Janusz Piontek
Biographic Data
| ID | 137752 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Janusz Piontek |
| GIVEN NAMES | Janusz |
| FAMILY NAME | Piontek |
| SIGNATURE | PIONTEK J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8403-2752 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 57 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 80 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 57 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1974 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Age at menarche, environmental stress, and social inequality
OBJECTIVE: To address the relationship between socioeconomic factors and age of menarche among Polish women born and reared in periods that varied considerably in environmental stresses: the Great Depression of the 1930s, the interval of World War II, and the interval of communist rule following World War II through the 1950s. METHODS: The data set included information on age at menarche and socioeconomic status (SES) of 718 women born during the…
The meaning of the shape of the frontal bone, facial retraction and prognathism for the degree of gracilisation of the supraorbital region in Homo sapiens
In utero undernourishment during WWII
Under marginal nutritional conditions, growth in utero is related to subsequent growth and adult height. The aim of this research is to compare the young adult body size of women grouped by estimated duration of pregnancy relative to World War II. Subjects were 620 university students 18-25 years, for whom archival data for date of birth, age, height and weight were available; the BMI was calculated. Based on estimated time of pregnancy and birth…
Relationships between osteoarthritic changes (osteophytes, porosity, eburnation) based on historical skeletal material
Background: Three main diagnostic types of osteoarthritic changes are distinguished in clinical and anthropological literature: osteophytes, porosity, and eburnation. The nature of the relationship between these changes and how lesions progress over time is still unclear. Aim: The aim of the present study is the analysis of the relationships between osteophytes, porosity, and eburnation based on skeletal material. Subjects and methods: The analys…
Osteoarthritis – a problematic skeletal trait in past human populations. Osteoarthritic changes vs. entheseal changes in the late medieval and early modern population form Łekno
According to medical knowledge, physical activity plays a role in osteoarthritic changes formation. The impact of occupation on osteoarthritic changes development in past human populations is not clear enough, causing problems with interpretation. The aim of the current study is to examine the relationship between osteoarthritis and entheseal changes. Skeletal material comes from the late medieval, early modern population from Łekno (Poland). The…
Are metals necessary for the study of social stratification during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age? A proposal for a new methodological approach
Did family size affect differences in body height in non-urbanized societies? Evidence from the Lemko community in Poland in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of economic changes in the Polish territories under Austrian partition at the end of the 19 th and the beginning of the 20 th centuries on the trend in adult body height, and to examine the effect of number of children in a family, as a socioeconomic factor, on the differences in heights of males and females. Data collected in a 1939 survey for a group of 350 Lemkos living in Polish lands under the …
Bilateral asymmetry of the humerus in Neandertals, Australian aborigines and medieval humans
OBJECTIVES: Bilateral asymmetry of diaphyseal shape and size may be a reflection of relative activity levels and patterns of habitual biomechanical stress in the upper arms of Neandertals and Homo sapiens. The main purpose of our study was to assess the level of directional asymmetry of humeral cross sections in Neandertals, recent Australian aborigines, and medieval farmers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Indices of directional and absolute asymmetry (%…
Body Mass Index Values in the Gentry and Peasantry in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Poland
The aim of this study was to assess the impact of social and occupational status on the BMI of the gentry and peasantry in the Kingdom of Poland at the turn of 19th and early 20th centuries. Use was made of data on the height and weight of 304 men, including 200 peasants and 104 gentlemen, and 275 women, including 200 from the peasantry and 75 from the gentry. Gentlemen were characterized by a greater body height than peasants (169.40 cm and 166.…
Body size of young adult Polish college‐age women born before, during, and after WWII
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to compare the young adult body size of Polish female university students born before, during, and after WWII. METHODS: Age, height, and weight of 492 students measured between 1956 and 1972 were accessed from the Department of Anthropology archives (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań). The sample was divided into three birth year cohorts relative to WWII: before (n = 120), during (n = 196), and after (n = 17…
High stature and body mass might affect the occurrence of Schmorl’s nodes
Schmorl’s nodes are vertical herniation of intervertebral discs into the body of neighbouring vertebral endplate. Notwithstanding extensive studies, no consensus has been reached in the subject of their possible etiology. It is hypothesized that physical stress, trauma and high axial loading are the key factors in the occurrence of this pathology. The main objective of the current work is to reevaluate the relationship between stature and body ma…
Age at menarche in Polish University students born before, during and after World War II
Warriors Die Young
Scythians were nomadic groups, playing a dominant role on the Eurasian steppes in the Early Iron Age according to many archaeological and historical sources. In this paper, we aim at assessing demographic features and dynamics of a Scythian population from the Black Sea region. We hypothesise that they differed from other societies not only in terms of culture, but also demography: their fertility was lower, and life expectancy higher than in oth…
Directional asymmetry of upper limbs in a medieval population from Poland
OBJECTIVES: Degrees of upper-limb bilateral asymmetry reflect habitual behavior and activity levels throughout life in human populations. The shoulder joint facilitates a wide range of combined motions due to the simultaneous motion of all three bones: clavicle, scapula, and humerus. Accordingly, we used three-dimensional geometric morphometrics to analyze shape differences in the glenoid cavity and linear morphometrics to obtain the degree of di…
Body mass index values of conscripts in the Polish lands under Prussian rule in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Ancient DNA Reveals Matrilineal Continuity in Present-Day Poland over the Last Two Millennia
While numerous ancient human DNA datasets from across Europe have been published till date, modern-day Poland in particular, remains uninvestigated. Besides application in the reconstruction of continent-wide human history, data from this region would also contribute towards our understanding of the history of the Slavs, whose origin is hypothesized to be in East or Central Europe. Here, we present the first population-scale ancient human DNA stu…
Is vertebral body osteophytosis a reliable indicator of occupational stress
Whether activity patterns cause vertebral body osteophytosis (VO) remains unanswered. Although, many previous researchers indicate physical activity as an etiological factor of VO, a number of recent studies have questioned this conclusion. Thus, using a sample of 101 adult males from medieval Poland, this current study examines whether individuals with VO have greater entheseal change (EC) scores since EC are commonly used as an indicator of act…
Opportunity for the Operation of Natural Selection in a Contemporary Local Population (The Case of Slovincians, Poland)
In research practice, it is possible to observe natural selection at work by analysing fertility and mortality. Crow’s index takes into account both of these vital statistics components and allows a quantitative estimation of the operation of natural selection on the basis of demographic birth and death figures. In this study, we use the classical Crow’s index to determine whether the disintegration of the Slovincian population in the second half…
Transition to Agriculture in Central Europe
Body mass reconstruction on the basis of selected skeletal traits
The objective of this paper is: to estimate the body mass of the skeletons with the mechanical method (femoral head body mass estimation method--FH) and non-mechanical method (stature/living bi-iliac breadth body mass estimation method--ST/LBIB); to compare the reliability and potential use of results obtained with both methods. The material (46 skeletons, 26 males, 20 females) used in the study came from the medieval burial ground in Cedynia, Po…
Biological Status of Subcarpathian Settlers in the First Half of the 20th Century
The purpose of the paper is (a) to present the characteristics describing opportunity for natural selection in the population of the Subcarpathian settlers in the first half of the 20th century and (b) to assess the secular trend in body height in this immigrant group living in isolation from the surrounding Slavic population. The research material comes from the historical data stored in the archives of the Institute of Anthropology in Poznañ. E…
Intergenerational Changes in the Biological Dynamics of Populations from Southern Poland in the 20th Century
The study material contained questionnaires with questions referring to three generations of women living in two geographical regions of Poland, Podbeskidzie (313 families) and Podkarpacie (437 families). By computing fertility rates, we attempted to find out whether there were any regional factors determining the biological dynamics of these populations in the 20th century. We were also looking for an answer to the question whether living condit…
Shape and size of the body vs. musculoskeletal stress markers
The objective of this paper is to assess the relationship between the degree of development of muscle attachment sites (musculoskeletal stress markers - MSM1) and the length and circumference measurements of long bones and the body build expressed with the reconstructed values of body height (BH) and body mass (BM). The bone material (102 male and 99 female skeletons) used in the study was collected in the medieval burial ground in Cedynia, Polan…
Does the occurrence of Harris lines affect the morphology of human long bones?
The frequency of appearance of transverse (Harris) lines in the tibia in relationship to age at death
Therefore, one can presume that the individuals who died in the maturus age were more resistant to adverse living conditions or their reaction to those conditions was weaker and hence they lived longer
Natural Selection and Morphological Variability
Two hypotheses concerning the influence of natural selection intensity on intra- and interpopulational variability of metric characteristics of the human skull ar tested. Using data on 58 series from Europe and its environs dating from Neolithic to modern times, it has been found that with the decline of the decline of the intensity of operation of natural selection (1) intragroup variability increases, (2) intergroup variability decreases, and (…
Frequency of cribra orbitalia in the subadult medieval population from Gruczno, Poland
The purpose of this work is to present data on the frequency of cribra orbitalia in the skulls of children from a Polish medieval population cemetery in Gruczno and to compare the results with the frequency of this phenomenon in adult populations. The frequency of cribra orbitalia was investigated in 92 skulls belonging to individuals who died between the ages of 0 to 15 years. The Hengen scale (1971) and the Nathan & Haas scale (1966) as modifie…
Średniowieczne cmentarzysko w Słaboszewie koło Mogilna
The purpose of the present paper is to analyse mortality structure of the skeletal population originating from medieval cemetery (XIV-XVII century) excavated at Słaboszewo near Mogilno (NW segment of Central Poland). The cemetery had been incessantly used by a human group inhabiting 6 settlements dispersed on an area of 39 square kilometers and consisted of about 290 persons in the year 1350 and of 471 persons in 1775. On the cemetery there were …
Controversy on paleodemography
Recent discussion expressed in scientific literature proves that these exist some reservations about the role of paleo-demographic investigation in general Phrehistoric research. This concerns mostly the congitive value of the results gained in paleodemography. This misunderstanding should be cleared up. Such reservations spring from an erroneous conviction that paleodemography should be viewed as a simple demography of Prehistoric populations. T…
Mortality changes in a polish rural community (1350–1972) and estimation of their evolutionary significance
Changes in the mortality profiles of the population of 13 villages in central Poland have been studied for the medieval and nineteenth‐century periods. Three measures, derived from the demographic data, were analyzed within an evolutionary context: (1) I m , the opportunity for selection through differential mortality, (2) R pot , the potential gross reproductive rate, and (3) I bs , the index of biological state. Changes in these indicators over…
Shape and size of the body vs. musculoskeletal stress markers
The objective of this paper is to assess the relationship between the degree of development of muscle attachment sites (musculoskeletal stress markers - MSM1) and the length and circumference measurements of long bones and the body build expressed with the reconstructed values of body height (BH) and body mass (BM). The bone material (102 male and 99 female skeletons) used in the study was collected in the medieval burial ground in Cedynia, Polan…
Badania etnogenetyczne w antropologii
The problem of human diversity in time and space has engaged the interest of many anthropologists, and nowadays it is still interesting, especially due to the difficulties in interpreting relations between human groups. In such a situation, the present paper constitutes a contribution to the discussion on methods of studying human group diversity and the processes of the origin, development, and breakdown of human groups (ethnogenesis). This pape…
The Socioeconomic System of European Neolithic Populations
Bilateral asymmetry of the humerus in Neandertals, Australian aborigines and medieval humans
OBJECTIVES: Bilateral asymmetry of diaphyseal shape and size may be a reflection of relative activity levels and patterns of habitual biomechanical stress in the upper arms of Neandertals and Homo sapiens. The main purpose of our study was to assess the level of directional asymmetry of humeral cross sections in Neandertals, recent Australian aborigines, and medieval farmers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Indices of directional and absolute asymmetry (%…
O przedmiocie antropologii ekologicznej. Szkic problematyki
The main thesis of the article says that definite types of biological structures correspond to definite sociocultural systems. Ecological \nanthropology investigates the essential relations of these factors
Warriors Die Young
Scythians were nomadic groups, playing a dominant role on the Eurasian steppes in the Early Iron Age according to many archaeological and historical sources. In this paper, we aim at assessing demographic features and dynamics of a Scythian population from the Black Sea region. We hypothesise that they differed from other societies not only in terms of culture, but also demography: their fertility was lower, and life expectancy higher than in oth…
Transition to Agriculture in Central Europe
Body mass reconstruction on the basis of selected skeletal traits
The objective of this paper is: to estimate the body mass of the skeletons with the mechanical method (femoral head body mass estimation method--FH) and non-mechanical method (stature/living bi-iliac breadth body mass estimation method--ST/LBIB); to compare the reliability and potential use of results obtained with both methods. The material (46 skeletons, 26 males, 20 females) used in the study came from the medieval burial ground in Cedynia, Po…
Hypoplazja szkliwa w średniowiecznej populacji ze Słaboszewa
ENAMEL HYPOPLASIA IN A MEDIEVAL POPULATION FROM SLABOSZEWO. Enamel hypoplasia in 68 individuals from a medieval cemetery o f Slaboszewo (North-Western Poland) was analysed. Individual ages at defect development were assessed. Sex differences as well as mean age at death of individuals affected and unaffected were calculated. Possible causal factors have been discussed
Natural selection and non-metric traits in skeletal populations
Dental discriminant sexing of human cremated remains
In this paper set of discriminant functions, based on mesiodistal and buccolingual diameters of teeth crowns is presented. It is possible to use them in assessing sex of immature individuals from cremated graves
Excavations at Wicina, Poland
Uwagi o rekonstrukcji rozwoju biologiczno-kulturowego populacji pradziejowych
In culturological studies a return of evolutionary idea may be observed. New concepts of cultural ecology conceive the process of cultural transformations as a sequence of changes displaying adaptive character, This approach assumes that factors of biological and of cultural development operate in mutual interrelation forming general pattern of biocultural evolution. Precise ascertainment of respective influence of biological and of cultural fact…
Cmentarzysko w Posadzie Rybotyckiej woj. Przemyśl
The paper presents the anthropological analysis of skeletal material originating from 17th-18th centuries A.D. uncovered close to an orthodox church in Posada Rybotycka. Biological state of investigated group has been rescribed on the grounds of life table functions (tab. 1). Juvenile (individuals were not taken into consideration when computing life tables since their numbers were too scarce in relation to adults. Individual measurements of the …
The meaning of the shape of the frontal bone, facial retraction and prognathism for the degree of gracilisation of the supraorbital region in Homo sapiens
Anthropological structure and culture adaptive strategies of the Neolithic Populations in Central Europe
The present work is the outcome of both biological anthropology and prehistoric research. The theses of cultural ecology became the basis for research on biological and cultural changes of human groups. More than 80 human bones series from the Neolithic cultures of Central Europe have been used here. The role of economic processes (ie: the additional role of cultural system) within the general picture of a given system has been stressed here. As …
Ludzkie szczątki kostne z Kruszy Zamkowej. Wyniki badań antropologicznych
The osteological material originates from La Tène period from crematory and skeletal graves. Morphological and paleodemographical characteristics are given
O wiarygodności wielocechowych odległości biologicznych w antropologii
The work contains a response to the views of M. Henneberg (published in Przegląd Antropol. 1984, 50, 65-80) on (1) cognitive value of the measures of geometrical distance, (2) the application of Penrose's method in anthropological studies, (3) testing the significance of differences between groups specified when Penrose's method is. used, (4) dependence between Penrose's distance and the number of samples, The present work contains also an answer…
More on Neolithic Socioeconomic Systems
Charakterystyka biologiczna populacji ludzkiej z okresu kultury łużyckiej użytkującej cmentarzysko w Bruszczewie (woj. poznańskie)
The paper presents results of anthropological examination of 254 burial units. Skeletal remains of 270 individuals were distinguished (thus some graves contained remnants of more than one individual) and their sex and age at death ostimated. Mortality parameters were reconstructed directly from the data (see life table 1.), then after correcting for underestimation of deceased children from skeletal material (table 2), and finaly after correcting…
Wczesnośredniowieczne cmentarzysko w Brzegu Głogowskim, pow. Głogów
This paper contains the results of anthropological investigations of skeletons excavated on Xth — XIth c. A. D. cemetery from Lower Silesia. Archaeological dating have been made on ground of the such findings as: iron knives, clay pot, necklace and ring temple pendants. Investgated area covered about a half of the cemetery. On the ground of total number of graves, and duration of the cemetery mean number of persons in living group, which used thi…
Wpływ spalania w warunkach zbliżonych do kremacji pradziejowych na morfologię kości
The authors purpose was explanation whether changes of shape and size of bones observed in the course of cremations in gas-hcated modern crematory resemble such a changes in bones cremated on the wooden stake. In this order was carried out some experimental cremations of human bones on stakes arranged in various manners. There was also burned monkey's corpse in order to evaluate the influence of soft tissues on bones cremation. Microscopical and …
Badania paleobiologiczne populacji z III–V okresu epoki brązu z Sulęcina, woj. zielonogórskie
Praca wykonana w ramach Programu Badań Przemian Biologicznych Populacji Ludzkich, dział I D
Biological state index of human groups
This work is a part of section IIC of Biological History of Human Populations Research Programme
Antropologia a przemiany biologiczne populacji ludzkich
Referat wygłoszony na posiedzeniu KAA PAN dnia 25.10.1974 r., stanowi prezentację Programu Badań Przemian Biologicznych Populacji Ludzkich
Cmentarzysko w Posadzie Rybotyckiej woj. Przemyśl
The paper presents the anthropological analysis of skeletal material originating from 17th-18th centuries A.D. uncovered close to an orthodox church in Posada Rybotycka. Biological state of investigated group has been rescribed on the grounds of life table functions (tab. 1). Juvenile (individuals were not taken into consideration when computing life tables since their numbers were too scarce in relation to adults. Individual measurements of the …
Analiza antropologiczna wczesnoneolitycznej żuchwy ludzkiej z Jebel Nabta Egipt-Western Desert
The mandible of about 35 years old man found on Early Neolithic site 100 kms west from Nile is described. On the basis of comparisons made with use of Penrose distances it is concluded that the mandible belonged to the member of population resembling modern Negroes and dissimilar to Paleolithic and Mesolithic people from N-W Africa and Nile Valley
Zastosowania rentgenokraniometrii w badaniach antropologicznych
The authors are addressing issues related to the technique of taking X-ray pictures of the skull, with a specific focus on the extent to which the skull is deformed in the picture compared to its actual form and dimensions. They propose a set of radiocraniometric points, defined to provide measurements comparable to those used in traditional craniometry. The methods for estimating cranial capacity from X-ray pictures are also discussed
Średniowieczne cmentarzysko w Słaboszewie koło Mogilna
The purpose of the present paper is to analyse mortality structure of the skeletal population originating from medieval cemetery (XIV-XVII century) excavated at Słaboszewo near Mogilno (NW segment of Central Poland). The cemetery had been incessantly used by a human group inhabiting 6 settlements dispersed on an area of 39 square kilometers and consisted of about 290 persons in the year 1350 and of 471 persons in 1775. On the cemetery there were …
Natural Selection and Morphological Variability
Two hypotheses concerning the influence of natural selection intensity on intra- and interpopulational variability of metric characteristics of the human skull ar tested. Using data on 58 series from Europe and its environs dating from Neolithic to modern times, it has been found that with the decline of the decline of the intensity of operation of natural selection (1) intragroup variability increases, (2) intergroup variability decreases, and (…
The Socioeconomic System of European Neolithic Populations
Charakterystyka biologiczna populacji ludzkiej z okresu kultury łużyckiej użytkującej cmentarzysko w Bruszczewie (woj. poznańskie)
The paper presents results of anthropological examination of 254 burial units. Skeletal remains of 270 individuals were distinguished (thus some graves contained remnants of more than one individual) and their sex and age at death ostimated. Mortality parameters were reconstructed directly from the data (see life table 1.), then after correcting for underestimation of deceased children from skeletal material (table 2), and finaly after correcting…
Uwagi o rekonstrukcji rozwoju biologiczno-kulturowego populacji pradziejowych
In culturological studies a return of evolutionary idea may be observed. New concepts of cultural ecology conceive the process of cultural transformations as a sequence of changes displaying adaptive character, This approach assumes that factors of biological and of cultural development operate in mutual interrelation forming general pattern of biocultural evolution. Precise ascertainment of respective influence of biological and of cultural fact…
On Eskimo Origins Again
Mortality changes in a polish rural community (1350–1972) and estimation of their evolutionary significance
Changes in the mortality profiles of the population of 13 villages in central Poland have been studied for the medieval and nineteenth‐century periods. Three measures, derived from the demographic data, were analyzed within an evolutionary context: (1) I m , the opportunity for selection through differential mortality, (2) R pot , the potential gross reproductive rate, and (3) I bs , the index of biological state. Changes in these indicators over…
Microevolution of European human populations
Badania etnogenetyczne w antropologii
The problem of human diversity in time and space has engaged the interest of many anthropologists, and nowadays it is still interesting, especially due to the difficulties in interpreting relations between human groups. In such a situation, the present paper constitutes a contribution to the discussion on methods of studying human group diversity and the processes of the origin, development, and breakdown of human groups (ethnogenesis). This pape…
More on Neolithic Socioeconomic Systems
Excavations at Wicina, Poland
O wiarygodności wielocechowych odległości biologicznych w antropologii
The work contains a response to the views of M. Henneberg (published in Przegląd Antropol. 1984, 50, 65-80) on (1) cognitive value of the measures of geometrical distance, (2) the application of Penrose's method in anthropological studies, (3) testing the significance of differences between groups specified when Penrose's method is. used, (4) dependence between Penrose's distance and the number of samples, The present work contains also an answer…
Social context of the unchambered megalithic long barrows in Middle Pomerania, Poland
Ludzkie szczątki kostne z Kruszy Zamkowej. Wyniki badań antropologicznych
The osteological material originates from La Tène period from crematory and skeletal graves. Morphological and paleodemographical characteristics are given
Dental discriminant sexing of human cremated remains
In this paper set of discriminant functions, based on mesiodistal and buccolingual diameters of teeth crowns is presented. It is possible to use them in assessing sex of immature individuals from cremated graves
O przedmiocie antropologii ekologicznej. Szkic problematyki
The main thesis of the article says that definite types of biological structures correspond to definite sociocultural systems. Ecological \nanthropology investigates the essential relations of these factors
Natural selection and non-metric traits in skeletal populations
Geography (32 works) · Demography (30 works) · Sociology (30 works) · Biology (26 works) · Population (22 works) · Medicine (21 works) · Archaeology (19 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (19 works) · Demography (15 works) · Computer Science (12 works)