Working in the City: An Historical Bioarchaeology of Activity in Urban New Spain

Wesp, Julie K.

doi:10.1007/s41636-019-00223-6

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Furthermore, it is common and widely accepted in bioarchaeological cross‐sectional geometry studies to use known biocultural variables such as age and sex as explanatory variables because it is well‐documented that they can influence bone robusticity and morphology (e.g., Holt et al, 2018; Macintosh et al, 2014; Miller et al, 2018). However, we did not find clear patterns along lines of sex‐gender in our medieval sample, and instead we found smaller groupings within and across biological sex groups—a trend that has been observed in colonial Mexico City as well (see Wesp, 2020).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 62%

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

Kinkopf

Giuffra

Minozzi

et al. 2022

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

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Objectives: Our objective was to identify the relationship between biocultural factors of sex-gender and age and patterns of femoral cross-sectional geometry with historical evidence about labor and activity from an archeological skeletal sample excavated from the rural Medieval site Pieve di Pava. Materials and Methods:The study site, Pieve di Pava, was a rural parish cemetery in Tuscany with osteoarcheological remains from the 7th to 12th centuries. Crosssectional geometric analysis of femora from 110 individuals dated to the 10th-12th centuries were used to examine trends in bone quantity, shape, and bending strength between age and sex groups, as well as in clusters identified through Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA).Results: Overall, our study sample showed remarkable heterogeneity and our cluster analysis revealed a complex underlying structure, indicating that divisions of labor did not follow a strict gender binary in our sample. We found high levels of bilateral asymmetry in our sample in multiple cross-sectional areas for a significant proportion of the population. We found minimal differences between age groups or sex.Discussion: Our results suggest that males and females had varied experiences of labor and work during their lives that did not reflect the strict binary gender roles sometimes documented for medieval Europe. One important axis of difference is the direction and magnitude of bilateral asymmetry observed in our femur sample, which is associated with divergent trends in section moduli and bone area measures.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 62%

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

Kinkopf

Giuffra

Minozzi

et al. 2022

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

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“…Similarly, cross‐sectional geometry analysis of individuals in the HSJN collection found that old adult individuals had a greater subperiosteal total area than young adults and middle adults, though the cortical bone area was significantly less in old adulthood (Wesp, 2014). These data further suggest that biomechanical stress from activity continued to impact individuals in old adulthood, yet it did not protect them from cortical bone loss (Wesp, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Cortical bone maintenance and loss in Colonial Mexico City: Analysis of sex‐ and age‐related differences

Wesp

López

2022

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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Previous research has demonstrated significant age‐ and sex‐related differences in bone loss in European populations. This study utilizes metacarpal radiogrammetry to analyze cortical bone thickness and bone loss for a sample of indigenous individuals (n = 120) from the Hospital Real San José de los Naturales (HSJN) skeletal collection in Colonial Mexico City. The results indicate statistically significant differences between males and females in total length, total width, and cortical thickness, but no difference in the standardized cortical index measure. There are significant differences in age groups for all measures except total length and the population follows a similar pattern of decreased cortical index over the life course. When age and sex are considered together, females begin this bone loss from young to middle adulthood with continued loss in old adulthood; however, males do not see a decrease in cortical index until old adulthood. While these results are consistent with previously reported patterns of bone loss, the HSJN population has higher levels of peak cortical bone in young adulthood than any archeological European populations. We suggest that this increased peak bone mass may reflect differences in diet that include higher levels of calcium and magnesium as a result of the traditional practice of softening corn by boiling it in limewater (nixtamalization). Similarly, a small sample of African descendant individuals (n = 5) from the HSJN population was compared with the averages for indigenous individuals in the collection and indicated a variation in bone size, though predominantly higher levels of cortical index that may also suggest important population differences that should be further explored. This research provides important comparative data on bone maintenance and loss that supports previous hypotheses that a higher nutrient diet in modern populations may be the key factor in increased peak bone mass compared with archeological populations.

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“…In more recent years, the expansion of bioarchaeological investigations across the Caribbean (e.g., Crain 2005; Crespo and Muñoz Guevara 2009; Laffoon et al 2013, 2018) and Latin America (e.g., Beust and Lessa 2020; Pereira 2007; Smith-Guzmán et al 2020; Tiesler et al 2010; Wesp 2020) has opened additional pathways for exploring childhood experiences of captivity across different geographic and cultural contexts. For example, like the New York African Burial Ground project, bioarchaeological and historical research in Campeche, Mexico, has suggested that the specific status of enslaved peoples of African descent within the colonial casta (caste) system likely played a key role in shaping their living conditions and health outcomes in Spanish colonial society and that this differentiation began as early as childhood (Tiesler et al 2010).…”

Section: A Child-centered Study Of Captivity?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood in Captivity: Bioarchaeological Evidence from a Late Colonial Sugar Plantation in Central Peru

Maass¹

2022

Latin Am. antiq.

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Children and childhood have emerged as important topics for understanding the history of African slavery in the Americas. In historical archaeology, analyses of subadult skeletal remains have provided valuable information about the biological and social conditions of captivity, yet children are infrequently the primary subjects of study in African diaspora bioarchaeology. Recent bioarchaeological research at Hacienda La Quebrada, a late colonial sugar plantation in central Peru, brings new data to bear on these subjects. Excavations at the cemetery for the plantation's enslaved African and Afro-descendant population recovered 158 subadults ranging from newborns to 20 years old, who represented 64% of the burial sample. Paleodemographic data and skeletal indicators of stress indicate that enslaved children were disproportionately affected by the conditions of life at Hacienda La Quebrada, particularly because of insufficient diets and susceptibility to infection and disease. Although these results are specific to the context of plantation slavery in Peru's coastal sugar economy, they contribute new information about the history of African slavery in Peru and about the study of childhood in conditions of captivity and colonialism in the Spanish Americas more broadly.

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Working in the City: An Historical Bioarchaeology of Activity in Urban New Spain

Cited by 8 publications

References 34 publications

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

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

Cortical bone maintenance and loss in Colonial Mexico City: Analysis of sex‐ and age‐related differences

Childhood in Captivity: Bioarchaeological Evidence from a Late Colonial Sugar Plantation in Central Peru

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