Browsing by Author "Garcia, Susana J."
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- High status diet and health in Medieval Lisbon: a combined isotopic and osteological analysis of the Islamic population from São Jorge Castle, PortugalPublication . Toso, Alice; Gaspar, Sara; Banha da Silva, Rodrigo; Garcia, Susana J.; Alexander, MichelleThis paper presents the first bioarchaeological study of Islamic diet and lifeways in medieval Portugal. Stable isotopes of δ13C and δ15N and osteological and paleopathological analyses are combined to explore the diet and health status of 27 humans buried within São Jorge Castle, Lisbon (eleventh to twelfth century), interpreted as a high status population. Human isotopic data are considered alongside an animal baseline comprised of 30 specimens sampled from nearby Praça da Figueira, including the main domesticates and fish. Isotopic data indicate an age- and sex-related difference in diet among the population, suggesting a difference in food access between females and children compared to males. Palaeopathological analysis indicates a low prevalence of non-specific stress indicators such as Harris lines (HL), linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) and cribra orbitalia (CO) in this population in comparison to other medieval populations. LEH is only present in adults. These results suggest the presence of socio-cultural patterning relating to the organisation of the Islamic family, where women and men occupied different places in the household and society. This paper demonstrates the utility of a combined osteological and isotopic approach to understand the lifeways of Islamic populations in Medieval Iberia, as well as illuminates the lifeways of understudied segments of the population.
- Sex assessment with the radius in Portuguese skeletal populations (late 19th – early to mid 20th centuries)Publication . Curate, Francisco; Mestre, Fernando; Garcia, Susana J.The assessment of sex is of immense relevance in the analysis of human skeletal remains, as other parameters of the biological profile are usually sex-specific (e.g., age at death or stature). The radius can be used to estimate sex when more dimorphic bones are not available or in the case of incomplete and fragmentary remains. Ten radius measurements collected in a sample of 364 individuals (166 females and 198 males) from the Coimbra Identified Skeletal Collection (late 19th - early 20th centuries) were employed to generate univariable and multivariable models for sex estimation. All models were evaluated with a 10-fold cross-validation method and an independent holdout sample from the Luís Lopes Collection (late 19th - mid 20th centuries) encompassing 50 individuals (25 females and 25 males). Univariable models show an accuracy ranging from 77.7% to 89.8% (cross-validation), and from 70% to 86% (test sample), while accuracy in the multivariable models varies from 88.7% to 93.4% (cross-validation), and 84.0% to 90.0% (test sample). Results suggest that measurements of the radius are useful to develop standard guidelines for sex estimation of anonymous skeletal remains.
- The impact of environmental stress on minor congenital defects: measuring the association between MCD, stress markers and bone lengthPublication . Amoroso, Alexandra; Garcia, Susana J.A sample of 117 adult individuals from the Lisbon Identified Skeletal Collection (aka Luís Lopes Collection) was used to test the association between six minor congenital defects (MCD) and stress markers. The goal was to assess if any of the tested MCD might be considered a useful indicator of stress in early life. The variables included in the study are manubrium mesosternal joint fusion, sternum hyperplasia, sternal aperture, sternal caudal clefting, notochord defects and hypoglossal canal, cribra orbitalia, vertebral neural canal size, femur and tibia maximum length. Sternal caudal clefting has a statistically significant correlation with femur length, in males. The direction of the correlation indicates that males with sternal caudal clefting have longer femurs. Sternum hyperplasia is correlated with anteroposterior and transverse diameters of thoracic vertebrae, for males. Males with sternum hyperplasia have narrower AP diameters and wider TR diameters. Double hypoglossal canal is correlated with TR diameters of thoracic vertebrae, in females. Females with double hypoglossal canal have narrower TR diameters of thoracic vertebrae. Manubrium mesosternal joint fusion, sternal aperture, notochord defects and sternal caudal clefting were not associated with any of the tested variables. Both sternum hyperplasia and double hypoglossal canal might have potential to capture environmental stress, in utero, but more studies are required to confirm this result in other collections.