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Long Bone Lengths (long + bone_length)
Selected AbstractsBody size estimation of small-bodied humans: Applicability of current methodsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2010H.K. Kurki Abstract Body size (stature and mass) estimates are integral to understanding the lifeways of past populations.Body size estimation of an archaeological skeletal sample can be problematic when the body size or proportions of the population are distinctive. One such population is that of the Holocene Later Stone Age (LSA) of southern Africa, in which small stature (mean femoral length = 407 mm, n = 52) and narrow pelves (mean bi-iliac breadth = 210 mm, n = 50) produce a distinctive adult body size/shape, making it difficult to identify appropriate body size estimation methods. Material culture, morphology, and culture history link the Later Stone Age people with the descendant population collectively known as the Khoe-San. Stature estimates based on skeletal "anatomical" linear measures (the Fully method) and on long bone length are compared, along with body mass estimates derived from "morphometric" (bi-iliac breath/stature) and "biomechanical" (femoral head diameter) methods, in a LSA adult skeletal sample (n = 52) from the from coastal and near-coastal regions of South Africa. Indices of sexual dimorphism (ISD) for each method are compared with data from living populations. Fully anatomical stature is most congruent with Olivier's femur + tibia method, although both produce low ISD. McHenry's femoral head body mass formula produces estimates most consistent with the bi-iliac breadth/staturemethod for the females, although the males display higher degrees of disagreement among methods. These results highlight the need for formulae derived from reference samples from a wider range of body sizes to improve the reliability of existing methods. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Longitudinal development of equine conformation from weanling to age 3 years in the ThoroughbredEQUINE VETERINARY JOURNAL, Issue 7 2004T. M. ANDERSON Summary Reasons for performing study: There is little information available to define conformational changes with age using an objective but practical method of recording specific body measurements. Objective: To analyse conformation objectively in a population of racing Thoroughbreds and describe the changes from weanling to age 3 years. Methods: Annual photographs were taken over 4 years and conformation measurements made from photographs using specific reference points marked on the horses. Results: Correlation analysis revealed highly significant, moderate to strong relationships between long bone lengths and wither height for all ages. All long bone lengths showed moderate to strong relationships with each other for all ages. The front and rear pastern angles were significantly correlated with the angle of the dorsal surface of the front and rear hooves, respectively, for all. Wither height, croup height and length of neck topline, neck bottomline, scapula, humerus, radius and femur increased significantly from age 0,1 year and age 1,2 years. Hoof lengths (medial and lateral, right and left) grew significantly between the ages of 0 and 1 and 1 and 2 years, but decreased in length between age 2 and 3 years. Horses became more offset in the right limb between weanling and age 3 years, but the offset ratios did not change with age on the left limb. The angle of the scapula (I), shoulder and radiometacarpus significantly increased between all age groups (became more upright). The angle of the dorsal surface of the hooves (both front and hind) decreased significantly from ages 0 to 1 and 1 to 2 years, but showed no significant difference between ages 2 and 3 years. Conclusions: A strong relationship between long bone lengths and wither height for all ages supports the theory that horses are proportional. Longitudinal bone growth in the distal limb increased only 5,7% from weanling to age 3 years and is presumably completed prior to the yearling year. Several growth measures increased from ages 0 to 1 and 1 to 2 years, but did not increase from age 2,3 years; indicating that growth rate either showed or reached a plateau at this time. Potential relevance: This study provides objective information regarding conformation and skeletal growth in the Thoroughbred which can be utilised for selection and recognition of significant conformational abnormalities. [source] Trends in adult stature of peoples who inhabited the modern Portuguese territory from the Mesolithic to the late 20th centuryINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OSTEOARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 6 2009H. F. V. Cardoso Abstract This study documents long-term changes in stature from the Mesolithic to the late 20th century in the territory of modern Portugal. Data utilised originated from published sources and from a sample of the Lisbon identified skeletal collection, where long bone lengths were collected. Mean long bone lengths were obtained from 20 population samples and compiled into nine periods. Pooled long bone lengths for each period were then converted to stature estimates. Results show three major trends: (1) a slow increase in stature from prehistory to the Middle Ages; (2) a negative trend from the Middle Ages to the late 19th century; and (3) a very rapid increase in mean stature during the second half of the 20th century. The political and territorial stability of the Kingdom of Portugal may have contributed to the greater heights of the medieval Portuguese, compared with the Roman and Modern periods. The negative secular trend was rooted in poor and unsanitary living conditions and the spread of infectious disease, brought about by increased population growth and urbanisation. Although the end of the Middle Ages coincided with the age of discoveries, the population may not have benefited from the overall prosperity of this period. The 20th century witnessed minor and slow changes in the health status of the Portuguese, but it was not until major improvements in social and economic conditions that were initiated in the 1960s, and further progress in the 1970s, that the Portuguese grew taller than ever before. Since the Middle Ages other European countries have experienced similar oscillations, but showed an earlier recovery in stature after the industrial period. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Salient features in the locomotion of proboscideans revealed via the differential scaling of limb long bonesBIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 1 2010VALERY B. KOKSHENEV The standard differential scaling of proportions in limb long bones (length against circumference) was applied to a phylogenetically wide sample of the Proboscidea, Elephantidae and the Asian (Elephas maximus) and African (Loxodonta africana) elephants. In order to investigate allometric patterns in proboscideans and terrestrial mammals with parasagittal limb kinematics, the computed slopes between long bone lengths and circumferences (slenderness exponents) were compared with published values for mammals, and studied within a framework of the theoretical models of long bone scaling under gravity and muscle forces. Limb bone allometry in E. maximus and the Elephantidae is congruent with adaptation to bending and/or torsion induced by muscular forces during fast locomotion, as in other mammals, whereas the limb bones in L. africana appear to be adapted for coping with the compressive forces of gravity. Hindlimb bones are therefore more compliant than forelimb bones, and the resultant limb compliance gradient in extinct and extant elephants, contrasting in sign to that of other mammals, is shown to be a new important locomotory constraint preventing elephants from achieving a full-body aerial phase during fast locomotion. Moreover, the limb bone pattern of African elephants, indicating a noncritical bone stress not increasing with increments in body weight, explains why their mean and maximal body masses are usually above those for Asian elephants. Differences in ecology may be responsible for the subtle differences observed in vivo between African and Asian elephants, but they appear to be more pronounced when revealed via mechanical patterns dictated by limb bone allometry. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 100, 16,29. [source] | ||||||||||