Investigating health at Kerma

Sacrificial versus nonsacrificial individuals

Bibliographic Data

ID8314229
AuthorsM R Buzon (0000-0002-1177-0962, Purdue University West Lafayette, corresponding author), Margaret A Judd (0000-0002-7409-5597, University of Pittsburgh)
Year2008
Volume136
Issue1
Pages93-99
Publication date2008-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.20781
PMID18186501
OpenAlexW1969713227
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited36

This analysis examines heterogeneity in risks by assessing the health status of individuals in two distinct burial contexts from the Nubian site of Kerma: sacrificial ( n = 100) and nonsacrificial ( n = 190) burial areas dated to the classic Kerma period (∼1750–1500 BC). Indicators of physiological stress that were examined include cribra orbitalia, dental enamel hypoplasia, tibial osteoperiostitis, and femur length. The analysis presented here shows that the people interred in the sacrificial and nonsacrificial burial contexts at Kerma in Upper Nubia had similar health profiles that were comparable with other contemporaneous samples from the region. If sacrificial individuals did not experience the same risk of death as nonsacrificial individuals, it was not evident in the frequencies of nonspecific stress indicators. However, this differential risk of death may be blurred by our inability to examine nonadults for childhood disease. This research demonstrates the complexities involved in understanding the multiple factors that result in heterogeneity in skeletal samples. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc

Archaeology · Bioarchaeology · Geography · Kerma · Nuclear medicine · Paleopathology · Sociology · Demography · Forensic and Genetic Research · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Medicine · Paleopathology and ancient diseases

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