The Paleoepidemiology of Porotic Hyperostosis in the American Southwest: Radiological and Ecological Considerations

El-Najjar, Mahmoud Y.; Lozoff, Betsy; Ryan, Dennis J.

doi:10.2214/ajr.125.4.918

Cited by 59 publications

(37 citation statements)

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“…The relationship between porotic hyperostosis and hemolytic anemias, like sicklemia and thalassemia, has also been stressed, suggesting its linkage to malaria [22]. Given that porotic hyperostosis is often documented in human infants of roughly the same estimated age as OH 81 from regions free of malaria [7], we thus conclude that serious nutritional stress at a key phase in the development of the OH 81 individual was the most likely cause of the porotic hyperostosis observed on the fossil. Specifically, the individual likely suffered from a form of anemia related to a dietary deficiency of vitamin B 12 (cobalamin) and B 9 (folic acid) [2], [3].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Earliest Porotic Hyperostosis on a 1.5-Million-Year-Old Hominin, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

et al. 2012

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Meat-eating was an important factor affecting early hominin brain expansion, social organization and geographic movement. Stone tool butchery marks on ungulate fossils in several African archaeological assemblages demonstrate a significant level of carnivory by Pleistocene hominins, but the discovery at Olduvai Gorge of a child's pathological cranial fragments indicates that some hominins probably experienced scarcity of animal foods during various stages of their life histories. The child's parietal fragments, excavated from 1.5-million-year-old sediments, show porotic hyperostosis, a pathology associated with anemia. Nutritional deficiencies, including anemia, are most common at weaning, when children lose passive immunity received through their mothers' milk. Our results suggest, alternatively, that (1) the developmentally disruptive potential of weaning reached far beyond sedentary Holocene food-producing societies and into the early Pleistocene, or that (2) a hominin mother's meat-deficient diet negatively altered the nutritional content of her breast milk to the extent that her nursing child ultimately died from malnourishment. Either way, this discovery highlights that by at least 1.5 million years ago early human physiology was already adapted to a diet that included the regular consumption of meat.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Earliest Porotic Hyperostosis on a 1.5-Million-Year-Old Hominin, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

et al. 2012

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“…Reinhard (1988) utilized the combined macrobotanical, faunal and parasitological data from coprolite specimens from across the Southwest to evaluate the maize dependency hypothesis, which suggests that high levels of anemia should be observed (through skeletal markers such as porotic hyperostosis (El-Najjar et al 1975;Karl and Fink 1994;Walker et al 2009;Wright 1998)) in populations with a singular dependence on maize. There was no observed relationship between high levels of maize consumption and skeletal markers of anemia (Reinhard 1989).…”

Section: Macroscopic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing diet and seasonality in the Lower Pecos canyonlands: an evaluation of coprolite specimens as records of individual dietary decisions

Riley

2012

Journal of Archaeological Science

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were not readily available and may be considered a dependable but undesirable meal.The second menu consists of pit-baked lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla) and sotol (Dasylirion sp.) caudices, or hearts, common throughout the cool season. This menu entails high processing costs, but would provide a reliable caloric return. The third menu exhibits a monolithic reliance on prickly pear fruits, or tunas, during the summer.The ease of harvest and consumption is reflected in the seasonal dominance of this resource, which was assuredly a highly desirable meal. The dietary patterns recorded in the coprolite specimens from the Lower Pecos canyonlands demonstrate a seasonally variable diet-breadth that incorporated low-ranked resources during times of seasonal scarcity as well as a monolithic dependence on high-ranked resources when they were available in the local landscape.

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“…This can occur for a variety of reasons including blood loss, accelerated physiological demands resulting from rapid growth or pregnancy, inadequate absorption of iron, or nutritional deficiencies (e.g. El-Najjar et al, 1975;Steinbock, 1976).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between cribra orbitalia and enamel hypoplasia in the early medieval Slavic population at Borovce, Slovakia

Obertová

Thurzo

2007

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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Cribra orbitalia and enamel hypoplasia were examined in an early medieval (8 th to beginning of 12 th century AD) skeletal sample of 451 individuals from Borovce, Slovakia. More than 40% of these individuals died before reaching 20 years of age. The relationship between the occurrence of orbital and enamel lesions was analysed by focusing on the age-specific distribution, and on its influence on demographic parameters. Both features were found in 11.2% of the observed skulls. The presence of orbital and dental lesions showed a considerable impact on mortality as well as the life expectancy. Generally, the highest mortality was observed among 0-4 year old individuals. The greatest discrepancy in the demographic parameters, however, appeared between the affected and unaffected individuals aged 10-14 and 15-19 years. In these two age groups the co-occurrence of both lesions was most frequently recorded. These individuals obviously had a history of sickness, and thus could not cope with further bouts of disease and with the increased physiological demands of pubertal growth. The missing correlation in younger age categories can be largely explained by the difficulty of macroscopically examining the permanent dentition, since an interrelationship between the age at hypoplasia development and the occurrence of cribra orbitalia was detected. Several differences between the individuals with enamel defects and both conditions were observed in the distribution of age at hypoplasia formation. According to these results, several factors, such as impaired health status, growth demands and diet, influence the development of enamel hypoplasia and cribra orbitalia in a particular population. It is possible that after reaching a certain threshold, the underlying factors act synergistically in a kind of vicious cycle as the balance between the immune system, metabolism, and exogenous factors such as pathogens and nutrition, is disturbed.

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The Paleoepidemiology of Porotic Hyperostosis in the American Southwest: Radiological and Ecological Considerations

Cited by 59 publications

References 1 publication

Earliest Porotic Hyperostosis on a 1.5-Million-Year-Old Hominin, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

Earliest Porotic Hyperostosis on a 1.5-Million-Year-Old Hominin, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

Assessing diet and seasonality in the Lower Pecos canyonlands: an evaluation of coprolite specimens as records of individual dietary decisions

Relationship between cribra orbitalia and enamel hypoplasia in the early medieval Slavic population at Borovce, Slovakia

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