Patterns of Linear Enamel Hypoplasias among Korean Skeletal Samples from the Joseon Dynasty Period / 체질인류학회지

Dental linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) is probably one of the most widely used developmental stress indicators among all known skeletal stress indicators. This research examined LEH on the permanent anterior teeth of 160 human skeletal remains from the Joseon Dynasty period. The purpose of this investigation is to understand the characteristics of the developmental stresses experienced by the people of the Joseon period by analyzing the patterns of LEH incidences. The skeletal remains analyzed for this research were excavated during an archaeological investigation at a construction site in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Eunpyeong site is estimated to date from the late 15th century to the late 19th century based on the burial type and goods discovered within the graves. Of all the skeletal remains found at this site, 160 individual specimens with at least one of the permanent anterior teeth constituted the sample of the study. Information regarding each individual specimen's sex, age at death, and burial type was collected by the standardized methods. The prevalence and number of LEH by tooth type, and the number of LEH by sex, by burial type, and by age at death were analyzed. Mandibular canines were the most frequently affected teeth, maxillary canines coming next in the occurrence of LEH, and the third turned out to be the maxillary incisors. This result generally agrees with the findings from previous studies. When number of LEH by sex was compared, there was no consistent difference by sex which also agrees with the findings of previous studies. Although specimens from lime-mortar burials tended to have less number of LEH then those from earth-pit burials, a probable indication of the socioeconomic status effect on the formation of LEH, the result was not very pronounced. No obvious association between the number of LEH and age at death was found, either. Finally the results from this study were compared with those reported by other researches on LEH worldwide. Although preliminary in its level of analysis, this study is the first report of the patterns of LEH of a skeletal population of Korea. With more studies of human skeletal remains from the past, it is hoped, physical anthropology can contribute to the understanding of the past life of the Korean people.

An Estimation of Adult Males' Average Stature from the Skeletal Remains of Joseon Period / 체질인류학회지

An average height of adult males of Joseon period was estimated by utilizing excavated skeletal remains of the era. The height estimation formula for Mongoloid males by Trotter and Gleser (1958) was applied to the maximum femur lengths from 85 individuals' skeletal remains identified as grown-up males by the author of this paper. Individual estimations were obtained first, and then the mean of the central numbers of the individual estimations was taken as the group average. The average height of the 85 individuals was estimated 164.49 cm. When the sample was divided by the burial type, a presumed indicator of the socioeconomic status of the buried, those buried in the lime-mortar type burials were generally taller than those buried in the earth-pit type burials. When the Eunpyeong site was examined separately, those excavated from the earth-pit type burials were shorter about 1.5 cm than those excavated from the lime-mortar type burials. Because it is presumed that the earth-pit type burials were mostly used by commoners during the Joseon period, the mean height of the adult males from the earth-pit type burials can be considered as a mean height of adult male commoners of the era. The mean height of those from the earth-pit type burials was 164.09 cm when the total sample was analyzed and 163.19 cm when only those from Eunpyeong were analyzed. When estimated from skeletal remains, the adult Korean male commoners from middle and southern Korea of Joseon period were as tall as or a little taller than those adult Korean males from middle Korea measured by Westerners or Japanese in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.