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Objectives: The identification and interpretation of skeletal trauma is an important topic in osteoarchaeology, forensic anthropology and palaeosciences. Trauma analysis is a fast‐moving sub‐discipline with constantly evolving methodological approaches. This paper describes the process of a particular form of fracturing that propagates specifically from the floor of cut marks and proposes new terminology for this subset of fractures. Materials and Methods: This terminological gap was identified during the re‐examination of remains from a minimum of 52 decapitated individuals (52 post‐cranial and 47 cranial remains) found in a mass grave from the 10th–11th century CE on Ridgeway Hill near Weymouth in Dorset (UK) in 2009. Originally analyzed by Oxford Archaeology Ltd., all individuals in this collection were re‐appraised using digital technology to test new techniques for this study. Results: During this investigation, it has become apparent that the length of chop marks can be overestimated during some conventional analysis because the chop transitions into a fracture propagating from the floor of the chop mark. Discussion: To increase awareness of these fractures, the term residual energy dispersal (RED) fractures is proposed as these are distinct from other radiating fractures arising from sharp‐blunt‐force trauma. The ability to distinguish RED fractures from others has the potential to contribute to the identification of previously unidentified chop marks and to the interpretation of events surrounding an injury. Research Highlights: The term "Residual Energy Dispersal" (RED) fracturing is proposed for fractures propagating from the base of a cut mark in sharp‐force or sharp‐blunt‐force trauma analysis.These fractures can make chop marks look longer than they truly are and therefore they can impact the interpretation of the events that caused the trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recurring observation in the literature is that females tend to be less represented than males in osteological collections. How can we explain such observations? Do female skeletons preserve less well than their male counterparts? In this study, 200 skeletons from the Collezione Antropologica LABANOF (CAL), equally divided between sexes, were selected from four archaeological sites of Milan, representing a continuum of about 2000 years. The state of preservation was analyzed according to three criteria: quantity, quality, and integrity. Linear model and ANOVA statistical analyses were performed using R software. As a result, females tend to be less complete than males, regardless of age-at-death or post-mortem interval (PMI). Preservation also showed lower values as PMI increased, except for the medieval sample, which may be explained by soil taphonomy and/or general poor bone health. This is one of the few studies to demonstrate a differential skeletal preservation between sexes, supporting bone mineral density as a major factor of bone survival. Further studies may strengthen our results and confirm the trends observed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to study intragroup variation inside the two pre-Columbian Cuban populations: the aceramic Archaic and the ceramic Taino groups, based on their cranial morphology. The latter applied artificial cranial deformation to all its members, so the groups are referred to as "non-deformed" and "deformed" samples here. Studies across different disciplines suggest evidence of cultural and biological diversity inside the non-deformed group, while local variations of applying the deforming device can be responsible for shape variation across the deformed group. Cranial metrics and non-metric cranial traits of the 92 crania of Cuban origin were analyzed, although the sample size varied between the analyses due to the incompleteness of the crania. Geometric morphometrics was applied to the deformed crania to study the shape variation across the sample. Three deformed crania from the Dominican Republic were analyzed together with the deformed Cuban sample to test the variability of the practice between the islands. Principal component analysis and the Mantel test did not reveal any geographic differences in the cranial metric traits. No morphological differences associated with the antiquity of materials could be seen either based on the available data. The principal component analysis of the Procrustes coordinates of the cranial vault outline in the lateral norm revealed continuous variability of cranial shapes from the ones with more flattened frontal and occipital bones to the more curved outlines, which is probably explained by individual variation. Non-metric traits variation revealed bilateral asymmetry in the expression of the occipito-mastoidal ossicles among the deformed crania. In conclusion, the study did not support assumptions about morphological diversity inside the studied samples or proved the impossibility of available craniological data to reflect possible intragroup differentiation at the moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The skeletal remains of the alleged Italian Saint Nazarius (1st or 3rd century AD) were examined by a team of anthropologists of the University of Milan upon request from ecclesiastical authorities who sought scientific verification of their authenticity and to add tangible information on the life of the saint. Anthropological analyses were performed for the construction of the biological profile as well as pathological and traumatic analysis and were later compared with historical and hagiographic documentation. In addition, biological sampling of one bone sample was performed for radiocarbon dating. As a result, the osteobiography of the skeletal remains showed a concordance with the available historical data, thus supporting their authenticity and permitted the implementation of further information on the lives of the alleged saint. Furthermore, interesting anatomical 'mistakes' in the postmortem assemblage of the facial bones by the fossores, a guild of gravediggers, morticians and keepers of the Christian catacombs, were noted. This paper discusses the relation between science and religious heritage by demonstrating through a concrete case study the contribution of anthropology in a mutually beneficial collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the elaboration of a new Interuniversity Postgraduate Programme, leading to a Master's degree that started in Greece in September 2017. The School of Medicine of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the School of History and Ethnology of the Democritus University of Thrace organized the programme, the first Postgraduate Programme in Greece involving History of Medicine and, at the same time, the first also involving Biological Anthropology. We present the scope of the Programme, along with the courses taught, the members of the faculty involved, and the methodology used. The first year proved that there is great interest in our field, despite the deficient financial status of the country. Students from diverse backgrounds (medical school graduates, graduates from Humanities' background, from Social Anthropology background and others) were interested and are currently enrolled in this Programme, which ranks among the top 5 of the Postgraduate programmes of the Medical School, in terms of enrollments. Faculty members include professors not only from the two cooperating universities: a currently ongoing attempt to establish a collaboration with almost all Greek professors teaching the History of Medicine and Biological Anthropology, no matter the university of origin. We report various difficulties that we still face but the enthusiasm of the students and Professors participating empowers us to go ahead and improve the quality of the education provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The absence or poor preservation of vertebrae often prevent the application of the anatomical method for stature estimation. The main objective of this paper was to develop a web app based on artificial neural network (ANN) models to estimate the vertebral height of absent or poorly preserved vertebrae from other vertebrae and thus enable the application of anatomical methods. Artificial neural models were developed based on the vertebral height of vertebrae C2 to S1 of a sample composed of 56 adult male and 69 adult female individuals. The skeletons belong to the Identified Skeletal Collection of the University of Coimbra and the ages at death of these individuals ranged from 22 to 58 years old. Statistical analysis and algorithmic development were performed with the R language, R Core Team (2018). Intra- and inter-observer errors regarding the vertebral height were small for all vertebrae (<0.45 mm). Significant models to estimate vertebral height were obtained for both sexes and for the sex-pooled group, although none with an R2 higher than 0.48 and 0.34 for the C2 and the S1, respectively. The root mean square error (RMSE) regarding the predicted vertebral height and the observed vertebral height was almost always smaller than 1.0 mm while most R2 values were higher than 0.6 although models with worse performances were obtained for some vertebrae located at the ends of the vertebral column (C3, L4, and L5). The ANN models have clear potential to predict vertebral height. This mathematical approach may be used to enable the application of the anatomical method for stature estimation when some vertebrae are absent or poorly preserved. The application of the ANN models can be carried out by using the new web based app SPINNE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human footprints provide some of the most publically emotive and tangible evidence of our ancestors. To the scientific community they provide evidence of stature, presence, behaviour and in the case of early hominins potential evidence with respect to the evolution of gait. While rare in the geological record the number of footprint sites has increased in recent years along with the analytical tools available for their study. Many of these sites are at risk from rapid erosion, including the Ileret footprints in northern Kenya which are second only in age to those at Laetoli (Tanzania). Unlithified, soft-sediment footprint sites such these pose a significant geoconservation challenge. In the first part of this paper conservation and preservation options are explored leading to the conclusion that to ‘record and digitally rescue’ provides the only viable approach. Key to such strategies is the increasing availability of three-dimensional data capture either via optical laser scanning and/or digital photogrammetry. Within the discipline there is a developing schism between those that favour one approach over the other and a requirement from geoconservationists and the scientific community for some form of objective appraisal of these alternatives is necessary. Consequently in the second part of this paper we evaluate these alternative approaches and the role they can play in a ‘record and digitally rescue’ conservation strategy. Using modern footprint data, digital models created via optical laser scanning are compared to those generated by state-of-the-art photogrammetry. Both methods give comparable although subtly different results. This data is evaluated alongside a review of field deployment issues to provide guidance to the community with respect to the factors which need to be considered in digital conservation of human/hominin footprints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warping has been used to determine the pre-burning condition of human skeletal remains. In the literature, this modification has been associated more often with the burning of fleshed and green bones, but it also arises during the burning of dry bones. The objective of this paper was to assess if bone collagen content has a significant effect on the occurrence of warping in a sample of experimentally burned human bones. The presence of collagen was analyzed in two different samples through a vibrational spectroscopy technology-FTIR. One of them was composed of 40 archeological bones from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries ad. The other one was composed of bones from 14 skeletons belonging to the 21st century identified skeletal collection. The results confirmed that the amide I band assigned to the collagen was much more intense in bones presenting heat-induced warping. Nonetheless, although significant ( p = 0.040), the collagen content was not as useful as other variables to the regression model we proposed for explaining warping. Factors such as the maximum temperature ( p < 0.001) and burning time ( p = 0.001) contributed more significantly. Results demonstrated that the mere preservation of collagen is not enough to explain warping. Burning dynamics seem to have an important role as well although we failed to clearly document its specificities. Other factors such as the asymmetric distribution of collagen and other components within bone, the gravity force, the shape of the bone, and the position in which it is burned may also play an important role on heat-induced changes and require further analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extrpolation of the Evo-Devo perspective in the cognitive sciences realm is promising but at the same time it can carry some interesting epistemic problems. Such considerations are engaged with the different type of explanation or conceptualization of causality in the hierarchichal systems of Evo-Devo, vis-à-vis the typical explanations of characteristic hierarchichal systems of cognitive sciences. Frans de Waal and Pier F. Ferrari had established a bottom-up hypothesis for explaining the imitative behaviors of primates during affective interactions. From this point of view, they suggest that "deep homology" a concept from Evo-Devo can be used to analyze the most inferior hierarchichal levels that underlie the functioning of mirror neurons. In accordance with my analysis, the model proposed by the authors do not satisfactorily calrify if the mirror neurons of different primate species share a set of common genetic-embriologic determinants, a mandatorily condition for a valid use of the concept of deep homology. Due to the possibility that different regulatory networks could give place to sets of mirror neurons with similar functional properties, it would be frail to establish that behavioral capabilities, which are in fact functional properties, depend on a straightforward anatomical and functional implementation in primates. From a historical and epistemological analysis of the concept of homology I revise the previous hypothesis and propose some relevant aspects for its assessment. I close this paper with a commentary on the broad epistemic landscape in which this interesting hypothesis is framed, the bioanthropological discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the integration of human genetics with Soviet public health science after the Lysenko era. For nearly three decades, USSR biology pursued its own version of anti-bourgeois, Soviet ‘creative Darwinism’, departing from western, post-WWII scientific developments. After Lysenko was suspended, research niches of immunology, biophysics and mutation research formed the basis of new departments at the Institute of Medical Genetics, which was founded in 1969 as part of the Soviet Academy of Medical Sciences. Focussing on early research activities and collaborations at the institute, I show how the concept of mutagenesis, a pivotal issue during the Cold War, became mobilized from Drosophila genetics to human heredity and to society as a whole. This mode of scaling up and down through population studies shaped not only Soviet human biology and genetics; it also brought about changes in clinical practice and public health as well as in the monitoring and regulation of mutagenic agents in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer, one of the world’s leading causes of death today, remains almost absent relative to other pathological conditions, in the archaeological record, giving rise to the conclusion that the disease is mainly a product of modern living and increased longevity. This paper presents a male, young-adult individual from the archaeological site of Amara West in northern Sudan (c. 1200BC) displaying multiple, mainly osteolytic, lesions on the vertebrae, ribs, sternum, clavicles, scapulae, pelvis, and humeral and femoral heads. Following radiographic, microscopic and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) imaging of the lesions, and a consideration of differential diagnoses, a diagnosis of metastatic carcinoma secondary to an unknown soft tissue cancer is suggested. This represents the earliest complete example in the world of a human who suffered metastatic cancer to date. The study further draws its strength from modern analytical techniques applied to differential diagnoses and the fact that it is firmly rooted within a well-documented archaeological and historical context, thus providing new insights into the history and antiquity of the disease as well as its underlying causes and progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant tumor of bone usually occurring in young adolescent and children. This disease has a poor prognosis, because of the metastases in the period of tumor progression, which are usually developed previous to the clinical diagnosis. In this paper, a 2000-year-old ancient bone remain with osteogenic sarcoma was analyzed searching for tumor biomarkers which are closely related to this disease. After a specific extraction SDS-PAGE gel electrophoresis followed by tryptic digestion was performed. After the digestion the samples were measured using MALDI TOF/TOF MS. Healthy bone samples from same archaeological site were used as control samples. Our results show that in the pathological skeletal remain several well known tumor biomarkers are detected such as annexin A10, BCL-2-like protein, calgizzarin, rho GTPase-activating protein 7, HSP beta-6 protein, transferrin and vimentin compared to the control samples. The identified protein biomarkers can be useful in the discovery of malignant bone lesions such as osteosarcoma in the very early stage of the disease from paleoanthropological remains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The worldwide spread of a novel influenza A (H1N1) virus in 2009 showed that influenza remains a significant health threat, even for individuals in the prime of life. This paper focuses on the unusually high young adult mortality observed during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. Using historical records from Canada and the U.S., we report a peak of mortality at the exact age of 28 during the pandemic and argue that this increased mortality resulted from an early life exposure to influenza during the previous Russian flu pandemic of 1889–90. We posit that in specific instances, development of immunological memory to an influenza virus strain in early life may lead to a dysregulated immune response to antigenically novel strains encountered in later life, thereby increasing the risk of death. Exposure during critical periods of development could also create holes in the T cell repertoire and impair fetal maturation in general, thereby increasing mortality from infectious diseases later in life. Knowledge of the age-pattern of susceptibility to mortality from influenza could improve crisis management during future influenza pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first objective of this study is to examine temporal patterns in ancient dog burials in the Lake Baikal region of Eastern Siberia. The second objective is to determine if the practice of dog burial here can be correlated with patterns in human subsistence practices, in particular a reliance on terrestrial mammals. Direct radiocarbon dating of a suite of the region’s dog remains indicates that these animals were given burial only during periods in which human burials were common. Dog burials of any kind were most common during the Early Neolithic (∼7–8000 B.P.), and rare during all other time periods. Further, only foraging groups seem to have buried canids in this region, as pastoralist habitation sites and cemeteries generally lack dog interments, with the exception of sacrificed animals. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data indicate that dogs were only buried where and when human diets were relatively rich in aquatic foods, which here most likely included river and lake fish and Baikal seal (Phoca sibirica). Generally, human and dog diets appear to have been similar across the study subregions, and this is important for interpreting their radiocarbon dates, and comparing them to those obtained on the region’s human remains, both of which likely carry a freshwater old carbon bias. Slight offsets were observed in the isotope values of dogs and humans in our samples, particularly where both have diets rich in aquatic fauna. This may result from dietary differences between people and their dogs, perhaps due to consuming fish of different sizes, or even different tissues from the same aquatic fauna. This paper also provides a first glimpse of the DNA of ancient canids in Northeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]