Economic access influences degenerative spine disease outcomes at rural Late Medieval Villamagna (Lazio,IT)

Abstract

Objectives: Degenerative joint disease in the spine is heavily influenced by genetic, environmental, and epigenetic factors, as well as exacerbated by physical activity and injury. The objective of this study was to investigate the multivariate relationship between known predictors of degenerative joint disease in the spine, such as age and sex, with mortuary indicators of economic access such as grave inclusions, burial location, and burial type. Materials and Methods: The presence and severity of vertebral osteophytosis (VO) and vertebral osteoarthritis (VOA) was recorded for the vertebral columns of N = 106 adult individuals from the Late Medieval period at the rural monastery of San Pietro at Villamagna in Lazio, Italy (1300-1450 AD). Multiple skeletal indicators of degenerative joint disease, morphological sex, and age were compared with differences in mortuary treatment across four regions of the spine. Results: There are marked differences in severe joint disease outcome between groups with more and less economic access. Relative risk ratios suggest that males and females with less economic access have elevated risk for VO and VOA in specific spine regions, although this effect is reduced among females. Discussion: Current research on the consequences of economic and social inequality point to the important role of economic inequality in shaping disease outcomes. Our results suggest that biocultural effects of reduced economic access at the intraclass level may increase vulnerability to the downstream effects of risk exposure (e.g., biomechanical injure, physical activity, biochemical imbalance), and ultimately increase the risk and prevalence for severe degenerative disease outcomes in medieval Italy.

Contextualizing bilateral asymmetry and gender: A multivariate approach to femoral cross‐sectional geometry at rural Medieval Pieve di Pava, Italy

“…Gender‐based divisions of labor were not strict in rural contexts and women frequently supported men in agricultural activities in addition to performing domestic labor, such as laundry, pasta‐making, and other food preparation activities (Reyerson, 2013; Whittle, 2013). Sex and gender‐based differences in occupation, physical activity, and daily chores are documented in bioarchaeological studies of rural Medieval Europe (Dewitte, 2012; Kinkopf et al, 2021; Reitsema & Vercellotti, 2012; Smith et al, 2019; e.g., Sofaer Derevenski, 2000), although these studies show that differences are nuanced and context‐specific. Furthermore, rural medieval women are likely to have participated in domestic activities (Figure 2; such as, pasta making and cooking) and in agricultural activities (Figure 3; such as, planting, harvesting, threshing) based on historical and art historical evidence.…”

“…Many aspects of daily life experience in Medieval Europe were gendered, yet divisions of labor were not divided along a simple sexgender binary (e.g., Berner et al, 2017;Kinkopf et al, 2021;Sofaer Derevenski, 2000). Physical labor was an emergent and negotiated arrangement in rural households, and on a smaller scale there was more variation in daily tasks and seasonal work for women compared to men (Bennett, 1996;Bennett & Karras, 2013;Whittle, 2013).…”