Examining the osteological paradox: Skeletal stress in mass graves versus civilians at the Greek colony of Himera (Sicily)

Kyle, Britney; Reitsema, Laurie J; Tyler, Janelle; Fabbri, Pier Francesco; Vassallo, Stefano

doi:10.1002/ajpa.23624

Cited by 24 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Regardless of whether the mass burials from Himera are indeed related to the battles fought in 480 and 409 BCE, they certainly represent a catastrophic sample and most likely two different samples, that is, a large number of persons who died together or during a very short time span. Catastrophic samples are thought to present demographic and epidemiological features that are more similar to living population than “attritional” mortality samples, although some papers fail to confirm this hypothesis (DeWitte & Wood, ; Kyle et al, ; Margerison & Knüsel, ; Milner, Anderson, & Smith, ). The sample from Himera is unique in the fact that both the “catastrophic” and the “attritional” samples are drawn from the same necropolis, whereas other works compare samples from different sites (DeWitte & Wood, ; Margerison & Knüsel, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, regardless of their relation with the aforementioned battles, skeletons in the FC can be considered as catastrophic samples, seeing that they represent the uncommon case of a large number of individuals dying in a very short time span (see also Kyle, Reitsema, Tyler, Vassallo, & Fabbri, ). The remaining nine multiple graves were double burials, three of these featuring either a female adult and child (W2373A‐W2373B and W3220A‐3220B) or two children (W3616‐W3617), their composition allowing to exclude them from a military sample.…”

Section: Materials Reference Sample and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The mass burials from the western necropolis of the Greek colony of Himera (Sicily) related to the battles of 480 and 409 BCE

Viva

Lonoce

Vincenti

et al. 2020

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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Throughout the ancient Greek, world mass burials are rare. Of the 10,000 excavated burials in the western necropolis of the Greek colony of Himera (649–409), only 16 contained more than one individual; seven of these can in all possibility be traced back to the two battles fought by Himera against the Carthaginians in 480 and 409 BCE. Written sources (Diod. 11.20ff.) state that the Himerans, accompanied by numerous Greek allies, defeated the Carthaginian forces in the first conflict whereas the loss of Greek allied support in the second battle resulted in the city's defeat and subsequent destruction. The anthropological and taphonomical studies of the human remains aim at testing the archaeological hypothesis that individuals interred in the seven mass graves can be related to the two battles. Skeleton density (skeletons per square metre), position, orientation, and conservation levels of the individuals in the mass burials were analysed and compared with a larger sample of 1,000 single burials from the same necropolis along with mass graves in other forensic and archaeological contexts. Sex, age at death, presence of skeletal stress indicators, and perimortal traumas were recorded using standard anthropological methods. In the case of poorly preserved remains, sex was estimated using site‐specific discriminant functions. Although representing catastrophic samples, the results from the seven mass burials all lead to the assumption that the graves can be associated with the interment of warriors fallen in battle. Moreover, burial differences have permitted to distinguish the mass burials dating to 480 BCE from those attributed to 409 BCE.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Materials Reference Sample and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The mass burials from the western necropolis of the Greek colony of Himera (Sicily) related to the battles of 480 and 409 BCE

Viva

Lonoce

Vincenti

et al. 2020

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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“…Rather than include a cursory caveat in publications that individual heterogeneity exists, bioarchaeologists need to make more earnest efforts to identify, explain, and contextualize hidden heterogeneity in their discussions of results and conclusions. This is not a universal failing of bioarchaeological studies-progress has been made in the way of well-developed hypotheses that test intra-and interpopulation heterogeneity (DeWitte 2014b; Kyle et al 2018;Redfern et al 2018)-but we believe it should be a major course for improvement (Boldsen and Milner 2012).…”

Section: Replymentioning

confidence: 93%

The Precarious State of Subsistence: Reevaluating Dental Pathological Lesions Associated with Agricultural and Hunter-Gatherer Lifeways

Marklein¹,

Torres‐Rouff²,

King³

et al. 2019

Current Anthropology

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Numerous bioarchaeological studies emphasize an increase in dental lesions associated with the transition to agricultural subsistence. Over the years, this diachronic trend has led to the conflation and oversimplification of specific dental indicators of oral health with broad subsistence strategies, emphasizing intergroup variation at the expense of intragroup variation. In order to explore such hidden variation, this metastudy uses published data from 185 archaeological sites to test the hypothesis that the prevalence of dental lesions (carious lesions, antemortem tooth loss, and periapical abscesses) among classified agricultural groups is higher than among hunter-gatherers. As a secondary hypothesis, this study also tests the association between climatic variables (temperature variation, altitude, and precipitation) and dental lesion prevalence. Our results show that, despite significant differences in the average prevalence of carious lesions between agricultural and hunter-gatherer populations, the variation in caries prevalence shows high overlap (170%) between subsistence patterns. Additionally, differences in the prevalence of antemortem tooth loss and periapical abscesses between agricultural and hunter-gatherer populations are not significant, showing even larger overlaps in prevalence ranges. Complementing the lifestyle analyses, climatic factors (mean temperature, annual temperature, and precipitation) are significantly correlated with the prevalence of specific dental pathological lesions and not others. Our results emphasize the need to reevaluate certain dental conditions as direct indicators of broad subsistence patterns, calling attention to the complex multifactorial pathogenesis of dental lesions and the nonlinear relationship between oral indicators of health and subsistence lifeways. It is often-but falsely-said that dental caries is a "disease of civilization." There is no human population that has completely escaped it.

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“…Collective burials serve many functions such as preserving family and community identity (Bentley, ; Bloch, ; Rott, Päffgen, Haas‐Gebhard, Peters, & Harbeck, ), companionship or sacrifice (Baadsgaard, Monge, Cox, & Zettler, ; Judd & Irish, ), health risk intervention (e.g., plague pits) (Grainger, Hawkins, Lynne, & Mikulski, ), and space or time constraints (Fiorato, Boylston, & Knüsel, ; Kjellström, ; Palubeckaite et al, ). Episodic commingled collections result from multiple interments following a single event such as a mass disaster or battle (Osterholtz, Baustian, & Martin, ), and may be laid in rows so that with careful excavation individuals are relatively complete (Fiorato et al, ; Kyle, Reitsema, Tyler, Fabbri, & Vassallo, ; Rott et al, ). Secondary long‐term use commingled collections result from fully or partially decomposed individuals interred with predecessors (Osterholtz et al, ), who may or may not be rearranged to accommodate the newest residents (Bocquentin & Garrard, ; Chesson, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Commingled crypts: Comparative health among Byzantine monastics in the Levant

Judd

2020

American J Phys Anthropol

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Objectives: Early Byzantine (A.D. 330-842) monastic rules stipulated that entrants relinquished familial connections, personal belongings and secular relationships to become part of the ascetic collective that continued in death, resulting in bioarchaeological marginalization, as was the case of the monastics excavated from the Chapel of Robebus at Mount Nebo, Jordan (ca. A.D. 491-640). It was hypothesized that compared to contemporary monastic groups, the Mount Nebo monastics experienced poorer health and gravitated to Mount Nebo, owing to its association with the Prophet Moses and proximity to the Dead Sea, Livias baths and Jordan River, all associated with curative benefits, especially for those suffering from leprosy. Materials and Methods: The commingled remains of 73 adult males from Mount Nebo and the articulated skeletons (n = 27) from the Sanctuary of Agios Lot at Deir 'Ain 'Abata (Jordan) were assessed for paleopathology, then compared with a contemporary commingled group from the Monastery of Saint Euthymius at Khan-el-Ahmar (Judean Desert) (n = 117).Results: No skeletal evidence of leprosy was observed among the groups. Most Mount Nebo individuals did not reach an older age, yet injuries, severe osteoarthritis, lower leg osteoperiostitis and antemortem tooth loss were common. The paleopathological profile was similar at Deir 'Ain 'Abata, but paleopathology was negligible at Khan-el-Ahmar. Conclusions:The similar paleopathological profiles of the Jordanian monastic groups suggest that the proximity to the Dead Sea may have attracted monastics to both sites, in addition to spirituality, but leprosy was not a factor based on the skeletal evidence. K E Y W O R D S bioarchaeology, healing, Jordan, leprosy, paleopathology

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Examining the osteological paradox: Skeletal stress in mass graves versus civilians at the Greek colony of Himera (Sicily)

Cited by 24 publications

References 41 publications

The mass burials from the western necropolis of the Greek colony of Himera (Sicily) related to the battles of 480 and 409 BCE

The mass burials from the western necropolis of the Greek colony of Himera (Sicily) related to the battles of 480 and 409 BCE

The Precarious State of Subsistence: Reevaluating Dental Pathological Lesions Associated with Agricultural and Hunter-Gatherer Lifeways

Commingled crypts: Comparative health among Byzantine monastics in the Levant

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