Premium
Brief communication: When Adam delved. An activity‐related lesion in three human skeletal populations
Author(s) -
Knüsel Christopher J.,
Roberts Charlotte A.,
Boylston Anthea
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(199607)100:3<427::aid-ajpa9>3.0.co;2-q
Subject(s) - lesion , psychology , medicine , pathology
A rare, activity‐related lesion, the clay‐shoveller's fracture, was identified during osteological analysis in three human populations dating from the Roman to the later Medieval period in England, circa fourth to 14th centuries A.D. The prevalence of this fracture in these populations suggests an osteological indicator for several possible manual activities, but also one that may be the result of a long‐standing human subsistence adaptation requiring digging in the soil. Since males as opposed to females appear to be preferentially affected, the occurrence of such injuries has the potential to provide an insight into the sexual division of labor in earlier human populations. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.