Birth is but our death begun: A bioarchaeological assessment of skeletal emaciation in immature human skeletons in the context of environmental, social, and subsistence transition

Abstract

The second millennium BC was a period of significant social and environmental changes in prehistoric India. After the disintegration of the Indus civilization, in a phase known as the Early Jorwe (1400-1000 BC), hundreds of agrarian villages flourished in the Deccan region of west-central India. Environmental degradation, combined with unsustainable agricultural practices, contributed to the abandonment of many communities around 1000 BC. Inamgaon was one of a handful of villages to persist into the Late Jorwe phase (1000-700 BC), wherein reliance on dry-plough agricultural production declined. Previous research demonstrated a significant decline in body size (stature and body mass index) through time, which is often used to infer increased levels of biocultural stress in bioarchaeology. This article assesses evidence for growth disruption in the immature human skeletal remains from Inamgaon by correlating measures of whole bone morphology with midshaft femur compact bone geometry and histology. Growth derangement is observable in immature archaeological femora as an alteration in the expected amount and distribution of bone mass and porosity in the midshaft cross-section. Cross-section shape matched expectations for older infants with the acquisition of bipedal locomotion. These results support the hypothesis that small body size was related to disruptions in homeostasis and high levels of biocultural stress in the Late Jorwe at Inamgaon. Further, the combined use of geometric properties and histological details provides a method for teasing apart the complex interactions among activity and "health," demonstrating how biocultural stressors affect the acquisition and quality of bone mass.

Bone morphologies and histories: Life course approaches in bioarchaeology

“…The authors found that immature femora show alteration in cross‐sectional bone shape that is consistent with the acquisition of locomotor behavior, as indicated by previous studies of ontogenetic changes noted earlier (Schug and Goldman, ). However, children during the first 10 years of life with low BMI, also show reduced compact bone mass consistent with a significant increase in cortical bone porosity (Schug and Goldman, ).…”

“…The authors suggest that biomechanical strain may still have been sufficient in the early Neolithic despite systemic stress affecting growth (Temple et al, ). A study by Schug and Goldman () also attempted to examine midshaft femoral bone morphology along with another indicator of bone turnover in the study of stress in a second millennium BC prehistoric sample of immature skeletons from India. The authors found that immature femora show alteration in cross‐sectional bone shape that is consistent with the acquisition of locomotor behavior, as indicated by previous studies of ontogenetic changes noted earlier (Schug and Goldman, ).…”

“…A study by Schug and Goldman () also attempted to examine midshaft femoral bone morphology along with another indicator of bone turnover in the study of stress in a second millennium BC prehistoric sample of immature skeletons from India. The authors found that immature femora show alteration in cross‐sectional bone shape that is consistent with the acquisition of locomotor behavior, as indicated by previous studies of ontogenetic changes noted earlier (Schug and Goldman, ). However, children during the first 10 years of life with low BMI, also show reduced compact bone mass consistent with a significant increase in cortical bone porosity (Schug and Goldman, ).…”

“…Such studies are important in demonstrating the complex interplay of systemic and mechanical influences on bone strength, morphology and quality over the life course. In the study of children from the prehistoric village of Inamgaon, India the extreme effects of wasting and poor health on bone growth and metabolism could have had long term effects on adult bone morphology and health as suggested by life course theories in epidemiology discussed earlier (Schug and Goldman, ). Bioarchaeological studies that have examined bone remodeling and aging are also relevant to the study of plasticity in adult bone morphology.…”

The use of non‐adult vertebral dimensions as indicators of growth disruption and non‐specific health stress in skeletal populations

“…However, a recent call to revitalize the way in which we interpret “health” and “stress” suggests that we should seek to implement a more comprehensive approach, and potentially pursue new avenues of research (Klaus, 2014; Temple and Goodman, 2014). While previous growth studies have relied on long bone length, more recently, other skeletal parameters such as cortical thickness, or compact bone geometry and histology, have provided fruitful new avenues for investigation (Mays et al, 2009; Robbins and Goldman, 2014). This study aims to add to this developing corpus by introducing non‐adult vertebral dimensions as a new method of detecting growth disruption in past populations.…”