Objectives A fundamental assumption in biological anthropology is that living individuals will present with different growth than non‐survivors of the same population. The aim is to address the question of whether growth and development data of non‐survivors are reflective of the biological consequences of selective mortality and/or stress. Materials and Methods The study compares dental development and skeletal growth collected from radiographic images of contemporary samples of living and deceased individuals from the United States (birth to 20 years) and South Africa (birth to 12 years). Further evaluation of deceased individuals is used to explore differential patterns among manners of death (MOD). Results Results do not show any significant differences in skeletal growth or dental development between living and deceased individuals. However, in the South African deceased sample the youngest individuals exhibited substantially smaller diaphyseal lengths than the living sample, but by 2 years of age the differences were negligible. In the US sample, neither significant nor substantial differences were found in dental development or diaphyseal length according to MOD and age (>2 years of age), though some long bones in individuals <2 years of age did show significant differences. No significant differences were noted in diaphyseal length according to MOD and age in the SA sample. Discussion The current findings refute the idea that contemporary deceased and living individuals would present with differential growth and development patterns through all of ontogeny as well as the assumptions linking short stature, poor environments, and MOD.

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Objectives: Vertebral neural canal (VNC) dimensions are considered a reliable indicator of childhood stress. However, no study has characterized variation in VNC size or shape or the impact of extrinsic or intrinsic factors on their range of variation. The present study explores VNC dimensions of subadult samples varying in chronology, population of origin, geography, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Materials and Methods: Antero-posterior (AP) and transverse (TR) diameters were measured on the tenth thoracic to the fifth lumbar vertebrae of 1404 contemporary individuals aged between birth and 22 years from Colombia (N = 28), France (N = 484), the Netherlands (N = 23), Taiwan (N = 31), and the United States (N = 838), and compared to lumbar diameters of subadults from the Spitalfields collection (N = 84) and the East Smithfield cemetery (N = 65). VNC variation was evaluated with skeletal growth profiles, principal component analyses (PCA), MANOVAs and ANOVAs.Results: AP diameter growth ends during childhood, while TR diameter growth progressively slows before ending in adolescence. The Colombian sample presented the smallest VNC diameters compared to the other contemporary and historic samples.VNC shape (AP/TR ratio) was similar in contemporary samples. MANOVAs and ANO-VAs revealed significant differences in VNC size according to country of origin and socio-economic status, primarily differentiating the Colombian sample.Discussion: The overall consistency in size and shape among groups is remarkable.While physiological stress may contribute to variability in VNC size, intrinsic ontogenetic processes and other individual and environmental factors also influence variability in VNC size.

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Objectives: The study of growth in the past is a critical component of bioarcheological analyses. However, our understanding of growth in the past is subject to a number of methodological challenges. This study aims to model the skeletal growth of past populations by considering the challenges associated with the data collection process and the challenges associated with the age estimation procedures. Materials and methods:We use skeletal remains from two historic African American cemeteries in the American South to model femoral diaphyseal length-for-age. We estimate the age of each individual using dental development techniques and present growth curves as both a product of the maximum likelihood (MLE) age estimate and the estimated posterior age distribution. Growth was compared against a reference sample from the University of Colorado Child Research Council Study. Results:The results of our analyses showed that femoral diaphyseal length in two historic African American communities is small-for-estimated age as compared to a modern reference sample. However, the magnitude and characterization of this difference is variable when taking into account the broader posterior age distribution.Discussion: Both samples may be small-for-age due to physiological stress associated with racism, inequality, and the compounding effects of early urbanization. However, the interpretation of growth in the past is muddled when considering the relationship between the study sample and the reference sample, when accounting for uncertainty in the age estimation procedure, and the error-inducing steps taken during the data collection process. Future interpretation of skeletal growth in the past must include a full account of the possible sources of error in order to present an accurate representation of growth.

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