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" Death a necessary end: Perspectives on paleodemography and aging from Hasanlu, Iran "
Page Selinsky
J. M. Monge
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Latin Dissertation
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English
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| Record Number
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54540
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| Doc. No
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TL24494
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3363659
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Page Selinsky
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| Title & Author
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Death a necessary end: Perspectives on paleodemography and aging from Hasanlu, Iran\ Page Selinsky
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| College
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University of Pennsylvania
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| Date
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2009
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Ph.D.
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2009
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| Page No
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263
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| Abstract
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Archaeological human skeletal remains provide one of the most direct and informative sources of evidence on the human life experience in the past. The skeletal remains from the northwestern Iranian site of Hasanlu are of particular interest because of the paucity of remains from this region and their unique archaeological context, which consists of a cemetery group and an assemblage of individuals from a sacked city. The main focus of investigation was the contemporaneous Iron Age sub-samples, one from the cemetery, the Low Mound (c.1450-c.800 BCE), and one from the destruction level, the High Mound (c.800 BCE). These two sub-samples were specifically used to address issues concerning the aging of adult individuals based on skeletal and dental markers, in particular older adults, and to explore patterns of paleodemography in attritional versus catastrophic mortality profiles. This core group consisted of 195 individuals from the Low Mound (n=89) and the High Mound (n=106) sub-samples. Data was recorded on age, sex, and selected health markers to explore demographic patterns in the sub-samples, patterns of aging, and association between health markers and longevity. Results of this research indicate that, with a large enough skeletal series, it is possible to seriate aging markers and identify old and very old adult individuals. Dental traits were particularly useful in this regard and for generating an internally derived aging standard. Markers of dental health and trauma were useful in discerning significant differences between the sub-samples, although, stress indicators and degenerative changes were less informative. In particular, trauma showed expected and significant differences between the two groups, with the High Mound destruction level group having primarily perimortem cranial injuries afflicting all ages and sexes. This pattern is consistent with a warfare scenario. The sex and age structures of the two samples were also significantly different. The paleodemographic comparison showed that the Low Mound sample fit well with archaeological attritional mortality patterns, while the High Mound was more similar to catastrophic mortality samples, especially those associated with warfare.
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Social sciences; Catastrophic mortality; Osteology; Skeletal biology; Trauma; Iron Age; Warfare; Paleodemography; Aging; Hasanlu; Iran; Archaeology; Physical anthropology; 0327:Physical anthropology; 0324:Archaeology
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J. M. Monge
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University of Pennsylvania
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