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van Doren TP. Sex-based tuberculosis mortality in Newfoundland, 1900-1949: Implications for populations in transition. Am J Hum Biol 2024; 36:e24033. [PMID: 38126589 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.24033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2023] [Revised: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE During the second epidemiological transition, tuberculosis (TB) is one disease that declined substantially enough to reduce all-cause mortality. Sex-based differences in TB mortality may reveal an important dimension of population health transitions between the urbanizing and rural regions of Newfoundland. MATERIALS AND METHODS For the island of Newfoundland, yearly age-standardized sex-based TB mortality rates were calculated using individual death records from 1900 to 1949 (n = 30 393). Multiple linear regression models predict the relative rates (RR) of sex-based mortality and the absolute difference between males and females while controlling for time and region (the urbanizing Avalon Peninsula or rural Newfoundland). Multiple linear regression models also predict the median age at death from TB while controlling for time, region, and sex to assess if TB was shifting to an older adult disease compared to those typically afflicted in ages 20-44. RESULTS Female TB mortality was relatively and absolutely higher than males; additionally, RR and absolute differences between male and female mortality were significantly lower in rural Newfoundland than the Avalon Peninsula. Median age at death for males was significantly higher than females, and differences in median age at death increased over time. DISCUSSION The historically high prevalence of TB throughout Newfoundland, including domestic, social, and public health responsibilities of women, likely contributed to increased exposure and transmission, leading to higher observed mortality. Sex-based TB outcomes should be considered in the discussion of the progression of the epidemiological transition as dynamic inequalities that do not necessarily fit contemporary generalizations of sex-based TB epidemiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taylor P van Doren
- University of Alaska Anchorage, Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
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2
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Parkinson EW, Stoddart S, Sparacello V, Bertoldi F, Fonzo O, Malone C, Marini E, Martinet F, Moggi-Cecchi J, Pacciani E, Raiteri L, Stock JT. Multiproxy bioarchaeological data reveals interplay between growth, diet and population dynamics across the transition to farming in the central Mediterranean. Sci Rep 2023; 13:21965. [PMID: 38081902 PMCID: PMC10713518 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49406-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The transition to farming brought on a series of important changes in human society, lifestyle, diet and health. The human bioarchaeology of the agricultural transition has received much attention, however, relatively few studies have directly tested the interrelationship between individual lifestyle factors and their implications for understanding life history changes among the first farmers. We investigate the interplay between skeletal growth, diet, physical activity and population size across 30,000 years in the central Mediterranean through a 'big data' cross-analysis of osteological data related to stature (n = 361), body mass (n = 334) and long bone biomechanics (n = 481), carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotopes (n = 1986 human, n = 475 animal) and radiocarbon dates (n = 5263). We present the observed trends on a continuous timescale in order to avoid grouping our data into assigned 'time periods', thus achieving greater resolution and chronological control over our analysis. The results identify important changes in human life history strategies associated with the first farmers, but also highlight the long-term nature of these trends in the millennia either side of the agricultural transition. The integration of these different data is an important step towards disentangling the complex relationship between demography, diet and health, and reconstruct life history changes within a southern European context. We believe the methodological approach adopted here has broader global implications for bioarchaeological studies of human adaptation more generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- E W Parkinson
- Archaeology & Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
| | - S Stoddart
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - V Sparacello
- Dipartimento di Scienze della vita e dell'ambiente, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - F Bertoldi
- Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Ca Foscari Venezia, Venice, Italy
| | - O Fonzo
- Museo Archeologico "Genna Maria" di Villanovaforru, Villanovaforru, Italy
| | - C Malone
- Archaeology & Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK
| | - E Marini
- Dipartimento di Scienze della vita e dell'ambiente, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - F Martinet
- Soprintendenza per i beni e le Attività Culturali della Valle d'Aosta, Aosta, Italy
| | - J Moggi-Cecchi
- Dipartimento Di Biologia, Università degli Studi Firenze, Florence, Italy
| | - E Pacciani
- Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Firenze, Pistoia e Prato, Florence, Italy
| | - L Raiteri
- Soprintendenza per i beni e le Attività Culturali della Valle d'Aosta, Aosta, Italy
| | - J T Stock
- Department of Anthropology, Western University, London, Canada
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3
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van Doren TP. Biocultural perspectives of infectious diseases and demographic evolution: Tuberculosis and its comorbidities through history. Evol Anthropol 2022; 32:100-117. [PMID: 36436141 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2021] [Revised: 06/09/2022] [Accepted: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Anthropologists recognize the importance of conceptualizing health in the context of the mutually evolving nature of biology and culture through the biocultural approach, but biocultural anthropological perspectives of infectious diseases and their impacts on humans (and vice versa) through time are relatively underrepresented. Tuberculosis (TB) has been a constant companion of humans for thousands of years and has heavily influenced population health in almost every phase of cultural and demographic evolution. TB in human populations has been dramatically influenced by behavior, demographic and epidemiological shifts, and other comorbidities through history. This paper critically discusses TB and some of its major comorbidities through history within a biocultural framework to show how transitions in human demography and culture affected the disease-scape of TB. In doing so, I address the potential synthesis of biocultural and epidemiological transition theory to better comprehend the mutual evolution of infectious diseases and humans.
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4
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Devlin MJ, Eick GN, Snodgrass JJ. The utility of dried blood spot measurement of bone turnover markers in biological anthropology. Am J Hum Biol 2022; 34:e23816. [PMID: 36214251 PMCID: PMC9787861 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2022] [Revised: 09/19/2022] [Accepted: 09/20/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Bone is a dynamic organ under continual turnover influenced by life history stage, energy dynamics, diet, climate, and disease. Bone turnover data have enormous potential in biological anthropology for testing evolutionary and biocultural hypotheses, yet few studies have integrated these biomarkers. In the present article we systematically review the current availability, future viability, and applicability of measuring bone turnover markers (BTMs) in dried blood spot (DBS) samples obtained from finger prick whole blood. METHODS Our review considers clinical and public health relevance, biomarker stability in DBS, assay availability, and cost. We consider biomarkers of bone formation such as osteocalcin (bone matrix protein), PINP (N-terminal propeptide of type I collagen), and alkaline phosphatase (osteoblast enzyme), as well as biomarkers of bone resorption such as CTX (marker of collagen breakdown) and TRACP5b (tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b; osteoclast enzyme). RESULTS Two BTMs have been validated for DBS: osteocalcin (formation) and TRACP5b (resorption). Prime candidates for future development are CTX and PINP, the formation and resorption markers used for clinical monitoring of response to osteoporosis treatment. CONCLUSION BTMs are a field-friendly technique for longitudinal monitoring of skeletal biology during growth, reproduction and aging, combining minimized risk to study participants with maximized ease of sample storage and transport. This combination allows new insights into the effects of energy availability, disease, and physical activity level on bone, and questions about bone gain and loss across life history and in response to environmental factors; these issues are important in human biology, paleoanthropology, bioarchaeology, and forensic anthropology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maureen J. Devlin
- Department of AnthropologyUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborMichiganUSA
| | - Geeta N. Eick
- Global Health Biomarker Laboratory, Department of AnthropologyUniversity of OregonEugeneOregonUSA
| | - J. Josh Snodgrass
- Global Health Biomarker Laboratory, Department of AnthropologyUniversity of OregonEugeneOregonUSA,Center for Global HealthUniversity of OregonEugeneOregonUSA,Invited Faculty, Global Station for Indigenous Studies & Cultural DiversityHokkaido UniversitySapparoHokkaidoJapan
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5
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Marciniak S, Bergey CM, Silva AM, Hałuszko A, Furmanek M, Veselka B, Velemínský P, Vercellotti G, Wahl J, Zariņa G, Longhi C, Kolář J, Garrido-Pena R, Flores-Fernández R, Herrero-Corral AM, Simalcsik A, Müller W, Sheridan A, Miliauskienė Ž, Jankauskas R, Moiseyev V, Köhler K, Király Á, Gamarra B, Cheronet O, Szeverényi V, Kiss V, Szeniczey T, Kiss K, Zoffmann ZK, Koós J, Hellebrandt M, Maier RM, Domboróczki L, Virag C, Novak M, Reich D, Hajdu T, von Cramon-Taubadel N, Pinhasi R, Perry GH. An integrative skeletal and paleogenomic analysis of stature variation suggests relatively reduced health for early European farmers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2106743119. [PMID: 35389750 PMCID: PMC9169634 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2106743119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Human culture, biology, and health were shaped dramatically by the onset of agriculture ∼12,000 y B.P. This shift is hypothesized to have resulted in increased individual fitness and population growth as evidenced by archaeological and population genomic data alongside a decline in physiological health as inferred from skeletal remains. Here, we consider osteological and ancient DNA data from the same prehistoric individuals to study human stature variation as a proxy for health across a transition to agriculture. Specifically, we compared “predicted” genetic contributions to height from paleogenomic data and “achieved” adult osteological height estimated from long bone measurements for 167 individuals across Europe spanning the Upper Paleolithic to Iron Age (∼38,000 to 2,400 B.P.). We found that individuals from the Neolithic were shorter than expected (given their individual polygenic height scores) by an average of −3.82 cm relative to individuals from the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic (P = 0.040) and −2.21 cm shorter relative to post-Neolithic individuals (P = 0.068), with osteological vs. expected stature steadily increasing across the Copper (+1.95 cm relative to the Neolithic), Bronze (+2.70 cm), and Iron (+3.27 cm) Ages. These results were attenuated when we additionally accounted for genome-wide genetic ancestry variation: for example, with Neolithic individuals −2.82 cm shorter than expected on average relative to pre-Neolithic individuals (P = 0.120). We also incorporated observations of paleopathological indicators of nonspecific stress that can persist from childhood to adulthood in skeletal remains into our model. Overall, our work highlights the potential of integrating disparate datasets to explore proxies of health in prehistory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie Marciniak
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
| | - Christina M. Bergey
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
- Department of Genetics, Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08854
| | - Ana Maria Silva
- Research Centre for Anthropology and Health (Centro de Investigação em Antropologia e Saúde - CIAS), Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra 3000-456, Portugal
- Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra 3000-456, Portugal
- Archeology Center of the University of Lisbon (UNIARQ), University of Lisbon, Lisbon 1600-214, Portugal
| | - Agata Hałuszko
- Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław 50-139, Poland
- Archeolodzy.org Foundation, Wrocław 50-316, Poland
| | - Mirosław Furmanek
- Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław 50-139, Poland
| | - Barbara Veselka
- Department of Chemistry, Analytical Environmental and Geo-Chemistry Research Unit, Vrije Univeristeit Brussels, Brussels 1050, Belgium
- Department of Art Studies and Archaeology, Maritime Cultures Research Institute, Vrije Univeristeit Brussels, Brussels 1050, Belgium
| | - Petr Velemínský
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum, Prague 115-79, Czech Republic
| | - Giuseppe Vercellotti
- Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210
- Institute for Research and Learning in Archaeology and Bioarchaeology, Columbus, OH 43215
| | - Joachim Wahl
- Institute for Scientific Archaeology, Working Group Palaeoanthropology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany
| | - Gunita Zariņa
- Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia, Riga 1050, Latvia
| | - Cristina Longhi
- Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio, Rome 00186, Italy
| | - Jan Kolář
- Department of Vegetation Ecology, Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Průhonice 252-43, Czech Republic
- Institute of Archaeology and Museology, Masaryk University, Brno 602-00, Czech Republic
| | - Rafael Garrido-Pena
- Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain
| | | | | | - Angela Simalcsik
- Olga Necrasov Center for Anthropological Research, Romanian Academy - Iasi Branch, Iasi 700481, Romania
- Orheiul Vechi Cultural-Natural Reserve, Orhei 3506, Republic of Moldova
| | - Werner Müller
- Laboratoire d'archéozoologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel 2000, Switzerland
| | - Alison Sheridan
- Department of Scottish History & Archaeology, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, Scotland
| | - Žydrūnė Miliauskienė
- Department of Anatomy, Histology and Anthropology, Vilnius University, Vilnius 01513, Lithuania
| | - Rimantas Jankauskas
- Department of Anatomy, Histology and Anthropology, Vilnius University, Vilnius 01513, Lithuania
| | - Vyacheslav Moiseyev
- Department of Physical Anthropology, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia
| | - Kitti Köhler
- Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, Budapest 1097, Hungary
| | - Ágnes Király
- Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, Budapest 1097, Hungary
| | - Beatriz Gamarra
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Tarragona 43007, Spain
- Departament d’Història i Història de l’Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona 43003, Spain
| | - Olivia Cheronet
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1030, Austria
- Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna, Vienna 1030, Austria
| | - Vajk Szeverényi
- Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, Budapest 1097, Hungary
- Department of Archaeology, Déri Múzeum, Debrecen 4026, Hungary
| | - Viktória Kiss
- Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, Budapest 1097, Hungary
| | - Tamás Szeniczey
- Department of Biological Anthropology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 1053, Hungary
| | - Krisztián Kiss
- Department of Biological Anthropology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 1053, Hungary
- Department of Anthropology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest 1083, Hungary
| | | | - Judit Koós
- Department of Archaeology, Herman Ottó Museum, Miskolc 3530, Hungary
| | | | - Robert M. Maier
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - László Domboróczki
- Department of Archaeology, István Dobó Castle Museum, Eger 3300, Hungary
| | - Cristian Virag
- Department of Archaeology, Satu Mare County Museum, Satu Mare 440031, Romania
| | - Mario Novak
- Centre for Applied Bioanthropology, Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb 10000, Croatia
| | - David Reich
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
- The Max Planck–Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean, Boston, MA 02115
- Broad Institute of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142
- HHMI, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Tamás Hajdu
- Department of Biological Anthropology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 1053, Hungary
| | - Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel
- Buffalo Human Evolutionary Morphology Lab, Department of Anthropology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14261-0026
| | - Ron Pinhasi
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1030, Austria
- Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna, Vienna 1030, Austria
| | - George H. Perry
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
- Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Center for Advanced Studies, University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany
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Decrausaz SL, Cameron ME. A growth area: A review of the value of clinical studies of child growth for palaeopathology. Evol Med Public Health 2022; 10:108-122. [PMID: 35273803 PMCID: PMC8903130 DOI: 10.1093/emph/eoac005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 01/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies of living children demonstrate that early life stress impacts linear growth outcomes. Stresses affecting linear growth may also impact later life health outcomes, including increased cardiometabolic disease risk. Palaeopathologists also assess the growth of children recovered from bioarchaeological contexts. Early life stresses are inferred to affect linear growth outcomes, and measurements of skeletal linear dimensions alongside other bioarchaeological information may indicate the types of challenges faced by past groups. In clinical settings, the impacts of stress on growing children are typically measured by examining height. Palaeopathologists are limited to examining bone dimensions directly and must grapple with incomplete pictures of childhood experiences that may affect growth. Palaeopathologists may use clinical growth studies to inform observations among past children; however, there may be issues with this approach. Here, we review the relationship between contemporary and palaeopathological studies of child and adolescent growth. We identify approaches to help bridge the gap between palaeopathological and biomedical growth studies. We advocate for: the creation of bone-specific growth reference information using medical imaging and greater examination of limb proportions; the inclusion of children from different global regions and life circumstances in contemporary bone growth studies; and greater collaboration and dialogue between palaeopathologists and clinicians as new studies are designed to assess linear growth past and present. We advocate for building stronger bridges between these fields to improve interpretations of growth patterns across human history and to potentially improve interventions for children living and growing today. Studies of living children demonstrate that early life stress impacts linear growth. Stresses affecting linear growth may also impact later life health, including cardiometabolic disease risk. Palaeopathologists also investigate if children and adolescents recovered from bioarchaeological contexts experienced growth disruptions due to early life challenges. In clinical settings, the impacts of stress on growing children are typically measured by examining height. Palaeopathologists are limited to examining bone dimensions directly and must grapple with incomplete pictures of childhood experiences that may affect growth. Here, we review the relationship between contemporary and palaeopathological studies of child and adolescent growth. We advocate for: the creation of bone-specific growth reference information using medical imaging and greater examination of limb proportions; the inclusion of children from different global regions and life circumstances in contemporary bone growth studies; and greater collaboration and dialogue between palaeopathologists and clinicians as new studies are designed to assess linear growth past and present. These steps may improve interpretations of growth patterns across human history and interventions for children living and growing today.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah-Louise Decrausaz
- Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, Cornett Building, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada
| | - Michelle E Cameron
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, 19 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, ON M5S 2S2, Canada
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Scheffler C, Hermanussen M. Stunting is the natural condition of human height. Am J Hum Biol 2021; 34:e23693. [PMID: 34761833 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2021] [Revised: 10/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Human body height differs within a wide range and has conventionally been associated with genetic, nutritional, and environmental conditions. In this study, we try to broaden this perspective and add the evolutionary aspect of height differences. SAMPLE AND METHOD We revisited height from archeological data (10 000-1000 BC), and historical growth studies (1877-1913). We analyzed height, weight, and skinfold thickness of 1666 Indonesian schoolchildren from six representative rural and urban elementary schools in Bali and West Timor with a stunting prevalence of up to 50%. RESULTS Stature in the Holocene prehistory of the Near East and Europe varied with maxima for women usually ranging below 160 cm, and maxima for men between 165 and 170 cm. Stature never rose above 170 cm. European and white US-American schoolchildren of the 19th and 20th century were generally short with average height ranging between -1.5 and -2.2 hSDS, yet in the absence of any evidence of chronic or recurrent undernutrition or frequent illness, poverty, or disadvantageous living conditions. The same is found in contemporary Indonesian schoolchildren. CONCLUSION Stunting is frequently observed not only in the poor, but also in affluent and well-nourished social strata last 10 000 years. Only in very recent history, and only in a few democratic, modern societies, stature has increased beyond the long-lasting historic height average. Viewed from an evolutionary perspective, and considering adaptive plasticity of and community effects on growth, competitive growth and strategic growth adjustments, stunting appears to be the natural condition of human height.
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8
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Wells JCK, Stock JT. Life History Transitions at the Origins of Agriculture: A Model for Understanding How Niche Construction Impacts Human Growth, Demography and Health. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) 2020; 11:325. [PMID: 32508752 PMCID: PMC7253633 DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2020.00325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 04/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Over recent millennia, human populations have regularly reconstructed their subsistence niches, changing both how they obtain food and the conditions in which they live. For example, over the last 12,000 years the vast majority of human populations shifted from foraging to practicing different forms of agriculture. The shift to farming is widely understood to have impacted several aspects of human demography and biology, including mortality risk, population growth, adult body size, and physical markers of health. However, these trends have not been integrated within an over-arching conceptual framework, and there is poor understanding of why populations tended to increase in population size during periods when markers of health deteriorated. Here, we offer a novel conceptual approach based on evolutionary life history theory. This theory assumes that energy availability is finite and must be allocated in competition between the functions of maintenance, growth, reproduction, and defence. In any given environment, and at any given stage during the life-course, natural selection favours energy allocation strategies that maximise fitness. We argue that the origins of agriculture involved profound transformations in human life history strategies, impacting both the availability of energy and the way that it was allocated between life history functions in the body. Although overall energy supply increased, the diet composition changed, while sedentary populations were challenged by new infectious burdens. We propose that this composite new ecological niche favoured increased energy allocation to defence (immune function) and reproduction, thus reducing the allocation to growth and maintenance. We review evidence in support of this hypothesis and highlight how further work could address both heterogeneity and specific aspects of the origins of agriculture in more detail. Our approach can be applied to many other transformations of the human subsistence niche, and can shed new light on the way that health, height, life expectancy, and fertility patterns are changing in association with globalization and nutrition transition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan C. K. Wells
- Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, Population, Policy and Practice Programme, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom
- *Correspondence: Jonathan C. K. Wells
| | - Jay T. Stock
- Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
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9
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Ríos L, Terán JM, Varea C, Bogin B. Plasticity in the growth of body segments in relation to height-for-age and maternal education in Guatemala. Am J Hum Biol 2019; 32:e23376. [PMID: 31854051 PMCID: PMC7507214 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2019] [Revised: 12/03/2019] [Accepted: 12/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Objectives Plasticity in the growth of body segments between populations has been researched in relation to migration, temporal change and high‐altitude studies. We study the within population variation in body segments, thus controlling for some of the environmental and genetic differences that could be at play in between populations studies. We test a version of the thrifty phenotype hypothesis, where the growth of head‐trunk and hand are prioritized due to their functional significance over height and leg growth. Materials and methods A total of 3913 Guatemalan, rural, semi‐urban and urban, Maya and Ladino children 6 to 15 years old were studied. Height, sitting height, leg length, and metacarpal length were studied in relation to three proxies for living conditions: height‐ and leg length‐for‐age, and maternal education. Estimation statistics and null hypothesis significance testing were used to analyze the data. Results Metatarsal length and sitting height values were higher than height and leg length respectively. Relative metacarpal length was conserved across height‐for‐age groups. Females were less affected than males for metacarpal length and sitting height, but more affected for leg length. Conclusion Our results agree with the thrifty phenotype hypothesis, where metacarpal and sitting height growth would be prioritized over height and leg length due to greater functional significance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis Ríos
- Department of Physical Anthropology, Aranzadi Science Society, San Sebastian, Spain
| | - José Manuel Terán
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Carlos Varea
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Barry Bogin
- School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
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10
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Gallagher E, Shennan S, Thomas MG. Food Income and the Evolution of Forager Mobility. Sci Rep 2019; 9:5438. [PMID: 30932031 PMCID: PMC6443647 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-42006-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2018] [Accepted: 03/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Forager mobility tends to be high, although ethnographic studies indicate ecological factors such as resource abundance and reliability, population density and effective temperature influence the cost-to-benefit assessment of movement decisions. We investigate the evolution of mobility using an agent-based and spatially explicit cultural evolutionary model that considers the feedback between foragers and their environment. We introduce Outcomes Clustering, an approach to categorizing simulated system states arising from complex stochastic processes shaped by multiple interacting parameters. We find that decreased mobility evolves under conditions of high resource replenishment and low resource depletion, with a concomitant trend of increased population density and, counter-intuitively, decreased food incomes. Conversely, increased mobility co-occurs with lower population densities and higher food incomes. We replicate the well-known relationships between mobility, population density, and resource quality, while predicting reduced food income, and consequently the reduction in health status observed in early sedentary populations without the need to invoke factors such as reduced diet quality or increased pathogen loads.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Gallagher
- Research Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London, Darwin Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK. .,CoMPLEX, University College London, Physics Building, Gower Place, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
| | - Stephen Shennan
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, UK
| | - Mark G Thomas
- Research Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London, Darwin Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.,UCL Genetics Institute, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
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Stephens NB, Kivell TL, Pahr DH, Hublin JJ, Skinner MM. Trabecular bone patterning across the human hand. J Hum Evol 2018; 123:1-23. [PMID: 30072187 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2017] [Revised: 05/09/2018] [Accepted: 05/10/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Hand bone morphology is regularly used to link particular hominin species with behaviors relevant to cognitive/technological progress. Debates about the functional significance of differing hominin hand bone morphologies tend to rely on establishing phylogenetic relationships and/or inferring behavior from epigenetic variation arising from mechanical loading and adaptive bone modeling. Most research focuses on variation in cortical bone structure, but additional information about hand function may be provided through the analysis of internal trabecular structure. While primate hand bone trabecular structure is known to vary in ways that are consistent with expected joint loading differences during manipulation and locomotion, no study exists that has documented this variation across the numerous bones of the hand. We quantify the trabecular structure in 22 bones of the human hand (early/extant modern Homo sapiens) and compare structural variation between two groups associated with post-agricultural/industrial (post-Neolithic) and foraging/hunter-gatherer (forager) subsistence strategies. We (1) establish trabecular bone volume fraction (BV/TV), modulus (E), degree of anisotropy (DA), mean trabecular thickness (Tb.Th) and spacing (Tb.Sp); (2) visualize the average distribution of site-specific BV/TV for each bone; and (3) examine if the variation in trabecular structure is consistent with expected joint loading differences among the regions of the hand and between the groups. Results indicate similar distributions of trabecular bone in both groups, with those of the forager sample presenting higher BV/TV, E, and lower DA, suggesting greater and more variable loading during manipulation. We find indications of higher loading along the ulnar side of the forager sample hand, with high site-specific BV/TV distributions among the carpals that are suggestive of high loading while the wrist moves through the 'dart-thrower's' motion. These results support the use of trabecular structure to infer behavior and have direct implications for refining our understanding of human hand evolution and fossil hominin hand use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas B Stephens
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Tracy L Kivell
- Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NZ, United Kingdom; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Dieter H Pahr
- Institute for Lightweight Design and Structural Biomechanics, Vienna University of Technology, Getreidemarkt 9, A-1060 Vienna, Austria
| | - Jean-Jacques Hublin
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Matthew M Skinner
- Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NZ, United Kingdom; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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Macintosh AA, Pinhasi R, Stock JT. Prehistoric women's manual labor exceeded that of athletes through the first 5500 years of farming in Central Europe. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2017; 3:eaao3893. [PMID: 29209662 PMCID: PMC5710185 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aao3893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2017] [Accepted: 11/01/2017] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
The intensification of agriculture is often associated with declining mobility and bone strength through time, although women often exhibit less pronounced trends than men. For example, previous studies of prehistoric Central European agriculturalists (~5300 calibrated years BC to 850 AD) demonstrated a significant reduction in tibial rigidity among men, whereas women were characterized by low tibial rigidity, little temporal change, and high variability. Because of the potential for sex-specific skeletal responses to mechanical loading and a lack of modern comparative data, women's activity in prehistory remains difficult to interpret. This study compares humeral and tibial cross-sectional rigidity, shape, and interlimb loading among prehistoric Central European women agriculturalists and living European women of known behavior (athletes and controls). Prehistoric female tibial rigidity at all time periods was highly variable, but differed little from living sedentary women on average, and was significantly lower than that of living runners and football players. However, humeral rigidity exceeded that of living athletes for the first ~5500 years of farming, with loading intensity biased heavily toward the upper limb. Interlimb strength proportions among Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age women were most similar to those of living semi-elite rowers. These results suggest that, in contrast to men, rigorous manual labor was a more important component of prehistoric women's behavior than was terrestrial mobility through thousands of years of European agriculture, at levels far exceeding those of modern women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alison A. Macintosh
- PAVE (Phenotypic Adaptability, Variation and Evolution) Research Group, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK
| | - Ron Pinhasi
- Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Jay T. Stock
- PAVE (Phenotypic Adaptability, Variation and Evolution) Research Group, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK
- Department of Anthropology, Western University, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada
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