Skeletal Variation and Adaptation in Europeans

A comprehensive analysis of changes in body form and skeletal robusticity from the Terminal Pleistocene through the Holocene, leading to the modern European human phenotype.

Skeletal Variation and Adaptation in Europeans: Upper Paleolithic to the Twentieth Century brings together for the first time the results of an unprecedented large-scale investigation of European skeletal remains. The study was conducted over ten years by an international research team, and includes more than 2,000 skeletons spanning most of the European continent over the past 30,000 years, from the Early Upper Paleolithic to the 20th century. This time span includes environmental transitions from foraging to food production, small-scale to large-scale urban settlements, increasing social stratification and mechanization of labor, and climatic changes. Alterations in body form and behavior in response to these transitions are reconstructed through osteometric and biomechanical analyses.

Divided into four sections, the book includes an introduction to the project and comprehensive descriptions of the methods used; general continent-wide syntheses of major trends in body size, shape, and skeletal robusticity; detailed regional analyses; and a summary of results. It also offers a full data set on an external website.

• Brings together data from an unprecedented large-scale study of human skeletal and anatomical variations

• Includes appendix of specific information from each research site

• Synthesizes data from spatial, temporal, regional, and geographical perspectives

Skeletal Variation and Adaptation in Europeans will be a valuable resource for bioarchaeologists, palaeoanthropologists, forensic anthropologists, medical historians, and archaeologists at both the graduate and post-graduate level.

Autorentext

About the Editor Christopher B. Ruff is Director of the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. Dr. Ruff has published widely in the fields of human osteology, bioarchaeology, and paleontology, and has served as editor of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology and the Yearbook of Physical Anthropology.

Inhalt
List of Contributors xiii

Preface xv

**1 Introduction 1
**Christopher B. Ruff

1.1 Study Sample 3

1.2 Osteological Measurements 5

1.3 Other Variables 8

1.4 Organization of the Book 9

References 10

**2 Body Size and Shape Reconstruction 15
**Markku Niskanen and Christopher B. Ruff

2.1 Introduction 15

2.2 Body Size and Shape Estimation 15

2.3 Materials and Methods 17

2.3.1 Estimation of Missing Elements 17

2.3.2 Statistical Procedures 19

2.4 Estimating Body Size and Shape from Skeletal Dimensions 20

2.4.1 Stature 20

2.4.2 Sitting Height and Total Lower Limb Length 22

2.4.3 Limb Segment Lengths 23

2.4.4 Body Breadths 24

2.4.5 Body Mass 25

2.5 Evaluation of Errors in Estimating Body Size and Shape from Skeletal Dimensions 26

2.5.1 Stature Estimation 26

2.5.2 Sitting Height, Lower Limb Subischial Length, and Lower Leg Length 28

2.5.3 Trunk Breadths 30

2.5.4 Body Mass Estimation 30

2.5.5 Sex and Age Effects 32

2.6 Discussion and Conclusions 33

Acknowledgments 34

References 34

**3 Quantifying Skeletal Robusticity 39
**Christopher B. Ruff

3.1 Cross?-Sectional Properties 39

3.2 Cross?-Section Reconstruction 40

3.3 Section Moduli 42

3.4 Standardizing for Body Size 44

References 45

**4 Temporal and Geographic Variation in Body Size and Shape of Europeans from the Late Pleistocene to Recent Times 49
**Markku Niskanen, Christopher B. Ruff, Brigitte Holt, Vladimir Sladek, and Margit Berner

4.1 Environmental Adaptation 49

4.2 European Population History 52

4.3 Materials and Methods 54

4.3.1 Skeletal Samples and Variables 54

4.3.2 Estimating Body Size and Shape from Skeletal Dimensions 55

4.3.3 Anthropometric Samples and Variables 56

4.3.4 Statistical and Graphical Analyses 57

4.4 Results 58

4.4.1 General Temporal Trends in Body Size and Body Proportions 58

4.4.2 Body Size and Shape of Foragers Before and After the Last Glacial Maximum 66

4.4.3 Changes Across the MesolithicNeolithic Transition and During the Neolithic 67

4.4.4 The Little Ice Age, the Industrial Revolution, and Very Recent Changes 67

4.4.5 Geographic Differences in Body Size and Proportions 68

4.5 Discussion 76

4.6 Conclusions 81

References 82

**5 Temporal and Geographic Variation in Robusticity 91
**Brigitte Holt, Erin Whittey, Markku Niskanen, Vladimir Sladek, Margit Berner, and Christopher B. Ruff

5.1 Introduction 91

5.2 Background 91

5.2.1 Limb Bone Robusticity and Subsistence Changes 91

5.2.2 Cultural and Economic Factors 92

5.2.3 Terrain 96

5.3 Materials 96

5.4 Methods 97

5.4.1 Aging and Sexing 97

5.4.2 Reconstruction of Cross?]Sectional Dimensions 97

5.4.3 Robusticity Variables 97

5.4.4 Standardizing Cross?-Sectional Dimension for Differences in Body Size 98

5.4.5 Quantification of Terrain 98

5.4.6 Categorization of Urbanization 98

5.4.7 Analysis of Robusticity 98

5.5 Results 99

5.5.1 Temporal Trends 99

5.5.1.1 Upper Limb 99

5.5.1.2 Lower Limb 107

5.5.2 Urbanization 116

5.5.4 Terrain 117

5.6 Discussion 118

5.7 Conclusions 126

Acknowledgments 127

References 127

**6 Sexual Dimorphism 133
**Margit Berner, Vladimir Sladek , Brigitte Holt, Markku Niskanen, and Christopher B. Ruff

6.1 Introduction 133

6.2 Materials and Methods 136

6.3 Results 137 6.3.1 Overall Variation ...