Survivability or Mortality: Examining Health in a Medieval Population Using LEHs and Other Stress Indicators

Presenter: Madeline Anne Stuart

Faculty Sponsor: Brigitte Holt

School: UMass Amherst

Research Area: Anthropology

Session: Poster Session 4, 2:15 PM - 3:00 PM, 163, C25

ABSTRACT

The presence of Linear Enamel Hypoplasias (LEHs) in bioarchaeological remains has given researchers an indication of morbidity and mortality in past populations. Stress indicators like LEHs can appear due to nutritional deficiencies, periods of famine, infectious diseases, and other factors. Due to this correlation researchers have been able to connect LEH incidence to early age-at-death in past populations. However, some researchers have found no significant connection between presence of LEHs and earlier age-at-death. This conflicting evidence suggests that LEHs may not be an accurate indicator of health stress. Other stress indicators like periostitis, cribra orbitalia (CO), and porotic hyperostosis (PH) have also been used to assess morbidity and mortality in bioarchaeological research with positive results. In some cases, researchers have found a correlation between the aforementioned stress indicators and early mortality while finding no correlation between LEHs and early mortality. This may suggest that some stress indicators are more accurate at predicting early age-at-death than others. It also may indicate that a combination of stress indicators on a skeleton may contribute to early mortality more so than one stress indicator alone. Ultimately, this research seeks to evaluate the accuracy of LEHs and other stress indicators at predicting earlier age-at-death in a Medieval Italian population. Through this research a better understanding of health in the past can be attained.

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