Doctoral Dissertation Research: Patterns in Ontogeny of Human Trabecular Bone from the Prehistoric Ohio Valley

儿童是人类之父，本项目从这一前提出发，研究人类生长发育过程中骨骼结构的各个方面，目的是对儿童时期骨骼生物学产生新的定量和结构知识。骨骼形状和结构与活动和负荷有着可预测的关系，这使得它们对过去和现在人群的行为和儿童发育研究具有潜在的吸引力。相对较少的研究已经针对骨骼在生长和发育过程中的变化，造成了这种类型的分析可以用来检查过去（和生活）人类群体的生活质量的基础上的缺陷。该研究项目研究骨骼形状和形状如何反映生长和发育的时间顺序和变化，并与正常儿童功能活动的时间和获得相关。 这项研究使用了一系列考古骨骼，以解决骨骼个体发育的假设。骨骼样本选自SunWatch，一个史前晚期俄亥俄州山谷村庄，位于小迈阿密河，靠近代顿，俄亥俄州。SunWatch是世纪出现在俄亥俄州山谷的一个定居模式的例子，其特征是农业村庄，中心广场和周边的矩形房屋，墓葬和存储/垃圾坑。骨骼分析将包括对膝盖以下骨骼进行完全无损的显微X射线扫描，展示网格状骨骼结构的细节。计算机辅助分析将开发结构参数。本研究的期望，除了协助研究生培训，是提供定量的形态学和影像学数据，突出的动态顺序之间的关系，生长/发育，一般功能活动，和骨结构。该项目代表了儿童生长发育、机械负荷和身体活动的自然实验：婴儿从不会走路到会走路，从小体重到大体重，从活动依赖到独立。智力价值集中在使用计算机模拟建模，非侵入性显微成像技术和有限元计算方法的最新进展的潜力，以促进对社会结构的人类行为，环境影响和儿童骨骼生物学的理解。虽然这项研究的重点是骨骼的生长变化问题，但项目设计的适用性可以为体质人类学、骨骼生物学、生长和发育、研究人类骨骼的结构是在肌肉骨骼生物学的广泛框架内与社会-在不同遗传和环境条件下我们骨骼的变化、严重的公共卫生状况（骨关节炎和骨质疏松症）以及骨骼再生和植入研究领域具有广泛的影响。这项研究通过结合最新进展，促进了解骨骼生物学的多学科方法，并增强与古代和近代人口的生物文化研究的相关性，增强了研究的基础设施。

It has been stated that the child is the father of man. This project extends from that premise, examining aspects of bone structure during human growth and development with the goal of producing new quantitative and structural knowledge of skeletal biology in childhood. Bone shape and structure have a predictable relationship to activity and load, making them potentially attractive for the study of behavior and childhood development of past and present populations. Relatively little research has been directed towards the variation in bone during growth and development, creating a deficiency in the foundation upon which this type of analysis can be used to examine the quality of life for past (and living) human groups. This research project studies the temporal sequence and variation in how bone form and shape are a reflection of growth and development and are associated with the timing and acquisition of normal childhood functional activities. The study uses an archaeological series of skeletons in order to address hypotheses about skeletal ontogeny.The skeletal sample is selected from SunWatch, a Late Prehistoric Ohio Valley village, located on the Little Miami River, near Dayton, Ohio. SunWatch is an example of a settlement pattern emerging in the Ohio Valley in the 12th century, characterized by agricultural villages with a central plaza and a peripheral ring of rectangular houses, burials, and storage/trash pits. Skeletal analysis will consist of completely nondestructive micro X-ray scanning of bone just below the knee, demonstrating the details of the lattice-like bony structure. Computer assisted analyses will develop structural parameters. The expectations of this study, in addition to assisting in graduate training, are to provide quantitative morphological and imaging data highlighting the dynamic sequential relationships between growth/development, general functional activities, and bone structure. This project represents a natural experiment in childhood growth and development, mechanical loading, and physical activity: infants going from not walking to walking, small body mass to large body mass, and dependency in activity to independence. The intellectual merit centers on the potential of using recent advances in computer-simulated modeling, non-invasive micro-imaging techniques, and finite element computational methodologies to advance understanding of socially structured human behavior, environmental influences, and the skeletal biology of childhood. Although this study is focused on the problem of growth changes in bone, the applicability of the project design can form the foundation for expanded comparative studies in physical anthropology, skeletal biology, growth and development, and bioarchaeology.Research into the structure of the human skeleton is situated within the broad framework of musculoskeletal biology with society-wide implications in the areas of changes in our skeleton with varying genetic and environmental settings, serious public health conditions (osteoarthritis and osteoporosis), and skeletal regenerative and implant investigations. This study enhances the infrastructure of research by incorporating recent advances, fostering a multidisciplinary approach towards understanding skeletal biology, and augmenting relevance to biocultural studies of ancient and recent populations.