Human Osteology Method Statement N
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Human osteology method statement N. Powers (ed) Published online March 2008 Revised February 2012 2 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Museum of London Archaeology Centre for Human Bioarchaeology Service (MoLAS) (CHB) Brian Connell HND MSc Jelena Bekvalac BA MSc Amy Gray Jones BSc MSc Lynne Cowal BSc MSc Natasha Powers BSc MSc MIFA RFP Tania Kausmally BSc MSc Rebecca Redfern BA MSc PhD Richard Mikulski BA MSc Don Walker BA MSc AIFA Bill White Dip Arch FRSC FSA 3 CONTENTS Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 8 1 Preservation and archaeological data................................................................... 9 2 Catalogue of completeness ................................................................................... 10 2.1 Cranial elements ..................................................................................................... 10 2.2 Post-cranial elements.............................................................................................. 10 2.3 Cartilage.................................................................................................................. 11 2.4 Dentition ................................................................................................................. 11 3 Age at death estimation........................................................................................ 12 3.1 Subadult age at death.............................................................................................. 12 3.2 Adult age at death................................................................................................... 14 4 Sex determination ................................................................................................. 15 5 Ancestry................................................................................................................. 16 6 Metric data ............................................................................................................ 17 6.1 Cranial measurements............................................................................................. 17 6.2 Calculation of cranial indices ................................................................................. 18 6.3 Dental measurements.............................................................................................. 18 6.4 Post-cranial measurements ..................................................................................... 19 6.5 Stature..................................................................................................................... 20 6.6 Subadult skeletal measurements............................................................................. 20 7 Non-metric skeletal traits..................................................................................... 21 8 Dental pathology ................................................................................................... 23 8.1 Caries...................................................................................................................... 23 8.2 Calculus .................................................................................................................. 23 8.3 Enamel hypoplasia.................................................................................................. 24 8.4 Periodontitis............................................................................................................ 24 4 8.5 Periapical lesions .................................................................................................... 24 8.6 Dental anomalies .................................................................................................... 25 Rotation................................................................................................................... 25 Crowding ................................................................................................................ 25 Impaction ................................................................................................................ 25 Transposition .......................................................................................................... 25 Enamel pearl ........................................................................................................... 25 Peg molar................................................................................................................ 25 Incisor shovelling.................................................................................................... 25 Carabelli cusp ......................................................................................................... 26 Protostylid cusps..................................................................................................... 26 9 Skeletal pathology................................................................................................. 27 9.1 Introduction............................................................................................................. 27 9.2 Congenital and developmental abnormalities......................................................... 27 Skull malformation ................................................................................................. 27 Spinal disorders and ‘border shifting’ .................................................................... 31 Limb abnormalities................................................................................................. 35 9.3 Infectious disease.................................................................................................... 37 Non-specific infection ............................................................................................ 37 Specific infection.................................................................................................... 39 9.4 Trauma.................................................................................................................... 43 Fractures ................................................................................................................. 44 Dislocation.............................................................................................................. 45 Soft tissue injury..................................................................................................... 45 Blunt force, sharp force and projectile injury......................................................... 45 Surgical intervention, autopsy and anatomical specimens ..................................... 46 9.5 Joint disease............................................................................................................ 47 5 Spinal joint disease ................................................................................................. 47 Extra-spinal joint disease........................................................................................ 48 9.6 Metabolic and nutritional disease........................................................................... 51 Deficiency diseases................................................................................................. 51 Metabolic disorders ................................................................................................ 53 9.7 Endocrine disease ................................................................................................... 54 Pituitary disorders................................................................................................... 54 Disorders of the parathyroid glands........................................................................ 54 Disorders of the thyroid glands............................................................................... 54 9.8 Neoplastic disease................................................................................................... 55 9.9 Circulatory disease.................................................................................................. 55 Osteochondroses..................................................................................................... 55 Osteonecroses ......................................................................................................... 57 Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy ............................................................................... 57 9.10 Miscellaneous disease............................................................................................. 57 Paget’s disease of bone........................................................................................... 57 Hyperostosis frontalis interna (HFI)/Morgagni syndrome ..................................... 58 Artificial cranial abnormality ................................................................................. 58 Spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis ...................................................................... 58 Endocranial lesions................................................................................................. 58 10 Bibliography.......................................................................................................... 60 6 Tables Table 1 Skeletal preservation grading system 9 Table 2 Dental catalogue 11 Table 3 Epiphyseal fusion data 13 Table 4 Subadult age groups 14 Table 5 Adult age groups 14 Table 6 Cranial and pelvic features used to determine adult sex 15 Table 7 Estimation of adult sex 15