The shape of childhood : a morphometric growth study of the Anglo-Saxon to Post-Medieval Period
Growth is a heavily studied field in juvenile bioarchaeological studies. The question of shape or developmental trajectories, however, has only recently been investigated as methodological advances such as geometric morphometrics (GM) have become more available. This thesis applied GM to archaeological juveniles and explored how biological processes affect bone shape during ontogeny to answer âwhat is bone shape and what do shape trajectories tell us?â The application of GM allows for a novel analysis of developmental trajectories as whole bone morphology is analysed and visualised in a three-dimensional space. To determine if long bone plasticity is influenced by archaeological site and time period, 178 juveniles of Anglo-Saxon to Post-Medieval foetal to 12 year old long bones were examined; they formed a comprehensive dataset to integrate GM with traditional bioarchaeological methodologies of growth and development. The objective of this thesis was to develop a reproducible methodology that captures the torsion, curvature, and whole bone growth and development of the juvenile femora, tibiae, and humeri. This was accomplished through two validation studies; the first aimed to determine if GM can be used
Stark, Sarah Y.
The shape of childhood : a morphometric growth study of the Anglo-Saxon to Post-Medieval Period. Growth is a heavily studied field in juvenile bioarchaeological studies. The question of shape or developmental trajectories, however, has only recently been investigated as methodological advances such as geometric morphometrics (GM) have become more available. This thesis applied GM to archaeological juveniles and explored how biological processes affect bone shape during ontogeny to answer âwhat is bone shape and what do shape trajectories tell us?â The application of GM allows for a novel analysis of developmental trajectories as whole bone morphology is analysed and visualised in a three-dimensional space. To determine if long bone plasticity is influenced by archaeological site and time period, 178 juveniles of Anglo-Saxon to Post-Medieval foetal to 12 year old long bones were examined; they formed a comprehensive dataset to integrate GM with traditional bioarchaeological methodologies of growth and development. The objective of this thesis was to develop a reproducible methodology that captures the torsion, curvature, and whole bone growth and development of the juvenile femora, tibiae, and humeri. This was accomplished through two validation studies; the first aimed to determine if GM can be used
shape childhood morphometric growth study anglo saxon post medieval_period growth heavily study field juvenile bioarchaeological study question shape developmental trajectory however recently investigate methodological advance geometric_morphometrics become_available apply_archaeological juvenile explore biological process affect bone shape ontogeny answer bone shape shape trajectory tell application allow novel analysis developmental trajectory whole bone morphology analyse three_dimensional space determine long bone plasticity influence archaeological_site time_period juvenile anglo saxon post medieval long bone examine form comprehensive dataset integrate traditional bioarchaeological methodology growth_development objective develop capture whole bone growth_development juvenile femur tibia humerus accomplish validation study first aim_determine use