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This project aims to test whether geometric morphometric (GM) and trabecular analyses may be useful tools in identifying talar characteristics related to hypochondroplasia. We quantified the external and internal talar morphology of an hypochondroplasic dwarf (T17) from Modena (northern Italy) dated to the 6th century AD. External talar morphology of T17 was compared with a broad sample of modern human tali (n = 159) using GM methods. Additionally, a subsample of these tali (n = 41) was used to investigate whole talar trabecular changes in T17. Our results show that GM and trabecular analyses identify a combination of traits linked to the dwarfing disorder of hypochondroplasia. These traits include decreased scaled talar dimensions compared to normal-sized individuals, presence of an accessory antero-lateral talar facet, high bone volume fraction and high anisotropy values throughout the entire talus. In our case study, hypochondroplasia does not appear to substantially modify external talar morphology probably due to the fast growth of the talus. We suggest that small talar dimensions are associated with hypochondroplasia. An antero-lateral talar facet may result from the talus and calcaneus coalition (i.e., talocalcaneal abnormal bridging) possibly related to an everted foot posture that was limited by overgrowth of the fibula. We suggest that high talar trabecular density and strut orientation provide insights into pathological development of the trabecular plates in T17. Finally, our study suggests that high talar trabecular density and strut orientation, and small talar dimensions, may be added as possible concomitant talar hallmarks for hypochondroplasia.

The morphology of the proximal carpals (scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum) are linked to the range of motion (ROM) at the radiocarpal and midcarpal joints. While the relationship between ROM and habitual locomotor mode is well established, it has yet to be investigated whether relative patterns of internal bone architecture reflect the kinematics and kinetics at the proximal row. As internal bone is known to model its structure to habitually incurred forces, internal architecture has the potential to provide insight into how a joint(s) have been loaded during the lifetime of an individual. Using a broad sample of extant great apes and humans (n=177 total), this study investigates whether relative differences in the bone volume to total volume (BV/TV) and degree of anisotropy (DA) across the scaphoid, lunate and triquetrum correlate with the presumed force transfer and biomechanics of the hominoid wrist. Results reveal broad patterns in BV/TV and DA differentiated hominoids by their predominant locomotor mode. The human pattern suggests the lunate may be the most highly strained bone within the proximal row. Both knuckle-walking taxa (Gorilla, Pan) exhibited similar architectural patterns suggesting they are adapted to resist similar forces in this region of the wrist. The relatively high DA across all Pongo carpals suggests it may have more stereotypical wrist loading than commonly assumed. Finally, the distinctly low DA in the triquetrum across all taxa suggests force transfer via the synapomorphic Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex may leave a distinctive signature in the internal bone architecture that requires further investigation.

Forms of Hopi cultural knowledge, and the Hopi language in particular, circulate across Indigenous and settler speech communities. Circulation is a process of recontextualization. In connecting sites of usage, it brings into being different regimes of intertextuality that can either amplify or diminish Hopi presence. To illustrate this, I look at three instances in which outsiders recontextualize Hopi objects or language: archaeologists use potsherds to establish timelines, non-Hopi people use Hopi words as pet and brand names, and I use Hopi sentences for linguistic analysis in my own research. Each recontextualization threatens to erase Hopi presence in the here and now, which tribal members contest through acts of what I call indexical tethering.

International audience; While early maps are known from all over the world, the key questions always involve: what exactly do they show? And what spatial extent do they cover? In this context, we recently used 3D-modelling to re-examine a carved stone slab datable to the Early Bronze Age (c.2150–1600 BC) that was found at Saint-Bélec in Brittany. We show that the surface of the slab had been shaped in three dimensions to represent the relief of the surrounding landscape in which it was found, while several engraved motifs on it evoke contemporary structures known archaeologically. We argue that the Saint-Bélec slab represents an area of c.545 km2 corresponding to the extent of a prehistoric political entity. The carving and subsequent burying of the slab can be linked to the postulated rise and fall of hierarchical societies and raises many wider questions about socio-economic structures in temperate Europe at that time.

International audience; This study presents a new precise radiocarbon chronology for the World Heritage site of Sarvestan (SW Iran). The monument is a key construction in the history of architecture because it is a typical Sasanian construction built during the late Sasanian or early Islamic period. Previous attempts to date the monument have suggested the ages ranging from the middle Sasanian (fifth century CE) to early Abbasid (ninth century CE) era. These age estimations are based on the analysis of architectural plans and techniques, and a few radiocarbon dates with very large age uncertainties. This paper presents the results of a systematic radiocarbon dating of timbers in the walls and charcoals in plaster mortars used in the main dome of the monument. It further applies wiggle matching technique and R_Combine function to substantially reduce the age uncertainties in wood sections. The results indicate that a major construction work was undertaken sometime between 658 and 683 CE, the century of the invasion of Fars by Muslim Arabs. This finding pushes back the age of Sarvestan for two centuries and suggests that the monument was built at the transitional period between Sasanian to Islamic era. Sarvestan would have been an architectural project designed andpossibly initiated during the late Sasanian period but mainly accomplished during the second half of the seventh century CE. It can thus be considered a late Sasanian heritage in early Islamic period. Its construction at a time of political unrest further suggests that some areas of Fars may have benefited from certain socio-political stabilities during the expansion of Islaminto the east at mid- to late seventh century CE

This essay examines the experience of conducting a “home‐bound pandemic ethnography”—one that toggles back and forth between the ethnographer’s own experience of the pandemic while in quarantine and the very different pandemic experiences of her Latina immigrant essential worker interviewees. Maintaining a split gaze between one’s own experience and those of one’s interviewees, a home‐bound pandemic ethnography lends itself to a kind of reflexivity and comparison that traditional ethnographic “immersion” does not. Involving the disjunctive knowledge of “being here” while listening to the very different experience of “being there,” it throws into stark relief asymmetries built deep into the ethnographic relationship. While ethnographic immersion rests on the illusion of ethnographers’ acculturation so they become a kind of insider–outsider, a “home‐bound” ethnography refuses the claims of traditional ethnography to “truly understand” the plight of the marginalized populations with whom we work. Just as critiques have emerged of anthropologists’ silence regarding our relative immunity from climate catastrophes (Jobson, Am Anthropol, 122, 2020, 259) and from state violence (Gomberg‐Muñoz, J Anthropol N Am, 21, 2018, 36) in comparison to those whom we research, the pandemic also demands an honest reckoning with the chasm that has widened anew between the lived realities of ethnographers and those of our research “subjects.” Highlighting the discomfort of disjunctive lived realities, a home‐bound pandemic ethnography creates a careful ledger of the ethnographer’s comparative privilege, and questions the very premises of ethnographic immersion.

International audience

International audience

This article examines whether economic inequality intensified the adverse effects of harvest, price, and income shocks during a famine. Using a parish-level longitudinal dataset from the Finnish famine of the 1860s, it shows that a substantial proportion of the excess mortality experienced during the famine resulted from a decline in agricultural production, a decline in incomes, and a surge in food prices. The findings indicate that the adverse effects of food output fluctuations were intensified by increasing income inequality and decreasing average income, while the market-transmitted shocks were weakened by a contraction of disposable income. The results are corroborated with multiple alternative estimation techniques, including the introduction of spatial spill-overs. The results show that even a pre-industrial famine affecting an impoverished society was meaningfully defined by the distribution of incomes. peerReviewed

In 2017, a luxury bronze bucket was discovered nearKladina village in the Czech Republic. The bucket isdated to the ninth century BCE, and it is a unique arte-fact, having no parallel in Europe. Stylistically, it is a“transition type” dated between the Late Bronze Age(11th–10thcentury BCE) and the Hallstatt Period(eighth–sixth century BCE). Detailed palynologicalanalysis of verdigris and soil infill of the bucket identi-fied a wide range of pollen grains belonging mainly toherbs, with bitter-sour properties, and cereals. Subse-quent chemical analysis by gas chromatography/massspectrometry of soil extracts revealed the presence ofthe compound miliacin that is a chemical marker ofmillet. Moreover, a starch analysis reveals the presenceof enzymatically modified starch grains. These data,with the help of archaeological knowledge, indicate that the original content may have been millet-basedfood/beverage with addition of herbs. We suggest thatthis luxury vessel, given the contents we have identified,was deposited, in the late spring/summer months ofthe year.

The Kalahari Basin, southern Africa preserves a rich archeological record of human origins and evolution spanning the Early, Middle and Late Pleistocene. Since the 1930s, several stratified and dated archeological sites have been identified and investigated, together with numerous open‐air localities that provide landscape‐scale perspectives. However, next to recent discoveries from nearby coastal regions, the Kalahari Basin has remained peripheral to debates about the origins of Homo sapiens. Though the interior region of southern Africa is generally considered to be less suitable for hunter‐gatherer occupation than coastal and near‐coastal regions, especially during glacial periods, the archeological record documents human presence in the Kalahari Basin from the Early Pleistocene onwards, and the region is not abandoned during glacial phases. Furthermore, many significant behavioral innovations have an early origin in the Kalahari Basin, which adds support to poly‐centric, pan‐African models for the emergence of our species.

The emergence of pastoralism and animal husbandry has been a critical point in the history of human evolution. Beyond profound behavioural changes in domesticated animals compared to wild ones, characterising the morphological changes associated with domestication process remains challenging. Because reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) can be considered to still be in the early phases of the domestication process, the study of modern populations provides a unique opportunity to examine the impact of captivity and selective breeding on skeletal changes. In this work, we investigated the morphological changes in long limb bone cross-sections using 137 wild and domestic reindeer individuals bred in free-range, in captivity or used for racing and pulling. The shape and shaft cortical thickness of the six long limb bones (i.e., humerus, radioulna, metacarpal, femur, tibia and metatarsal) were measured using a 2D-geometric morphometrics approach taking into account subspecies, sex, body mass and lifestyle differences. These bones are important to understanding functional morphological changes because they can provide information on feeding and locomotor behaviours, as well as on body propulsion and weight bearing. Apart from the effects of taxonomy, etho-ecology and sex, we have found that captivity and selection induced important variations in the size and body mass of modern reindeer. Our results also showed that patterns of variation in cortical bone thickness of long limb bone cross-sections were strongly impacted by body mass and human-imposed restrictions in roaming. This demonstrates that bone cross-sections can provide information on changes in locomotor, reproductive and feeding behaviours induced by the domestication process. These results are valuable not only for (paleo) biologists studying the impact of captivity and selection in ungulates but also for archaeologists exploring the origins of domestication and early herding strategies.

This essay examines the intersections between divination and psychiatry in the context of modern Chinese history. Throughout the 20th century, subsequent political regimes attempted to drive an ontological wedge between psychiatry, which was deemed scientific, and divination, which was deemed superstitious. While the dichotomy between science and superstition remains a powerful ideology today, it belies the use of divination as a psychotherapeutic tool. Occult practices such as fortune telling and shamanism complement the application of technical psychiatric skills by serving a crucial moral and interpersonal function, one that has important implications for the practice of mental healthcare both within and beyond Asia.

Age heaping is widely employed as an indicator of human capital, more specifically of numeracy. We re-examine the age heaping–numeracy link in the light of evidence from nineteenth-century Italian censuses, in which education explains little of the variation in age heaping. We argue that in general age heaping is most plausibly interpreted as an indicator of cultural, economic, and institutional modernization rather than a straightforward measure of individual cognitive skills. We do not rule out the use of age heaping as a numeracy indicator, but this needs to be done with research designs that are alert to historical specificities of the context under investigation.

This review considers the revitalisation programme for Scottish Gaelic (referred to simply as ‘Gaelic’ [ɡalik] by its speakers) which has gathered pace since the 1980s. Gaelic is a minority Celtic language with approximately 58,000 speakers in Scotland (Scottish Government 2015) and 1,500 speakers in Canada (Statistique Canada 2016). Gaelic in Scotland developed from the Old Irish spoken by people moving back and forwards between Ireland and Scotland in the 4th-5th centuries and eventually became the language spoken across almost all of Scotland in the high medieval era (11th-12th centuries). Since this time, language shift has been taking place in Scotland and locations where the majority of the population speak Gaelic are now confined to north and west Highland areas such as the Western Isles (Outer Hebrides). Frequent waves of migration from Scotland have led to diasporic populations of Gaelic speakers including the substantial settlements in Nova Scotia, Canada, where many Gaelic speakers emigrated in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The texts reviewed here document the process of language shift but especially focus on revitalisation efforts undertaken in order to increase speaker numbers and also increase the contexts and usage of Gaelic. As both works demonstrate, the revitalisation programme has its origins in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but really gained momentum in the 1980s with the advent of increased Gaelic broadcasting, education in Gaelic, and the subsequent Gaelic Language Act in 2005, which gave Gaelic in Scotland equal legal status to English. Each work takes quite a different approach to considering these issues: McLeod (2020) is a historical and legal analysis of language policy from 1872 to 2020 and McEwan-Fujita (2020) collects the outcome of several linguistic anthropological studies conducted with different Gaelic-speaking groups and organisations. Together, these works provided different angles and levels of analysis of the Gaelic revitalisation programme and offer substantial inspiration for future work. As well as giving a detailed picture of the Gaelic context, these works will be useful for those working in other minority language contexts, linguistic anthropology, and language policy.

Objectives During the Middle Ages, Portugal witnessed unprecedented socioeconomic and religious changes under transitioning religious political rule. The implications of changing ruling powers for urban food systems and individual diets in medieval Portugal is poorly understood. This study aimed to elucidate the dietary impact of the Islamic and Christian conquests. Materials and methods Radiocarbon dating, peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS) and stable isotope analysis (δ13 C, δ15 N) of animal (n = 59) and human skeletal remains (n = 205) from Muslim and Christian burials were used to characterize the diet of a large historical sample from Portugal. A Bayesian stable isotope mixing model (BSIMM) was used to estimate the contribution of marine protein to human diet. Results Early medieval (8-12th century), preconquest urban Muslim populations had mean (±1SD) values of -18.8 ± 0.4 ‰ for δ13 C 10.4 ± 1 ‰ for δ15 N, indicating a predominantly terrestrial diet, while late medieval (12-14th century) postconquest Muslim and Christian populations showed a greater reliance on marine resources with mean (±1SD) values of -17.9 ± 1.3‰ for δ13 C and 11.1 ± 1.1‰ for δ15 N. BSIMM estimation supported a significant increase in the contribution of marine resources to human diet. Discussion The results provide the first biomolecular evidence for a dietary revolution that is not evidenced in contemporaneous historical accounts. We find that society transitioned from a largely agro-pastoral economy under Islamic rule to one characterized by a new focus on marine resources under later Christian rule. This economic change led to the naissance of the marine economy that went on to characterize the early-modern period in Portugal and its global expansion.

Background: While well known for its Viking past, Norway's population history and the influences that have shaped its genetic diversity are less well understood. This is particularly true with respect to its demography, migration patterns, and dialectal regions, despite there being curated historical records for the past several centuries. In this study, we undertook an analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity within the country to elaborate this history from a matrilineal genetic perspective. Methods: We aggregated 1174 partial modern Norwegian mtDNA sequences from the published literature and subjected them to detailed statistical and phylogenetic analysis by dialectal regions and localities. We further contextualized the matrilineal ancestry of modern Norwegians with data from Mesolithic, Iron Age, and historic period populations. Results: Modern Norwegian mtDNAs fell into eight West Eurasian (N, HV, JT, I, U, K, X, W), five East Eurasian (A, F, G, N11, Z), and one African (L2) haplogroups. Pairwise analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) estimates for all Norwegians indicated they were differentiated from each other at 1.68% (p

Objectives The food that people and animals consume leaves microscopic traces on teeth in predictable ways, and analyses of these markings-known as dental microwear analyses-allow us to reverse engineer the characteristics of diet. However, the microwear features of modern human diets are most often interpreted through the lens of ethnographic records. Given the subtle variation within human diets when compared to other species, we need better models of how foods and processing techniques produce marks on teeth. Here, we report on the second study to target the occlusal surface microwear of living human populations, and the first to target populations other than foragers. Methods We collected 150 dental impressions from five Kenyan communities: El Molo, Turkana (Kerio), Luhya (Webuye), Luhya (Port Victoria), and Luo (Port Victoria), representing a range of subsistence strategies and associated staple diets-fishing, pastoralism, and agriculture. Our results suggest that the occlusal microwear of these groups records differences in diet. However, biofilm obscured most of the molds obtained despite the steps taken to remove it, resulting in only 38 usable surfaces. Results Due to the biofilm problem and final sample size, the analysis did not have enough power to demonstrate the differences observed statistically. The results and problems encountered are here explained. Conclusions Considering that in vivo studies of dental microwear texture analysis have the potential to increase our understanding of the association between patterns of dental microwear and complex, mixed human diets, resolution of the current pitfalls of the technique is critical.

This paper describes and analyzessocial structure, poverty, wealth and economic inequality in Stockholm from 1650 to 1750. We begin by establishing the social structure, using census data and other sources. To study wealth and poverty, the main sources are a complete record of the wealthtax of 1715, comprising 17782 taxpayers, and probate inventory samples from 1650, 1700 and 1750, in all 1125 inventories. These provide detailed and sometimes surprising insights into the living standards of both the poor and rich. Stockholm in this period was a starkly unequal city, with the top decile of wealth holders owning about 90 per cent of total wealth. We relate this inequality to Mercantilist policies. The city was run as an oligarchy and the oligarchical political institutions engendered policies rigged for inequality. The case of Stockholm thus shows the need for the historical inequality literature to consider class and power relations to understand the determinants of inequality. (Less)

The use of lead was ubiquitous throughout the Roman Empire, including material for water pipes, eating vessels, medicine, and even as a sweetener for wine. The toxicity of lead is well established today, resulting in long-term psychological and neurological deficits as well as metabolic diseases. Children are particularly susceptible to the effects of lead, and it is likely that the widespread use of this deadly metal among Roman populations led to a range of adverse health effects. Indeed, lead poisoning has even been implicated in the downfall of the Roman Empire. This research examines, for the first time, the direct effect of lead poisoning on the inhabitants of the Empire. It explores whether the dramatic increase in lead during this period contributed to the failure to thrive evident within the skeletal remains of Roman children. Lead concentration and paleopathological analyses were used to explore the association between lead burdens and health during the Roman period. This study includes 173 individuals (66 adults and 107 non-adults) from five sites, AD 1st–4th centuries, located throughout the Roman Empire. Results show a negative correlation between age-at-death and core tooth enamel lead concentrations. Furthermore, higher lead concentrations were observed in children with skeletal evidence of metabolic disease than those without. This study provides the first bioarcheological evidence that lead poisoning was a contributing factor to the high infant mortality and childhood morbidity rates seen within the Roman world.

The decolonization framework in medical anthropology is slowly reframing tropes of cultural competency toward decolonizing health care. For decolonization of health care to occur, both colonial histories and continuing postcolonial inequities must be recognized from the first diagnostic moment. We report on qualitative research into the role of culture, history, and family experience in person-specific reactions to receipt of a diagnosis. A collaborative approach at an urban inter-tribal clinic was used to interview patients with a recent (within six months) diagnosis of diabetes or related condition. Interviews revealed ways that the Relocation Act eventuated in isolation, poverty, and diabetes among now-urban Native Americans. We discuss how patients may or may not have the ability to (re)connect with their heritage and may simultaneously perceive only recent family contexts as influential in their diabetes. We conclude by acknowledging how postcolonial harms are not captured in diagnoses but should not be left out of diagnostic discussions.

OBJECTIVES Current human infant urine collection methods for the field are problematic for the researcher and potentially uncomfortable for the infant. In this study, we compared two minimally invasive methods for collecting infant urine: organic cotton balls and filter paper. MATERIALS AND METHODS We first collected urine from infants using the clean catch method. We then used those samples to compare the performance of filter paper and cotton ball collection protocols. We analyzed the clean catch and cotton samples using commercial estrone-3-glucuronide (E1G) kits and tried two different extraction methods for the filter paper. Using a paired t-test (n = 10), we compared clean catch and cotton samples. We also compared effect sizes within and between methods. RESULTS We were unable to extract enough urine from the filter paper to successfully assay the samples for E1G. The paired t-test revealed a statistically significant difference between the clean catch and cotton methods (t = 2.63, p-value = 0.03). However, the effect size was small (5.91 μg/ml, n = 10, 95% CI = 3.80, 8.02) and similar to or larger than the difference seen between duplicate wells for clean catch and cotton values. DISCUSSION While this study is limited by sample size, our results indicate that filter paper is not a field-friendly method for collecting infant urine. However, we found that organic cotton balls showed similar values to the clean catch method, and we propose this method as an alternative, minimally invasive method for study of E1G in human infant urine.

This study investigates the stratigraphical sequence of Cocina Cave (Spain) employing and testing for the first time the capability of rare earth elements as markers of human activities in caves. Located in Dos Aguas (Valencian Community, Spain), Cocina Cave is characterized by the presence of several Holocene archaeological deposits from the final Mesolithic to the present day and is a pivotal site for understanding the socio‐ecological dynamics of the last hunter‐gatherer inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula and the transition to pastoral and agricultural economies in the Western Mediterranean. However, the identification of strata from particular time‐periods in the cave is often difficult due to the homogeneity of layers, the poor archaeological record in some strata and the presence of severe disturbance phenomena. The methodological approach of this study consisted of cross‐referencing rare earth elements and other chemical markers with the archaeological stratigraphical interpretation, in an attempt to not only support the identification of the anthropic contribution to the formation of Cocina Cave strata, but also to characterize and confirm different natural and occupational episodes, particularly those associated with hunter‐gatherer, early agriculturalist, and shepherd activities. Sediments were collected from different excavation areas and analysed for major elements, trace elements, rare earth elements (REE), soil organic matter (SOM) amounts and pH. Multivariate statistics were employed to group samples according to their elemental profile, and these were then compared to the archaeological temporal interpretation. The obtained results showed that REE amount and fractionation geochemical processes were regulated by carbonates, phosphates and pH. The use of REE as markers was particularly useful as their concentrations and their calculated ratios and anomaly distributions were demonstrated to be highly consistent with the archaeological stratigraphical interpretation.

Questions surrounding the timing, extent, and evolutionary consequences of archaic admixture into human populations have a long history in evolutionary anthropology. More recently, advances in human genetics, particularly in the field of ancient DNA, have shed new light on the question of whether or not Homo sapiens interbred with other hominin groups. By the late 1990s, published genetic work had largely concluded that archaic groups made no lasting genetic contribution to modern humans; less than a decade later, this conclusion was reversed following the successful DNA sequencing of an ancient Neanderthal. This reversal of consensus is noteworthy, but the reasoning behind it is not widely understood across all academic communities. There remains a communication gap between population geneticists and paleoanthropologists. In this review, we endeavor to bridge this gap by outlining how technological advancements, new statistical methods, and notable controversies ultimately led to the current consensus.

OBJECTIVES The little known guenon Cercopithecus dryas has a controversial taxonomic history with some recognizing two taxa (C. dryas and C. salongo) instead of one. New adult specimens from the TL2 region of the central Congo Basin allow further assessment of C. dryas morphology and, along with CT scans of the juvenile holotype, provide ontogenetically stable comparisons across all C. dryas and "C. salongo" specimens for the first time. MATERIALS AND METHODS The skins and skulls of two newly acquired C. dryas specimens, male YPM MAM 16890 and female YPM MAM 17066, were compared to previously described C. dryas and "C. salongo" specimens, along with a broader guenon comparative sample (cranial sample n = 146, dental sample n = 102). Qualitative and quantitative assessments were made on the basis of commonly noted pelage features as well as craniodental characters in the form of shape ratios and multivariate discriminant analyses. RESULTS All C. dryas specimens, including the TL2 adults, are comparatively small in overall cranial size, have relatively small I1 s, and display tall molar cusps; these osteological characters, along with pelage features, are shared with known "C. salongo" specimens. Discriminant analyses of dental features separate C. dryas/salongo specimens from all other guenons. DISCUSSION In addition to pelage-based evidence, direct osteological evidence suggests "C. salongo" is a junior synonym of C. dryas. Combined with molecular analyses suggesting C. dryas is most closely related to Chlorocebus spp., we emend the species diagnosis and support its transfer to Chlorocebus or possibly a new genus to reflect its distinctiveness.

Objectives Evolutionary theorists have debated the adaptive significance of developmental plasticity in organisms with long lifespans such as humans. This debate in part stems from uncertainty regarding the timing of sensitive periods. Does sensitivity to environmental signals fluctuate across development or does it steadily decline? We investigated developmental plasticity in brown adipose tissue (BAT) among indigenous Siberians in order to explore the timing of phenotypic sensitivity to cold stress. Methods BAT thermogenesis was quantified using infrared thermal imaging in 78 adults (25 men; 33 women). Cold exposure during gestation, infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence was quantified using: (1) the average ambient temperature across each period; (2) the number of times daily temperature dropped below -40°F during each period. We also assessed past cold exposure with a retrospective survey of participation in outdoor activities. Results Adult BAT thermogenesis was significantly associated with the average temperature (p = 0.021), the number of times it was below -40°F (p = 0.026), and participation in winter outdoor activities (p = 0.037) during early childhood. Conclusions Our results suggest that early childhood represents an important stage for developmental plasticity, and that culture may play a critical role in shaping the timing of environmental signals. The findings highlight a new pathway through which the local consequences of global climate change may influence human biology, and they suggest that ambient temperature may represent an understudied component of the developmental origins of health and disease.

Special Issue - Race reconciled II: Interpreting and communicating biological variation and race in 2021 Many sociocultural factors, like poverty and trauma, or homelessness versus a safe neighborhood, can get "under our skin" and affect our lives. These factors may also get "into our genes" through epigenetic changes that influence how genes are expressed. Changes in gene expression can further influence how we respond to sociocultural factors and how those factors impact our physical and mental health, creating a feedback loop between our sociocultural environment and our genome.

This paper examines how bathhouses of Roman villas in the north-western part of the Empire can further our understanding of the amount of penetration the Roman cultural sphere had in less urbanised regions. The articulation of these baths to the villa, whether integrated, attached to it or completely freestanding, indicates degrees of accessibility beyond the inhabitants of the house. Rather than being merely private bathrooms for an elite that wished to enjoy the commodities of the city in the countryside, villa baths were social hubs for intra-elite networking and possibly enabled a form of euergetism towards small rural communities in a landscape otherwise devoid of cities and small civic centres.

Objectives Linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) is a common skeletal marker of physiological stress (e.g., malnutrition or illness) that is studied within and across populations, without reference to familial risk. We examine LEH prevalence in a population with known genealogical relationships to determine the potential influence of genetic heritability and shared environment. Methods LEH data of 239 individuals from a single population were recorded from the Ohio State University Menegaz-Bock collection dental casts. All individuals were of known age, sex, and genealogy. Narrow-sense heritability estimates were obtained for LEH presence and count data from all unworn, fully erupted teeth (excluding third molars) using SOLAR (v.8.1.1). Age, sex, and age-sex interaction were included as covariates. Models were re-run with a household effect variable. Results LEH persists across generations in this study population with moderate, significant heritability estimates for presence in four teeth, and count in four teeth (three teeth were significant for both). When a household effect variable was added, no residual heritability remained for LEH count on any tooth. There was no significant household effect for three of the four teeth that had significant heritability estimates for LEH presence. Age was a significant covariate. Further analyses with birth year data revealed a secular trend toward less LEH. Conclusions This study provides evidence for familial risk of LEH (genetic and environmental) that has consequences for the broad use of this skeletal marker of stress. These results have repercussions for archaeological assemblages, or population health studies, where genetic relatives and household groups might be heavily represented.

Objectives The function of the browridge in primates is a subject of enduring debate. Early studies argued for a role in resisting masticatory stresses, but recent studies have suggested sexual signaling as a biological role. We tested associations between circumorbital form, diet, oral processing, and social behavior in two species of colobus monkey-the king colobus (Colobus polykomos) and western red or bay colobus (Piliocolobus badius). Materials and methods We quantified circumorbital size and dimorphism in a sample of 98 crania. Controlling for age and facial size, we tested whether variation in circumorbital morphology can be explained by variation in diet, oral processing behavior, masticatory muscle size, and mating system. To contextualize our results, we included a broader sample of facial dimorphism for 67 anthropoid species. Results Greater circumorbital thickness is unrelated to the stresses of food processing. King colobus engages in longer bouts of anterior tooth use, chews more per ingestive event, and processes a tougher diet, yet circumorbital thickness of C. polykomos is reduced compared to P. badius. Differences in circumorbital development do not vary with wear or facial size. Greater sexual dimorphism is present in P. badius; comparisons across anthropoids indicated patterns of circumorbital dimorphism were decoupled from overall size dimorphism. Conclusions The expanded circumorbits of male red colobus monkeys evolved in response to intense male-male competition. This hypothesis is consistent with the pattern across anthropoid primates and highlights the underappreciated role of sexual selection in shaping the primate face.