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Libkovice is a village in the northwestern Czech Republic that was demolished at the end of the last century due to the expansion of a nearby mine. The former church cemetery has been a subject to bioarchaeological excavation and research, where some 850 burials from the 13th to the 19th Century have been discovered so far. With the application of stable isotope analysis, it has also been possible to uncover the dietary patterns of this exemplary rural Central European community, which was the aim of this study. The materials analyzed here consist of samples from long bones of 56 burials and 18 animal bones discovered in Libkovice during the 2019/21 excavations. It has been employed stable carbon (δ13C) isotope analysis to determine the average contributions of foods derived from the C3 plants. Statistically significant differences were found between the analyzed fauna and human samples for nitrogen (F=47.4 p<0.05) and carbon (F=19.18 p<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the analyzed animal and human samples between the specify centuries. When considering the ages of various human individuals, the results indicated statistically significant differences in nitrogen isotopes (F= 7.71 p<0.05) between children from the infants I group and older children together with adults from the Middle Ages, as well as between children from the infants I group and adults (F= 3.3, p<0.05) from the modern times. The proportion of food from C3 plants that made up the diets of the studied population was on average 89%, and the potential proportion of freshwater fish in the diet could be higher than 80%. The similarity between the chronologically diverse groups may indicate similar strategies for food acquisition. The results obtained for the population of Libkovice are very similar to the diets of the populations living in Central Europe broadly during the two periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Flattening and lowering of the skull base in response to improper bone growth is called platybasis, and is considered a sensitive and reliable indicator of adverse living conditions such as malnutrition and disease during the prenatal period and early childhood. The degree of platybasis was assessed in three series of skulls representing geographically distinct historical native populations from Europe, Australia and Africa. Platybasis was determined by measuring the height of the base of the skull. The degree of platybasis varied among the populations examined, and was the lowest in the Australian group, and the highest in the African group. This may be due to either variability of living conditions or genetic factors, which have an influence on robusticity and cranial architecture. There were also differences among the groups in terms of the other skull measurements and indices examined. The height of the base of the skull was generally greater in males than in females, which indicates sexual dimorphism or fact that females had worse living conditions. Correlation coefficients between the height of the base of the skull and other measurements including skull length and skull width were also calculated indicating significant relationships. The differences between the height of the base of the skull and height/length index and height/width index, were statistically significant. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether climatic conditions impact the size of the anterior orbital opening in humans. The previous research has shown that morphology of the human orbit, a trait strongly related to the shape of the cranium, varies significantly among populations. However, the mechanisms of this variation are still debatable. Besides such evolutionary forces as genetic drift, climatic conditions may be involved. Thermoregulatory processes affect skull shape, and thus may also influence orbital morphology., Methods: A total of 846 dry skulls of male and female adults from three climatic areas (i.e., warm, temperate, and cold) of Europe were evaluated. The areas of the left and right orbital openings were measured using the three-dimensional contact scanner MicroScribe G2L, and analyzed with regard to climate., Results: The results reveal a statistically significant association with climatic conditions on the area of orbital opening in accordance with Bergmann's rule. The anterior orbital opening area was smaller in male individuals from the cold climate, and larger in individuals from the warm climate areas., Conclusions: These data may support the hypothesized association between size of the orbital opening and adaptation to different climatic conditions, but only in males., (© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)