Date of Award

5-2013

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Departmental Honors

Department

Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology

Abstract

Hunter-gatherer tradition prevailed as the dominant subsistence pattern for most of human history. Between 9,000 and 13,000 years ago peoples in the Levant, New World, and Asia began the domestication and cultivation of wild flora and fauna, creating a subsistence pattern that subsequently spread to neighboring regions (Abbo et al. 2010; Bellwood 2009; Purugganan & Fuller 2009; Richerson et al. 2001). The influence of this agricultural transition on human populations is manifested in various forms in the human skeleton, many of which have received intensive study: dental caries, degenerative joint disease, decreased stature, and increased birth rates (Bridges 1991; Larson 1997, 2006; Tayles et al. 2000). However, few studies have focused on the fracture trauma associated with agriculture. As early as 1976, Steinbock noted a slight decrease in the number of fractures that populations in the southern U.S. exhibited as they moved from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to floodplain agriculture. More recently, Domett and Tayles (2006) examined changes in fracture patterns through time in prehistoric rice agriculturalists in Thailand, hypothesizing that increased intensification of agricultural activities was responsible for increased rates of long bone fracture.

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Faculty Mentor

Patricia Lambert

Departmental Honors Advisor

Bonnie Glass-Coffin