Stature at Tikal, Guatemala: Implications for Ancient Maya Demography and Social Organization

Haviland, William A.

doi:10.2307/2694660

Cited by 120 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 6 publications

(2 reference statements)

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“…Adult stature reflects, among other things, exposure to chronic stress during development (Haviland, 1967;Powell, 1988;Steckel, 1995;Roberts and Manchester, 2005). Children who are malnourished or fighting infection and disease must expend energy resources toward basic tissue maintenance and the immune response, diverting energy from growth and development to these essential metabolic functions.…”

Section: Pathological Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The association between periodontal disease and periosteal lesions in the St. Mary Graces cemetery, London, England A.D. 1350-1538

DeWitte

Bekvalac

2011

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

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Numerous studies have demonstrated significant associations between periodontal disease and many other diseases in living populations, and some studies have shown that individuals with periodontal disease are at elevated risks of mortality. Recent analysis of a medieval skeletal sample from London has also shown that periodontal disease was associated with increased risks of mortality in the past. This study examines whether periodontal disease is associated with periosteal lesions in a skeletal sample from the urban St. Mary Graces cemetery (n = 265) from medieval London. The results reveal a significant association between periodontal disease and periosteal lesions in the St. Mary Graces sample (i.e., individuals with periodontal disease were also likely to have periosteal lesions), and the association between the two is independent of age. The association between the two pathological conditions might reflect underlying reduced immune competence and thus heightened susceptibility to pathogens that cause periodontal disease or periosteal lesions, exposure to an environmental factor, or underlying heightened inflammatory responses.

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Section: Pathological Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The association between periodontal disease and periosteal lesions in the St. Mary Graces cemetery, London, England A.D. 1350-1538

DeWitte

Bekvalac

2011

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

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“…A number of studies have suggested that prehistoric and historic elites were taller, better fed, or healthier than their poorer compatriots (Angel, 1984;Borgognini Tarli et al, 1992;Cohen, 1989;Hatch and Willey, 1974;Haviland, 1967;Rose, 1985;Schoeninger, 1979). However, other studies have shown that elites and commoners often did not differ skeletally (e.g., White et al, 1993;Wilkinson and Norelli, 1981).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Social “status” and biological “status”: A comparison of grave goods and skeletal indicators from Pontecagnano

Robb

Bigazzi

Lazzarini

et al. 2001

American J Phys Anthropol

119

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Comparison of funerary treatment and skeletal biology can be very informative about the interplay of social status and meanings and actual life conditions in ancient communities, but such comparison is rarely done, due in part to the disciplinary separation of bioanthropology and social archaeology in many archaeological traditions. In this paper, we analyze relations between skeletal pathologies and grave goods in a sample of 94 individuals from Pontecagnano (Salerno, Italy, seventh-third centuries BC). The results show that the relationship between health, activity, and social status as expressed in grave goods was complex. Some biological indicators considered typical of "stress" or biological status (enamel hypoplasia, cribra orbitalia, adult stature) bore no relation to social status. Other indicators, particularly those of activity and stress in adult life (trauma, Schmorl's nodes, periostitis), covaried with grave assemblage and help to outline a possible division of labor. As this analysis shows, when skeletal and archaeological data are used in conjunction, the result is a deeper picture of the social and economic life of the community than can be obtained from either source.

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“…Statures were estimated from the reported long bone lengths from Zaculeu (Stewart, 1953) and from the Altar de Sacrificios (Saul, 1972) using the procedures of Genoves (1966Genoves ( ,1967 in the same manner as that used for the Oaxaca materials. The estimated statures for the Tikal sample (Haviland, 1967) (Saul, 1972). We grouped the materials from the Early, Late and Post Classic to more or less approximate the time interval of the Oaxaca Classic.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adult stature and age at menarche in Zapotec‐speaking communities in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, in a secular perspective

Malina

Selby

Buschang

et al. 1983

American J Phys Anthropol

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Adult stature and the age at menarche among individuals from Zapotec-speaking communities in the Valley of Oaxaca in southern Mexico are considered in a secular perspective. Four sets of observations are utilized: 1) adult stature in males and females from five rural communities; 2) age at menarche in adult women and school girls from a single rural community; 3) earlier studies of adult stature in the Valley of Oaxaca; and 4) estimated stature from long bones excavated in various archaeological sites in the Valley of Oaxaca. There were no significant differences among the five communities for stature; hence, the data were pooled for analysis and comparison. Results of linear regression of stature and stature adjusted for the estimated effects of aging after 30 years of age on year of birth indicate negligible secular changes in either sex. Comparisons with statures from earlier surveys, the earliest dates to 1899, also indicate negligible changes. When adult women are grouped according to age, there are no differences in mean ages at menarche between the older and younger women. Mean age at menarche for the total adult sample is 14.53 +/- 0.08 years, which compares favorably with the probit estimate for school girls, 14.70 +/- 0.32 years. These results thus suggest virtually no secular change in adult size and maturity of the Zapotec-speaking population in the Valley of Oaxaca over the past 80 years. Differences in stature between contemporary populations and estimated statures from long bones from several archaeological sites in Oaxaca are small, and thus suggests little secular change over the past one to two-thousand years.

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Stature at Tikal, Guatemala: Implications for Ancient Maya Demography and Social Organization

Cited by 120 publications

References 6 publications

The association between periodontal disease and periosteal lesions in the St. Mary Graces cemetery, London, England A.D. 1350-1538

The association between periodontal disease and periosteal lesions in the St. Mary Graces cemetery, London, England A.D. 1350-1538

Social “status” and biological “status”: A comparison of grave goods and skeletal indicators from Pontecagnano

Adult stature and age at menarche in Zapotec‐speaking communities in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, in a secular perspective

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