Imagine that you are working with a team of bioarchaeologists that has just excavated a medieval cemetery site in Italy. The cem
etery has over 200 graves, with all sexes and ages represented in the skeletal sample. You are interested in knowing whether there were gender differences in health among members of the medieval community. How would you answer this question using the skeletal remains
By analyzing the pelvis bone (sex determination) and the length of the diaphyseal bone and nonsynovial joints (age determination of non-adult skeletons and adult skeletons, respectively)
Explanation:
Bioarchaeologists are professionals that study human skeletons from archaeological sites. Bioarchaeologists can estimate the age and sex of human skeletons and thus determine the health and dynamics of past human populations. In regard to sex determination, the pelvis is a bone that can be used to estimate the sex of an individual with an accuracy higher than 95%. In regard to the age, characteristics associated with bone growth such as, for example, the length of the diaphyseal bone, can be good indicators to estimate the age of non-adult skeletons, while nonsynovial joints (i.e. joints without a synovial membrane) which are commonly called synarthroses or solid joints, can be used to estimate the age of adult skeletons.
