Edward B. D. Neuhauser Lecture. Paleoradiology of the prehistoric Australian aborigines

Prehistoric populations suffered the rigors of everyday survival as hunter-gatherers, and some of the individuals had osseous manifestations as a result both of these stresses and of aging. Paleomedical scientists usually seek out osseous abnormalities found in skeletal remains, thus stressing the morbidity of a population [4]. In so doing, they portray those populations as less healthy than their own. This may not necessarily be the case. Specimens without signs of injury should be considered as evidence of the population's vitality; bones with evidence of injury that has healed during life should be considered as evidence of debility; and bones with evidence of conditions that are occupational in origin should be considered as evidence of social, economic, and ecological environmental conditions [4]. This is more useful than singling out specimens with abnormalities as signs of the population's morbidity [4]. This is confirmed by the majority of bones appearing osteologically healthy, except for the characteristic findings of biomechanical wear and tear arising from acquiring food and from combat (osteoarthritis, fractures). Although a number of children may have been infected by the treponematoses, which were manifested by cutaneous lesions, only a small percentage of children actually experienced osseous infection. Also, bone metastases were extremely rare.