Anthropology Program, Utah State University, Logan, Utah.
Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2019 May;169(1):143-151. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.23801. Epub 2019 Feb 19.
In Lambert and Welker (2017) we explored the association between subsistence economy and postcranial fracture prevalence, finding that low-intensity agriculturalists exhibited significantly lower fracture rates than foragers or high-intensity agriculturalists. Here, we explore the impacts of sampling strategy on fracture rates in a sample of high-intensity agriculturalists from the Moche Valley, Peru, and further test the hypothesis that postcranial fracture risks are higher for intensive agriculture.
The long bones and clavicles of 102 individuals from an Early Intermediate Period cemetery (400 B.C.-A.D. 200) at Cerro Oreja were examined for healed fractures. Sample composition was manipulated in six ways to investigate the effects of age and element completeness on estimates of fracture prevalence. Fracture rates at Cerro Oreja were then compared to those for other high-intensity agriculturalists.
Both skeletal element completeness and age composition were found to influence fracture rate estimates, reflecting the greater likelihood of identifying healed fractures on better-preserved bones and the accrual of injuries with age. The fracture rate of 3.4% at Cerro Oreja was the median value among seven high-intensity agriculturalist samples. The fracture distribution at Cerro Oreja was most similar to that observed at Kulubnarti, Sudan (Kilgore et al., 1997).
Skeletal element completeness and age composition can impact fracture rates estimated for skeletal samples and should be considered when conducting comparative analyses. All rates calculated for Cerro Oreja are within the range of those obtained for other high-intensity agriculturalists and support previous findings that traumatic injury risk is higher for high-intensity agriculturalists. Similarities between Cerro Oreja and Kulubnarti suggest that rugged terrain may exacerbate fracture risk for agriculturalists, illustrating the costs of intensive agriculture in suboptimal environments.
在 Lambert 和 Welker（2017 年）的研究中，我们探讨了生计经济与颅后骨折患病率之间的关联，发现低强度农业人口的骨折率明显低于狩猎采集者或高强度农业人口。在这里，我们探讨了采样策略对秘鲁莫切山谷高强度农业人口样本中骨折率的影响，并进一步检验了颅后骨折风险随集约农业而增加的假设。
对 Cerro Oreja 一个早期中级时期（公元前 400 年至公元 200 年）墓地的 102 个人的长骨和锁骨进行了检查，以寻找愈合的骨折。通过六种方式操纵样本组成，以研究年龄和元素完整性对骨折患病率估计的影响。然后将 Cerro Oreja 的骨折率与其他高强度农业人口进行比较。
骨骼元素完整性和年龄组成都被发现影响骨折率的估计，这反映了在保存较好的骨骼上更有可能识别出愈合的骨折，以及随着年龄的增长而积累的损伤。Cerro Oreja 的骨折率为 3.4%，是七个高强度农业人口样本中的中位数。Cerro Oreja 的骨折分布与苏丹的 Kulubnarti（Kilgore 等人，1997 年）最相似。
骨骼元素完整性和年龄组成会影响骨骼样本中估算的骨折率，在进行比较分析时应考虑这些因素。为 Cerro Oreja 计算的所有比率都在其他高强度农业人口中获得的比率范围内，支持了先前的发现，即高强度农业人口的创伤性损伤风险更高。Cerro Oreja 与 Kulubnarti 的相似之处表明，崎岖的地形可能会使农业人口的骨折风险加剧，说明了在不理想的环境下集约化农业的成本。
