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'Krenz-Niedbala M, 2014: A biocultural perspective on the transition to agriculture in Central Europe. Anthropologie (Brno) 52, 2: 115-132'. |
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| Abstract | | This study focuses on the changes in the human skeleton that are associated with the transition to agricultural subsistence. Two populations from the territory of contemporary Poland that differ in terms of their subsistence strategies are compared. An agricultural subsistence strategy is represented by a Lengyel Culture population from Os?onki (5690-4950 BP), whilst the Corded Ware populations from ?erniki Górne and Z?ota (c. 4160-3900 BP) represent mixed, agricultural-breeding-pastoral economies supplemented with hunting and gathering. The Corded Ware sample consisted of 62 individuals in total, and the Lengyel sample comprised 68 individuals. Health status was examined through skeletal stress indicators, cribra orbitalia, enamel hypoplasia and Harris lines. The analysis of enamel hypoplasia showed the effect of different adaptive strategies on buffering adverse nutritional factors and diseases. The prevalence and severity of the condition proved significantly higher in the Lengyel sample than in the Corded Ware population (64.7% vs. 43.5%, respectively). It is suggested that agricultural subsistence, associated with a less diversified diet, sedentism, exposure to pathogens, spread of infections and increased population density, caused more frequent and severe stress episodes than the mixed economy of the Corded Ware people. The inverse relationship between enamel hypoplasia and the mean age at death found in the agricultural population clearly shows an effect of adverse living conditions on the biological development of the individuals studied. | | | | Keywords | | Neolithic - Corded Ware Culture - Lengyel Culture - Enamel hypoplasia - Cribra orbitalia - Harris lines - Agricultural subsistence - Mixed subsistence | | |
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