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Prevalence of cranial trauma in Eurasian Upper Paleolithic humans
Author(s) -
Beier Judith,
Anthes Nils,
Wahl Joachim,
Harvati Katerina
Publication year - 2021
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/ajpa.24163
Subject(s) - crania , bioarchaeology , cranial trauma , cranial vault , demography , upper paleolithic , head trauma , medicine , geography , skull , anatomy , archaeology , surgery , sociology
Objectives This study characterizes patterns of cranial trauma prevalence in a large sample of Upper Paleolithic (UP) fossil specimens (40,000–10,000 BP). Materials and Methods Our sample comprised 234 individual crania (specimens), representing 1,285 cranial bones (skeletal elements), from 101 Eurasian UP sites. We used generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to assess trauma prevalence in relation to age‐at‐death, sex, anatomical distribution, and between pre‐ and post‐Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) samples, while accounting for skeletal preservation. Results Models predicted a mean cranial trauma prevalence of 0.07 (95% CI 0.003–0.19) at the level of skeletal elements, and of 0.26 (95% CI 0.08–0.48) at the level of specimens, each when 76–100% complete. Trauma prevalence increased with skeletal preservation. Across specimen and skeletal element datasets, trauma prevalence tended to be higher for males, and was consistently higher in the old age group. We found no time‐specific trauma prevalence patterns for the two sexes or age cohorts when comparing samples from before and after the LGM. Samples showed higher trauma prevalence in the vault than in the face, with vault remains being affected predominantly in males. Discussion Cranial trauma prevalence in UP humans falls within the variation described for Mesolithic and Neolithic samples. According to our current dataset, UP males and females were exposed to slightly different injury risks and trauma distributions, potentially due to different activities or behaviors, yet both sexes exhibit more trauma among the old. Environmental stressors associated with climatic changes of the LGM are not reflected in cranial trauma prevalence. To analyze trauma in incomplete skeletal remains we propose GLMMs as an informative alternative to crude frequency calculations.