Bones of the past : determining activity patterns from skeletal remains : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

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Authors
Rindler, Ryan C.
Advisor
Hogue, S. Homes
Issue Date
2008
Keyword
Degree
Thesis (B.?.)
Department
Honors College
Other Identifiers
Abstract

As an individual walks, lifts, pushes, and generally moves throughout their lives various stresses are placed upon the skeleton. As a living material, bones react in specific ways to these forces. This process causes changes in the bone that can be seen long after death. Thus by examining these changes in archaeological skeletal remains bioarchaeologists can determine past activity patterns. This paper examines the various methods of doing this. It is divided into two parts. The first part of the paper reviews another project I completed for the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF REU) program in bioarchaeology during the summer of 2008. In this project a partner and I examined the prevalence of degenerative joint disease (DJD) in a skeletal sample from Bab edh-Dhra', a Bronze Age site in Jordan. We then compared our findings to many more sites from different geographical areas and times. I will not only review our findings in that project, but will also expand upon it in an attempt to find the cause behind differences in the prevalence of DJD between different skeletal sample. The second portion of the paper reviews other ways of determining activity patterns from bone and the many questions about culture they can answer.