Jordan Karsten

Wealth, health and frailty in industrial-era London

Abstract Background: Socioeconomic status is a powerful predictor of mortality in living populations, as status affects exposure or access to a variety of factors that impact health and survival, such as diet, healthcare, infectious disease and pollution. Aim: This study examines the effect of socioeconomic status on mortality and survival in London during a period spanning the early 18th through mid-19th centuries. During this period, London experienced rapid industrialization and heightened class distinctions. This study examines whether low-socioeconomic status was associated with reduced survival at a time when the distinctions between social strata were peaking. Subjects and methods: The samples for this study are drawn from three skeletal assemblages in London that represent lower and higher social strata. The upper socioeconomic status sample (n = 394) is from Chelsea Old Church and St Bride’s Fleet Street (crypt assemblage). The low socioeconomic status sample (n = 474) is from St. Bride’s Lower Churchyard (also known as St Bride’s Farringdon Street). The effect of status on mortality and survival is assessed using hazard analysis and Kaplan–Meier analysis. Results: The results reveal elevated mortality and reduced survival for lower socioeconomic status children, but no strong effect of status on adult mortality or survival. Conclusion: These results might indicate strong selective mortality operating during childhood or the effects of migration in the industrial-era population of London.

Dental Health and the Transition to Agriculture in Prehistoric Ukraine: A Study of Dental Caries

AbstractBioarchaeological studies have found that, in general, the adoption of agriculture is associated with deteriorating oral health, most frequently manifested as an increase in the prevalence of dental caries. However, compared to other regions of the world, bioarchaeological studies focusing on prehistoric Europe have produced more variable results, with different populations experiencing deteriorations, improvements, and stasis in oral health. This study assesses the oral health of individuals of the Tripolye culture buried in Verteba Cave, Ukraine, within the context of the transition to agriculture in Eastern Europe. We compare the rates of dental caries between Tripolye farmers with earlier hunter-fisher-gatherers from Ukraine. The Tripolye were found to have carious lesions on 9.5 per cent of teeth, while the hunter-fisher-gatherers were found to be universally free of carious lesions. A Fishers exact test demonstrates that this difference is statistically significant, supporting the model tha...

Analysis of ancient human mitochondrial DNA from Verteba Cave, Ukraine: insights into the origins and expansions of the Late Neolithic-Chalcolithic Cututeni-Tripolye Culture

Background The Eneolithic (~ 5,500 yrBP) site of Verteba Cave in Western Ukraine contains the largest collection of human skeletal remains associated with the archaeological Cucuteni-Tripolye Culture. Their subsistence economy is based largely on agro-pastoralism and had some of the largest and most dense settlement sites during the Middle Neolithic in all of Europe. To help understand the evolutionary history of the Tripolye people, we performed mtDNA analyses on ancient human remains excavated from several chambers within the cave. Results Burials at Verteba Cave are largely commingled and secondary in nature. A total of 68 individual bone specimens were analyzed. Most of these specimens were found in association with well-defined Tripolye artifacts. We determined 28 mtDNA D-Loop (368 bp) sequences and defined 8 sequence types, belonging to haplogroups H, HV, W, K, and T. These results do not suggest continuity with local pre-Eneolithic peoples, but rather complete population replacement. We constructed maximum parsimonious networks from the data and generated population genetic statistics. Nucleotide diversity (π) is low among all sequence types and our network analysis indicates highly similar mtDNA sequence types for samples in chamber G3. Using different sample sizes due to the uncertainly in number of individuals (11, 28, or 15), we found Tajima’s D statistic to vary. When all sequence types are included (11 or 28), we do not find a trend for demographic expansion (negative but not significantly different from zero); however, when only samples from Site 7 (peak occupation) are included, we find a significantly negative value, indicative of demographic expansion. Conclusions Our results suggest individuals buried at Verteba Cave had overall low mtDNA diversity, most likely due to increased conflict among sedentary farmers and nomadic pastoralists to the East and North. Early Farmers tend to show demographic expansion. We find different signatures of demographic expansion for the Tripolye people that may be caused by existing population structure or the spatiotemporal nature of ancient data. Regardless, peoples of the Tripolye Culture are more closely related to early European farmers and lack genetic continuity with Mesolithic hunter-gatherers or pre-Eneolithic groups in Ukraine.

Birds in burials: the role of avifauna in Eneolithic Tripolye mortuary rituals

Bird remains are rare at Tripolye sites; therefore, researchers hypothesize that they were not an important economic resource for the Tripolye. The use of ornithographic iconography, vessels, and figurines suggests avifauna were important symbolically in Tripolye ideology. Here, we investigate the role of birds in a Tripolye burial context to assess their symbolic and/or economic significance in mortuary behaviours. We analysed bird remains from the Verteba Cave cemetery, located in western Ukraine and occupied by the Tripolye during phase BII through CII. Bird remains (n = 178) comprise approximately 2% of the faunal sample excavated among human burials from the cave. In contrast to species represented symbolically in Tripolye art, water and marsh birds are majorly underrepresented. The bird assemblage is dominated by grouse (Tetrao spp.), and common quail (Cortunix cortunix), but also includes birds of prey, corvids, and many songbirds. The large number of gamebirds leads us to conclude that the avifauna from Verteba Cave are likely the remains from funeral feasts or food grave offerings. It also supports the idea that birds were a seasonal and local economic resource. The presence of birds of prey, corvids, and male black grouse also suggests that feathers may have been a desired resource.