Activity‐induced musculoskeletal stress markers (MSM) and subsistence strategy changes among ancient Hudson Bay Eskimos

Abstract

Although archaeological evidence may express the results of several seasons of activity, the human skeleton, when correlated with archaeological and ethnographic data, provides information concerning daily activities performed throughout an individual's lifetime. Studies in occupational and sports medicine, along with electromyographic analysis of movement, have shown that different activities place different amounts of stress on human bone. In the present study, analysis of upper extremity musculoskeletal stress markers (MSM) has been used to clarify habitual activity patterns of two ancient Thule Eskimo groups from northwest Hudson Bay, Canada. Distinct pattern differences in muscle use occurred between Thule adult males and females and suggest possible gender-specific activity patterns that are not always discernible from the archaeological record alone. Temporal applications of the MSM data for Early and Late Period Thule support McCartney's theory of a substantial change in subsistence strategies through time, particularly among the adult males.

Understanding Entheses: Bridging the Gap Between Clinical and Anthropological Perspectives

“…Previous research suggests size and complexity of tendon insertions are indicative of strain magnitude resulting from habitual physical activity (Lane, 1887;Kennedy, 1989;Hawkey and Merbs, 1995;Churchill and Morris, 1998;Hawkey, 1998;Steen and Lane, 1998;Stirland, 1998;Wilczak and Kennedy, 1998;Capasso et al, 1999;Weiss, 2003Weiss, , 2004Weiss, , 2007 alOumaoui et al, 2004;Molnar, 2006;Cardoso and Henderson, 2010;Thara et al, 2010;Havelkova et al, 2011). Using both qualitative and quantitative data to assess the expression of insertion morphology along long bone diaphyses, inferences are frequently made regarding both generalized and specific activities past humans participated in throughout their daily lives.…”

“…7), resulting from the TM boundary separating UF from penetrating CF (Benjamin et al, , 2006. Hawkey and Merbs (1995) fail to distinguish between tissue type in their ordinal ranking method of MSM expression. This is a fundamental flaw considering the histological and biomechanical differences between fibrous and fibrocartilaginous entheses noted above.…”

“…Anthropologists and clinicians often presume morphological variability of long bone entheses result from strenuous, habitual activity, where muscle contractions are frequently recruited for limb movement (Kennedy, 1983;Hawkey, 1988;Lai and Lovell, 1992;Hawkey and Merbs, 1995;Chapman, 1997;Nagy, 1998;Peterson, 1998;Steen and Lane, 1998;Stirland, 1998;Cook and Dougherty, 2001;Benjamin et al, 2002Benjamin et al, , 2006Eshed et al, 2004). However, the relationship between soft and hard tissues, and its effect on enthesis morphology, lacks sufficient scientific testing.…”

“…Similar to bone remodeling thresholds, age has been shown to compound the concerns associated with uncovering enthesis etiology (Hawkey and Merbs, 1995;Weiss, 2003;Zumwalt, 2006). If normal daily activity falls within an individual's predetermined remodeling threshold, thus serving to maintain bone's mechanical competence, then the degree of insertion site development may be more indicative of periosteal degradation following regular stress accumulated over one's lifetime via normal long bone movement, rather than elevated strains generated through physically taxing exercises.…”

“…On the basis of the findings of Chamay and Tschantz (1972) and Woo et al (1981), many anthropologists propose that repetitive muscular activity strengthens the tendon-anchoring mechanism as bone cell proliferation increases via capillary expansion, stimulating periosteal modeling and remodeling activity (Torg et al, 1972;Hawkey and Merbs, 1995;Zumwalt, 2006). Weiss (2003Weiss ( , 2004Weiss ( , 2007 has found statistically significant correlations between the robusticity, geometrical properties, and MSMs of long bones, suggesting that tendon insertion development is at least partially dependent on mechanical influences, since it is well established that cross-sectional structure is indicative of such a relationship (Larsen and Ruff, 1990;Ruff et al, 2006).…”