Palaeopathology of Aboriginal Australians: Health and Disease across a Hunter-Gatherer Continent

337 Pages·2009·70.75 MB·English

by  Stephen Webb

PALAEOPATHOLOGY OF
ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIANS
For Beata
PALAEOPATHOLOGY OF
ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIANS
health and disease across a hunter-gatherer continent
Stephen Webb
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Cambridge University Press 1995
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no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1995
This digitally printed version 2009
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
National Library of Australia Cataloguing in Publication data
Webb, Stephen G.
Palaeopathology of Aboriginal Australians.
Bibliography.
Includes index.
1. Paleopathology — Australia. [2.] Aborigines, Australian —
Diseases - History. [3.] Aborigines, Australian - Health and
hygiene - History. I. Title.
616.00899915
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Webb, Stephen.
Palaeopathology of Aboriginal Australians: health and disease
across a hunter-gatherer continent / Stephen Webb.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Paleopathology — Australia. 2. Australian aborigines — Health
and hygiene. I. Title.
R134.8.W427 1994 94-15247
616.07'0994-dc20 CIP
ISBN 978-0-521-46044-6 hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-11049-5 paperback
Contents
List of illustrations vi
List of tobies x
Acknowledgements xi
1 Introduction /
2 Australian palaeopathology, survey methods,
samples and ethnohistoric sources 5
3 Upper Pleistocene pathology of Sunda and Sahul:
some possibilities 2 /
4 Pathology in late Pleistocene and early Holocene
Australian hominids 41
5 Stress 89
6 Infectious disease 125
7 Osteoarthritis 161
8 Trauma 188
9 Neoplastic disease 2 / 7
10 Congenital malformations 235
11 Motupore: the palaeopathology of a prehistoric
New Guinea island community 256
12 The old and the new: Australia's changing patterns
of health 272
References 295
Index 321
List of illustrations
Plates
4—la, b Surface and lateral view, pitting and
osteophytes on the right ulna of WLH3 43
4—2 Eroded head of the radius, with osteophytes 44
4—3a, b Lateral and surface view, head of the radius 45
4-4a, b Distal end and anterior surface, right humerus 46
4-5 Hole in a humerus, indicative of infection 48
4—6 Bowing in a humerus 50
4-7 Arthritic degeneration in the glenoid fossa 52
4—8 Depressed fractures in the cranial vault 55
4—9 Radiograph of healed parrying fracture (ulna) 56
4-10 Callus formation from the parrying fracture 56
4-11 Lower jaw with both canines missing 59
4—12a, b Magnification of scratches across molar enamel 61
4-13 Robust calvarium, WLH50 63
4—14 Radiograph of cancellous formation 63
4—15 Cross-section of a left parietal, showing
cancellous tissue 65
4-16 Structures of the diploeic bone, WLH50 vault 65
4—17 Healed fracture and pseudoarthrosis of the
radius, Murrabit 71
4—18a, b Pseudoarthrosis of the ulna, Kow Swamp 1 71
4—19 Fractured ulna and radius, Murrabit 72
4-20 Ankylosed tibia and fibula 73
4—21 Supernumerary tooth, Keilor cranium 74
4-22 Fracture of left parietal bone 75
4-23, 24, 25 Various views of 31837 cranium 76-7
4-26 Flattened glenoid fossae 78
4-27 Bony development of 38586 cranium 79
4-28 Small face of 38586 80
4-29, 30 Two views of 38587 cranium 82-3
4—31 Bony proliferation around maxilla 83
4-32 Vault of 38587 84
4-33 Radiograph of vault structures in 38587 85
5-la, b, c Three categories of cribra orbitalia 91
5-2 Healed scar from a cribra orbitalia lesion 92
5-3 Osteoporosis, child's cranium 101
5-4 Osteoporosis, child's cranium 101
5-5a, b, c Three forms of dental enamel hypoplasia 107
5-6 Harris lines in 'step ladder' pattern 120
6-1 Osteomyelitis in a femur 131
6-2 Osteomyelitis in a tibia 132
6-3 Diaphysis of the tibia 132
6—4 Lesion caused by chronic infection 133
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii
6-5 Osteomyelitic tibiae 133
6-6a, b Wider view of two tibiae showing lesions 134
6-7 Nodular cavitation typical of treponemal
infection 138
6—8 Serpiginous cavitation across a frontal bone 139
6—9 Caries sicca and healed scars on a left parietal 139
6—10 Circumvallate cavitation on a central Murray
cranium 140
6-11 Scars and cracking from a treponemal lesion 140
6—12 Facial destruction in an individual from the
Northern Territory 141
6-13 Facial damage from treponemal infection 141
6-l4a, b Bony destruction and healed lesions from
chronic infection 142
6-15 Bilateral lesions on scapulae 145
6-16 Facial destruction in a woman from the
Western Desert N.T. 148
6—17 Facial destruction in an old woman from
Cooper Creek S.A. 150
6—18 Facial destruction, the active disease 151
6-19a, b Tibiae showing bowing and infection 158-9
7-1 Eroded medial femoral condyle 163
7-2 Osteophytic lipping 164
7—3 Ankylosis of a knee joint 167
7—4 Ankylosis as a result of infection 168
7—5 Multiple ankylosing of foot and ankle bones 168
7-6 Ankylosis of a left foot 168
7-7 Vertebral osteophytosis 169
7—8 Ankylosing spondylitis in two lumbar vertebrae 170
7—9 Ankylosing spondylitis, fused section of
vertebrae 171
7—10 Ankylosing spondylitis of sterno-costal and
sternoclavicular joints 172
7-11 Thoracic ankylosis 172
7-12a, b Temporomandibular arthritis 178
8-1 Parrying fractures 190
8-2a, b Triple comminuted fracture of the femur 193
8—3 Femoral neck fracture 195
8-4 Femoral shaft fracture 196
8—5 Fractures of a humerus and tibiae 197
8-6 Radiograph of a fractured tibia and fibula 198
8-7 Aranda man with a fractured leg, circa 1920 198
8-8 Pseudoarthrosis in the lower arm 199
8-9 Pseudoarthrosis 199
8-10a, b Depressed fracture of the cranial vault 201
8-11 Split cranial fracture 202
8-12 Dented zygomatic arch 203
8-13 Trephination 209
8-14 Trephination 210
Vlli LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
8-15a, b Surgical interventions on a cranium and
close-up of the opening 211
8—16a, b Amputated femora 213
8—17 Man with an amputated leg, central Australia 215
9—1 Lesions from multiple myeloma 220
9-2 Scattered perforations of multiple myeloma 220
9-3 Scattered perforations of multiple myeloma 221
9—4 Lesion in a mandible 221
9—5 Metastatic carcinoma lesion 224
9-6 Close-up of the lesion 224
9—7 Nasopharyngeal carcinoma 227
9—8 Destruction of the palate by carcinoma 228
9—9, 10 Two views of oro-facial destruction 229
9-11 Destruction of the maxilla by carcinoma 231
9-12 Button osteoma 233
9-13 Close-up of the osteoma 234
10-la Sacrum with partial bridging 237
10—lb Sacrum with neural tube variant 238
10—2 Six sacra with neural tube defect 238
10—3 Bregmatic meningocoele 242
10—4 Bony rim of the meningocoele 243
10-5 Cleft palate 245
10-6 Circular markings on frontal bone 246
10-7 Cleft palate 248
10-8 Cleft lip (partial) 248
10-9 Cleft palate 249
10—10, 11, 12 Scaphocephalic cranium of a child 251—2
10—13 Radiograph of the cranium 253
10—14 Scaphocephalic calvarium of an adult 253
10-15 Cranium with premature suture fusion 254
11-la, b Non-specific infection in a humerus 260
11-2 Radiograph of the humerus 260
11-3 Osteomyelitic infection of a femur 261
11-4a, b, c, d Bowed tibiae 261-2
11—5 Cavitation with radial scars on a cranium 262
11—6 Cribra orbitalia indicative of anaemia 263
11-7 Large frontal lesion typical of symmetrical
osteoporosis 264
11-8 Symmetrical osteoporosis 264
11-9 Radiograph of the frontal lesion 265
Mops
2-1 Site and sample locations 14
2-2 The central Murray region 15
2-3 Four of the five main areas in the survey 17
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix
Figures
5—1 Age distribution of DEH, various
populations 111
5-2 Proportions of young adults in each area 120
7-1 Adults with missing teeth and TMJ arthritis 182
7-2 Proportion of missing teeth in all crania 182
7-3 Young adults with missing teeth 183
7-4 Old adults with missing teeth 183
7—5 A comparison of tooth loss in young and old
adults 184