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Dittmar JM, Inskip SA, Rose AK, Cessford C, Mitchell PD, O'Connell TC, Robb JE. Health inequality in medieval Cambridge, 1200-1500 CE. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2024:e24993. [PMID: 39180499 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2023] [Revised: 04/09/2024] [Accepted: 06/19/2024] [Indexed: 08/26/2024]
Abstract
Health inequality is not only a major problem today; it left its mark upon past societies too. For much of the past, health inequality has been poorly studied, mostly because bioarchaeologists have concentrated upon single sites rather than a broader social landscape. This article compares 476 adults in multiple locations of medieval Cambridge (UK). Samples include ordinary townspeople (All Saints), people living in a charitable institution (the Hospital of St. John), and members of a religious order (the Augustinian Friary). These groups shared many conditions of life, such as a similar range of diseases, risk of injury, and vertebral disk degeneration. However, people living on charity had more indicators of poor childhood health and diet, lower adult stature, and a younger age at death, reflecting the health effects of poverty. In contrast, the Augustinian friars were members of a prosperous, well-endowed religious house. Compared with other groups, they were taller (perhaps a result of a richer diet during their adolescent growth period); their adult carbon and nitrogen isotope values are higher, suggesting a diet higher in terrestrial and/or marine animal protein; and they had the highest prevalence of foot problems related to fashionable late medieval footwear. As this illustrates, health inequality will take particular forms depending upon the specificities of a social landscape; except in unusual circumstances where a site and its skeletal samples represent a real cross-section of society, inequality is best investigated by comparison across sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jenna M Dittmar
- Department of Anatomy, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, New Orleans, USA
| | - Sarah A Inskip
- School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
| | - Alice K Rose
- Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Craig Cessford
- Cambridge Archaeological Unit, University of Cambridge, UK
| | | | | | - John E Robb
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, UK
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2
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Zuckerman MK, Marklein KE, Austin RM, Hofman CA. Exercises in ethically engaged work in biological anthropology. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2024:e25015. [PMID: 39177071 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.25015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2024] [Revised: 07/10/2024] [Accepted: 07/31/2024] [Indexed: 08/24/2024]
Abstract
An ethical paradigm shift currently taking place within biological anthropology is pushing scholars to envisage and develop paths toward more ethical futures. Drawing from case studies in our own teaching, research, and fieldwork experience, we reflect on the complex, diverse, and dynamic nature of ethical considerations in our field. We discuss the acquisition and institutional narrative of a human osteological teaching collection at the University of Louisville as an embodiment of structural apathy turned structural violence, and the need for professional guidance in the potential retirement of deceased individuals from our classrooms. In documented collections (i.e., the Robert J. Terry Collection), we share our process and scholarly reemphasis of the humanity of a deceased individual through contextualized analysis (i.e., osteobiography and archival history) and postmortem agentive acts. Lastly, we present an archeological site in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which poses ethical concerns as biocultural bioarcheologists and archeologists attempt to negotiate the possible wishes of the deceased with the cultural value of reconstructing the community's otherwise undocumented past, all amidst the immediate threat of anthropogenic climate change. We offer these exercises and discussion in ethically engaged projects transparently and with an overarching admission that none are models for replication. Rather, at various stages in our careers and engagement with ethics, we acknowledge that progress is worthwhile, albeit challenging, and that proceeding forward collectively as biological anthropologists should be deliberate, reflexive, and compassionate for deceased individuals and their descendant communities, as well as among and between colleagues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Molly K Zuckerman
- Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures and Cobb Institute of Archaeology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi, USA
- The Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Kathryn E Marklein
- Department of Anthropology and the Center for Archaeological and Cultural Heritage, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
| | | | - Courtney A Hofman
- The Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
- Laboratories of Molecular Anthropology and Microbiome Research and the Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA
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3
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Agarwal SC. The disposability and inclusion of Brown bodies. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2024:e25003. [PMID: 39034490 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.25003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2024] [Revised: 06/16/2024] [Accepted: 07/09/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024]
Abstract
While there has been increased awareness of the ethics of curation, research, and teaching with human skeletal remains, there has been little recognition of the millions of skeletal remains from South Asia that were harvested illegally and/or unethically for educational institutions globally for over a century. This article gives a contextualization of the unique history and nature of anatomical teaching collections, and why they are an important locus for a decolonized and antiracist biological anthropology. I present the historical background of how the exportation and commodification of Indian bodies came to dominate the global bone trade. I also discuss how historical necropolitics explicitly erased the identity and objectified South Asian people made into study skeletons, and the way our current practices continue to uphold colonial violence. Finally, I discuss what we might do with these historical collections and the ways that inclusion of Brown voices is critical to ethical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina C Agarwal
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
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4
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de la Cova C, Hofman CA, Marklein KE, Sholts SB, Watkins R, Magrogan P, Zuckerman MK. Ethical futures in biological anthropology: Research, teaching, community engagement, and curation involving deceased individuals. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2024:e24980. [PMID: 38822704 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24980] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2023] [Revised: 04/25/2024] [Accepted: 05/08/2024] [Indexed: 06/03/2024]
Abstract
Although ethical reforms in biological anthropology have gained ground in recent years, there is still a scarcity of ethical standards for work involving historical documented collections (HDCs) at US museums and universities. These collections of deceased individuals were created in the late 19th to mid-20th centuries under anatomy laws that targeted socially marginalized communities and allowed for the dissection of these individuals without their consent. Due to the extensive information associated with the individuals and made available to researchers, these collections have served as foundational resources for theory and methods development in biological anthropology into the 21st century. Recognizing the need for ethical guidelines for research, teaching and training, community engagement, and curation involving HDCs, we held a workshop called "Ethical Futures for Curation, Research, and Teaching in Biological Anthropology" on November 15-17, 2021. Here we summarize the conversations and major points of consensus among the workshop participants on these topics in order to advance these ethical considerations more broadly across the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlina de la Cova
- Department of Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
| | - Courtney A Hofman
- Laboratories of Molecular Anthropology and Microbiome Research and Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, USA
| | - Kathryn E Marklein
- Department of Anthropology and Center for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, University of Louisville, Louisville, USA
| | - Sabrina B Sholts
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, USA
| | - Rachel Watkins
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, USA
- Department of Anthropology, American University, Washington, USA
| | - Paige Magrogan
- Department of Anthropology, American University, Washington, USA
| | - Molly Kathleen Zuckerman
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, USA
- Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures and Cobb Institute of Archaeology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, USA
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5
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Sholts SB. "To honor and remember": An ethical awakening to African American remains in museums. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2024:e24943. [PMID: 38613368 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2023] [Revised: 03/03/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/14/2024]
Abstract
In 2021, amid surging activism in the Movement for Black Lives, the Smithsonian Institution's possession of the remains of thousands of African Americans drew widespread attention. In response, the Smithsonian and its National Museum of Natural History undertook a series of steps to assess these remains and to develop a policy for returning as many as possible to descendants and descendant communities, under changes that would apply to all non-Native American remains in Smithsonian collections. This paper reviews the actions taken to date and the work that is still in progress or planned. I contextualize these steps more broadly within an "ethical awakening" to African American remains that have long been present, studied, and displayed in collections across the museum community in the United States, where other institutions have faced similar challenges and changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina B Sholts
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
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Rayfield KM, Mychajliw AM, Singleton RR, Sholts SB, Hofman CA. Uncovering the Holocene roots of contemporary disease-scapes: bringing archaeology into One Health. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20230525. [PMID: 38052246 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The accelerating pace of emerging zoonotic diseases in the twenty-first century has motivated cross-disciplinary collaboration on One Health approaches, combining microbiology, veterinary and environmental sciences, and epidemiology for outbreak prevention and mitigation. Such outbreaks are often caused by spillovers attributed to human activities that encroach on wildlife habitats and ecosystems, such as land use change, industrialized food production, urbanization and animal trade. While the origin of anthropogenic effects on animal ecology and biogeography can be traced to the Late Pleistocene, the archaeological record-a long-term archive of human-animal-environmental interactions-has largely been untapped in these One Health approaches, thus limiting our understanding of these dynamics over time. In this review, we examine how humans, as niche constructors, have facilitated new host species and 'disease-scapes' from the Late Pleistocene to the Anthropocene, by viewing zooarchaeological, bioarchaeological and palaeoecological data with a One Health perspective. We also highlight how new biomolecular tools and advances in the '-omics' can be holistically coupled with archaeological and palaeoecological reconstructions in the service of studying zoonotic disease emergence and re-emergence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen M Rayfield
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
- Laboratories of Molecular Anthropology & Microbiome Research, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
- Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019-0390, USA
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Alexis M Mychajliw
- Laboratories of Molecular Anthropology & Microbiome Research, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
- Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019-0390, USA
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
- Department of Biology & Program in Environmental Studies, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753-6203, USA
| | - Robin R Singleton
- Laboratories of Molecular Anthropology & Microbiome Research, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
- Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019-0390, USA
| | - Sabrina B Sholts
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Courtney A Hofman
- Laboratories of Molecular Anthropology & Microbiome Research, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
- Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019-0390, USA
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
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7
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Harney É, Micheletti S, Bruwelheide KS, Freyman WA, Bryc K, Akbari A, Jewett E, Comer E, Louis Gates H, Heywood L, Thornton J, Curry R, Ancona Esselmann S, Barca KG, Sedig J, Sirak K, Olalde I, Adamski N, Bernardos R, Broomandkhoshbacht N, Ferry M, Qiu L, Stewardson K, Workman JN, Zalzala F, Mallick S, Micco A, Mah M, Zhang Z, Rohland N, Mountain JL, Owsley DW, Reich D. The genetic legacy of African Americans from Catoctin Furnace. Science 2023; 381:eade4995. [PMID: 37535739 PMCID: PMC10958645 DOI: 10.1126/science.ade4995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 06/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/05/2023]
Abstract
Few African Americans have been able to trace family lineages back to ancestors who died before the 1870 United States Census, the first in which all Black people were listed by name. We analyzed 27 individuals from Maryland's Catoctin Furnace African American Cemetery (1774-1850), identifying 41,799 genetic relatives among consenting research participants in 23andMe, Inc.'s genetic database. One of the highest concentrations of close relatives is in Maryland, suggesting that descendants of the Catoctin individuals remain in the area. We find that many of the Catoctin individuals derived African ancestry from the Wolof or Kongo groups and European ancestry from Great Britain and Ireland. This study demonstrates the power of joint analysis of historical DNA and large datasets generated through direct-to-consumer ancestry testing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Éadaoin Harney
- 23andMe, Inc.; Sunnyvale, CA 94043, USA
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University; Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | | | - Karin S. Bruwelheide
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Washington DC 20560, USA
| | | | | | - Ali Akbari
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University; Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | | | - Elizabeth Comer
- Catoctin Furnace Historical Society; Thurmont, MD, 21788, USA
| | - Henry Louis Gates
- Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University; Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Linda Heywood
- Department of History/African American Studies, Boston University; Brookline, MA 02446, USA
| | - John Thornton
- Department of History/African American Studies, Boston University; Brookline, MA 02446, USA
| | - Roslyn Curry
- 23andMe, Inc.; Sunnyvale, CA 94043, USA
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University; Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | | | - Kathryn G. Barca
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Washington DC 20560, USA
| | - Jakob Sedig
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University; Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Kendra Sirak
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University; Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Iñigo Olalde
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University; Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
- BIOMICs Research Group, Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
- Ikerbasque—Basque Foundation of Science, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Nicole Adamski
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Rebecca Bernardos
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Matthew Ferry
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Lijun Qiu
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Kristin Stewardson
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - J. Noah Workman
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Fatma Zalzala
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Shop Mallick
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
| | - Adam Micco
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
| | - Matthew Mah
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
| | - Zhao Zhang
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | | | - Nadin Rohland
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | | | - Douglas W. Owsley
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Washington DC 20560, USA
| | - David Reich
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University; Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
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8
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Zuckerman MK, Malis SW, Dillon DD, Widrick KJ, Adams EJ, Hill ME, McKenna MK, Baumgartel OC, Willis HD. Sex, gender, and sexuality in paleopathology: Select current developments and pathways forward. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PALEOPATHOLOGY 2023; 41:8-21. [PMID: 36889217 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2023.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2021] [Revised: 02/22/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Overall, paleopathology trails behind related fields in exploring sex, gender, and sexuality in past societies. Here, we interrogatively synthesize scholarship on topics not included in similar reviews, focusing on sex estimation methods, and considering the social determinants of health; trauma; reproduction and family; and childhood - to highlight novel, social epidemiology- and social theory-informed frameworks and interpretive devices. CONCLUSIONS Many paleopathological interpretations focus on sex-gender differences relative to health, with increasing use of intersectionality. Others consistently project present-day ideologies about sex, gender, and sexuality (e.g., binary sex-gender systems) into paleopathological interpretations (i.e., presentism). SIGNIFICANCE Paleopathologists have an ethical imperative to generate scholarship that contributes to social justice initiatives focused on dismantling structural inequalities, especially relative to sex, gender, and sexuality (e.g., homophobia), such as through denaturalizing presentist binary systems. They also have a responsibility towards greater inclusivity relative to researcher identity and diversification of method and theory. LIMITATIONS In addition to material limitations complicating reconstructions of sex, gender, and sexuality relative to health and disease in the past, this review wasn't comprehensive. The review was also limited by the relative paucity of paleopathological work on these topics. SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH The outlook for paleopathological research on sex, gender, and sexuality is, however, positive; paleopathology is well situated to tackle these aspects of social identity. Future work should consider critical, self-reflective movement away from presentism; more robust contextualization; and further engagement with social theory and social epidemiology theory and approaches, including the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD), social determinants of health, and intersectionality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Molly K Zuckerman
- Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, Mississippi State University, 340 Lee Blvd, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA.
| | - Sierra W Malis
- Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, Mississippi State University, 340 Lee Blvd, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA; National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20560, USA.
| | - Daniel D Dillon
- Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, Mississippi State University, 340 Lee Blvd, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA.
| | - Kerri J Widrick
- Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, Mississippi State University, 340 Lee Blvd, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA.
| | - Elise J Adams
- Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, Mississippi State University, 340 Lee Blvd, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA.
| | - Mary E Hill
- Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, Mississippi State University, 340 Lee Blvd, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA.
| | - M Kathryn McKenna
- Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, Mississippi State University, 340 Lee Blvd, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA.
| | - Olivia C Baumgartel
- Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, Mississippi State University, 340 Lee Blvd, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA.
| | - Hannah D Willis
- Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, Mississippi State University, 340 Lee Blvd, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA.
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9
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Stantis C, de la Cova C, Lippert D, Sholts SB. Biological anthropology must reassess museum collections for a more ethical future. Nat Ecol Evol 2023:10.1038/s41559-023-02036-6. [PMID: 36959241 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02036-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/25/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Chris Stantis
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
| | - Carlina de la Cova
- Department of Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Dorothy Lippert
- Repatriation Office, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Sabrina B Sholts
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
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10
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Li Q, Luo K, Su Z, Huang F, Wu Y, Zhou F, Li Y, Peng X, Li J, Ren B. Dental calculus: A repository of bioinformation indicating diseases and human evolution. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2022; 12:1035324. [PMID: 36579339 PMCID: PMC9791188 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.1035324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Accepted: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Dental calculus has long been considered as a vital contributing factor of periodontal diseases. Our review focuses on the role of dental calculus as a repository and discusses the bioinformation recently reported to be concealed in dental calculus from three perspectives: time-varying oral condition, systemic diseases, and anthropology at various times. Molecular information representing an individual's contemporary oral health status could be detected in dental calculus. Additionally, pathogenic factors of systemic diseases were found in dental calculus, including bacteria, viruses and toxic heavy metals. Thus, dental calculus has been proposed to play a role as biological data storage for detection of molecular markers of latent health concerns. Through the study of environmental debris in dental calculus, an overview of an individual's historical dietary habits and information about the environment, individual behaviors and social culture changes can be unveiled. This review summarizes a new role of dental calculus as a repository of bioinformation, with potential use in the prediction of oral diseases, systemic diseases, and even anthropology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qinyang Li
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Department of Cariology and Endodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Kaihua Luo
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Department of Cariology and Endodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Zhifei Su
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Department of Cariology and Endodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Fangting Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Department of Cariology and Endodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yajie Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Department of Cariology and Endodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Fangjie Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Department of Cariology and Endodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yuqing Li
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Xian Peng
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Jiyao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Department of Cariology and Endodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China,*Correspondence: Jiyao Li, ; Biao Ren,
| | - Biao Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China,*Correspondence: Jiyao Li, ; Biao Ren,
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11
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Warinner C. An Archaeology of Microbes. JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2022. [DOI: 10.1086/721976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christina Warinner
- Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, USA 02138, and Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany 04103
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