Water‐related occupations and diet in two Roman coastal communities (Italy, first to third century AD): Correlation between stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values and auricular exostosis prevalence

Abstract

The reconstruction of dietary patterns in the two Roman imperial age coastal communities of Portus and Velia (I-III AD) by means of stable isotope analysis of bone remains has exposed a certain degree of heterogeneity between and within the two samples. Results do not correlate with any discernible mortuary practices at either site, which might have pointed to differential social status. The present study tests the hypothesis of a possible connection between dietary habits and occupational activities in the two communities. Among skeletal markers of occupation, external auricular exostosis (EAE) has proved to be very informative. Clinical and retrospective epidemiological surveys have revealed a strong positive correlation between EAE development and habitual exposure to cold water. In this study, we show that there is a high rate of occurrence of EAE among adult males in both skeletal samples (21.1% in Portus and 35.3% in Velia). Further, there is a statistically significant higher prevalence of EAE among those individuals at Velia with very high nitrogen isotopic values. This points to fishing (coastal, low-water fishing) as the sea-related occupation most responsible for the onset of the ear pathology. For Portus, where the consumption of foods from sea and river seems to be more widespread through the population, and where the scenario of seaport and fluvial activities was much more complex than in Velia, a close correlation between EAE and fish consumption by fishermen is less easy to establish.

Auditory exostoses among the prepottery neolithic inhabitants of Çayönü and Aşıklı, Anatolia; its relation to aquatic activities

“…By contrast, only one young male of 28 from Aş ıklı Hüyük exhibits an ear exostosis. When it is evaluated by sex, our findings are consistent with that observed in other archeological skeletal series whereby males present frequencies of auditory exostosis much higher than females (Crowe et al, 2010;Miladinovic-Radmilovic, 2010;Godde, 2010;Sakalinskas and Jankuasas, 1993). As is clearly seen in Inline Supplementary Table 1, exostoses corresponding to degree 3 were reported only among young adults in both Anatolian samples.…”

“…A total of 114 subadult and adult crania from Ç ayönü Tepesi and 40 subadult and adult crania from Aş ıklı Hüyük were thus examined. No ear exostoses occurred in any of the infants paralleling observations by several authors concerning both living or past societies (Agelarakis and Serpanos, 2002;Steinbock, 1976;Crowe et al, 2010;Miladinovic-Radmilovic, 2010;Ortner, 2003). Consequently, it is clear that auditory exostoses include a complex relationship between genetic liability and both environmental and behavioral factors (Manzi et al, 1991;Mann, 1984;Kennedy, 1986).…”

“…Sheehy (1982) and Hutchinson et al (1997) argue that the initial symptom of ear exostoses is otitis externa, a general term indicating inflammatory skin disease of the outer auditory meatus, exposed to thermal extremes, with or without water. According to Crowe et al (2010), it has been shown experimentally that prolonged irrigation of the outer ear canal with cold water will promote osteoblastic activity, subsequently leading to new bone formation. Okumura et al (2007) point out that exostoses develop as a result of the refrigeration action of the meatus.…”

“…Several clinical and anthropological studies support the cold-water hypothesis (Wong et al, 1999;Godde, 2010;Ascenzi and Balistreri, 1975;Manzi et al, 1991). Similarly, Frayer (1988), Kennedy (1986), Wang et al (2005), Crowe et al (2010) and King et al (2010) reveal that external auditory exostosis is stimulated largely by aquatic activities. The temperature of the water and wind chill are also responsible for the onset of the ear lesion.…”

Type I Monteggia fracture-dislocation in a monk from a 17th-18th century necropolis of Valladolid (Spain)

“…Thus, the main objectives of the majority of studies about trauma in archaeological populations are to situate injuries in the bioarchaeological context of populations and to try to determine if the study population took part in any type of activity which could predispose it to suffering the observed traumas (Smith, 2009;Crowe et al, 2010). An important consideration is that to perform these kinds of studies it is important to have a population which fulfills a series of criteria that make it representative of contemporaneous society as a whole.…”