Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality.
Log in
- Convenor:
-
Samanti Kulatilake
(Mount Royal University)
Send message to Convenor
- Track:
- Being Human
- Location:
- Roscoe 2.10
- Sessions:
- Thursday 8 August, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Human skeletal remains from archaeological excavations provide a important information. The studies conducted by different scholars at different areas of the world should have one common platform to discuss their finding s and have academic interactions among themselves.
Long Abstract:
Human skeletal remains are the representative of the bygone population who made culture and lived at any time or geographical brackets. They are the direct evidence of the humans and their adaptation strategies in various environments. Human modified the natural resources around them the nature and culture also played an important role to modify humans. At the same time different mortuary practices can also suggest the cognitive processes of humans. Humans were exposed to different conditions from ancient times till today, and they left the signatures on the skeletal remains. Inferences on aspects like health and nutrition, palaeopathology, infant mortality rates, life expectancy, population movements, demography can be carried out to understand the inhabitants.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 8 August, 2013, -Paper short abstract:
This paper discusses evidence for leprosy at Indus Civilization sites in light of hypotheses that M. leprae migrated to urban settlements in South Asia from Africa during the third millennium B.C. with regular long distance exchange among the two continents.
Paper long abstract:
Leprosy is a disease caused by infection with Mycobacterium leprae. It has long been associated with outcaste people suffering on the edge of civilization. Prior to successful eradication in many countries, the disease was considered interwoven with civilization itself. Currently one-quarter of a million people still suffer from the disease. Despite its long history of interaction with humans and our strong concern with understanding the natural history of this disease, technical difficulties with culturing M. leprae have severely limited our understanding of the origins, evolution, and transmission of this disease. Recent genomics research suggests the disease originated in Africa 40,000 years ago and recent archaeological evidence suggested it was present at an Indus outpost in Rajasthan, India by 2000 B.C. This paper will discuss new skeletal and molecular evidence from Harappa in light of hypotheses about the origin and early migration of M. leprae, one of the largest cities in the Indus Civilization. Results of our analysis demonstrate the role of urbanization and exchange in the evolution of this pathogen in human populations.
Paper short abstract:
The aim of this study was to investigate relationship between development of linea aspera and life style. The linea aspera was thought to be related with daily activities of lower limbs, therefore hunter and gatherer had well developed linea aspera.
Paper long abstract:
Japanese Neolithic Jomon populations lived by the sea had well developed linea aspera of femur. They habitually went into seaside and gathered marine products, or into mountainside and hunted animals. They were under heavy physical stress and their muscles developed very well. This meant daily activities of lower limbs were strongly related to development of linea aspera. On the other hand, Bab edh-Dhra, the Eary Bronze Age Jordan population had robust femur with well-developed linea aspera. They were transhumance and it was not necessary to have heavy daily activities of lower limbs in their life style. Indeed in comparison with a population of Wadi Abu Tulayha who was nomad population, Bab edh-Dhra population had more developed linea aspera of femur. Development of linea aspera was usually talked according to development of muscles. However this Jordan example indicated that development of linea aspera of femur did not necessary to relate with amount of muscles. Or proportion of muscles might influence to the development of linea aspera. In this study I tried to distinguish type of development of linea aspera of femur, and to reveal the cause of development of linea aspera of femur.
This research was supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (24520857) by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
Paper short abstract:
Cranial diversity among the indigenous Vedda population of Sri Lanka is analysed within the context of population trends. The idealized representation of a pristine Vedda population with distinct biological traits is examined by comparing their affinities between select circum-Indian populations.
Paper long abstract:
South Indian indigenes and the Vedda of Sri Lanka have often been collectively referred to as 'Veddoid' peoples in anthropological literature. The diversity seen among these South Asian indigenes is a result of their ancestor-descendant links to early migrants to the region, combined with other evolutionary mechanisms. The Vedda of Sri Lanka represent the aboriginal population of the island. Today they speak an Indo-European language and the majority of people who self-identify as Vedda, do not subsist on hunting and gathering. There has been considerable admixture between the Vedda, Sinhala, and Tamil populations throughout historic times and no clear boundaries exist, morphologically, linguistically or culturally. Further, support for the representation of the Vedda people as a unique hunter gatherer population is diminishing due to their rapid urbanisation and cultural assimilation over the past two centuries. Craniometric data on a sample of Vedda crania is the focus of this study. Univariate and multivariate statistics on cranial traits affirm that the Vedda are very similar to the rest of South Asia's regional populations. This study also explores the affinities and distances between the Vedda and selected circum-Indian Ocean populations, based on cranial diversity. The Vedda cranial morphological pattern fits best with that of the other South Asians in the sample. They share some traits with Australo-Melanesians, but are distinct from the Andaman Islanders' pattern. The Vedda cranial characteristics strongly suggest that they can no longer be seen as morphologically distinct from other regional populations of India and Sri Lanka.