Using bones, teeth and joints for reconstructing activity in past human

During an individuals life term the activities they involve themselves in come to on their many bodily tissues. Markers for these activities are left in the bones, joints and dentition which is useful for anthropologists as only skeletal material is left in the strip of most ancient populations. Subsequently much research has been undertaken in this area with varying levels of validity.In this essay I seek to explain what information can be reliably gathered from skeletal material, it will focus on bone density and muscle attachments associated with heavy workloads, joint wear caused by repeated processes such as grinding grain, osteoarthritis and tooth wear associated with tool use. To aid this discussion I will detail the activity changes involved in the transition among a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and a sedentary agricultural lifestyle. I will also consider the strengths and weaknesses of this type of reconstructory speculation, arguing that unless the aforementioned markers a re assessed in a non-subjective, quantifiable way the findings are not comparable to others displaying similar markers. It has been well documented that according to Wolffs law, bone is constantly remodeling. Wolffs law states that bones within an animal will remodel due to the stress it is placed under. If stress on particular bones increase, bones will remodel over time becoming stronger, laying down bone tissue with higher levels of mineralisation. The opposite of this is also true, if the stress on a bone decreases, the bone will perform weaker (Wolff, 1986). This correlates with the findings of Stock who reasons that human skeletal robusticity is influenced by many factors, habitual behaviour being the most important (Stock, 2006). ... ...n the Georgia Coast. American diary of Physical Anthropology 64,125-136.Shackelford L.L., 2007. regional Variation in the Postcranial Robusticity of Late Upper Paleolithic Humans. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 133, 655668Stock T. J., 2006. Hunter-Gatherer Postcranial Robusticity Relative toPatterns of Mobility, Climatic Adaptation, and Selection for Tissue Economy. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 131, 194-204.Teaford M., 2005. Dental Microwear and Dental Function Evolutionary Anthropology Issues, News, and Reviews 3, 17 - 30Valdes A.M., Spector T.D., 2008. The contribution of genes to osteoarthritis. Rheumatic Diease Clininics of North America 34, 581603.White T., 2000. Human Osteology. Academic Press, London.Wolff J., 1986 The justness of Bone Remodeling. Springer, New York (translation of the German 1892 edition)