Transverse (Harris) lines in irish archaeological remains

Abstract

Transverse lines were examined in 633 long bones from 73 individuals exhumed from two burial sites in the Republic of Ireland: Waterford City and Tintern Abbey. The burials cover four distinct periods between the 11th and 17th centuries. Lines were most numerous in the tibia, especially in the distal segment, and were not seen in the humerus nor the proximal part of the femur. The number of lines varied between the proximal and distal segments of each long bone, and though apparently equal in number across the midline, there were significant differences in the incidence of lines between corresponding pairs of bones. Thus, it is unwise to rely on the results of a single bone or one type of long bone alone either to indicate the health status of an individual, or as the basis for assessing the health status of a small population. Such results should be used only in association with other indicators.

A re‐evaluation of the impact of radiographic orientation on the identification and interpretation of Harris lines

“…The second round of scoring was conducted blind of the original counts three weeks after the primary scoring was complete. Asymmetry has been shown to be minimal when assessing Harris lines in the standard A–P view (Hughes et al, ); therefore, there was a need to validate this assumption for the M–L orientation with differences between the left and right side counts assessed. Following this, comparisons of the number of identified Harris lines between A–P and M–L views were assessed using paired samples t ‐tests.…”

“…To date, virtually no osteological studies have compared line visualization between the anterior–posterior (A–P) and medial–lateral (M–L) orientations, with the majority of studies focusing on the A–P orientation alone. In omitting this second orientation, however, researchers may effectively be impeding their ability to visualize all Harris lines (Garn et al, ; Garn and Braunstein, ; Hughes et al, ), leading to loss of data and therefore interpretive power.…”

New Equations for the Estimation of the Age of the Formation of the Harris Lines

“…Besides recording the presence and number of HLs, it is possible to estimate age at their formation [4], which may provide additional information on archeological populations [10,[18][19][20]. For example, Hughes et al [21] noted different distributions of age at HL formation in different age groups, and Jerszy ńska and Nowak [18] observed different distributions of HLs in males and females. However, the chronology of the HL formation is rarely calculated despite many available methods.…”

Experimental assessment of nutrition and bone growth's velocity effects on Harris lines formation

“…In marked contrast to traditional interpretations of HL, results obtained in a retrospective study indicate that HL are not associated with stress, but occur in tandem with periods of accelerated growth that preceded their formation (Magennis,1990). Other clinical and paleopathological studies show peaks in HL formation that correspond to the most accelerated periods of growth (Sontag and Comstock,1938; Caffey1950; Dreizen et al,1956,1964; Wells,1967; Hummert and Van Gerven,1985; Hughes et al,1996; Alfonso et al,2005; Ameen et al,2005). If Harris lines are not the inevitable consequence of health impairments or nutritional deprivation, their interpretation as stress markers in the reconstruction of health status is questionable.…”