Cases of endocranial lesions on juvenile skeletons from Longshan cultural sites in Henan Province, China

Sun, Lei; Pechenkina, Kate; Cao, Yanpeng; Hai, Zhang; Xue-yi, QI

doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2019.06.001

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Paleopathological diagnosis of TB principally relies on the identification of macroscopic lesions in the human skeleton that have been found to be related to different manifestations of the disease (e.g., skeletal TB, pulmonary TB and/or TB pleurisy, and TB meningitis (TBM)) through clinical study [20][21]. Since the late 20 th century, a number of studies [e.g., 19,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] were performed on osteoarchaeological series and documented skeletal collections that have revealed a positive association between TBM and a few endocranial alteration types, i.e., granular impressions (GIs), abnormally pronounced digital impressions (APDIs), abnormal blood vessel impressions (ABVIs), and periosteal appositions (PAs).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking down the White Plague. Chapter two: The role of endocranial abnormal blood vessel impressions and periosteal appositions in the paleopathological diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis

et al. 2020

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Although endocranial abnormal blood vessel impressions (ABVIs) and periosteal appositions (PAs) have been considered as paleopathological diagnostic criteria for tuberculous meningitis (TBM) based on findings of previous studies, they are not pathognomonic for tuberculosis (TB). Therefore, their utilization in the paleopathological practice can be questioned, especially in consideration that most of the previous studies were not performed on identified skeletal collections but on osteoarchaeological material and did not include statistical data analysis. To fill the aforementioned research gap, for the first time, a macroscopic investigation was conducted on identified pre-antibiotic era skeletons from the Terry Collection. A sample set of 234 individuals who died of TB (TB group) and 193 individuals who died of non-tuberculous causes (NTB group) were examined. The frequency of ABVIs and PAs, as well as other probable TB-related lesions was recorded. To determine the significance of difference (if any) in the frequencies of ABVIs and PAs between the two groups, χ 2 testing of our data was performed. We found that ABVIs, PAs, and their co-occurrence with each other and with other probable TB-related lesions were more common in the TB group than in the NTB group. In addition, the χ 2 comparative frequencies of ABVIs and PAs revealed a statistically significant difference between individuals who died of TB and individuals who died of NTB causes. Our findings strengthen those of previous studies that ABVIs and PAs are not specific to TBM but can be of tuberculous origin. Therefore, they do have a diagnostic value in the identification of TB in human osteoarchaeological material, especially when they simultaneously occur with other probable TB-related lesions. Their prudent utilization provides paleopathologists with a stronger basis for diagnosing TB and consequently, a more sensitive means of assessing TB frequency in past human populations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking down the White Plague. Chapter two: The role of endocranial abnormal blood vessel impressions and periosteal appositions in the paleopathological diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis

et al. 2020

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“…Previous studies have mentioned their presence in medieval and early modern corpuses (Cooper et al, ; Somers, Cooper, & AlteraugeA, ), but they had so far gone unnoticed in the prehistoric paleopathological record of the country. Numerous reports involving Neolithic corpuses have however described them from the southern Levant coast (Hershkovitz et al, ), to Hungary (Masson et al, ), and as far as China (Sun et al, ), as well as in more recent archaeological samples (Köhler et al, ; Lovász et al, ; Minozzi, Catalano, Caldarini, & Fornaciari, ; Pósa et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Trauma is often mentioned as a differential diagnosis of SES (Lewis, ; Sun et al, ), in various forms including “shaken baby syndrome,” a traumatic birth/incident(s), or child abuse. A traumatic birth or being shaken repeatedly can cause small haemorrhages within the brains of children, potentially causing SES as subdural hematomas form and then resorb, leaving behind the serpentine imprint of the blood vessels (Lewis, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…SES are deep vascular impressions found on the endocranial surface of the cranium, resulting from local blood vessel proliferation, the result being areas of (often discoloured) bone with river‐delta‐like impressions (Hershkovitz et al, ). Although they are encountered relatively often in paleopathology, their significance for the health of a population is seldom discussed, despite the fact that their differential diagnosis includes pathologies such as trauma, shaken baby syndrome, meningitis, tuberculosis, or severe metabolic problems (Hershkovitz et al, ; Lewis, ; Sun, Pechenkina, Cao, Zhang, & Qi, ). Their sole presence on an individual's remains does not point to a precise diagnosis, but we do have enough literature to argue that their observation is meaningful in defining the state of health of a population, when all other lesions presented by said population are taken into account.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cases of serpens endocrania symmetrica in young individuals from Neolithic Western Switzerland: Description and interpretation

Abegg

Dutour

Desideri

et al. 2020

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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Endocranial lesions known as serpens endocrania symmetrica (SES) appear relatively frequently in the paleopathological record, but their significance often goes undiscussed. For the past decade, however, research has proved conclusively that their presence is an indicator of illnesses within the corpus. As such, cases found in the archaeological record can provide clues as to the kinds of diseases that prehistoric populations endured. We report four cases of young individuals from Neolithic Western Switzerland bearing SES on their craniums and discuss the implications of such findings in terms of the paleopathological profile of these populations. The following article provides documentation for each case as well as a differential diagnosis including tuberculosis, meningitis, trauma, and metabolic conditions such as scurvy. These four individuals represent the oldest cases of such lesions described for this region.

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“…Of them, three individuals (M310, M311, M313) are juveniles. M312 was identified as a young male of around 20 years on osteological features (Figures 2C-2E) (Sun et al, 2019). All four individuals were buried nearby the house foundations rather than in the public cemetery, and this type of burial pattern is common in many Longshan societies in the Central Plain area of China (Underhill, 2000;Yang and Xu, 1985;Major and Cook, 2016;Carr, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Ancient genome analyses shed light on kinship organization and mating practice of Late Neolithic society in China

et al. 2021

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Anthropology began in the late nineteenth century with an emphasis on kinship as a key factor in human evolution. From the 1960s, archaeologists attempted increasingly sophisticated ways of reconstructing prehistoric kinship but ancient DNA analysis has transformed the field, making it possible, to directly examine kin relations from human skeletal remains. Here, we retrieved genomic data from four Late Neolithic individuals in central China associated with the Late Neolithic Longshan culture. We provide direct evidence of consanguineous mating in ancient China, revealing inbreeding among the Longshan populations. By combining ancient genomic data with anthropological and archaeological evidence, we further show that Longshan society household was built based on the extended beyond the nuclear family, coinciding with intensified social complexity during the Longshan period, perhaps showing the transformation of large communities through a new role of genetic kinship-based extended family units.

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Cases of endocranial lesions on juvenile skeletons from Longshan cultural sites in Henan Province, China

Cited by 7 publications

References 56 publications

Tracking down the White Plague. Chapter two: The role of endocranial abnormal blood vessel impressions and periosteal appositions in the paleopathological diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis

Tracking down the White Plague. Chapter two: The role of endocranial abnormal blood vessel impressions and periosteal appositions in the paleopathological diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis

Cases of serpens endocrania symmetrica in young individuals from Neolithic Western Switzerland: Description and interpretation

Ancient genome analyses shed light on kinship organization and mating practice of Late Neolithic society in China

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