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Bone remodelling following a lower leg fracture in the 11,000‐year‐old hunter‐gatherer from Vado all' Arancio (Italy)
Author(s) -
Holt B. M.,
Fornaciari G.,
Formicola V.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
international journal of osteoarchaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1099-1212
pISSN - 1047-482X
DOI - 10.1002/oa.639
Subject(s) - ankle , tibia , skeleton (computer programming) , anatomy , femur , medicine , compensatory hypertrophy , muscle hypertrophy , long bone , lower limb , orthodontics , surgery
The Upper Palaeolithic skeleton from Vado all'Arancio (Italy), dated to about 11,330 BP, exhibits a severe ankle fracture healed with residual deformation. Following recovery, this young hunter‐gatherer continued to walk for an extended period of time, albeit in a mechanically altered manner. While right‐left differences in external lower limb bone measurements are relatively low, biomechanical analysis of femur and tibia indicates unusually pronounced asymmetry in all cross‐sectional measures of diaphyseal strength. Asymmetry results primarily from normal side endosteal hypertrophy, and not from hypotrophy of the injured limb, suggesting that this individual resumed active life following recovery. This pattern of asymmetry underscores the role of physical activity in maintaining bone mass. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.