Albee Malorie E
The Ohio State University, 4034 Smith Laboratory, 174 W. 18th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210, USA;
Homo. 2022 Nov 9;73(1):33-47. doi: 10.1127/homo/2022/1551.
The Medieval-Post-Medieval transition in England was an important shift in the human biocultural environment. With urbanization and industrialization came resultant changes in living and working conditions and subsequent effects on the skeleton. In addition, the Post-Medieval period ushered in changes in footwear and activity patterns, with potential consequences on foot bone morphology. The objective of this study is to compare calcaneal and talar lengths between the Medieval and Post-Medieval periods to determine whether there are quantifiable differences that correspond to shifting footwear and activity patterns. T-tests and ANCOVAs (and their non-parametric equivalents) were used to compare calcaneal and talar lengths of 1086 adults from 14 London cemeteries (Medieval n = 8, Post-Medieval n = 6), available in the Oracle Wellcome Osteological Research Database (WORD) curated by the Museum of London. Males and females were also analyzed separately. In the total sample, tali and calcanei are longer in the Medieval period ( < 0.001 for both tarsals). When males and females are analyzed separately, male talar length is greater in the Post-Medieval period ( < 0.001). The difference in talar length between periods is not statistically significant for females ( = 0.093). These differences in talar and calcaneal lengths between periods likely reflect differences in footwear between the Medieval and Post-Medieval periods. The magnitude of these differences varies according to sex, indicating that the change in footwear had differential impacts on men and women. Together, these results suggest that Medieval and Post-Medieval tarsals physically incorporated their respective cultural environments and gendered differences in cultural practice, particularly related to the footwear characteristic of each period.
英国中世纪向后中世纪的转变是人类生物文化环境中的一次重要转变。随着城市化和工业化的发展，生活和工作条件发生了变化，进而对骨骼产生了影响。此外，后中世纪时期鞋履和活动模式也发生了变化，可能对足部骨骼形态产生影响。本研究的目的是比较中世纪和后中世纪时期跟骨和距骨的长度，以确定是否存在与鞋履和活动模式变化相对应的可量化差异。使用t检验和协方差分析（及其非参数等效方法）来比较来自伦敦14个墓地的1086名成年人的跟骨和距骨长度（中世纪n = 8，后中世纪n = 6），这些数据来自伦敦博物馆策划的甲骨文惠康骨学研究数据库（WORD）。男性和女性也分别进行了分析。在总样本中，中世纪时期的距骨和跟骨更长（两种跗骨的p值均<0.001）。当分别分析男性和女性时，后中世纪时期男性的距骨长度更大（p<0.001）。不同时期女性距骨长度的差异无统计学意义（p = 0.093）。不同时期距骨和跟骨长度的这些差异可能反映了中世纪和后中世纪时期鞋履的差异。这些差异的大小因性别而异，表明鞋履的变化对男性和女性有不同的影响。总之，这些结果表明，中世纪和后中世纪的跗骨在生理上融入了各自的文化环境以及文化实践中的性别差异，特别是与每个时期的鞋履特征有关。
