Humans have long had an ambiguous relationship with physical activity. From the Greek idolization of the young athlete, over the condescending attitudes towards manual labor, to Olympic performers... Show moreHumans have long had an ambiguous relationship with physical activity. From the Greek idolization of the young athlete, over the condescending attitudes towards manual labor, to Olympic performers who push their bodies beyond all limits for prestige. This fascination with how we use our bodies extends into the questions we ask about past societies.This dissertation examines how we can reconstruct physical activity by looking at variations in the shape of muscle attachment sites ( ‘entheses’) on the human skeleton. It evaluates two post-medieval contexts; rural Middenbeemster and urban Aalst. Findings show societal differences in the sexual division of labor, but also remind us not to over-simplify the lives of people in the past, nor underestimate the complexity of the human body and its varied response to strain.The dissertation also broaches an entirely new field of study; variation in appearance of entheses in growing, individuals. By developing a standardized method, it lies the foundation for research into activity reconstruction in children from both archaeological and forensic settings.Ultimately, it provides the reader with a comprehensive study of the potential and limitations of entheses for activity reconstruction. In doing so, it presents a glimpse into life in the past. Show less
This thesis presents an easy, rapid and inexpensive supplement to the well-known method of Maat et al. (2001). This new method allows for the histochemical staining of dry bone material, enhancing... Show moreThis thesis presents an easy, rapid and inexpensive supplement to the well-known method of Maat et al. (2001). This new method allows for the histochemical staining of dry bone material, enhancing the visibility of important hallmarks of dry bone histomorphology. In addition, this thesis provides a new, easy, rapid and inexpensive method for the production of sections of fragile dry bone tissue, histochemically stained or not. Furthermore we show that dry bone histology is a valuable tool in the diagnosis of bone disorders. Although the majority of bone disorders have no pathognomonic dry bone histomorphology, histology may still have a considerable value for the differential diagnostic process. Finally, when studying mechanical trauma, dry bone histology is a valuable tool for the estimation of posttraumatic survival time, especially when used in conjunction with gross anatomical and radiological analyses. Show less
