UMR 5199 PACEA, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac Cedex, France.
Inrap, Boulevard de Verdun, Le Grand Quevilly, France.
J Anat. 2020 Jul;237(1):119-132. doi: 10.1111/joa.13178. Epub 2020 Mar 18.
Despite the medical literature on supernumerary cervical ribs in extant adult samples, little is known about their development and occurrence in early infancy. The documentation of cervical ribs in modern samples of fetuses and neonates is indeed affected by ethical as well as technical limitations. The aim of the present study was to investigate their frequencies and morphological variability in the first known archaeological collection of very young children with this anatomical variant. The study sample comes from the 8B-51 necropolis on the Saï island (Sudan) and dates to the Classic Kerma Period (XVIIIe-XVIe centuries BC). It consists of 64 individuals deceased between 24 weeks of amenorrhoea and 2 years of age. Bilateral or unilateral cervical ribs were found in 27 individuals. A total of 43 cervical ribs were identified, 38 of which are fully preserved. According to these observations, at least 42% of the individuals have unilateral or bilateral cervical ribs, with an average maximum length of < 1 cm. This frequency is very high compared to those observed in contemporary adult samples (up to 3%). First, the comparison of our results with biological and genetic research demonstrating the link between the occurrence of cervical ribs and a reduced chance of survival during infancy allows the first identification of this trait as an indicator of morbidity in an archaeological collection, a morbidity to which a genetic homogeneity or even endogamy could contribute. Second, the number of ribs studied makes it possible to propose a morphological classification based on the general shape and the shape of the articular facets, classification that can be used tos refine the analyses of the trait in future samples.
尽管有关于现生成人样本中超数颈肋的医学文献，但对于其在婴儿早期的发育和发生情况却知之甚少。现代胎儿和新生儿样本中颈肋的记录确实受到伦理和技术限制的影响。本研究的目的是调查在已知的第一个具有这种解剖变异的非常年幼儿童的考古样本中，它们的出现频率和形态变异性。研究样本来自于 Saï 岛上的 8B-51 墓地（苏丹），年代可追溯至古典库玛时期（公元前 18-16 世纪）。它由 64 名在闭经 24 周至 2 岁之间死亡的个体组成。在 27 名个体中发现了双侧或单侧颈肋。总共鉴定出 43 个颈肋，其中 38 个完全保存。根据这些观察结果，至少有 42%的个体存在单侧或双侧颈肋，平均最大长度<1 厘米。与在当代成人样本中观察到的频率（高达 3%）相比，这个频率非常高。首先，将我们的结果与表明颈肋的发生与婴儿期生存机会降低之间存在联系的生物学和遗传研究进行比较，使我们首次将这种特征识别为考古样本中发病率的一个指标，这种发病率可能是由于遗传同质性甚至是近亲繁殖造成的。其次，研究的肋骨数量使得可以根据一般形状和关节面的形状提出一种形态分类，这种分类可用于细化未来样本中对该特征的分析。
