Case D T, Ossenberg N S, Burnett S E
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe 85287, USA.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 1998 Oct;107(2):199-209. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199810)107:2<199::AID-AJPA6>3.0.CO;2-Q.
The os intermetatarseum is a relatively common accessory bone of the human foot located at the tarsometatarsal border between the first and second metatarsals. It can occur as an independent ossicle or as an osseous spur projecting from the proximal ends of the first two metatarsals, or the distal end of the first cuneiform. To determine the frequency of this congenital defect in native North American groups and East Asians from Japan, the skeletons of 846 Native Americans and 125 modern Japanese and Ainu were examined for the presence of the os intermetatarseum. The North American skeletons are from archaeological sites in various parts of Canada and the United States, including the Arctic coast, the Subarctic, the Aleutian Islands, the Northern Plains, the Illinois River area, and the Southwest. Overall frequencies ranged from no occurrence among the Arctic samples to 8% of individuals from Pecos Pueblo. Second metatarsal spurs occurred in particularly high frequencies among American Indians, whereas the East Asians were only found to have os intermetatarseums associated with the first cuneiform. Because pedigrees have shown the os intermetatarseum to be an inherited defect, its high frequency among some Native Americans may be due, in part, to a higher degree of genetic relatedness among the individuals in the North American samples than among the relatively modern East Asians.
跖间骨是人类足部相对常见的副骨，位于第一和第二跖骨之间的跗跖关节边界处。它可以作为独立的小骨出现，也可以作为从前两根跖骨近端或第一楔骨远端突出的骨棘出现。为了确定北美原住民群体和来自日本的东亚人中这种先天性缺陷的发生率，对846具北美原住民骨骼以及125具现代日本人及阿伊努人的骨骼进行了检查，以确定是否存在跖间骨。北美骨骼来自加拿大和美国各地的考古遗址，包括北极海岸、亚北极地区、阿留申群岛、北部平原、伊利诺伊河地区和西南部。总体发生率从北极样本中未出现到佩科斯普韦布洛8%的个体出现不等。第二跖骨骨棘在美国印第安人中出现的频率特别高，而东亚人仅被发现有与第一楔骨相关的跖间骨。由于家系研究表明跖间骨是一种遗传性缺陷，其在一些北美原住民中出现的高频率可能部分归因于北美样本中的个体之间比相对现代的东亚人之间有更高程度的遗传相关性。
