M Steyn
Biographic Data
| ID | 16033 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M Steyn |
| GIVEN NAMES | M |
| FAMILY NAME | Steyn |
| SIGNATURE | STEYN M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Pretoria |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0215-9723 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 58 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 81 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 58 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1989 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Dated Holocene Human Remains From South Africa
The study of human remains can provide valuable information about aspects of past populations. Here we present an updated database consisting of 590 radiocarbon ( 14 C) dates for human remains from Holocene South Africa before European contact. We calibrated or recalibrated all the previously published dates using the most recent calibration curve for the southern hemisphere. Each date is roughly georeferenced and plotted according to their Stone…
Zuurberg (Eastern Cape, South Africa) revisited
The Later Stone Age (LSA) site of Zuurberg in the Cape Fold Mountains of South Africa was excavated in the 1920s by F.W. FitzSimons. As with his other excavations, not much is known about the exact provenance and detailed archaeological context of the remains. This paper reports the re-analysis and dating of the human skeletal remains from Zuurberg. The remains were commingled but here sorted according to previously published sources. The remains…
Assessing tuberculosis in the skeleton with the use of decision tree analysis
Diagnosis of specific infectious diseases in the skeleton is often difficult and relies on expert opinion. Statistics is not often used as a tool to assist in such diagnoses, and therefore this study aimed at employing data mining and machine learning in the form of decision tree analysis to aid in recognizing tuberculosis (TB) in skeletal remains and find patterns of skeletal involvement. The sample included 387 modern South African individuals …
Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (Dish)
The association between skeletal lesions and tuberculosis in a pre-antibiotic South African sample
A bioarchaeological analysis of skeletal remains from Van Zyl’s farm, Clarens, Free State, South Africa
In 1933, several skeletons were recovered from Van Zyl’s farm near Clarens in the Free State Province of South Africa. Apart from the general location from which these remains were recovered, very little was known about these individuals’ temporal and cultural contexts. This study aimed to analyse and describe these skeletons and any possible associated historical and archaeological records to reconstruct aspects of their archaeological context a…
African Farmers, Not Stone Age Foragers
Assessment of stature in Iron Age populations of South Africa
Worldwide and in South African Stone Age contexts, much research has been done on the relationship between stature of past populations and general well-being, as well as trends and patterns in stature through time. This research is aimed at collating and assessing all available stature and long bone data for Bantu-speaker individuals living in the South African Iron Age. Data for only 25 female and 32 male individuals, dating from circa AD 550 to…
Relocations of the households affected by the development of the New Yogyakarta International Airport, Indonesia
Land acquisition for infrastructure development in Indonesia, including Yogyakarta International Airport, has adopted a new principle of profitable compensation. Two options were created: voluntary self-relocation and government-assisted relocation. People whose farms were only partially appropriated by the project did not need to join the relocation. This paper compares problems faced by the three groups and their livelihood prospects, especiall…
Infectious disease and nutritional deficiencies in early industrialized South Africa
A reassessment of archaeological human remains recovered from rock shelters in Cathkin Peak, South Africa
Various skeletons from the uThukela region of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa were excavated from rock shelters there during the early part of the twentieth century, with limited accompanying data or analysis. This paper analyses and reports on nine such graves (eight of which contained human remains), excavated during 1931 near Cathkin Peak. The remains are currently housed in the Raymond A. Dart Archaeological Human Remains…
Assessment of human skeletal remains from the Penhalonga district, Zimbabwe
The Nyanga complex is situated in the Penhalonga district of Manicaland province in northern Zimbabwe. According to various archival and modern sources, six skeletons were discovered in this region in the 1930s and are supposedly curated in the Raymond A. Dart Collection of Archaeological Humans Remains at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. In an attempt to locate these skeletons and associate them with the sites, archival records…
Ancient DNA Analysis of the Thulamela Remains
Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis was employed to obtain information on the population relationships of the two Thulamela individuals ( AD 1400-1700) and six other skeletons from various archaeological sites of the southern African Iron Age – Tuli (Botswana), Nwanetsi, Makgope, Happy Rest and Stayt. Although sequences were short, it seems that the Thulamela female aligns somewhat more with eastern populations as opposed to the male who aligns more with…
Secular trends in stature of late 20th century white South Africans and two European populations
Revisiting historical Khoe-San skeletal remains in European collections
Southern African ancient genomes estimate modern human divergence to 350,000 to 260,000 years ago
Ancient DNA pushes human emergence back Anatomically modern humans evolved in Africa, but pinpointing when has been difficult. Schlebusch et al. sequenced three ancient African genomes from the Stone Age, about 2000 years old, and four from the Iron Age, 300 to 500 years old. One of the oldest samples, sequenced to 13× coverage, appears most closely to resemble individuals from the present-day San population. However, this individual seems to hav…
Developmental instability and its relationship to mental health in two historic Dutch populations
Changes in the mandibular angle during adulthood in South Africans
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to measure the mandibular angle as a reflection of the biomechanical forces acting on the mandible and relate it to aging and loss of teeth. METHODS: A total of 717 mandibles of adult individuals were selected from the Pretoria Bone Collection. These mandibles were allocated to dentition subgroups according to their pattern of tooth loss. The angle of the mandible was measured with a mandibulometer. The v…
Chinese Indentured Mine Labour and the Dangers Associated with Early 20th Century Deep-level Mining on the Witwatersrand Gold Mines, South Africa
Trauma analysis in archaeological human remains can aid our understanding of cultural practices, socio-economic status, environmental and social conditions, and even aspects of a person's occupation. For this reason, fracture patterns and frequencies can be useful in making inferences about the environment people lived and worked in. This is especially true for the 20th century mining industry where unskilled migrant labourers were often subjecte…
A Palaeopathological Assessment of the Late 19th and Early 20th Century Khoesan
Since the arrival of Dutch colonists in the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, Khoesan populations were subjected to severe political and economic marginalisation and often fell prey to racial conflict. These circumstances persisted until the early 20th century, during which an astonishing number of Khoesan skeletons were transported from South Africa to various locations in Europe, as at the time, different institutions competed to obtain these re…
Dental health of the late 19th and early 20th century Khoesan
Locating the ‘voice-as-object’ and ‘voice-as-subject’ for the entry-level theatre voice teacher
In this article we argue that the entry-level theatre voice teacher is confronted in the theatre voice class with a ‘dichotomized voice’ in training, where the physiological and the socio-cultural interweave brain/mind/body to form a sense of a self-reflected whole, through and because of voice usage. In the theatre voice training process, the student's voice is subject to his or her embodied socio-cultural experience, which impacts on how the vo…
Assessing Post-traumatic Time Interval in Human Dry Bone
The post-traumatic status of antemortem fractures in human dry bone remains is currently defined as being either 'healing' or 'healed'. However, detailed 'dating' of the related post-traumatic time interval would be desirable, since it would aid in assessing individual medical status and care at the time of death. Within forensic pathology practice, fresh tissue healing phases are routinely used as an intrinsic parameter for the length of the pos…
Geometric morphometric assessment of sexually dimorphic characteristics of the distal humerus
A Bioarchaeological Investigation into the Human Remains Discovered in the Chloorkop Area, South Africa
In November 2008, human skeletal remains were discovered during construction works undertaken by Carlop Properties in the Chloorkop industrial area, Kempton Park, Gauteng. The Forensic Anthropology Unit of the University of Pretoria, Forensic Anthropology Research Centre (FARC) was notified, and rescue excavations of both the exposed and the undisturbed remains were undertaken. The skeletonised remains of at least 18 individuals were recovered an…
Investigation into the usability of geometric morphometric analysis in assessment of sexual dimorphism
Understanding sexual dimorphism is very important in studies of human evolution and skeletal biology. Sexual dimorphic characteristics can be studied morphologically and metrically, although morphologic studies pose several problems such as difficulties with quantification and interobserver error. Geometric morphometrics is a relatively new method that allows better assessment of morphologic characteristics. This paper aims to investigate the usa…
A comparison between pre- and post-colonial health in the northern parts of South Africa, a preliminary study
When analysing skeletons to assess the health status of the inhabitants of a particular archaeological site, the aim is to obtain an impression of their general well-being and adaptation. In this paper data from skeletons from various sites were pooled, in an attempt to get an overview on health changes throughout the Iron Age and post-colonial era in the northern part of SA. Skeletons were divided into four groups: Early Iron Age, circa-Mapungub…
Adult scurvy in skeletal remains of late 19th century mineworkers in Kimberley, South Africa
Throughout history, scurvy has been a well-known disease which develops due to restricted resources of fresh fruit and vegetables. The condition results from an extended limited intake of vitamin C. Although skeletal lesions associated with infantile scurvy have been well described by many authors, very little literature is available on adult scurvy and the resulting skeletal lesions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the skeletal rema…
Pre-Columbian Presence of Treponemal Disease
Analysis of ante mortem trauma in three modern skeletal populations
When archaeological skeletons are assessed, the prevalence (and patterns of bone involvement) of trauma is important. The number and pattern of fractures can be used to gain insight into the occurrence of interpersonal violence, workload and living conditions. However, the question remains as to how these results should be interpreted-such as what constitutes high or low levels of trauma? The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of…
Ossified haematomas and infectious bone changes on the anterior tibia
Examination of the histological structure of bone not only helps investigators to estimate age at death but can also aid in the diagnosis of palaeopathological lesions. The purpose of this paper is to assess whether histological features as described in the literature can confirm the macroscopic diagnoses of ossified subperiosteal haematomas associated with healed scurvy and syphilitic bone changes observed on the anterior tibiae of individuals f…
Geometric morphometric analysis of mandibular ramus flexure
Many characteristics of the human skeleton can only be assessed morphologically, which may be problematic due to factors such as interobserver error and difficulties with standardization. Flexure of the mandibular ramus is one of these traits, and various researchers found widely differing results using this morphological feature. The aim of this study was to determine whether differences between male and female mandibular rami could be observed …
Late Iron Age Gold Burials from Thulamela (Pafuri Region, Kruger National Park)
Thulamela, a thirteenth to seventeenth century site in the northern Kruger National Park, is one of the stone walled, hilltop sites of the Soutpansberg range that lie at the southeastern limits of the Zimbabwe culture. The project, including selective excavations and the reconstruction of some stone walls, took place between 1993 and 1997. In 1996, two burials dating to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were discovered within the stone walled…
A Reassessment of the Human Skeletons from K2 and Mapungubwe (South Africa)
Trauma and amputations in 19th century miners from Kimberley, South Africa
Trauma is the result of violent accidental or therapeutic events that cause physical or psychological injury. The frequencies and types of trauma within a population can give important information regarding their lifestyle as well as the quantity and quality of medical care available to them. The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of trauma in the Gladstone sample population with regards to the presence of interpersonal violence a …
Assessing Post-traumatic Time Interval in Human Dry Bone
The post-traumatic status of antemortem fractures in human dry bone remains is currently defined as being either 'healing' or 'healed'. However, detailed 'dating' of the related post-traumatic time interval would be desirable, since it would aid in assessing individual medical status and care at the time of death. Within forensic pathology practice, fresh tissue healing phases are routinely used as an intrinsic parameter for the length of the pos…
In sickness or in health? Assessment of Early Iron Age human skeletons from Toutswe sites, east central Botswana
The general health of Early Iron Age (AD 700 to 1300) mixed farmers in east central Botswana has not been studied before. In this study the bones and teeth of 84 individuals from ten Toutswe sites were analysed for osteological manifestations of disease, with the aim of assessing the general health of the Toutswe communities. These individuals were aged between newborn and 75 years old, and include both sexes. Results indicate the presence of dis…
Palaeodemography of Early Iron Age Toutswe Communities in Botswana
A reassessment of archaeological human remains recovered from rock shelters in Cathkin Peak, South Africa
Various skeletons from the uThukela region of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa were excavated from rock shelters there during the early part of the twentieth century, with limited accompanying data or analysis. This paper analyses and reports on nine such graves (eight of which contained human remains), excavated during 1931 near Cathkin Peak. The remains are currently housed in the Raymond A. Dart Archaeological Human Remains…
A Palaeopathological Assessment of the Late 19th and Early 20th Century Khoesan
Since the arrival of Dutch colonists in the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, Khoesan populations were subjected to severe political and economic marginalisation and often fell prey to racial conflict. These circumstances persisted until the early 20th century, during which an astonishing number of Khoesan skeletons were transported from South Africa to various locations in Europe, as at the time, different institutions competed to obtain these re…
Dental health of 19th century migrant mineworkers from Kimberley, South Africa
Dental health may deteriorate in populations exposed to economic growth as a result of easier access to refined carbohydrates and sugars. Such changes affected migrant labourers working in Kimberley, South Africa, during the late 19th century. A rescue excavation salvaged several skeletons from pauper's graves dating from this period, and the purpose of the study was to assess their dental health to determine whether it concurs with historical st…
The influence of age, sex, population group, and dentition on the mandibular angle as measured on a South African sample
The mandibular angle is measured in physical anthropological assessments of human remains to possibly assist with the determination of sex and population affinity. The purpose of this investigation was to establish how the mandibular angle changes with age and loss of teeth among the sexes in South African population groups. The angles of 653 dried adult mandibles from the Pretoria Bone Collection were measured with a mandibulometer. Males and fe…
African Farmers, Not Stone Age Foragers
Assessment of human skeletal remains from the Penhalonga district, Zimbabwe
The Nyanga complex is situated in the Penhalonga district of Manicaland province in northern Zimbabwe. According to various archival and modern sources, six skeletons were discovered in this region in the 1930s and are supposedly curated in the Raymond A. Dart Collection of Archaeological Humans Remains at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. In an attempt to locate these skeletons and associate them with the sites, archival records…
Ancient DNA Analysis of the Thulamela Remains
Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis was employed to obtain information on the population relationships of the two Thulamela individuals ( AD 1400-1700) and six other skeletons from various archaeological sites of the southern African Iron Age – Tuli (Botswana), Nwanetsi, Makgope, Happy Rest and Stayt. Although sequences were short, it seems that the Thulamela female aligns somewhat more with eastern populations as opposed to the male who aligns more with…
Health status of the Venda, a post-antibiotic community in rural South Africa
This paper examines the health status of a rural African community during the emergence of Westernisation. A total of 157 skeletons, which included 120 adults (55 males and 51 females), 37 juveniles, and 14 individuals of unknown age, were analysed. Date of death ranged from 1910 to 1999, with the majority of individuals (52%) being buried after 1960. The bones were examined for infectious diseases, trauma and degenerative changes. More than half…
Archaeology in the Service of the Community
W. C. Nienaber, M. Steyn, Archaeology in the Service of the Community: Repatriation of the Remains of Nontetha Bungu, The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 57, No. 176 (Dec., 2002), pp. 80-84
Large fontanelles in an early 20th century rural population from South Africa
Unusually large fontanelles were found in four skeletons of children from a cemetery in the North West Province of South Africa. These remains date from the last decade of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Three small infants (two of about nine months, and one of about six months) and one child (of about three years) were affected. In the case of the three-year-old child pathologic changes were evident on the rest of the skeleton, whic…
Report on Human Skeletal Remains from a Later Iron Age Site at Simunye (Swaziland)
Fumiko Ohinata, Maryna Steyn, Report on Human Skeletal Remains from a Later Iron Age Site at Simunye (Swaziland), The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 56, No. 173/174 (Dec., 2001), pp. 57-61
An Infant Grave from K2 (Greefswald)
Hypertension and asthma
Trends in cranial capacity and cranial index in Subsaharan Africa during the Holocene
Craniometric data have been collected from published and unpublished reports of numerous authors on 961 male and 439 female crania from various sites in Subsaharan Africa spanning the last 100 ka. All data available in the literature, irrespective of their "racial" affinities, were used to cover the prehistoric and early historic times (up to 400 a BP). Samples covering the last 400 years do not include European colonists and consist of skeletons…
Pre-Columbian Presence of Treponemal Disease
Skeletal growth of children from the Iron Age site at K2 (South Africa)
Cross-sectional growth data were obtained from the skeletal remains of children from the Iron Age site of K2 near the Limpopo River. Standard measurements of the diaphyseal lengths of the long bones from both limbs were recorded and compared to published skeletal data. For this purpose, data on Eskimo and Aleut skeletons, Libben skeletons, and skeletons from Indian Knoll and Altenerding were used. An attempt to study growth allometrically was mad…
Skeletal growth of children from the Iron Age site at K2 (South Africa)
Cross-sectional growth data were obtained from the skeletal remains of children from the Iron Age site of K2 near the Limpopo River. Standard measurements of the diaphyseal lengths of the long bones from both limbs were recorded and compared to published skeletal data. For this purpose, data on Eskimo and Aleut skeletons, Libben skeletons, and skeletons from Indian Knoll and Altenerding were used. An attempt to study growth allometrically was mad…
Trends in Mortality and Health Status in South Africa during the Last Thousand Years and Their Implications for the Opportunity for Natural Selection
A Reassessment of the Human Skeletons from K2 and Mapungubwe (South Africa)
Late Iron Age Gold Burials from Thulamela (Pafuri Region, Kruger National Park)
Thulamela, a thirteenth to seventeenth century site in the northern Kruger National Park, is one of the stone walled, hilltop sites of the Soutpansberg range that lie at the southeastern limits of the Zimbabwe culture. The project, including selective excavations and the reconstruction of some stone walls, took place between 1993 and 1997. In 1996, two burials dating to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were discovered within the stone walled…
An Infant Grave from K2 (Greefswald)
Iron Age Human Skeletal Remains from the Limpopo Valley and Soutpansberg Area
Maryna Steyn, Willem C. Nienaber, Iron Age Human Skeletal Remains from the Limpopo Valley and Soutpansberg Area, Goodwin Series, Vol. 8, African Naissance: The Limpopo Valley 1000 Years Ago (Dec., 2000), pp. 112-116
Report on Human Skeletal Remains from a Later Iron Age Site at Simunye (Swaziland)
Fumiko Ohinata, Maryna Steyn, Report on Human Skeletal Remains from a Later Iron Age Site at Simunye (Swaziland), The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 56, No. 173/174 (Dec., 2001), pp. 57-61
An assessment of the health status and physical characteristics of an early 20th century community at Maroelabult in the North West Province, South Africa
Archaeology in the Service of the Community
W. C. Nienaber, M. Steyn, Archaeology in the Service of the Community: Repatriation of the Remains of Nontetha Bungu, The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 57, No. 176 (Dec., 2002), pp. 80-84
Two Burials at Malle, a Late Iron Age Settlement in the Bankeveld in the North-West Province
Julius C. C. Pistorius, Maryna Steyn, Willem C. Nienaber, Two Burials at Malle, a Late Iron Age Settlement in the Bankeveld in the North-West Province, The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 57, No. 176 (Dec., 2002), pp. 55-63
Large fontanelles in an early 20th century rural population from South Africa
Unusually large fontanelles were found in four skeletons of children from a cemetery in the North West Province of South Africa. These remains date from the last decade of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Three small infants (two of about nine months, and one of about six months) and one child (of about three years) were affected. In the case of the three-year-old child pathologic changes were evident on the rest of the skeleton, whic…
Sexually dimorphic pelvic morphology in South African whites and blacks
A comparison between pre- and post-colonial health in the northern parts of South Africa, a preliminary study
When analysing skeletons to assess the health status of the inhabitants of a particular archaeological site, the aim is to obtain an impression of their general well-being and adaptation. In this paper data from skeletons from various sites were pooled, in an attempt to get an overview on health changes throughout the Iron Age and post-colonial era in the northern part of SA. Skeletons were divided into four groups: Early Iron Age, circa-Mapungub…
Geometric morphometric analysis of the greater sciatic notch in South Africans
Palaeodemography of Early Iron Age Toutswe Communities in Botswana
Geometric morphometric analysis of mandibular ramus flexure
Many characteristics of the human skeleton can only be assessed morphologically, which may be problematic due to factors such as interobserver error and difficulties with standardization. Flexure of the mandibular ramus is one of these traits, and various researchers found widely differing results using this morphological feature. The aim of this study was to determine whether differences between male and female mandibular rami could be observed …
A Burial from Driekopseiland, Northern Cape
Investigation into the usability of geometric morphometric analysis in assessment of sexual dimorphism
Understanding sexual dimorphism is very important in studies of human evolution and skeletal biology. Sexual dimorphic characteristics can be studied morphologically and metrically, although morphologic studies pose several problems such as difficulties with quantification and interobserver error. Geometric morphometrics is a relatively new method that allows better assessment of morphologic characteristics. This paper aims to investigate the usa…
Health status of the Venda, a post-antibiotic community in rural South Africa
This paper examines the health status of a rural African community during the emergence of Westernisation. A total of 157 skeletons, which included 120 adults (55 males and 51 females), 37 juveniles, and 14 individuals of unknown age, were analysed. Date of death ranged from 1910 to 1999, with the majority of individuals (52%) being buried after 1960. The bones were examined for infectious diseases, trauma and degenerative changes. More than half…
Life expectancy of the 20th century Venda
Geometric morphometric analysis of the use of mandibular gonial eversion in sex determination
Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (46 works) · Geography (34 works) · Medicine (27 works) · Archaeology (25 works) · Demography (25 works) · Biology (23 works) · Population (16 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Forensic and Genetic Research (13 works) · History (13 works)