Foot anomalies in four post-medieval, Dutch populations (17th-19th century)

This dataset was compiled for the master's thesis "Familiar Feet. Kinship analysis using foot anomalies in the cemetery of Middenbeemster (Netherlands, 17th to 19th century)" at Leiden University (Netherlands) by the author. The thesis was submitted on June 15th, 2021 (https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3204807). The data was collected in the period from January to May 2021 at the Laboratory of Human Osteoarchaeology at Leiden University.

It includes the data of 380 adult individuals from four different post-medieval, Dutch populations: the rural population of Middenbeemster (MB) (Hakvoort 2013) and the urban populations of Eindhoven (Catharinakerk) (EH) (Arts 2013), Zwolle (Broerenkerk) (ZW) (Clevis and Constandse-Westermann 1992) and Arnhem (Eusebiuskerk) (AR) (Baetsen et al. 2018). For every individual, an estimate of sex and age-at-death was collected. If a DNA analysis was performed, then this result was used instead of an estimation. The sex estimations of the individuals were based on pelvic and cranial morphology (Bainbridge & Genoves Tarazaga, 1956; Bass, 1987; Buikstra & Ubelaker, 1997; Maat & Mastwijk, 2009; McCormick et al., 1991; Phenice, 1969; Stewart, 1979; Steyn & Işcan, 1999; Workshop for European Anthropologists (WEA), 1980) and were supported by archival data. For the Eindhoven collection, the DNA-determined sex estimations took precedence over the estimations by traditional bioarchaeological techniques (Baetsen & Weterings-Korthorst, 2013). The used abbreviations are M = male, PM = probable male, I = indeterminate, PF = probable female, F = female. 
Age-at-death estimations were made according to traditional bioarchaeological techniques (Brooks & Suchey, 1990; Buckberry & Chamberlain, 2002; İşcan et al., 1984, 1985; Lovejoy et al., 1985; Maat, 2001; Meindle & Lovejoy, 1985; Todd, 1920). The used abbreviations are EYA = early young adult, LYA = late young adult, MA = middle adult, OA = old adult.

The foot anomalies included are accessory navicular (AccessNav), brachydactyly D (BrachyD), brachydactyly of the first metatarsal (BrachyMT1), brachydactyly of the fourth metatarsal (BrachyMT4), brachydactyly of the first proximal phalanx (BrachyPP1), calcaneocuboid coalition (CalcCubCoal), calcaneonavicular coalition (CalcNavCoal), coalition between the intermediate and lateral cuneiform (CF2CF3Coal), coalition between the lateral cuneiform and the third metatarsal (CF3MT3Coal), talocalcaneal coalition (TaloCalcCoal), talonavicular coalition (TaloNavCoal) and os intermetatarseum with the medial cuneiform (CF1Intermet), the first metatarsal (MT1Intermet) and/or the second metatarsal (MT2Intermet) involved. The scoring itself was performed without prior knowledge of skeletal data like sex and age to avoid observer bias. The trait could be marked absent (0), present (1), indiscernible if the bone was damaged (6), or missing if the bone was not present (9) for each separate foot (left (L) or right (R) side). Tarsal coalitions were scored if at least one of the two bones could be marked “absent/present”. In the remarks, some of the found lesions are described in more detail.

For some of the individuals, there is archival data available. This is indicated with 'Yes' or 'No' in the 'Archive data?' column. For the Middenbeemster population, the location of the individual graves was determined from the grave polygons in the excavation data in QGIS by calculating the centroids of these polygons and resulted in a single pair of (x, y) coordinates.

This dataset was used to identify probable genetic relatives within the Middenbeemster skeeltal collection through developmental foot anomalies and to analyse the spatial structure of the Middenbeemster cemetery in the context of intracemetery kinship relations. The Middenbeemster trait frequencies for these anomalies were compared to those of a reference sample of the post-medieval Dutch population (consisting of individuals from the Dutch post-medieval collections of Arnhem, Eindhoven, Zwolle). A hypothetical kinship group could be identified when the trait frequencies of the Middenbeemster sample were considerably higher than those in the reference sample. Other sources had only limited validation value in relation to the hypothesis. Visual examination and spatial statistics of the distribution of the hypothetical kinship group revealed a possible patrilineally structured cemetery, although this is based on a small sample. By putting the observed trait frequencies in a broader context, the data suggested a rather high inter-relatedness of the Middenbeemster community. It also exposed the need for a better understanding of the used traits and perhaps a different approach to kinship analysis (due to necessarily large time investment in contrast to limited results). In conclusion, this study gave an insight into the social structure of post-medieval Dutch communities. Future improvements to kinship analysis may not only be beneficial for bioarchaeology, but also for other fields such as forensic anthropology.
For more information on this research, see the thesis (https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3204807) or the article published in International Journal of Osteoarchaeology (DOI: 10.1002/oa.3100).

References:

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