Pubertal timing as an indicator of early life stress in Roman Italy and Roman Gaul

Abstract

Objectives: Puberty is a period of rapid growth and development, and the age of onset and duration of puberty may serve as an indicator of developmental stress during childhood. In this study, we compare pubertal timing and tempo in individuals from two Roman Imperial cemetery sites, integrating biological and social factors to better understand pubertal timing differences and their possible connection to Early Life Stress (ELS) and peri-pubertal stress.Materials and Methods: Osteological methods to estimate pubertal timing were applied to 264 individuals from Lisieux-Michelet (4th-5th centuries CE; France) and Isola Sacra (1st-4th centuries CE; Italy). Peptide analysis of tooth enamel was used to assess sex in a sub-sample of pre-pubertal remains.Results: Individuals experienced puberty between 9 and 20 years of age, with females experiencing the acceleration stage earlier than males (p < 0.05, g > 1.2).Between the two sites, no significant differences were noted for age-at-death during acceleration, peak height velocity, and deceleration (i.e., the active stages of puberty).Menarche occurred around 15 years of age.Discussion: The inter-site comparisons demonstrate similar patterns of pubertal timing and tempo. For males, the pubertal timing aligns with ancient literary descriptions of key puberty milestones. Females entered puberty earlier than literary sources suggest and experienced puberty for an extended period, pointing to possible gendered exposure to ELS and peri-pubertal stress, influenced by their social status in the Roman Empire. These results demonstrate how pubertal timing and tempo can be used to infer developmental stress in past populations.

Menarche at Amarna: Timing and the further implications

“…Menarche occurs around the same time as the ossification of the iliac crest epiphysis (Shapland & Lewis, 2013), and before the fusion of that epiphysis to the larger blade (Avery et al, 2023). This Excluding these individuals from the analysis artificially biases the final estimate of the age of menarche upward.…”

“…Initial fusion of the distal radius indicates the growth spurt is nearing its end, while full fusion indicates the individual is post‐pubertal (Shapland & Lewis, 2013). Other useful characters to assess pubertal and menarche timing are the fusion of the distal humerus, proximal ulna (Legge, 2005), and the iliac crest (Avery et al, 2023) epiphyses. The fusion of the distal humerus and proximal ulna occur in association with PHV, while the fusion of the iliac crest epiphysis is a clear indicator menarche has been achieved (Shapland & Lewis, 2013).…”

“…A number of recent bioarchaeological studies have estimated the timing of menarche in a geographically and temporally diverse set of generally historic sites with great congruence in the population specific “normal” age of menarche. Most studies identify 15–17 years as critical (Arthur et al, 2016; Doe et al, 2019; Lewis et al, 2016a), but with some minor variations that extend these estimations somewhat in both directions (Avery et al, 2023; Blom et al, 2021; Lewis et al, 2016b). Other studies (Legge, 2005) have identified the onset of puberty itself, but not commented on menarche.…”

“…Adolescent skeletal samples tend to be small (Lewis, 2022) and when this is the case, the results should be considered with caution (Arthur et al, 2016;Blom et al, 2021;Doe et al, 2019), a point most authors make themselves. The age of puberty and/or menarche has then been used to address broader questions of life in past periods, including the effect of chronic conditions on the age of menarche in medieval Britain (Lewis et al, 2016b), average age of marriage in medieval Netherlands (Blom et al, 2021), exposure to early life stresses (Avery et al, 2023), and the social and economic impacts of the Black Death (DeWitte & Lewis, 2020). This article has dual aims.…”

Peptide analysis of tooth enamel – A sex estimation tool for archaeological, anthropological, or forensic research

“…All three methods agreed except in one case (when the archaeological method was opposite to morphological and protein methods) [55]. Besides morphological methods, sex determination by this method was also described for sex estimation of pre‐pubertal individuals from Roman Italy (1 st −4 th c. CE) and Late Roman Gaul (4 th −5 th c. CE) era [70].…”