Bone-formers and bone-losers in an archaeological population

摘要

ObjectivesRecent biomedical research suggests that, in modern human populations, individuals may vary in their inherent tendency toward bone formation at skeletal and extra-skeletal locations. However, the nature of this phenomenon is incompletely understood, and the extent to which it might apply to past populations is unclear. It is hypothesized that if there is inter-individual variation in some overall tendency toward bone formation in skeletal and extra-skeletal sites then there should be a positive relationship between ligamentous ossification and thickness of cortical bone. This work is a test of this hypothesis in an archaeological population.