A biomechanical assessment of ancient Egyptian long bones from the Amarna South Tombs Cemetery

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

منو

" A biomechanical assessment of ancient Egyptian long bones from the Amarna South Tombs Cemetery "
William Charles Schaffer

Document Type	:	Latin Dissertation
Language of Document	:	English
Record Number	:	54467
Doc. No	:	TL24421
Call number	:	‭1478519‬
Main Entry	:	William Charles Schaffer
Title & Author	:	A biomechanical assessment of ancient Egyptian long bones from the Amarna South Tombs Cemetery\ William Charles Schaffer
College	:	University of Arkansas
Date	:	2009
Degree	:	M.A.
student score	:	2009
Page No	:	94
Abstract	:	This thesis utilizes a biomechanical approach by assessing the cross-sectional geometric properties of long bone diaphyses from individuals excavated and analyzed from the non-elite Amarna South Tomb cemetery located in Middle Egypt (c. 1350-1330 BCE). Human populations at Amarna were urbanized, sedentary, and relied primarily on agriculture for subsistence. Pathological and demographic evidence from Amarna shows high juvenile mortality as well as elevated exposure to infectious disease and nutritional stress. In order to situate Amarna temporally within the scope of ancient Egypt, a non-elite Predynastic (c. 3,900-3,500 BCE) cemetery from Hierakonpolis, known as HK43, was used for comparison. Hierakonpolis played a major role in the transition from Predynastic to Dynastic times, as well as the commencement of urbanization and intensified agriculture in the region. Human populations living at Hierakonpolis during the Predynastic are purportedly less sedentary than Amarna and skeletal studies suggest the population sample from HK43 was relatively healthier. Intra- and inter-populational comparisons were made in order to pinpoint differences between the sexes and skeletal groups using t tests and one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA). The results from this study suggest that males from both the Hierakonpolis and Amarna samples had greater upper limb strength than their female counterparts, likely indicative of division of labor. Males at Hierakonpolis had greater lower limb strength than females and were probably conducting more long distance travel than females. For both males and females, lower limb strength was greater for Hierakonpolis than Amarna, suggesting that in the Predynastic population movement was more influential than the more sedentary and urbanized individuals from Amarna.
Subject	:	Social sciences; Biological sciences; Egypt; Morphology; Archaeology; Physical anthropology; 0327:Physical anthropology; 0324:Archaeology; 0287:Morphology
Added Entry	:	University of Arkansas