A Malgosa
Biographic Data
| ID | 89999 |
|---|---|
| NAME | A Malgosa |
| GIVEN NAMES | A |
| FAMILY NAME | Malgosa |
| SIGNATURE | MALGOSA A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1723-3671 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 67 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 213 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 67 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1985 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Muerte infantil en época ibérica
Una de las cuestiones más discutidas con relación a la cultura ibérica es el origen y el significado de los enterramientos infantiles, que aparecen habitualmente bajo el pavimento de determinados espacios domésticos. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar las inhumaciones infantiles de la ciudad ibérica de Ullastret (Girona, Cataluña) mediante una metodología antropológica que incide en la morfología, histología y genética como forma de evaluar …
Trace elements, maturation processes and diagenesis in human deciduous incisors
Mitochondrial DNA diversity in northeast Iberians during the Iron Age
Dental evidence of textile-related task activities in the Bronze Age site of Laderas del Castillo (Alicante, Spain)
Scanning microscopy identifies extra-masticatory anterior tooth wear at an Argaric site. • DNA-based methods determined a female sexual attribution. • Plant fibers found in dental calculus confirm a female textile craft specialization. The burial 7 from the Argaric site of Laderas del Castillo (Alicante, Spain), dating from the 2nd millennium BC, included a skeleton associated with a carinated vessel indicative of social recognition. Anthropologi…
Reconstructing infant mortality in Iberian Iron Age populations from tooth histology
The Neonatal Line (NNL) of the tooth serves as a unique identifier, allowing us to distinguish whether a child survived birth. This line is essential for assessing the age at death of infants from skeletal remains found in archaeological contexts. Our primary objective is to accurately determine the age of infant intramural inhumations from the Iberian Iron Age (8th-1st centuries BC) by analyzing histological sections of tooth germs. Due to their…
Dietary reconstruction of the Bronze Age necropolis of Cova des Pas (Minorca Island)
Current paleodietary studies about the Naviform and Talayotic groups that took place in Minorca (Balearic Islands) during the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age (ca.1600-850/800 BC) have suggested a mixed and variable diet, largely depending on terrestrial sources of vegetables and meat. This study explores the nutritional pattern of the individuals buried in the Cova des Pas site (Minorca Island, Spain), a cave used as a collective sepulcher and the…
Multidisciplinary analysis of a mummy from the War of the Pacific
C radiocarbon dating, ancient DNA, and isotopic analysis to reconstruct the biological profile of this mummy. The results indicated that the mummy belongs to an adult man between 33-39 years of age (> 1.50 m) and has a perimortem wound in the left flank of the abdomen. CT scan and X-rays revealed the presence of a bullet (Comblain II or Gras) hosted near the L2 vertebra. It is possible that the individual died of bleeding from a gunshot wound don…
A new methodology to estimate flat foot in skeletal remains – the example of Mediterranean collections
has been well-studied in clinical literature and paleoanthropology but has not been approached extensively in bioarchaeology. The main difficulty is related to the diagnosis of this pathology based exclusively on bone remains. In this work, we propose a metric and morphological method to discriminate flat foot in dry bones. Thus, we studied 390 pairs of adult feet in a fair state of preservation from archaeological contexts from Spain, Italy, and…
Pathological and normal variability of foot bones in osteological collections from Catalonia (Spain) and Lazio (Italy)
A wide number of factors can affect the structure of the bones in the foot. In bioarchaeology, few studies about foot anomalies include population comparisons and changes across time. We aimed to identify normal and pathological variability that affected the foot in the recent history of West Mediterranean populations. Thus, we analyzed change in occurrence of rare variants, pathological lesions, entheseal morphology, and their probable causes. W…
Who painted that? The authorship of Schematic rock art at the Los Machos rockshelter in southern Iberia
Globally, rock art is one of the most widely distributed manifestations of past human activity. Previous research, however, has tended to focus on the art rather than artists. Understanding which members of society participated in creating such art is crucial to interpreting its social implications and that of the sites at which it is found. This article presents the first application of a method-palaeodermatoglyphics-for the estimation of the se…
Sex selection in late Iberian infant burials
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyze the infant burials found inside Iberian homes in relation to a possible case of sex selection. METHODS: The study included the remains of 11 infant individuals buried under the 10 houses excavated in the late Iberian village of Camp de les Lloses (Tona, Barcelona, Spain). Sex was determined using genetic analysis. RESULTS: Our results showed that almost all the burials were females. However, the age…
Ferns as healing plants in medieval Mallorca, Spain? Evidence from human dental calculus
Dental calculus, or calcified plaque, is a potential source of archaeological information relating to the lives of past societies. The recovery and identification of organic microremains entrapped within dental calculus provide new data regarding diet, health, and lifestyle. This paper presents, for the first time, microscopic evidence of the sporangium annulus of a fern within the dental calculus of an adult male from the medieval necropolis of …
Lost in transition
A case of enchondroma from Carolingian necropolis of St. Pere De Terrassa (Spain)
The study of dental occlusion in ancient skeletal remains from Mallorca (Spain)
The population of Can Reiners. Demography and life conditions on Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain) during the Middle Ages
Forearm pronation efficiency in A.L. 288‐1 ( Australopithecus afarensis ) and MH2 ( Australopithecus sediba )
The pattern in Au. afarensis suggests relevant arboreal capabilities, which would include vertical climbing, although it is suggestive of poorer manipulative skills than in modern humans. The similarity between Au. sediba and Hylobatidae is difficult to interpret, but the differences between Au. sediba and Au. afarensis suggest that the capacity to rotate the forearm followed different evolutionary processes in these australopithecine species. Al…
A case of semi-combusted pregnant female in the Phoenician-Punic necropolis of Monte Sirai (Carbonia, Sardinia, Italy)
Dissecting mitochondrial dna variability of balearic populations from the bronze age to the current era
Objectives To determine ancient population influences on ancient and current Balearic populations and to reconstruct their mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) gene pool evolution. Methods We analyzed 239 individuals belonging to five archaeological populations from Majorca and Minorca, four dating to the transition between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, and one Late Roman Majorcan population. Six additional individuals from Santa Teresa di Gallura from t…
La Menorca talayótica desde el punto de vista genético
En el presente artículo se estudian las características genéticas de la población del yacimiento talayótico de la Cova des Pas, que revelan una importante endogamia a nivel de ADN mitocondrial. La comparación con otras series contemporáneas de las Islas Baleares permite hipotetizar la existencia de grupos cerrados, con limitados linajes femeninos y necrópolis de difícil acceso, como esta. Tales comunidades contrastarían con otras más abiertas con…
Activity-related sexual dimorphism in Alaskan foragers from Point Hope
Ipiutak (100BCE-500CE) and Tigara (1200 - 1700CE) are two populations from Point Hope, Alaska. As commonly observed in forager communities, it may be expected males and females to have been involved in markedly different daily activities. Nevertheless, activity-related sexual dimorphism in these populations has been scarcely studied. Using humeral diaphyseal cross-sectional properties and forearm rotational efficiency, which are activity-dependen…
Estudio tafonómico e interpretación del gesto funerario de los restos óseos de la Cova de Montanissell (Alt Urgell, Lleida)
La tafonomía ofrece un marco teórico y metodológico para comprender la transición desde la muerte de los organismos hasta su hallazgo. Así ayuda a interpretar el gesto funerario de las sociedades del pasado. Este trabajo analiza los efectos tafonómicos, observados in situ y en el laboratorio, de los restos humanos procedentes de la Cova de Montanissell (Lleida), en el noreste de la Península Ibérica, en relación con los resultados paleogenéticos,…
Analysis of the forearm rotational efficiency in extant hominoids
Human soft tissue preservation in the Cova des Pas site (Minorca Bronze Age)
Las necrópolis protohistóricas tumulares de Cataluña meridional
Se presentan los resultados de las recientes intervenciones arqueológicas realizadas en la necrópolis del Hierro I de Sebes (Flix, Tarragona). Se ha precisado la extensión de la necrópolis, su duración, los rituales funerarios y la estructura social de la población mediante técnicas y métodos de carácter interdisciplinar (antropología, carbono 14, prospecciones geofísicas...). Se ha constatado la coexistencia de túmulos y urnas y la agrupación de…
The warriors of the steppes
A new species of Pliopithecus Gervais, 1849 (Primates
Pliopithecus (Pliopithecus) canmatensis sp. nov. is described from several Late Aragonian localities from Abocador de Can Mata (ACM) in els Hostalets de Pierola (Vallès‐Penedès Basin, Catalonia, Spain), spanning from ∼11.7 to 11.6 Ma (C5r.3r subchron), and being correlated to the MN8 (reference locality La Grive L3). The ACM remains display a pliopithecine dental morphology with well‐developed pliopithecine triangles on M/2 and M/3. This, togethe…
A new calibration of the XRD technique for the study of archaeological burned human remains
Lost in transition
Entheseal Changes and Functional Implications of the Humeral Medial Epicondyle
Longitudinal rotation of the forearm (pronosupination) is an essential component of human manipulative tasks. The efficiency of this movement is dependent not only on the rotatory muscles but also on several morphological and structural features of the upper limb. In a recent study, we observed that the size and orientation of the humeral medial epicondyle played an important role in forearm rotatory ability. We further observed that the forearm …
Biomechanical model of pronation efficiency
Despite considerable literature on the functional anatomy of the hominoid upper limb, there are no quantitative approaches relating to bone design and the resulting muscular‐activity enhancement. The purpose of this study is to quantitatively analyze the relationship between the rotational efficiency of the pronator teres muscle and the design of the skeletal structures on which it acts. Using conventional scan images of a human forearm for three…
A dystocic childbirth in the Spanish Bronze Age
Prehistoric cases of maternal and fetal death during labour are difficult to document. However, this must have been a frequent cause of death among young women who lived in hard circumstances and precarious health conditions. In this paper, a case of a Bronze Age woman who probably died during childbirth due to unavoidable reasons is presented: her baby was lying transversely with the right fetal arm protracted. Death of both mother and child was…
Is X-ray diffraction able to distinguish between animal and human bones
Determination of Human European Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroups by Means of a Hierarchical Approach
In this paper we propose a hierarchical approach that allows the screening of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups in populations that have essentially West Eurasian mtDNA backgrounds but that could have some non-West Eurasian contributions. To develop and validate this scheme, we used data on 18 coding region polymorphisms (17 analyzed by RFLP analysis and 1 by sequencing) and sequences of hypervariable segment I (HVSI) of the mtDNA control reg…
Who painted that? The authorship of Schematic rock art at the Los Machos rockshelter in southern Iberia
Globally, rock art is one of the most widely distributed manifestations of past human activity. Previous research, however, has tended to focus on the art rather than artists. Understanding which members of society participated in creating such art is crucial to interpreting its social implications and that of the sites at which it is found. This article presents the first application of a method-palaeodermatoglyphics-for the estimation of the se…
Spanish late Pliocene and early Pleistocene hominid, palaeolithic and faunal finds from Orce (Granada) and Cueva Victoria (Murcia)
Functional plasticity of the human humerus
The relationship between the mechanical loading undergone by a bone and its form has been widely assumed as a premise in studies aiming to reconstruct behavioral patterns from skeletal remains. Nevertheless, this relationship is complex due to the existence of many factors affecting bone structure and form, and further research combining structural and shape characteristics is needed. Using two‐block PLS, which is a test to analyze the covariance…
The presence of nuclear families in prehistoric collective burials revisited
Ancient populations have commonly been thought to have lived in small groups where extreme endogamy was the norm. To contribute to this debate, a genetic analysis has been carried out on a collective burial with eight primary inhumations from Montanissell Cave in the Catalan pre‐Pyrenees. Radiocarbon dating clearly placed the burial in the Bronze Age, around 3200 BP. The composition of the group—two adults (one male, one female), one young woman,…
Technical note
This work presents an original methodology for analyzing forearm‐pronation efficiency from skeletal remains and its variation with regard to changes in the elbow position. The methodology is based on a biomechanical model that defines rotational efficiency as a mathematical function expressing a geometrical relationship between the origin and insertion of the pronator teres. The methodology uses humeral distal epiphysis photography, from which th…
Authenticating Ancient Human Mitochondrial DNA
The use of ancient DNA techniques in human studies has been hampered by problems of contamination with modern human DNA. The main problem has been that the object of study belongs to the same species as the observer, and the complete elimination of the contamination risk is seemingly unlikely. Contamination has even been detected in the most specialized laboratories in this field. In these kinds of studies it is therefore very important to detect…
Human soft tissue preservation in the Cova des Pas site (Minorca Bronze Age)
An X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) investigation in human and animal fossil bones from Holocene to Middle Triassic
Functional implications of radial diaphyseal curvature
A recent study (Galtés et al.: Am J Phys Anthropol 135 (2008) 293‐300) demonstrated that during pronation, pronator teres exerts a favorable force for radial lateral bending. On the basis of this finding, we hypothesized that the pattern of muscular loading exerted on the radius by this muscle might play a role as a mechanical stimulus involved in radial bowing. The current work relates the hypertrophy of the forearm muscles to the degree of late…
Insights into the evolution of child growth from Lower Pleistocene humeri at Venta Micena (Orce, Granada province, Spain)
Dietary reconstruction of the Bronze Age necropolis of Cova des Pas (Minorca Island)
Current paleodietary studies about the Naviform and Talayotic groups that took place in Minorca (Balearic Islands) during the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age (ca.1600-850/800 BC) have suggested a mixed and variable diet, largely depending on terrestrial sources of vegetables and meat. This study explores the nutritional pattern of the individuals buried in the Cova des Pas site (Minorca Island, Spain), a cave used as a collective sepulcher and the…
Analysis of the forearm rotational efficiency in extant hominoids
Las necrópolis protohistóricas tumulares de Cataluña meridional
Se presentan los resultados de las recientes intervenciones arqueológicas realizadas en la necrópolis del Hierro I de Sebes (Flix, Tarragona). Se ha precisado la extensión de la necrópolis, su duración, los rituales funerarios y la estructura social de la población mediante técnicas y métodos de carácter interdisciplinar (antropología, carbono 14, prospecciones geofísicas...). Se ha constatado la coexistencia de túmulos y urnas y la agrupación de…
A Unique Case of Prone Position in the Primary Cremation Tomb 252 of Monte Sirai Necropolis (Carbonia, Sardinia, Italy)
A series of graves belonging to the Phoenician period were investigated after the campaign excavation of 2007 in the Phoenician‐Punic necropolis of Monte Sirai (Carbonia, Sardinia, Italy). One tomb in particular (labelled 252) is presented here because of its uniqueness. Tomb 252 contained the cremated remains of an individual, probably male, and comparison of the excavation records alongside reconstruction of the bone material itself makes clear…
Multi-element analysis for dietary reconstruction at a balearic Iron Age site
The number of studies using trace elements as indicators of diet has increased with time, but the majority have used few elements and a small sample. The present study has as a principal objective a multi-element analysis of diet in a large sample in which diagenetic changes have been shown to be unimportant. The analysis was made using concentrations of seven elements-Sr, Ba, Mg, Cu, Zn, V and Ca-in 197 individuals from the necropolis of 'S' Ill…
Trace elements, maturation processes and diagenesis in human deciduous incisors
Etude préliminaire des systèmes sanguins Rh et Kell dans un échantillon de population de la Cerdagne catalane
Aluja , Malgosa A., Font A. Etude préliminaire des systèmes sanguins Rh et Kell dans un échantillon de population de la Cerdagne catalane. In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, XIV° Série. Tome 2 fascicule 4, 1985. pp. 237-246
Etude des crânes de la nécropole « talayotique » de S'illot des Porros (Majorque, Espagne)
Malgosa A. Etude des crânes de la nécropole « talayotique » de S'illot des Porros (Majorque, Espagne). In: Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, XIV° Série. Tome 5 fascicule 3, 1988. pp. 179-197
Alkaline earth metal content of human bones at the site of «S'Illot des Porros» (Iron age, Mallorca, Spain)
The aim of this study is to establish the basic diet of the people inhumed at the site of Porros by analysing some of the alkaline earth metals present in human and animal bones. The site is a Talayotic necropolis established in the small island of «S'Illot des Porros» (Mallorca, Spain) during the 6th to 2nd century B.C. In this island the only evidence of human activity to be found is the necropolis; the corresponding settlement site is unknown.…
Trace element contents in the bone as an age and sex indicator. A case study of the necropolis of “S'Illot des Porros” (Spain)
The levels of trace elements in bones can provide information about the diet of a selected population and at the same time can provide information about the sex and age of the individuals. The aim of this study is to discuss this latter point; a study of sex and age by Sr, Mg, Ba, Cu, Zn, V and Ca levels made in femurs and ribs. The investigation was conducted in the Necropolis of S'Illot des Porros (Mallorca, Spain). In general the results show …
Multi-element analysis for dietary reconstruction at a balearic Iron Age site
The number of studies using trace elements as indicators of diet has increased with time, but the majority have used few elements and a small sample. The present study has as a principal objective a multi-element analysis of diet in a large sample in which diagenetic changes have been shown to be unimportant. The analysis was made using concentrations of seven elements-Sr, Ba, Mg, Cu, Zn, V and Ca-in 197 individuals from the necropolis of 'S' Ill…
Morphology of the facets of the proximal Tarsi bones from an ancient population
The analysis of morphological variation of tali and calcanei articular surfaces from “S'Illot des Porros” (Majorca, 2430±200 BP) has been made. It indicates the high frequency of extensions of the talocrural and subtalar surfaces, which are shown to be produced not only by a high level of stress on the bones. The presence of the sulcus tali facet in most cases could indicate, however, a greater degree of lateral movement of the foot
Sampling bias in studies of dentoalveolar pathology in past human populations
The effect of cremation on the study of trace elements
Cremation was a frequent practice during the Bronze and Iron Ages in Europe. The destruction caused by this rite has meant that there are few anthropological studies of this period and that the amount of information that has been obtained is limited. Most studies deal with the number of individuals and the temperature of cremation. At present, however, studies are under way to determine the possibility of carrying out analyses of trace elements o…
Arqueometría antropológica en el sepulcro megalítico de El Palomar
We present an study of the analytics realized in human bones found inside the dolmenic structure of "El Palomar" taking over in the Barcelona Autonomous University. This work is integrated in the Investigation Project that about the Analysis of cultural process which has been operated in the agrarian societies of the Sevillian countryside is been carried out in the Prehistory and Archaeology Department of the Seville University
Pathological Evidence in Newborn Children from the Sixteenth Century in Huelva (Spain)
Pathological Evidence in Newborn Children from the Sixteenth Century in Huelva (Spain)
Archaeological infant remains rarely appear in the palaeopathological literature; above all there are few references to neonatal individuals. This work presents four infant pathological specimens from the crypt of the Ermita de la Soledad (sixteenth to nineteenth century, Huelva, Spain). The bones analysed—one right hemifrontal, two humeri and a femur—belong to at least two individuals of between 0 and 6 months of age. The differential diagnosis …
Can trace elements in fossils provide information about palaeodiet
The main aim of this study is to try to see if, despite the diagenetic changes undergone by the fossil bones buried in Venta Micena (Orce, Spain), the concentration of trace elements permits the differentiation of particular groups. It is possible that some chemical elements allow us to identify different dietary groups in accord with their archaeological context. Different multivariant methods—correlation, principal component analysis and cluste…
Looking into the demography of an Iron Age population in the Western Mediterranean. I. Mortality
In this paper, we attempt to reconstruct the mortality pattern of the population buried in S'Illot des Porros (Majorca), an Iron Age necropolis in the western Mediterranean, by means of paleodemographic analysis. The skeletal sample consists of 285 individuals, 93 subadults (under 20 years old) and 192 adults. The aim of this study is twofold: first, to identify and to evaluate the structural anomalies of the skeletal sample, and second, to obtai…
A case of frontal sinusitis from the Bronze Age site of Can Filuà (Barcelona)
In this study, we present a case of frontal sinusitus with exocranial fistulization in a specimen from the Chalcolithic–Bronze Age period. This is a rare complication of sinusitis, exceptional in paleopathological literature. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Insights into the evolution of child growth from Lower Pleistocene humeri at Venta Micena (Orce, Granada province, Spain)
Spanish late Pliocene and early Pleistocene hominid, palaeolithic and faunal finds from Orce (Granada) and Cueva Victoria (Murcia)
Sex assessment on the basis of long bone circumference
Sex assessment on the basis of long bone circumference
Discriminant functions have long been used to classify individuals into groups according to the dimensions of their bones. Although lengths, widths, and diameters have been extensively used, the circumferences have not been adequately validated. In this work, the importance that the circumferences of long bones can have in assigning the sex of ancient human remains is demonstrated. The functions produced by using just one circumference achieved a…
Authenticating Ancient Human Mitochondrial DNA
The use of ancient DNA techniques in human studies has been hampered by problems of contamination with modern human DNA. The main problem has been that the object of study belongs to the same species as the observer, and the complete elimination of the contamination risk is seemingly unlikely. Contamination has even been detected in the most specialized laboratories in this field. In these kinds of studies it is therefore very important to detect…
Influencia de las patologías en los indicadores de edad adulta del coxal
Para valorar la incidencia de algunas patologías (artritis reumatoide, artritis crónica juvenil, espondilitis anquilosante, artritis psoriásica, síndrome de Reiter, y tuberculosis ) en los indicadores de edad del coxal adulto, se realizó una revisión bibliográfica de los datos clínicos actuales. También se analizó la relación de la pérdida ósea de las variables de la superficie auricular y el acetábulo. Para ello fueron utilizados 43 individuos d…
Determination of Human European Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroups by Means of a Hierarchical Approach
In this paper we propose a hierarchical approach that allows the screening of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups in populations that have essentially West Eurasian mtDNA backgrounds but that could have some non-West Eurasian contributions. To develop and validate this scheme, we used data on 18 coding region polymorphisms (17 analyzed by RFLP analysis and 1 by sequencing) and sequences of hypervariable segment I (HVSI) of the mtDNA control reg…
A dystocic childbirth in the Spanish Bronze Age
Prehistoric cases of maternal and fetal death during labour are difficult to document. However, this must have been a frequent cause of death among young women who lived in hard circumstances and precarious health conditions. In this paper, a case of a Bronze Age woman who probably died during childbirth due to unavoidable reasons is presented: her baby was lying transversely with the right fetal arm protracted. Death of both mother and child was…
Clay-shoveler's fracture
An archaeological case of clay-shoveler's fracture was observed in an adult male exhumed from a Roman necropolis dated to the 1st–3rd century AD and located in the city of Barcelona, Spain. Clay-shoveler's fracture is a breakage of a lower cervical or upper thoracic spinous process as a result of mechanical stress. Different mechanisms have been related to this injury, generally in labour-related contexts. This paper reviews the literature concer…
A new calibration of the XRD technique for the study of archaeological burned human remains
Biomechanical model of pronation efficiency
Despite considerable literature on the functional anatomy of the hominoid upper limb, there are no quantitative approaches relating to bone design and the resulting muscular‐activity enhancement. The purpose of this study is to quantitatively analyze the relationship between the rotational efficiency of the pronator teres muscle and the design of the skeletal structures on which it acts. Using conventional scan images of a human forearm for three…
Geography (37 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (33 works) · Archaeology (31 works) · Biology (23 works) · Medicine (23 works) · Paleopathology and ancient diseases (19 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (16 works) · Population (16 works) · Anatomy (15 works) · History (15 works)