Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Hollandstraße 11‒13, 1020 Vienna, Austria.
Department of Anthropology, Natural History Museum, Burgring 7, 1010 Vienna, Austria.
Anthropol Anz. 2022 Feb 14;79(2):183-198. doi: 10.1127/anthranz/2021/1455.
During the analyses of several hundred prehistoric individuals from Austria, we observed that some women display a "Pelvic Pattern" at the innominate bones and the sacrum, i.e. specific combinations of pronounced expressions of pelvic features. We recorded classic pelvic features (dorsal pubic pitting, preauricular sulcus, extended pubic tubercle) as well as new ones (SPE: sacral preauricular extension, a ventrally pointing flat bone formation at the ventrosuperior margin of the ala ossis sacri; SPN: sacral preauricular notch, a loss of convexity at the same location; CF: corresponding facets at the ilium), and some less well-known features, i.e. the margo auricularis groove, ventral pubic exostoses and lesions. To quantify the assessed features, we developed a specific formula to calculate the 'Pelvic Pattern Index' (PPI). As pregnancies and/or parturitions are suspected to contribute to or be at least partly causative of the occurrence of pelvic features, we analyzed 48 well-preserved female individuals and 15 males from identified skeletal collections with obstetric information in Geneva and London. In these collections, we found a pelvic pattern of at least four out of ten distinctly expressed pelvic features only in multiparous females, but not in nulli- or primiparous females or in males. This pattern was found in 40.6% of the multiparous females and 29.2% of all females from the identified collections, compared to 56.1% of well-preserved prehistoric females with unknown parity status from Austria (n = 41). The mean PPI of the multiparae from the identified collections is 0.25, compared to a mean PPI of 0.19 for all women from the identified collections, and 0.28 for the prehistoric female individuals. We conclude from this that a high PPI (≥ 0.30), especially in cases where SPE or SPN are present, can give insights into past motherhood.
在对来自奥地利的数百名史前个体进行分析时，我们观察到一些女性在髋骨和骶骨上显示出“骨盆模式”，即骨盆特征的特定组合。我们记录了典型的骨盆特征（耻骨背侧凹陷、耳前沟、耻骨结节延伸）以及新的特征（SPE：骶骨耳前延伸，骶骨翼后上缘指向下方的扁平骨形成；SPN：骶骨耳前切迹，同一位置的凸度丧失；CF：髂骨上相应的关节面），以及一些不太知名的特征，如耳状缘沟、耻骨腹侧外生骨赘和病变。为了量化评估的特征，我们开发了一种特定的公式来计算“骨盆模式指数”（PPI）。由于怀孕和/或分娩被怀疑是导致骨盆特征发生的原因或至少是部分原因，我们分析了来自日内瓦和伦敦具有产科信息的 48 名保存完好的女性个体和 15 名男性个体的骨骼标本。在这些标本中，我们仅在多产妇中发现了至少有四个明显表达的骨盆特征的骨盆模式，而在未产妇或初产妇或男性中则没有。这种模式在多产妇中占 40.6%，在所有女性中占 29.2%，而在奥地利的未知生育史的保存完好的史前女性中占 56.1%（n=41）。来自鉴定收藏的多产妇的平均 PPI 为 0.25，而所有女性的平均 PPI 为 0.19，史前女性个体的平均 PPI 为 0.28。因此，我们得出结论，高 PPI（≥0.30），尤其是在存在 SPE 或 SPN 的情况下，可以深入了解过去的母性。
