Human skeletal asymmetry : a study of directional and fluctuating asymmetry in assessing health, environmental conditions, and social status in English populations from the 7th to the 19th centuries
Asymmetry is a useful tool for osteological analysis as it detects disruptions in the developmental stability of osseous structures attributed to environmental and biomechanical environments. The primary aim of this study is to establish a baseline for normal levels of asymmetry in English archaeological populations in order to distinguish between normal population variation and increased developmental instability or biomechanical stress. Directional and fluctuating asymmetry is assessed through a database of a comprehensive selection of osteological measurements throughout the skeletons of 1753 adults and subadults. The sample is from 11 archaeological sites spanning the Anglo-Saxon to the Victorian periods. The extent of developmental instability is also determined, for the first time, by employing the prevalence of population outliers. The normal range for directional asymmetry was found to be -5.79 to 6.62%, while fluctuating asymmetry was found to be 0 to 6.53%. The extent of asymmetry, however, was found to be trait specific. Deviations from normal population levels of asymmetry were found to be due to a complex mixture of biomechanical and environmental stresses influenced by age, sex, settlement type,
Storm, Rebecca Alyson
Human skeletal asymmetry : a study of directional and fluctuating asymmetry in assessing health, environmental conditions, and social status in English populations from the 7th to the 19th centuries. Asymmetry is a useful tool for osteological analysis as it detects disruptions in the developmental stability of osseous structures attributed to environmental and biomechanical environments. The primary aim of this study is to establish a baseline for normal levels of asymmetry in English archaeological populations in order to distinguish between normal population variation and increased developmental instability or biomechanical stress. Directional and fluctuating asymmetry is assessed through a database of a comprehensive selection of osteological measurements throughout the skeletons of 1753 adults and subadults. The sample is from 11 archaeological sites spanning the Anglo-Saxon to the Victorian periods. The extent of developmental instability is also determined, for the first time, by employing the prevalence of population outliers. The normal range for directional asymmetry was found to be -5.79 to 6.62%, while fluctuating asymmetry was found to be 0 to 6.53%. The extent of asymmetry, however, was found to be trait specific. Deviations from normal population levels of asymmetry were found to be due to a complex mixture of biomechanical and environmental stresses influenced by age, sex, settlement type,
human_skeletal asymmetry study directional asymmetry assess health environmental_condition social_status english population asymmetry useful_tool osteological_analysis disruption developmental stability structure attribute environmental environment primary_aim study establish baseline normal level asymmetry english archaeological_population order distinguish normal population variation increase developmental instability stress directional asymmetry assess database comprehensive selection osteological measurement throughout skeleton adult subadults sample archaeological_site span anglo saxon victorian period extent developmental instability also determine first_time employ prevalence population outlier normal range directional asymmetry find fluctuate asymmetry find extent asymmetry however find trait specific normal population_level asymmetry find due complex mixture environmental stress influence age_sex settlement type