Pfeiffer Susan, Harrington Lesley, Lombard Marlize
Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, M5S 2S2, Canada; Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa; Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, D.C., USA.
Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, 13-15 H.M. Tory Building, Edmonton, T6G 2H4, Canada.
Int J Paleopathol. 2019 Mar;24:158-164. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.10.008. Epub 2018 Nov 3.
Skeletons sampled for ancient human DNA analysis are sometimes complete enough to provide information about the lives of the people they represent. We focus on three Later Stone Age skeletons, ca. 2000 B.P., from coastal KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, whose ancient genomes have been sequenced (Schlebusch et al., 2017).
Bioarchaeological approaches are integrated with aDNA information.
All skeletons are male. Dental development shows that the boy, with prominent cribra orbitalia, died at age 6-7 years. Two men show cranial and spinal trauma, extensive tooth wear, plus mild cribra orbitalia in one.
Dental wear and trauma of the adults are consistent with hunter-gatherer lives. Even partial aDNA evidence contributes to sex determination. Parasitic infection such as schistosomiasis is the best-fit cause for the child's anemia in this case.
The convergence of genomic and bioarchaeological approaches expands our knowledge of the past lives of a boy and two men whose lives as hunter-gatherers included episodes of trauma and disease.
The skeletons are incomplete, in variable condition, and from poorly characterized local cultural contexts.
Thorough osteobiographic analysis should accompany paleogenomic investigations. Such disciplinary collaboration enriches our understanding of the human past.
为进行古人类DNA分析而采样的骨骼有时保存得足够完整，能够提供有关其所代表人群生活的信息。我们重点研究了来自南非夸祖鲁 - 纳塔尔省沿海地区的三具约公元前2000年的晚石器时代骨骼，其古代基因组已被测序（施莱布施等人，2017年）。
将生物考古学方法与古代DNA信息相结合。
所有骨骼均为男性。牙齿发育情况表明，那个患有明显眶筛孔的男孩死于6 - 7岁。两名男性显示出颅骨和脊柱创伤、牙齿严重磨损，其中一人还有轻度眶筛孔。
成年人的牙齿磨损和创伤与狩猎采集者的生活相符。即使是部分古代DNA证据也有助于性别鉴定。在这种情况下，血吸虫病等寄生虫感染是导致该儿童贫血的最合理原因。
基因组学和生物考古学方法的结合扩展了我们对一个男孩和两名男性过去生活的了解，他们作为狩猎采集者的生活经历了创伤和疾病。
骨骼不完整，保存状况各异，且来自特征不明的当地文化背景。
古基因组研究应伴随全面的骨传记分析。这种学科合作丰富了我们对人类过去的理解。
