Revisiting traumatic injury risk and agricultural intensification: Postcranial fracture frequency at Cerro Oreja in the Moche Valley of north coastal Peru

American Journal of Physical Anthropology
Patricia M Lambert, Martin H Welker

Abstract

In Lambert and Welker (2017) we explored the association between subsistence economy and postcranial fracture prevalence, finding that low-intensity agriculturalists exhibited significantly lower fracture rates than foragers or high-intensity agriculturalists. Here, we explore the impacts of sampling strategy on fracture rates in a sample of high-intensity agriculturalists from the Moche Valley, Peru, and further test the hypothesis that postcranial fracture risks are higher for intensive agriculture. The long bones and clavicles of 102 individuals from an Early Intermediate Period cemetery (400 B.C.-A.D. 200) at Cerro Oreja were examined for healed fractures. Sample composition was manipulated in six ways to investigate the effects of age and element completeness on estimates of fracture prevalence. Fracture rates at Cerro Oreja were then compared to those for other high-intensity agriculturalists. Both skeletal element completeness and age composition were found to influence fracture rate estimates, reflecting the greater likelihood of identifying healed fractures on better-preserved bones and the accrual of injuries with age. The fracture rate of 3.4% at Cerro Oreja was the median value among seven high-intensity agricultura...Continue Reading

References

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Jun 24, 2004·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·O L PhillipsB Vinceti
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Dec 17, 2009·Risk Analysis : an Official Publication of the Society for Risk Analysis·Florian ElmerAnnegret H Thieken
Sep 28, 2016·American Journal of Physical Anthropology·Patricia M Lambert, Martin H Welker

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