Body size prediction from juvenile skeletal remains

Ruff, Christopher B.

doi:10.1002/ajpa.20568

Cited by 188 publications

(247 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Scoliosis in the Nariokotome boy skeleton reassessed 21 Specifically, our results imply that, e.g., stature estimations (Feldesman and Lundy, 1988;Ruff and Walker, 1993;Ruff, 2007) or studies of the lordosis angle (Latimer and Ward, 1993;Been et al, 2012;Williams et al, 2013) are not affected by an allegedly pathological spinal curvature. Tables Table 1.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Revisiting scoliosis in the KNM-WT 15000 Homo erectus skeleton

Schiess¹,

Boeni²,

Rühli³

et al. 2014

Journal of Human Evolution

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Owing to its completeness, the 1.5 million year old Nariokotome boy skeleton KNM-WT 15000 is central for understanding skeletal biology of Homo erectus. Nevertheless, since Latimer and Ohman (2001, Axial dysplasia in Homo erectus. J Hum Evol 40:A12) reported on asymmetries and distortions of Nariokotome boy's axial skeleton suggesting adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, possibly associated with congenital skeletal dysplasia, it is questionable whether it still can be used as reference for Homo erectus. Recently, however, the presence of skeletal dysplasia has been refuted. Here, we present a morphologic and morphometric reanalysis of the assertion of idiopathic scoliosis. We demonstrate that unarticulated vertebral columns of non-scoliotic and scoliotic individuals can be distinguished based on the lateral deviation of the spinous process, lateral and sagittal wedging, vertebral body torsion, pedicle thickness asymmetry and asymmetry of the superior and inferior articular facet area. A principal component analysis of the overall asymmetry of all seven vertebral shape variables groups KNM-WT 15000 within non-scoliotic modern humans. An anomaly of vertebrae T1-T2 is compatible with a short left convex curve at the uppermost thoracic region, possibly due to injury or local growth dysbalance. Asymmetries of the facet joints L3-L5 suggest a local right convex curve in the lower lumbar region that probably resulted from juvenile traumatic disc herniation. This pattern is incompatible with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis or other types of scoliosis, including congenital, neuromuscular or syndromic scoliosis. It is, however, consistent with a recent reanalysis of the rib cage that did not reveal any asymmetry. Except for these possibly trauma-related anomalies, the Nariokotome boy fossil therefore seems to belong to a normal Homo erectus youth without evidence for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis or other severe pathologies of the axial skeleton. AbstractOwing to its completeness, the 1.5 million year old Nariokotome boy skeleton KNM-WT 15000 is central for understanding skeletal biology of Homo erectus. Nevertheless, since Latimer and Ohman (2001, Axial dysplasia in Homo erectus. J Hum Evol 40:A12) reported on asymmetries and distortions of Nariokotome boy's axial skeleton suggesting adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, possibly associated with congenital skeletal dysplasia, it is questionable whether it still can be used as reference for Homo erectus. Recently, however, the presence of skeletal dysplasia has been refuted. Here, we present a morphologic and morphometric reanalysis of the assertion of idiopathic scoliosis. We demonstrate that unarticulated vertebral columns of non-scoliotic and scoliotic individuals can be distinguished based on the lateral deviation of the spinous process, lateral and sagittal wedging, vertebral body torsion, pedicle thickness asymmetry and asymmetry of the superior and inferior articular facet area. A principal component analysis of the overall asymmetry of all seven vertebral shap...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Revisiting scoliosis in the KNM-WT 15000 Homo erectus skeleton

Schiess¹,

Boeni²,

Rühli³

et al. 2014

Journal of Human Evolution

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Section: Csg Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We therefore averaged the formulae from Robbins Schug et al (2013) and Ruff (2007). Femoral metaphyseal breadth is a poor estimator of body mass, but the diameter of the femoral head is a significant predictor for adolescents and adults, (Ruff, 2007;Robbins Schug et al, 2013). Given that we have an independent predictor of age from dental maturation, Ruff's (2007) age-specific formulae for the estimated upper and lower age boundaries were employed, and the results were averaged.…”

Section: Csg Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Femoral metaphyseal breadth is a poor estimator of body mass, but the diameter of the femoral head is a significant predictor for adolescents and adults, (Ruff, 2007;Robbins Schug et al, 2013). Given that we have an independent predictor of age from dental maturation, Ruff's (2007) age-specific formulae for the estimated upper and lower age boundaries were employed, and the results were averaged. Adult body mass was estimated based on the superoinferior diameter of the femoral head following the guidelines in Trinkaus and Ruff (2012).…”

Section: Csg Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Insights on the paleoepidemiology of ancient tuberculosis from the structural analysis of postcranial remains from the Ligurian Neolithic (northwestern Italy)

Sparacello

Roberts

Canci

et al. 2016

International Journal of Paleopathology

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Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Abstract: The aim of this research was to gain insights on the timeline of progression of osteoarticular tuberculosis (TB) in people from the Neolithic period by using skeletal traits that are independent of the bony lesions. The body proportions and postcranial mechanical strength of bones from two individuals from Liguria in northwestern Italy (Arene Candide 5, adolescent, and Arma dell'Aquila 1, adult), were compared with the rest of the Ligurian Neolithic skeletal series (45 individuals). If TB led to wasting of the skeleton and lack of normal function which endured for years, as often happens today, a clear signature of postcranial gracility and disruption of development should be apparent. Conversely, rapid progress of the disease would leave little systemic macroscopic change in the skeleton, except for the bony lesions directly caused by the TB pathogen, suggesting a different level of bacterial virulence in the past. The extreme biomechanical gracility observed in the lower limb of Arene Candide 5 suggests a period of compromised diaphyseal periosteal apposition during ontogeny due to metabolic disturbances likely linked to TB. Results suggest that, in Neolithic Liguria, TB in humans saw a slow, chronic progression, which is characteristic of diseases with long histories of host-pathogen coevolution. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64

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“…Virtual reconstruction has also been applied in the archaeological field to recreate the look of historic figures (Wilkinson, 2003) and mummies (Cesarani, 2004, Gill-Robinson, 2006. Combination of non-invasive technologies like 3D laser and tomographic scanners is used in paleoanthropology for 3D reconstruction of craniums (Zollikofer, 2005), of broken bones and missing fragments (Ruff, 2007a). Recently, some experiments in estimating and predicting the height and the body mass of an adult individual starting from juvenile bone fragments have been conducted (Ruff, 2007b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Complete Morphological Study of the Right Hand of Bronzo “A” Di Riace

Muzzupappa

Gallo

Mattanò

et al. 2012

International Journal of Heritage in the Digital Era

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ABSTRACT:The Riace Bronzes represent one of the most important masterpieces of Magna Graecia archaeology, and of the whole world artistic heritage. The Bronzes, other than for their exquisite workmanship, are also interesting for the mysteries which surround their history. The countless hypotheses about their identity, origin and authors are supported by many studies of historical and iconographic nature. This paper describes a complete morphological study of the Riace Bronzes in order to provide to the archaeologists some objective data about the shape of the most interesting and controversial part of the Bronzes: the right hand of Bronzo "A". This study aims to provide a series of geometrical data which could help to identify the object that the A Bronze was gripping. This questions is, in fact, one of the fundamental steps for the individuation of the Bronze A's identity.

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Body size prediction from juvenile skeletal remains

Cited by 188 publications

References 70 publications

Revisiting scoliosis in the KNM-WT 15000 Homo erectus skeleton

Revisiting scoliosis in the KNM-WT 15000 Homo erectus skeleton

Insights on the paleoepidemiology of ancient tuberculosis from the structural analysis of postcranial remains from the Ligurian Neolithic (northwestern Italy)

A Complete Morphological Study of the Right Hand of Bronzo “A” Di Riace

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