New York African Burial Ground Skeletal Biology Final Report, Volume 1. Chapter 12. Subadult Growth and Development

Growth and developmental status is often used as an indicator of general health
status at the population level. A brief review of literature regarding human skeletal growth and development indicates there are several methodologies for assessing these processes in human skeletal remains (Albert and Greene 1999; Flecker 1942; Goode et al. 1993; Gruelich and Pyle 1950; Hoppa 1992; Hoppa and Fitzgerald 1999; Hoppa and Gruspier 1996; Johnston and Zimmer, 1989; Livshits et al. 1998; Miles and Bulman 1994; Saunders 1992; Saunders et al. 1993; Sciulli 1994; Todd 1937). Particularly, adult height may be used as a proxy for an individual’s general state of childhood and adolescent nutritional status (Goode et al. 1993; Hoppa 1992; Miles and Bulman 1994). However, Hoppa (1992) and Miles and Bulman (1994) have recently proposed the use of cross-sectional long bone growth profiles in archaeological populations as a means to assess a population’s health status, using long bone lengths would stand as a proxy for stature estimates for immature remains. On the other hand, Goode et al. (1993) propose standardizing (see below) all long bone measurements as a method of representing any or all long bones measured in a single graphic plot. This method was promoted as a means of: 1) circumventing situations wherein infant and child skeletons are either fragmentary or skeletal elements are not equally represented, 2) promoting intra- and interpopulation growth comparisons, and 3) as a means of diagnosing individuals with grossly deviant standardized values for closer analysis of the abnormality (1993:323).