The prehistoric inhabitants of the Wadi Howar [Elektronische Ressource] : an anthropological study of human skeletal remains from the Sudanese part of the Eastern Sahara / Erik Becker

Erikmitk

Sujets

• Soziologie
• Anthropologie

Informations

• Publié par: johannes_gutenberg-universitat_mainz
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 210
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 80 Mo

Extrait

The prehistoric inhabitants of the Wadi Howar



An anthropological study of human skeletal remains from the

Sudanese part of the Eastern Sahara









Inauguraldissertation

zur Erlangung des Akademischen Grades

eines Dr. phil.,



vorgelegt dem Fachbereich 02

Sozialwissenschaften, Medien und Sport

der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität

Mainz



von

Erik Becker M.A.

aus Darmstadt



2011
















































Referent:
Korreferent:
Tag des Prüfungskolloquiums: 9. November 2011















Volume I






































Abstract

1The prehistoric inhabitants of the Wadi Howar - An anthropological study of
2human skeletal remains from the Sudanese part of the Eastern Sahara

All currently available human skeletal remains from the Wadi Howar (Eastern Sahara, Sudan) were
th ndemployed in an anthropological study. The study’s first aim was to describe this unique 5 to 2
millennium BCE material, which comprised representatives of all three prehistoric occupation phases of
the region. Detecting diachronic differences in robusticity, occupational stress levels and health within
the spatially, temporally and culturally heterogeneous sample was its second objective. The study’s
third goal was to reveal metric and non-metric affinities between the different parts of the series and
between the Wadi Howar material and other relevant prehistoric as well as modern African populations.
The research strategy adopted to achieve these three aims and to surmount the limitations imposed by
the small size of the sample and the material’s extraordinarily poor state of preservation was to apply
simple, well-established methods to as broad a range of pertinent metric and non-metric traits as
possible.
The reconstruction and comprehensive osteological analysis of 23 as yet unpublished individuals, the
bulk of the Wadi Howar series, constituted the first stage of the study. The analyses focused on each
individual’s in situ position, state of preservation, sex, age at death, living height, living weight,
physique, biological ancestry, epigenetic traits, robusticity, occupational stress markers, health and
metric as well as morphological characteristics. Building on the results of these efforts and the re-
examination of the rest of the material, the Wadi Howar series as a whole, altogether 32 individuals,
could be described. All gathered data were summed up and remarkable observations were highlighted.
The occurrence of unusual in situ positions and post-depositional movements, the widespread and
severe post mortem damage, a number of pseudopathologies, the leptosome physique, the tropically
3adapted body proportions, the long and high Crania , the biologically sub-Saharan nasal morphology,
the marked alveolar prognathism, the strikingly high mandibular symphyses (Symphyses
mandibularum), the extremely large teeth, an Inca bone (Os incae), a large parastyle (Tuberculum
paramolare), a peg-shaped upper third molar (Dens molaris superior III), paranasal as well as
intertrochlear foramina (Foramina paranasalia et intertrochlearia), the antebrachial and femoral shaft
bowing, the interosseous border (Margo interosseus) and pilaster sizes, the cranial and cervical
occupational stress markers, the advanced, anterior, labial, notched, angled and cupped dental wear,
the occupational stress markers of the bones of the pectoral girdle (Cingulum pectorale) and the upper
free extremities (Partes liberae membrorum superiorum), the physiological medullary stenosis of a
number of long bones, the advanced thinning of a frontal bone (Os frontale), patches of small lesions on

1 The term anthropology was employed to refer to the comparative biological science usually called biological or physical
anthropology in English-speaking countries (e.g. Grupe et al. 2005; Hoßfeld 2005: 15-50; Knußmann 1988(a), 1996: 1-6;
Schwidetzky 1988; Susanne 1987).
2 This thesis was written prior to the independence of the Republic of South Sudan. The terms Sudanese and Sudan, by
themselves or in combination with geographic adjectives such as Northern, Southern, Central, etc., were used accordingly.
3 Both anglicised and internationally accepted original Nomina anatomica terms were provided throughout this thesis. Whenever
names coincided only Nomina anatomica terms were given (Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology 1998; Feneis
1993; Feneis/Dauber 2000).
I the outer surface (Tabula externa) of a parietal bone (Os parietale), an ossified structure on the inner
surface (Tabula interna) of a parietal bone (Os parietale), a parietal bone (Os parietale) with
depressions, the artificial removal of incisors (Dentes incisivi), the common and often pronounced
enamel hypoplasia, a cervical vertebra (Vertebra cervicalis) with osteolytic lesions and the cases of
tooth crowding and crown compression were given special attention in this context.
The attempts to determine the amount of intra-observer error showed that a few differences between
original and control data were significantly different from zero. However, the absolute maximum and
mean differences between the data in question were either negligible or caused by the discrepancies
between laboratory estimates and in situ measurements of long bone lengths. Furthermore, no original
and control data differed significantly or in tendency from each other.
A wide variety of robusticity, occupational stress and health variables was evaluated. The pre-
Leiterband (hunter-gatherer-fisher/hunter-gatherer-fisher-herder) and the Leiterband (herder-gatherer)
data of over a third of these variables differed statistically significantly or in tendency from each other.
The most pronounced diachronic differences were discovered when cranial thickness measurements,
robusticity and stress traits of the occipital region (Regio occipitalis) and the mandible (Mandibula),
combined musculoskeletal stress markers, overall and anterior dental abrasion scores, enamel
hypoplasia data, cortical thickness measurements, shaft bowing and interosseous border (Margo
interosseus) size scores of the bones of the upper free extremities (Partes liberae membrorum
superiorum) and the mean adult ages at death were compared. The Leiterband sub-sample was
characterised by higher enamel hypoplasia frequencies, lower mean ages at death and less
pronounced expressions of occupational stress traits. This pattern was interpreted as evidence that the
adoption and intensification of animal husbandry did probably not constitute reactions to worsening
conditions. Apart from that, the relevant observations, noteworthy tendencies and significant differences
were explained as results of a broader spectrum of pre-Leiterband subsistence activities and the
negative side effects of the increasingly specialised herder-gatherer economy of the Leiterband phase.
Using only the data which could actually be collected from it, multiple, separate, individualised
discriminant function analyses were carried out for each Wadi Howar skeleton to determine which
prehistoric and which modern comparative sample it was most similar to. The results of all individual
analyses were then summarised and examined as a whole. The classification patterns which became
apparent during this process could subsequently be interpreted. Thus it became possible to draw
conclusions about the affinities the Wadi Howar material shared with prehistoric as well as modern
populations and to answer questions concerning the diachronic links between the Wadi Howar’s
prehistoric populations. When the Wadi Howar remains were positioned in the context of the selected
prehistoric (Jebel Sahaba/Tushka, A-Group, Malian Sahara) and modern comparative samples
(Southern Sudan, Chad, Mandinka, Somalis, Haya) in this fashion three main findings emerged. Firstly,
the series as a whole displayed very strong affinities with the prehistoric sample from the Malian Sahara
(Hassi el Abiod, Kobadi, Erg Ine Sakane, etc.) and the modern material from Southern Sudan and, to a
lesser extent, Chad. Secondly, the pre-Leiterband and the Leiterband sub-sample were closer to the
prehistoric Malian as well as the modern Southern Sudanese material than they were to each other.
Thirdly, the group of pre-Leiterband individuals approached the Late Pleistocene sample from Jebel
Sahaba/Tushka under certain circumstances. A theory offering explanations for these findings was
developed. According to this theor