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This paper explores recent research trends in human osteology, based on articles published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (AJPA) during two 5-year intervals: 1980-1984 and 1996-2000. Topical "visibility" is measured in terms of article counts; "impact" is estimated through citation indices. Our results indicate that human osteologists continue to publish a range of methodological, analytical, and descriptive research papers that address a broad array of subjects. Analytical articles are cited more frequently than descriptive articles and thus have higher impact, reflecting the discipline's continued commitment to problem-oriented research. Differences in publication patterns exist between scholars during early and later stages of their careers. Articles published by students and Ph.D.s within 2 years of their doctoral degree are more frequently descriptive than analytical, when compared to people with longer career histories. Topics such as pathology, forensic anthropology, and biodistance modeling remain highly visible, while articles on the dentition have waned. An increase in functional research directed toward the postcranial skeleton is also reflected in our data. While continued visibility for morphological investigations is apparent, the impact of recently developed applications in bone chemistry and molecular anthropology is amply documented in our data, particularly during the more recent survey years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on physical anthropology topics which include comparison between the bone density and loading in the knee joint of modern humans and gorillas, indoor air pollution in rural areas of developing countries, and Y chromosome haplotypes and Native American origins.

Presents information on abstracts to be presented at the Sixty-fifth Annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Durham, North Carolina, April 9 to 13, 1996. Understanding intraspecific variation: The problem with excluding Sts 19 from Australopithecus africanus; The OH8 first metatarsal; Museums, primate specimens, and morphometric databases; Particulate air pollution from indoor cooking in the Bolivian Highlands; More.

The article presents abstracts on topics related to physical anthropology which include cranial variables as a predictor for hominid body mass, genetic epidemiology of lipoprotein lipid levels, and impact of coca chewing on muscular efficiency and metabolism.

This paper present the content of the Musée de l'Homme exhibition "Us and them: from prejudice to racism" and provides a detailed explanation of how this content has been presented to the public. In a second section of this paper we explain some of the analysis and concepts, from a biological anthropology perspective, that were the foundation of the exhibition and provides some information about the current situation in France. Special Issue: Race reconciled II: Interpreting and communicating biological variation and race in 2021 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human biological variation has historically been studied through the lens of racialization. Despite a general shift away from the use of overt racial terminologies, the underlying racialized frameworks used to describe and understand human variation still remain. Even in relatively recent anthropological and biomedical work, we can observe clear manifestations of such racial thinking. This paper shows how classification and valuation are two specific processes which facilitate racialization and hinder attempts to move beyond such frameworks. The bias induced by classification distorts descriptions of phenotypic variation in a way that erroneously portrays European populations as more variable than others. Implicit valuation occurs in tandem with classification and produces narratives of superiority/inferiority for certain phenotypic variants without an objective biological basis. The bias of racialization is a persistent impediment stemming from the inheritance of scientific knowledge developed under explicitly racial paradigms. It is also an internalized cognitive distortion cultivated through socialization in a world where racialization is inescapable. Though undeniably challenging, this does not present an insurmountable barrier, and this bias can be mitigated through the critical evaluation of past work, the active inclusion of marginalized perspectives, and the direct confrontation of institutional structures enforcing racialized paradigms. Special Issue: Race reconciled II: Interpreting and communicating biological variation and race in 2021 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: Human growth and final height are influenced by many factors such as genetics, nutrition, living conditions, socioeconomic background and, as recently proposed, by social peer groups and the community. In this paper, we aim to evaluate the extent to which spatial proximity, acting as a proxy for the social community, causes height clustering in low and middle income countries. Material and methods: We analyzed data from the study “Young Lives—Measuring Child Poverty and Health”, a study performed in four low and middle income countries (Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam) to describe the health situation of children. We used linear mixed effects models with different random effect structures to analyze the influence of the community on clustering of height in boys and girls. Results: In all analyzed low and middle income countries, linear mixed effects with hierarchical structures with communities nested within regions provide a better fit than the basic models neglecting community‐based clustering (p < .001). Discussion: Although the underlying mechanisms require future research, spatial proximity arising from clustering needs to be integrated into explorative modelling of height variability in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an abstract of the study `The Effects of Age, Sex, and Handedness on Quantitative Measurements, of Muscle Insertion Sites' by Cynthia A. Wilczak.

Presents an abstract of the study `Methodological Concerns Bridging Physical Anthropology and Environmental Health' by L.M. Schell.

Presents an abstract of the study `Symbolism and emotions: Why the limbic system is important for human culture,' by E. Armstrong. Function of the mammalian limbic system; Interactions between limbic and symbolic systems; Evolution of human symbolic capabilities.

Forensic scientists are often expected to present the likelihood of DNA identifications in US courts based on comparative population data, yet forensic anthropologists tend not to quantify the strength of an osteological identification. Because forensic anthropologists are trained first and foremost as physical anthropologists, they emphasize estimation problems at the expense of evidentiary problems, but this approach must be reexamined. In this paper, the statistical bases for presenting osteological and dental evidence are outlined, using a forensic case as a motivating example. A brief overview of Bayesian statistics is provided, and methods to calculate likelihood ratios for five aspects of the bio- logical profile are demonstrated. This paper emphasizes the definition of appropriate reference samples and of the "population at large," and points out the conceptual differences between them. Several databases are introduced for both reference information and to characterize the "population at large," and new data are compiled to calculate the frequency of specific characters, such as age or fractures, within the "population at large." De- spite small individual likelihood ratios for age, sex, and stature in the case example, the power of this approach is that, assuming each likelihood ratio is independent, the product rule can be applied. In this particular example, it is over three million times more likely to obtain the observed osteological and dental data if the identification is correct than if the identification is incorrect. This likelihood ratio is a convincing statistic that can support the forensic anthropologist's opinion on personal identity in court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an abstract of the study `Urinary and Fecal Monitoring of Ovarian Steroids: Choosing the Appropriate Approach' by S.E. Shideler and B.L. Lasley.

Presents an abstract of the study `The Natufian Hunting Conundrum: Spears, Atlatls, or Bows? Musculoskeletal and Armature Evidence' by J. Peterson.

Presents an abstract of the study `Underestimation of Total Daily Energy Expenditure With the Factorial Method' by W.R. Leonard, V.A. Galloway and E. Ivakine.

Presents an abstract of the study `A Time Capsule of Physical Anthropology: The Charles E. Snow Letters of 1940-1941' by K.P. Jacobi.

Presents an abstract of the study `Anthropometry as ideology: The measurement of women in physical anthropology,' by A.C. Swedlund and J.A. Urla. Measurement protocol for the female body.

Presents an abstract of the study `Historical bioarcheology: Anthropology, politics, and ethics,' by S. Moorehead, J.C. Rose and A. Tine. Ethics and responsibility of bioarcheology; Bioarcheology's contribution to biological anthropology.

Presents an abstract of the study `Social and Economic Approaches to Biological Anthropology: Issues and Implications,' by T.L. Leatherman and A.H. Goodman. Gap between biological and cultural anthropology; Development of critical and political-economic perspectives in biological anthropology.

Presents an abstract of the study `Infectious Disease and Porotic Hyperostosis in an 8th to 12th Century Italian Town,' by K.L. Gruspier. Findings of the analysis of the first 50 individuals from the Early Medieval cemetery in Italy.

ABSTRACT The concepts of 'stress' and 'health' are foundational in physical anthropology as guidelines for interpreting human behavior and biocultural adaptation in the past and present. Though related, stress and health are not coterminous, and while the term 'health' encompasses some aspects of 'stress,' health refers to a more holistic condition beyond just physiological disruption, and is of considerable significance in contributing to anthropologists' understanding of humanity's lived experiences. Bioarchaeological interpretations of human health generally are made from datasets consisting of skeletal markers of stress, markers that result from (chronic) physiological disruption (e.g., porotic hyperostosis; linear enamel hypoplasia). Non-specific indicators of stress may measure episodes of stress and indicate that infection, disease, or nutritional deficiencies were present in a population, but in assessing these markers, bioarchaeologists are not measuring 'health' in the same way as are human biologists, medical anthropologists, or primatologists. Rather than continue to diverge on separate (albeit parallel) trajectories, bioarchaeologists are advised to pursue interlinkages with other subfields within physical anthropology toward bridging 'stress' and 'health.' The papers in this special symposium set include bioarchaeologists, human biologists, molecular anthropologists, and primatologists whose research develops this link between the concepts of 'stress' and 'health,' encouraging new avenues for bioarchaeologists to consider and reconsider health in past human populations. Am J Phys Anthropol 155:181-185, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a form of cranial deformation, obelionic flattening is rare. Originally named and described by Stewart (J Wash Acad Sci 29 (1939) 460-465), based on a small sample from Florida, it has been little noted since. Previously [Nelson and Madimenos, Paper presented at the Paleopathology Association annual meeting (2007)], we reported the discovery of two individuals from the Pueblo III Gallina site of Cañada Simon I who exhibit flattening of this type. Although technically undescribed in the Southwest before now, there are tantalizing clues in the literature that it occurred in low frequencies throughout the Ancestral Pueblo world. To determine whether the obelionic flattening found at Cañada Simon I was isolated or an indication of a more widespread phenomenon, we undertook a survey of crania from other Gallina sites, Chaco Canyon, and the literature (type of deformation can be determined on lateral photographs of crania properly positioned along the Frankfort Horizontal). We examined 146 crania (78 first-hand) of which seven exhibit obelionic flattening. Our results indicate that obelionic flattening should be added to the suite of cranial deformations that occur in the Southwest. Here, we propose parameters by which obelionic flattening can be described and differentiated from the more common lambdoidal and occipital forms and suggest that the three types of flattening form a continuum of cradleboard induced deformation, although the exact mechanism for obelionic flattening remains elusive. Am J Phys Anthropol 143:465-472, 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present data on the morphological features and linear measurements for the Hexian Homo erectus and other comparative endocasts, in order to highlight variation during human brain evolution. The endocast of Hexian was reconstructed in 1982, and an endocranial volume of 1,025 ml was estimated. The geological age is about 412 ka, or roughly contemporaneous with the Zhoukoudian (ZKD) specimens. There are some differences between Hexian and the modern Chinese male endocasts in our sample, including low position of the greatest breadth, low maximum height, a well-marked and prominent frontal keel, the flat surface of the frontal lobes, prominent sagittal keel along the center frontal and parietal lobes, depressed Sylvian areas and parietal lobes superiorly, strong posterior projection of the occipital lobes, anterior position of the cerebellar lobes relative to the occipital lobes, and the relative simplicity of the meningeal vessels. Compared with the ZKD, Indonesian, and African Homo erectus specimens, Hexian has more morphological features in common with ZKD. Principal component analyses indicate that Hexian is closest to the ZKD Homo erectus compared with the modern Chinese and other Homo erectus, but its great breadth distinguishes it. Metric analyses show that the brain height, frontal breadth, cerebral height, frontal height, and parietal chord from Homo erectus to modern humans increased, while the length, breadth, frontal chord, and occipital breadth did not change substantially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding sexual dimorphism is very important in studies of human evolution and skeletal biology. Sexual dimorphic characteristics can be studied morphologically and metrically, although morphologic studies pose several problems such as difficulties with quantification and interobserver error. Geometric morphometrics is a relatively new method that allows better assessment of morphologic characteristics. This paper aims to investigate the usability of this method by assessing three different morphologic characteristics in a sample of South African blacks: shape of the greater sciatic notch, mandibular ramus flexure, and shape of the orbits. Relative warps, thin-plate splines, and canonical variates analysis (CVA) analyses were performed. As expected, the shape of the greater sciatic notch provided the best separation between the sexes. Surprisingly, however, the shape of the orbits performed better that ramus flexure. Several possible explanations for this result are possible, which include the possibility that orbit shape is more sexually dimorphic than previously expected, or that biological reality is not reflected by this technique. More research is, however, needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a common assumption that agriculture and modernization have been detrimental for human health. The theoretical argument is that humans are adapted to hunter-gatherer lifestyles, and that the agricultural and ‘modern’ environments are novel and hence likely to be detrimental. In particular, changes in nutrition, and population size and distribution with the adoption of agriculture, are considered to increase the risk of infectious disease mortality. Similarly, changes due to modern lifestyles, notably changes in nutrition, smoking, exercise, and stress, are thought to be associated with an increased risk of degenerative disease mortality in the industrial environment. This paper reviews the available literature on the history and prehistory of total mortality (the demographic transition) and cause of death (the epidemiologic transition), and finds that neither agriculture nor modernization is associated with increases in mortality, i.e., declines in health. First, mortality does not appear to have increased during the transition to agriculture, or during the early phases of the industrial revolution. Clearly, infectious diseases have declined with modernization. Second, the empirical data, when uncorrected for misclassification of cause of death, do suggest an increase in degenerative disease mortality, at least until the mid 20th century, when these causes of death clearly began to decline. All studies that correct for misclassification of cause of death, however, find that the general decline in degenerative disease mortality began much earlier, perhaps as early as the 1850s in the developed countries. This is about the same time that infectious disease mortality began to decline in these countries. The exception is neoplasms, which increased with modernization until quite recently. Part of the increase in neoplasms may be attributable to increases in smoking during the course of modernization. Nevertheless, the overall risk of degenerative disease mortality appears to have declined with modernization. The fact that the decline in the risk of infectious disease mortality, and the decline in risk of degenerative disease mortality, are largely coordinated suggests that the causes of both declines may be related. Historical trends in morbidity, and potential causes of the decline in infectious and degenerative disease mortality, are briefly considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This translation of Juan Comas's Summary History of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists was originally published in Spanish by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico, in 1969 (Departamento de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Publication 22). Physical anthropologists from North America and members of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists owe Juan Comas a debt of gratitude for having labored to produce this Summary History of the AAPA. There is much useful and interesting material in this document: extensive endnotes that are helpful to the historian of the profession; an appendix of the Journal issues where the proceedings of annual meetings can be found; a detailed listing of contributors of papers to annual meetings from 1930–1968; a warm acknowledgment and history of the contributions of the Wenner-Gren Foundation to biological anthropology; a history of the Yearbook of Physical Anthropology; and comments on the short-lived PA Newsletter. In addition, there are appendices with the founding AAPA Constitution and By-Laws from 1930 and as they existed in 1968. All of this synoptic information saves the reader with interests in the history of the AAPA considerable effort, especially when few university and college libraries have the full (old and new) series of the AJPA on their shelves. We have tried to provide a translation of Comas's history that is faithful to the original Spanish-language publication. In a few cases, we shortened sentences and applied a slightly more modern usage than was popular in the late 1960s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives a detailed analysis of bipedal walking in the white-handed gibbon, based on collected pressure and force data. These data were obtained from four gibbons in the Wild Animal Park, Planckendael, Belgium, by using a walkway with integrated force plate and pressure mat. This is the first study that collects and describes dynamic plantar pressure data of bipedally walking gibbons, and combines these with force plate data. The combination of these data with previously described roll-off patterns of gibbons, based on general observations, video images, force plates, and EMG data, gives us a detailed description of foot function during gibbon bipedalism. In addition, we compare the observed characteristics of hylobatid bipedalism with the main characteristics of bonobo and human bipedalism. We found that gibbons are midfoot/heel plantigrade, and lack the typical heel-strike of other hominoids. The hallux is widely abducted and touches down at the onset of the stance phase, which results in an L-shaped course of the center of pressure. The vertical force curve is trapezoid to triangular in shape, with high peak values compared to humans. The braking component is shorter than the accelerating component, and shortens further at higher walking velocities. Speed has a significant influence on the forefoot peak pressures and on most of the defined gait parameters (e.g., vertical force peak), and it alters the foot contact pattern as well. The investigation of existing form-function relationships in nonhuman primates is essential for the interpretation of fossil remains, and might help us understand the evolution of habitual bipedal walking in hominids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines humeral cross-sectional properties in two different samples of later medieval date: a group of blade-injured males from the sites of Towton, North Yorkshire, and Fishergate in the City of York, England, and a comparative group of nonblade-injured males also from the site of Fishergate in York. CT image slices were taken of the humeral shaft at 20%, 35%, 50%, 65%, and 80% from the distal end to investigate population differences in levels and patterns of mechanical loading. Bilateral asymmetry is investigated and comparisons are made with different populations of varying activity levels. Architectural changes such as humeral torsion are also investigated to determine the relationship between architectural changes and biomechanical efficiency. Results show significant differences in diaphyseal robusticity between the Towton sample and the comparative population, as well as significant differences in diaphyseal shape both between limbs within the Towton sample and between blade-injured samples. Population differences were also identified in the level of bilateral asymmetry, further demonstrating the differences in movement and activity patterns both between and within samples. These variations may relate to distinctive, more strenuous weapon use and differences in strenuous movement patterns in the two groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the difficulties that has prevented Wilson bands, internal defects of enamel growth, from achieving maximum usefulness as indicators of stress in bioarchaeological studies is the inaccuracy of the methods for determining ages of defect occurrence. This study tests a technique that uses microstructural growth markers of enamel to establish the chronology of Wilson bands in deciduous teeth. A sample of 274 teeth from 127 subadults from an Imperial Roman necropolis was sectioned and examined under a microscope. The sample ranged in age at death from birth to 13 years. Sixty-four teeth from 50 individuals were found to have 447 Wilson bands in total. Of those contributing multiple teeth to the sample, 13 individuals had at least one Wilson band in each of two teeth that could be identified as having been formed coevally. These provided the basis for testing the methodology. Paired t-tests found no significant differences between the chronologies of matched pairs in the two teeth, with mean ages from each differing by less than 1 day. The authors propose a hypothesis that explains the development of Wilson bands, and classifies them within the context of other features of enamel. The most important implications arising from this paper are: 1) aging methods using microstructural growth markers can be applied to deciduous teeth; 2) physiological stressors leave different traces in enamel, depending on severity and time of occurrence relative to total crown development; 3) no threshold level exists; all physiological stress will leave a record; 4) therefore, no minimal definition of a Wilson band can be delineated that recognizes all such events; 5) implying that studies using them will only identify minimum rates of occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Anthropologists and demographers have devoted considerable attention to testing the fertility-polygyny hypothesis, which posits that polygynously married women have lower fertility than their monogamously married counterparts. Much less attention has been paid to the potential impact of polygynous marriages on the health and well-being of children. The objective of this paper was to assess whether polygynous marital status is a risk factor for poor nutritional status and growth performance among a cohort of young Tanzanian children. Using data collected from both wet and dry season periods, we tested for an association from both cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives. Despite relatively high nutritional status compared to other agropastoralists and horticultural populations, as well as the presence of various socioecological factors that were expected to mitigate any "costs" to polygynous marriage, we found that among our target population, polygynous marital status is a risk factor for poor growth performance. This association is most pronounced in the wet season, and maintains even after allowing for the potential influences of child age and sex, and household characteristics. These results counter our original expectation, and suggest that polygyny is costly to children in this population; this does not appear to be the result of difference in early child environment or household wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to quantify the changes in activity patterns of early farming populations in the Levant through the musculoskeletal stress markers (MSM) of the upper limb as seen in skeletal remains. The transition to an agricultural way of life resulted in higher loads on the upper limb in Neolithic populations compared to the Natufian hunter-gatherer populations that preceded them. The MSM pattern for males and females indicates a gender-based division of labor both in the Natufian and the Neolithic. It may also suggest that people in the Neolithic period were engaged in different (new) activities and occupations compared to the Natufian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of research papers on physical anthropology topics including the origin of population structure in modern humans, habitat preference and locomotion in Pilo-Pleistocene Theropithecus species, and micro-evolution of the bony nasopharynx in Sudanese Nubia.

The article presents abstracts of research papers on physical anthropology topics including a paleopathological study of Greek colonization of the Black Sea, dental and postcranial skeletal changes in an historic Chumash population, and the sexual division of labour in humans.

Abstracts of research papers on physical anthropology topics including biomechanics of long bone diaphyses from Cochiti Reservoir, New Mexico, a correlation between brain size and facial dimensions in human and chimpanzee, and behavioral development in wild white-faced saki monkey are presented.

Charles Darwin is universally associated with promoting the concept of organic evolution, but there have been persistent currents of denigration and misunderstanding that began with his own contemporaries and continue to the present, prominently represented today in paleontology and especially in biological anthropology where he has been described as a dull, timid, and mindless collector of trivia-'blotting paper, soaking up life's ink.' On the other hand, qualified analysts of literary style, philosophy, and the history of science have concluded, after careful analysis of his writings, that Darwin's contributions were of the highest caliber in each of the realms in question. His work was carried out with a full understanding of the highest standards of the thought and documentation of his intellectual predecessors and contemporaries. The significant roots of his orientation are to be found in the outlook of the Scottish Enlightenment. Just as the physical sciences represent a continuation at the professional level of 'Scottish Realism,' Charles Darwin should be seen as the means by which that orientation was projected into what has become the biological sciences. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 40:91-111, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a new geometric method for illustrating and quantifying biological shape difference. The technique is discussed in some detail, and is illustrated by applying it to the problem of characterizing Neanderthal cranial shape. The method of thin-plate splines uses a mathematical model based on the bending of a hypothetical steel plate in order 1) objectively to generate a D'Arcy Thompson-style deformed grid that illustrates the shape contrast between two forms, and 2) to quantify the shape difference by breaking it down into a series of components based on scale. Results confirm the presence of some features traditionally attributed to Neanderthals, but some 'classic' Neanderthal features do not in fact characterize the Neanderthal sample. Traits may have been misidentified because of failure to take into account differences in absolute size, use of a misleading frame of reference, and interpretation of one aspect of a large-scale change as a localized feature. In particular, the important Neanderthal 'specialization' midfacial prognathism, defined as forward displacement of the nasal region and the tooth row relative to more lateral facial structures, does not appear to be a typical Neanderthal trait. The uniqueness of Neanderthals appears to have been exaggerated, and may be related to Boule's peculiar, flawed reconstruction of the skull of La Chapelle-aux-Saints. The method of thin-plate splines is a powerful technique, capable of providing a new and insightful perspective on morphological problems in physical anthropology. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]