8/2/2019 Cam Dsk Aapa 2010 Poster
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A Bioarchaeological Assessment of Health and Trauma in
Post-Imperial PeruC. Angely Mondestin, Department of Anthropology,
Haverford College and Danielle S. Kurin, Department of
Anthropology, Vanderbilt University
Traumatic violence may result in the subsequent compromised
health of individuals. This paper reports on
thebioarchaeologicalevidence for violence and compromised health
among different skeletal sub-populations inhighland, prehistoric
Peru. Human skeletal remains affiliated with the post-imperial
Chanka society (AD 1000-1400) were examined to see if patterns of
ante-mortem traumatic injury due to violent conflict are
associatedwith Porotic Hyperostosis (PH) and Cribra Orbitalia (CO).
Cranial remains (n = 37) from three Chanka sitescurrently housed in
the Municipal Museum in Andahuaylas, Peru were examined.
Post-Imperial Andean Society (AD 1000-1400)
Compromised Health from Skeletal Remains
Documenting Violence
Preliminary Results
Introduction
1. Individualswho receivednon-lethalinjuries
hadhigherfrequenciesof PH andCO thanindividuals whoreceivedeither
onlylethal trauma,or notraumaat all.Differencesin
PHfrequenciesbetweenthesegroupsaresignificant.
2. Femalesexperienced higherfrequenciesofPH andCO thanmales,but
thedifferenceis notsignificant.3. Agedoesnotappearto
haveanycorrelationswithPH andCO orante-mortemtraumain thissample.4.
Individuals withcranial modificationhaveboth significantly higher
frequenciesof PH,and traumatic injuriesthan
individualswithout cranialmodification.CO doesnot significantly
correlatewith cranialmodification.5. Malesreceivedmorelethaltrauma
andlessnon-lethaltrauma thanfemales,butthisdifferenceis
notsignificant.6. While the correlat ion between PH and ante-mortem
trauma was found to be stat ist ically significant, the
relationshipbetweenCO andante-mortemtraumaholdsno
statisticalsignificance. Theresultsof thisstudyarelimited by
thesmall sample size, andvariousetiologiesof PH andCO thatexist.
Furthermore,correlation does
notnecessarilymeancausation.Although these resultsare consistent
withthe hypothesis,thereis currently nosufficientevidenceto
assertany causalrelationshipbetween ante-mortemtrauma and
PH/CO.
There is a strong consensus among researchersthat no
centralstate emergedin theAndesduringthe period
afterthedisintegration of theWari andTiwanaku empires andbefore
theadventof theInka empire (Covey 2008). Likeother post-imperial
cultural groups (Tung 2009, Torres-Rouffand Costa 2006) one society
of the t ime, termedChanka, is thoughtto havewitnessedendemic,
violentconflict (Lumbreras 1974). Indeed,previous researchon
theChanka suggests that both lethal, andnon-lethal violence, in the
form of cranial fracturesaffected over half thepopulation(Kurinand
Gomez 2008).While unhealedfracturessuggestinjurieswhichoccurred
ator aroundthe timeofdeath,healed, orhealinginjuries indicatethatan
individualsurvived a
violentencounter.However,individualswhosurviveda traumaticblow to
theskull may havesuffered fromunintended physiological,
psychological, and socialafter-effectswhich couldhave
beenultimately detrimentalto theirhealth.
Porotic hyperostosis (PH) is osseous evidence of an increase in
the cranial diplo at the expense of the outer table,which results
in thinning and porosity of the cortex. In cases of acquired
anemia, hemoglobin insuffienciescause thebody to increase
production of red blood cells, thus causing marrow hypertrophy. The
subsequent expansionoutward produces diploicbone. Similar to PH,
cribra orbitalia (CO) presents itself as porotic bone in the
orbits, andmay be a precursor to PH since the thin outer lamina of
the orbit is less resistant to pressure from expanding
marrowcavities than the cranial vault (Wapleret. al 2004). One of
the proposed causal factors of PH and CO is acquiredanemia
(Palkovitch1987). This type of anemia has various proposed
etiologies, including low iron dietary intake(Kent 1986), inhibited
iron absorption (El-Najjaret. al. 1976), parasitic load,
(Stuart-Macadam 1992) nutritionaldeficiencies, and blood loss
caused by traumatic injury (Walker et. al, in press). This study
tests the assumption thattraumatic injury among the Chanka may have
resulted in major blood loss, possible subsequent infections, and
thusiron depletion, causing porotic hyperostosis and cribra
orbitalia. Such injuries (such as non-lethal injuries to the
face)may have also physically inhibited a victims ability to
consume foods, leaving them susceptible to vitamin andmineral
deficiencies. Thus, those individuals with healing and healed
injuries are expected to demonstrate a higher
frequency of PH and CO than their un-injured neighbors. This
study systematically characterizes porotichyperostosis (PH) and
cribra orbitalia (CO)known indicators of compromised health with
diverse etiologies, andtests associations between the presence or
absence of PH and CO, and patterns of healed traumatic injury
within anarchaic, non-state population.
Standardbioarchaeological methodswere employedin theanalysis of
human remains (Buikstraand Ubelaker1994).The ageandskeletalsex of
eachindividual wasdetermined based on dimorphiccharacteristics.
Among the37 crania presentin thestudy, sexestimation was determined
for all buttwo crania.In order to correlate sexwith
porotichyperostosis andcribra orbitalia, these twocraniawere taken
outof thestudy, makingthe newtotalN=35.Cranialmodificationwas
assessed intermsof absenceand presence(seeHoshower et.al. 1995).
Toascertain how violencewas experiencedwithin thissociety,crania
wereexaminedfor evidenceoftrauma (Lovell 1997). Toascertain intent
and lethality,locations of affectedareason bonewere documented,and
thenumber andtypes of fractures and concomitant abnormal
bonechangeswere described. The timing of fractures, based on
healing, was alsoexamined. Wound shape andsize wasdocumentedin an
attemptto determinethe mechanism ofinjury andclassof weapon
used.Impact locationand radiatingfracture directions wererecorded
to determine the victimsposition relevant to the direction of
force(Galloway1999). Porotichyperostosisand cribra orbitalia
wereidentifiedby thepresenceor absenceof eachpathology.
ThedegreetowhichPH andCO were expressedas well asthe locationon the
craniumwere codedusing Standards(Buikstra andUbelaker1994).In order
tostudyPH andCO asdistinct markersand
analyzethepossiblerelationshipstheyhavewithtraumain a
meaningfulway, anycranium thatwas coded witha PH orCO degreeof
barelydiscerniblewas insteadlistedas havingno PHor
COpresent.Datawere analyzedin terms of
percentages,frequencies,Chi-square (using Yatescorrectionto
accountfor thesmall sample size)
andFishers exacttesting.
Archaeological skeletons provide the only direct evidence of
violent interpersonal interactions in past societies(Larsen
1997:119). The life history of an individual is sedimentedin their
bones, and includes biologically-basedinformation related to the
health of an individual, but also culturally-mediated changes to
the skeleton, includingevidence of inte rpersonal physical
conflict. Non-random patterns of cranial fractures, specifically,
may be a reliableproxy for violence (Walker 2001, Lovell 1997).
Analysis of fracture patterns can help to reveal whether an injury
wasaccidental or intentional, and if that injury was lethal, or
non-lethal. These classes of morbidity data can then becollated
with variables such as age and sex, and in this study, CO and PH.
This allows us to examine evidence ofcompromised health as a
possible consequence of violent interaction for specific
individuals, sub-population groups,and ultimately entire
populations.
Methods
Stone weapons (maces and sling stones) associated with the
Chanka of Andahuaylas
Left: Well-healed cranial depression fracture; Right:
Peri-mortem cranial depression fracture.
Initial Conclusions
AcknowledgmentsResearch by CAM was supported by the Frederica
deLaguna Fund and the Summer Internship Fund, Bryn
MawrCollege, and a Humanities Research Grant,Haverford College.
Research by DSKwas supportedby a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral
Dissertation Research
Fellowship, the Center for Latin American Studies, theCenter for
the Americas, and the College of Arts &
Sciences, Vanderbilt University. Special thanks to DE
Gomez Choque, and the Proyecto
BioarqueologicoAndahuaylasTeam.Correspondence:
[email protected];
[email protected]
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References Cited
Left: Percentage of populationwith Cribra Orbitalia (N=35)
A Chaka Burial Cave containing multiple, secondaryinternments.
Human remains and associated artifacts were
transported to the AndahuaylasMuseum for analysis.
Left: Healed facial fracture caused by blunt-force trauma;Right:
Healed depression fracture on the cranial vault, with detail.
Age distribution among the study population (N=35)0
20
40
60
80
100
120
PH
CO
Females Males
AAPA2010, Albuquerque, NM
69% (n = 24)Porotic Hyperostosis
Present
80% (n =28)Cribra Orbitalia
Present
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Cranial Modif icat ion No Modificat ion
PH
CO
PH: (Yates correction)= 5.593, p < .01; Fishers exact P value
= .009.
Distribution of cranial trauma within the studypopulation
(N=35)
Trauma
No Trauma
Distribution of trauma lethality within the wounded
sub-population (N = 22)
Only Peri-Mortem
Only Ante-Mortem
Both Ante-and Peri-Mortem
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Males Females
No Trauma
Both Ante- andPeri-Mortem
Only Peri-Mortem
Only Ante-Mortem
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
7080
90
100
Cranial Modification No Modification
Trauma
No Trauma
(Yates correction)= 8.283 p < .004; Fishers exact P value =
.0015.
ChankaCrania. Left: Cranial Modification; Right: Unmodified
Cranium
010
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Ante-Mortem Either Peri-Mortem orNo Truama
PH
CO
PH: (Yates correction)= 4.201, p < .04; Fishers exact P value
=.027
Left: Comparison offrequencies of PH and CObetween the
sub-populationgroup with onlyante-mortem
trauma, and theamalgamated sub-populationgroup consisting of
individualsboth with notrauma and only
peri-mortem trauma.
Left: Percentage of population withPorotic Hyperostosis (N =
35)
Sex distribution among the studypopulation (N=35)
Distribution of cranial modification amongthe study population
(N=35)
77% (n=27)Males
Left: PoroticHyperostosis on the occipital and parietals, with
detail; Right: CribraOrbitalia in both orbits.
23%(n=8)Females
43% (n=15)Young Adults
46% (n=16)Middle Adults
3% (n=1)Adolescents
43% (n=15)Cranial
Modification
57% (n=20)No
Modification
50% (n=4/8) of Females had modification (27% ofthe total
sample). 41% (n=11/27) of Males show
modification (73% of the total sample).
31% (n=11 )NO Porotic
Hyperostosis
20% (n = 7)
NO CribraOrbitalia
63%(n = 22)
37%(n = 13)
60% (n = 13)
31%
(n = 7)
9%(n = 2)
Ante-mortem trauma andPH/CO (N=35)
Comparison of PH/CO frequencies by Cranial Modification(N=35)
Comparison of PH/CO frequencies by Sex (N=35)
Comparison of trauma lethality frequencies by Sex (N=35)
Comparison of trauma presence by Cranial Modification (N=35)
SITES:1. MASUMACHAY2. RANRA CANCHA3. MINA CACHIHUANCARAY
The Study Region: Andahuaylas,Apurimac, Peru.
