National Science FoundationThe University of Notre Dame

L’École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem

Byzantine St. Stephen’s ProjectLaboratory for Biocultural StudiesDepartment of AnthropologyUniversity of Notre Dame

The study of muscle site attachments as indicators of lower limb activity patterns has at times been hindered by the lack of simple, standardized scoring methods. In the current study we have developed a system for use on the innominates (n=298) and proximal femora (n=215) of an urban monastic community from 5th - 7th century St. Stephen’s in Jerusalem.

We chose sixteen muscle markings, each part of a muscle group performing one of the four major motions of the hip: extension, flexion, adduction, or abduction. Only adult males were used in this study. We selected texture and elevation as variables to measure robusticity, producing a composite score to grade robusticity as minimal, moderate, or maximum.

Fifteen of the sites examined for the St. Stephen’s collection demonstrated greater robusticity than expected, indicating a group utilizing the lower-limb extensively. The muscles of both the extensor and adductor groups showed significantly more robusticity than the others (p≤0.05). This indicates possible activity patterns including repetitive stair- or hill-climbing, horseback riding, and deep flexion of the knee. When combined with non-metric postcranial data and analysis of osteoarthritic response from the femur, tibia, talus and calcaneus as well as the liturgical records for the site and period, a strong circumstantial case can be made for postural gestures associated with worship such as kneeling for prayer and genuflection.

Brittany Hayden1, Andrea Hatch2, Jaime Ullinger3, Dennis P. Van Gerven4, and Susan Guise Sheridan5 1Depts. of Anthropology & Classics, Washington University-St. Louis; 2Dept. of Comparative Sociology/Anthropology, University of Puget Sound; 3Dept. of Anthropology, Ohio State University;

4Dept. of Anthropology, University of Colorado-Boulder; 5Dept. of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame

The collection used for this study included over 15,000 bones excavated from a Byzantine ossuary in Jerusalem. The bones selected belonged to adult males. Each of the muscle sites examined were rated on a scale of 1-4 for both texture and elevation (Table 1) This method was inspired by the method created by Hawkey (1988) and Hawkey and Merbs (1995), but has numerous differences.

The texture and elevation scores combine to create a composite score (Table 2). The resultant seven categories (2-8) were then condensed into three simpler ones defining minimal, moderate, and maximal robusticity:

maximum7 -or- 83 -or- 43 -or- 4moderate4, 5 -or- 62 -or- 32 -or- 3minimal2 -or- 31 -or- 21

ROBUSTICITYROBUSTICITYCOMPOSITESCORE

COMPOSITESCOREELEVATIONELEVATIONTEXTURETEXTURE

Table 2. Composite scores of robusticity

Figure 1 illustrates each of the categories used for the robusticity scores. There were no significant differences when combined left and right scores were compared. Additionally, no significant difference was found in femoral head size (above vs. below average diameter) compared to attachment site response. Chi-square tests found all of the individual muscles except the pectineus to have a significantly (p≤0.05) larger number of moderate or severe cases than minimal cases (Figure 2). Of the functional muscle groups, the extensors and adductors were significantly (p≤0.05) larger than expected and larger than either the flexors or abductors. Though there was no significant difference in the flexor and abductor groups, the general trend was toward greater robusticity.

The trend toward robusticity in each of the muscles examined and in the functional muscle groups was significant (p≤0.05). As behaviors are more accurately determined by examining functional muscle groups, we focused on those most clearly affected in this collection: the extensors and adductors. Activities potentially responsible for the patterns include stair- or hill-climbing, horseback riding, and rising from a kneeling (genuflection) position.

Climbing stairs involves both extensors and flexors of the hip with the extensors being the larger (Andriacchi et al., 1980). Horseback riding requires large adductors and “horse-rider syndrome” is characterized by hypertrophic muscle insertions of the extensors and adductors on both the femur and innominate. Rising from a kneeling position (genuflection) can be likened the lunge exercise,

Andriacchi TP, Andersson GBJ, Fermier RW, Stern D and Galante JO. 1980. A study of lower-limb mechanics during stair climbing. J Bone Joint Surg. 62 A.5:749-757.

Bautch, R. 1999. On bended knee:  Correlations liturgical and anthropological from a fifth-century monastery. Koinonia, XI.2:155-167

Driscoll, MS and Sheridan, SG. 2000. Every Knee shall bend: Liturgical and ascetical prayer in V-VII century Palestine. Worship 74(5):453-468.

Hawkey DE. 1988. Use of upper extremity enthesopathies to indicate habitual activity patterns. MA Thesis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ.

Hawkey DE and Merbs CF. 1995. Activity-induced musculoskeletal stress markers (MSM) and subsistence strategy changes among ancient Hudson Bay Eskimos. Int. J Osteoarchaeol. 5:324-338.

Sheridan SG. 1999. New life the dead receive: the relationship between human remains and the cultural record for Byzantine St. Stephen’s. Revue Biblique. 106.4:574-611.

Figure 1. Musculoskeletal stress markers of the proximal femur, illustrating the texture and elevation stages used to develop a composite scores. For Texture: 1) smooth, 2) porous, 3) striated, and 4) roughened stages of development for the vastus medialis. Elevation: 1) no clearly defined margin, 2) clearly defined margin, 3) clear rim, and 4) lipping of the pectineus. Composite robusticity: a) minimal, b) moderate, and c) maximum stages for the gluteus maximus.

Table 1. Texture and elevation scale

ELEVATIONELEVATIONTEXTURETEXTURE

lippingclear rimclearly defined marginno clearly defined margin

roughenedstriatedporoussmooth

4444333322221111

which is associated with large extensors. Evidence in the cultural record from St. Stephen’s (Bautch, 1999; Sheridan, 1999; Driscoll & Sheridan, 2000), as well as other osteological studies underway on this collection support kneeling/genuflection as a likely cause for these robusticity patterns.

33

CO

MP

OS

ITE

CO

MP

OS

ITE

aa bb cc

TE

XT

UR

ET

EX

TU

RE

11 22 44

EL

EV

AT

ION

EL

EV

AT

ION

11 22 33 44

Per

cen

tag

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erce

nta

ge

n=18.2

n=12.7

n = 0

n=48.3

n = 63.6

n = 45.6

n=35

n = 45

n=18.2

n = 41.8

n = 65

n = 6.7

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

PectineusInsertion

Adductors Origin AdductorsInsertion

Vastus MedialisOrigin

ABDUCTORSABDUCTORS ADDUCTORSADDUCTORS

n = 18

n = 60

n = 22

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Iliopsoas Insertion

n=18.2

n=0

n=15.7n=13.6

n=11.6

n=36.6

n=52.2

n=33.7

n=18.2

n=35n=36.2

n=50.6

n=22.7

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Gluteus MaximusInsertion

Semitendenosus &Semimembranosus

Origin

Vastus MedialusOrigin

Gluteus Maximus

Origin

PiriformisOrigin

FLEXORSFLEXORS EXTENSORSEXTENSORS

minimal moderate maximumFigure 2. Comparisons of composite scores for each of the muscles attachment sites included in this study.