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Subsistence strategy changes: the evidence of entheseal changes
1CIAS - Centro de Investigação em Antropologia e Saúde, Universidade de Coimbra, Apartado 3046, 3001-401, Coimbra, Portugal.
Summary
Human subsistence strategies significantly impact health and workload. This study found agriculturalists had the lowest entheseal changes (markers of muscle use), while industrial workers had the highest, suggesting workload differences.
Area of Science:
- Human evolution
- Paleoanthropology
- Bioarchaeology
Background:
- Subsistence strategies profoundly influence human health and physical structure.
- Entheseal changes, previously known as musculoskeletal stress markers, are indicators of muscle usage throughout life.
- These markers are recognized as having multifactorial origins.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if shifts in human subsistence strategies have led to reduced workload.
- To assess workload by analyzing entheseal changes across different subsistence groups.
- To identify trends in entheseal changes related to muscle, enthesis type, and sex over time.
Main Methods:
- A meta-analysis of published data on entheseal changes was conducted.
- Data were analyzed by subsistence strategy (agriculturalists, hunter-gatherers, industrial workers).
- Trends were plotted by muscle, enthesis type, and sex.
Main Results:
- Agriculturalists exhibited the lowest entheseal change scores, followed by hunter-gatherers, with industrial workers showing the highest.
- These patterns were consistent across sexes and most muscle groups.
- A strong correlation was observed between entheseal changes and increased age, though age distributions of samples could not be directly compared.
Conclusions:
- The findings suggest a link between subsistence strategy and workload, as indicated by entheseal changes.
- Differences in age distribution among analyzed samples may influence the observed results.
- Recommendations are provided to address limitations and improve future meta-analyses on this topic.
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