Tiptoeing through the rest of his life: A functional adaptation to a leg shortened by femoral neck fracture.

Salvage excavation of a Roman cemetery (1st-2nd century CE) at the site of ancient Erculam (region of Campania), Italy, yielded the skeleton of an older male with a healed fracture of the femoral neck that reduced the femoral neck angle and resulted in leg shortening. The right foot shows bony alterations that appear to have developed as a consequence. The distal joint surfaces of the first and second metatarsals extend dorsally for articulation of the proximal phalanges in hyper-dorsiflexion. I argue that, in order to compensate for the shortened leg, the man lengthened it functionally by bearing weight primarily on his toes when he walked, rather than striking the heel first and then pushing off from the toe. The severity of degenerative joint disease in the right knee and in the metatarsophalangeal joints suggests that the injury occurred years before the man's death. This case adds to the bioarchaeological record of individuals who adapted to impaired mobility in the past, and it may be of interest to scholars who study the bioarchaeology of impairment and disability.

Additional data on trauma at Harappa.

I report unpublished details of trauma in adult skeletons excavated in 1987 and 1988 from Cemetery R37 at Harappa, Pakistan, the type-site of the Indus Valley Civilization. Lesions were observed in 6 of 19 complete skeletons from primary contexts, affecting a cranium, rib, radius, vertebra, scapula, and phalanges. Lesions affecting a rib, vertebra, pedal phalanx, and cranium were recorded for four additional individuals from secondary contexts. These data permit additional insight into the pattern of trauma at Harappa reported by Schug et al. (2012), in which four females, three males, and two non-adults suffered violence-related craniofacial trauma. Lesions reported here, affecting a scapula in one female, the posterior cranium and a rib in another female, and a manual and a pedal phalanx in two males, neither support nor contradict their conclusion that interpersonal violence at Harappa was directed toward females, although females did incur significant injuries. The low frequency of possible violence-related lesions in the high status Cemetery R37, however, may support the proposal that violence at Harappa was socially differentiated (Schug et al., 2012).

Technical note: Enhancement of Scott's molar wear scoring method.

A method is described for orienting maxillary and mandibular molars in order to standardize the reporting of wear scores on quadrants of the occlusal surfaces (Scott: Am J Phys Anthropol 51 (1979) 213-217). The method, which was developed on an archeological sample from ancient Mendes, Egypt, further requires that quadrant scores be reported individually and sequentially for each tooth, rather than summed, in order to identify more easily differential and directional wear patterns. Intraobserver and interobserver error was found to be negligible when the appropriate diagrams and instructions were consulted. Thus, observer error does not add further to the potential for error associated with Scott's original scoring method.

Skeletal evidence of probable treponemal infection in free-ranging African apes.

The prevalence and patterning of inflammatory lesions of the skeleton were investigated in samples of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) curated at the Powell-Cotton Museum, Birchington, UK. One hundred and two chimpanzees (42 adults and 60 subadults) and 126 gorillas (50 adults and 76 subadults) comprise the samples. Twenty per cent of chimpanzees and 14% of gorillas were affected with a disseminated inflammatory skeletal condition caused by infection. The lesions appear to have originated as localized patches of new bone deposition on the surface of long bones and to have progressed to infection of the bone cortex and marrow. Although female prevalence of involvement exceeds that of males in both species, the differences are not statistically significant. The age distribution of affected animals indicates that the disease began in some animals as early as 2 yr of age. Given the skeletal and demographic prevalence and patterning of the lesions as well as the ecology and behavior of these animals, the most likely diagnosis of the condition is a yaws-like treponemal infection.