del navicular en la marcha

The cuboid facet of the navicular bone is an irregular flat surface, present in non-human primates and some human ancestors. In modern humans, it is not always present and it is described as an "occasional finding". To date, there is not enough data about its incidence in ancient and contemporary populations, nor a biomechanical explanation about its presence or absence. The aim of the study was to evaluate the presence of the cuboid facet in ancient and recent populations, its relationship with the dimensions of the midtarsal bones and its role in the biomechanics of the gait. 354 pairs of naviculars and other tarsal bones from historical and contemporary populations from Catalonia, Spain, have been studied. We used nine measurements applied to the talus, navicular, and cuboid to check its relationship with facet presence. To analyze biomechanical parameters of the facet, X-ray cinematography was used in living patients. The results showed that about 50 % of individuals developed this surface without differences about sex or series. We also observed larger sagittal lengths of the talar facet (LSAGTAL) in navicular bones with cuboid facet. No significant differences were found in the bones contact during any of the phases of the gait. After revising its presence in hominins and non-human primates, and its implication in the bipedalism and modern gait, we suggest that cuboid facet might be related with the size of talar facet and the position of the talonavicular joint. However, other factors such as geographical conditions, genetics and stressful activities probably affect its presence too.

La faceta cuboídea del hueso navicular es una carilla plana e irregular, presente en primates no humanos y en algunos de nuestros ancestros. En humanos modernos, no siempre está presente y es descrita como "un hallazgo ocasional" por la bibliografía. Hasta la fecha, no hay suficientes datos acerca de su incidencia en poblaciones antiguas y contemporáneas, ni una explicación biomecánica sobre su presencia o ausencia. El objetivo de nuestro estudio fue evaluar la frecuencia de la faceta cuboídea en poblaciones recientes y antiguas, su relación con las dimensiones de los huesos tarsales y su rol en la biomecánica de la marcha. Fueron estudiados 354 pares de naviculares y otros huesos del tarso provenientes de colecciones osteológicas de Cataluña, España. Aplicamos nueve medidas aplicadas al talus, navicular y cuboides para corroborar su relación con la presencia de la faceta. Para analizar sus parámetros biomecánicos, se empleó X-ray cinematography en pacientes hospitalarios. Los resultados mostraron que alrededor de un 50 % de los individuos desarrollaron esta carilla, sin diferencias entre sexos o series. Además, observamos que la longitud sagital de la faceta talar (LSAGTAL) es mayor en aquellas muestras con faceta cuboídea. No hay diferencias significativas en el contacto de los huesos en ninguna de las fases de la marcha. Después de revisar su presencia en primates no humanos, su implicancia en el bipedismo y en la marcha moderna, sugerimos que la faceta cuboídea podría estar relacionada con el tamaño de la faceta talar y la posición de la articulación talo-navicular. Sin embargo, otros factores como las condiciones geográficas, genética y stress ocupacional también podrían afectar su presencia.

Earliest Probable Case of Mueller-Weiss Disease From Ancient Egypt.

Mueller-Weiss disease is an alteration of the tarsal navicular that is primarily due to anomalous ossification of the bone and lateral deviation of the talar head associated with screw-like movement through the axis of the subtalar joint. This syndrome tends to be associated with various degrees of flatfoot and hindfoot valgus combined with subtalar joint varus. Ancient cases of Mueller-Weiss disease have not been described in specialized literature. We present the case of an adult male from the Hellenistic period (Ptolemaic dynasty; fourth to first century BC), the skeleton for which was found inside a sarcophagus in the archaeological site of Sharuna (middle Egypt) with Mueller-Weiss disease. The specimen is, in all likelihood, the earliest case of this type of foot pathology in the archaeological record.

Sex estimation from the navicular bone in Spanish contemporary skeletal collections.

Sexual estimation is fundamental to reconstruct the biological profile of individuals, but postdepositional factors can alter the resistance of the bones, thereby preventing accurate diagnosis especially when the skull and the pelvis are absent. Navicular bones are usually well preserved in archeological and forensic contexts and can a good alternative to discriminate sex. On the basis of these aspects, the present investigation analyzed the sexual dimorphism in 231 pairs of navicular bones from documented contemporary collections from Spain. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and binary logistic regressions were carried out in eight replicable linear measurements of the navicular bone. Each of the eight variables showed a significant sexual dimorphism in our sample. The ROC curve results indicate that at least five out of the eight variables used have high ability for sex diagnosis, among which the maximum length of the cuneiform surface (LMAXCUN) showed a better performance (area under the curve value=0.86). Moreover, we introduced regression equations with combination of measurements that correctly allocated the skeletons with 80% or greater accuracy. The equation with high allocation accuracy rate (83.4%) included a combination of the maximum height of the navicular (HMAX), maximum length of the cuneiform surface (LMAXCUN), and maximum length of the talar facet (LMAXTAL). The regression equations presented here are useful for the Western Mediterranean populations and offer better alternatives than formulas based on other population groups.