Data from: Biomechanical evidence for occupational specialization in Mesolithic-Neolithic hunter-gatherers from Zvejnieki, Latvia

The dataset includes cross-sectional geometric properties from humeri and
femora at the Zvejnieki archaeological site. The code includes programs
that produce 95 % credibility intervals for individuals with and without
burial pendants for femoral and humeral cross-sectional properties, and 95
% credibility intervals comparing Zvejnieki femora to a European database
from the Paleolithic through Neolithic periods. In addition, the code also
includes programs that produce randomized mean differences in humeral and
femoral biomechanical properties between males with and without burial
pendants. The humeral code performs this for right and left humeral
measurements simultaneously and produces graphs that illustrate 1) the
region of practical equivalence surrounding the randomized mean difference
for right and left; 2) provides unique shading for the right and left
sides; and 3) indicates the location of the observed mean difference
relative the randomized permutations for right and left sides using unique
symbols. For femora, the code produces randomized differences in femoral
biomechanical measurements for females and males, uses unique shading for
females and males, and identifies the region of practical equivalence with
sex-specific bars. Female and male observed means are imposed with unique
symbols to identify their location relative to the region of practical
equivalence within the randomized permutations. All graphs are coded to
appear in the same image, at publication-ready high resolution (>
600 DPI). Results from this work illustrate unique patterns of manual
activity between individuals with and without pendants, emphasizing the
increasing dimensions of mortuary practices among Mesolithic-Neolithic
hunter-gatherers. In addition, results suggest reduced femoral robusticity
among female and male community members at Zvejnieki, consistent with
limited mobility and interaction with relatively flat terrain. Data from
this study may be used as a comparative sample in future biomechanical
studies. Code from this work can be applied to comparative studies
interested in producing 95 % credibility interval and randomized
permutation comparisons across multiple variables, and the output is
structured so that each variable comparison reads into singular graphs in
publication-friendly formats.