Human Evolution

, Volume 9, Issue 3, pp 215–229 | Cite as

Skeletal signs of activity in the Italian metal ages: Methodological and interpretative notes

  • J. Robb
Article
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Accepted:

Abstract

In recent years anthropologists have made much progress in understanding ancient activities from skeletal remains. In this paper, material from the Iron Age cemetery at Pontecagnano (VII-IV century BC) is used to illustrate activity-related traits of eight basic categories:
  1. (1)

    idiosyncratic patterns of dental wear

     
  2. (2)

    activity-related articular degeneration

     
  3. (3)

    non-pathological functional alterations (neoformations, contact facets)

     
  4. (4)

    mechanical remodelling of bone architecture

     
  5. (5)

    enthesopathies (muscular lesions)

     
  6. (6)

    traumatic lesions

     
  7. (7)

    activity-related pathologies

     
  8. (8)

    activity-related nutritional characteristics

     

These traits, and others, can be used not only singly but in conjunction to define (a) patterns of activity and occupational specialization for individuals, and (b) distributions within society reflecting the basic division of labor by geneder and class.

Skeletal evidence can confirm and amplify information from historical sources, and for prehistoric societies it may furnish a new and important source of information. In the final section, skeletal evidence is discussed for an important problem in paleoethnology, the reise of intensified pastoralism in the 3rd—1st millennia BC. Pastoralism should be represented skeletally by traits associated with high mobility (muscularity, arthritis, leg bone architecture, nonpathological modifications of the knee and ankle) and by features associated with nutrition (trace elements and stable isotopes showing high meat and dairy consumption, lower caries and dental wear, less weaning stress as milk products were more widely available).

Key words

Skeletal Signs of Activity Pastorilism Iron Age Pontecagnano 
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Copyright information

© International Institute for the Study of Man 1994

Authors and Affiliations

  • J. Robb
    • 1
  1. 1.Museum of AnthropologyUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborUSA

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