Browsing by Author "Morris, Alan G"
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- ItemOpen AccessAge estimation using epiphyseal closure at the wrist joint : an investigation of individuals of African origin, age 14 to 22 years(2010) Dembetembe, Kundisai Adelaide; Morris, Alan GAge estimation techniques allow the researcher to compare chronological age, calculated from the individual's date of birth, to the level of functional and skeletal development known as biological age. This is useful in forensic cases where the age of an individual whether living or post mortem is often unknown.
- ItemOpen AccessAn assessment of muscle insertion sites and biomechanical beam analaysis in living subjects(2001) Sanders, Virginia M; Morris, Alan G; Louw, Graham J; Constant, Deborah AThe main aim of this study is to examine the gross morphology of the radial tuberosity, brachialis insertion site and supinator crest in living subjects, and to correlate this with muscle strength.
- ItemOpen AccessDental modification practices on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape(2003) Friedling, Louise J; Morris, Alan GThe people living on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape have been practicing dental modification for a number of years. A systematic survey of eight adjoining areas in the Northern suburbs was done to investigate the prevalence, motivation and possible historical time depth of this practice. The survey was conducted by means of a questionnaire. A total of 2167 individuals participated in this study of which 41 % had modified their teeth. More males (44.8%) than females (37.9%) were involved in this practice. Residential area and pay class had an impact on dental modification practices as the incidence increased within lower income areas. Six styles of modification were identified, of these; the removal of the upper four incisors (style 400) was often the style of choice (93. 7%). There were four stated reasons (peer pressure, fashion, gangsterism and medical/other) for dental modification of which peer pressure (in males) and fashion (in females) were the most popular. Dentists did most of the extractions. Three quarters of the entire study sample had family members with dental modifications. More than half (69.8%) of individuals with modifications wore dentures. Not only coloured people were modifying their teeth, some study subjects who had self-classified themselves as black or white also practiced it.
- ItemOpen AccessDynamics of Indian Ocean slavery revealed through isotopic data from the colonial era Cobern Street Burial site, Cape Town, South Africa (1750-1827)(Public Library of Science, 2016) Kootker, Lisette M; Mbeki, Linda; Morris, Alan G; Kars, Henk; Davies, Gareth RThe Dutch East India Company (VOC) intended the Cape of Good Hope to be a refreshment stop for ships travelling between the Netherlands and its eastern colonies. The indigenous Khoisan, however, did not constitute an adequate workforce, therefore the VOC imported slaves from East Africa, Madagascar and Asia to expand the workforce. Cape Town became a cosmopolitan settlement with different categories of people, amongst them a non-European underclass that consisted of slaves, exiles, convicts and free-blacks. This study integrated new strontium isotope data with carbon and nitrogen isotope results from an 18 th -19 th century burial ground at Cobern Street, Cape Town, to identify non-European forced migrants to the Cape. The aim of the study was to elucidate individual mobility patterns, the age at which the forced migration took place and, if possible, geographical provenance. Using three proxies, 87 Sr/ 86 Sr, δ 13 C dentine and the presence of dental modifications, a majority (54.5%) of the individuals were found to be born non-locally. In addition, the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr data suggested that the non-locally born men came from more diverse geographic origins than the migrant women. Possible provenances were suggested for two individuals. These results contribute to an improved understanding of the dynamics of slave trading in the Indian Ocean world.
- ItemOpen AccessFacial fatness as a complicating factor in facial reconstruction(2015) Clarke, Carrie Anna-Marie; Friedling, Louise J; Morris, Alan GAlthough it is a reasonable assumption that a significant proportion of the variation in facial tissue thicknesses comes from anatomical differences between populations, we do not know how much of normal variation is caused by including the full range of individual obesity or slimness. Current population standard soft tissue thickness data used in facial reconstructions ignores the variation between individuals which, in theory, could be greater than the variation between populations or sexes. The aim of this study was to test if facial tissue thickness is due to the amount of sub - cutaneous fat, sex or racial origins. Methods currently used do not give a true reflection of the individual because they ignore the variation in fatness. An initial study determined if a corrective value for the non - linear distortion found between radiographic images and the physical tissues was needed. This was done by imaging cadaver heads and taking measurements from the images and the physical heads. The results demonstrated that measurements taken from LODOX® images are analogous with soft tissue measurements. Volunteers were then sought from the student body and had physical measurements and X - rays taken. The measurements allowed for both BMI and body fat percentage to be calculated. Analysis showed that body fat percentage had less of an impact than BMI, with the areas of the face most affected by change in fatness being around the chin, jaw and cheek. Analysis of the variances showed that fatness has a low impact on the soft tissues of the different ancestry groups, while having a greater impact on the soft tissues of the different sexes. The effect of changing fatness on the soft tissues is not seen in all areas of the face, but to ignore it in facial reconstruction ignores that the success of a reconstruction is not exactness but in its ability to incite recognition and lead to potential identification of the unknown target individual.
- ItemOpen AccessA forensic anthropological investigation of skeletal remains recovered from a 1000 year old archaeological site in North Western Namibia(2010) Rossouw, Lache Zolyn; Morris, Alan GHuman and faunal skeletal remains were found scattered around the base of a talus cone at the bottom of a 30 metre sinkhole at Khoraxa-ams northwest of the Central Namib Desert. Subsequent dating of the site indicated that the remains had been deposited in the cavern in the order of a thousand years ago. The aim of this study was to examine skeletal remains recovered from the site and draw possible conclusions as to who they were and the circumstances surrounding their deposition in the cave. A forensic analytical approach was utilized to uncover the evidence, allowing us to manage the site as a 'crime scene.' This approach included determining the MNI, constructing a demographic profile and analysing post-mortem preservation as well as posing questions vital to forensic investigations including ante-mortem features that could lead to the ethnic identification of unknown individuals and the peri-mortem circumstances surrounding the deposition of the remains. Sixteen individuals, based on cranial bone representation were identified in the sample, consisting of only adult individuals with the exception of one sub-adult, and a male to female ratio of roughly 1:1. The people of Khoraxa-ams were of Negroid ancestry, consumed a mixed diet of gathered and agricultural foods, were in fairly good health at the time of their death, showed signs of involvement in low-impact labour and practiced dental modification. Their most likely identity, based on these biological markers, lifestyle observations and cultural practices, is a group similar or ancestral to the modern Herero of Namibia. The exact nature and circumstance surrounding the cause of death is unknown. Based on the extent of skeletal injuries, it is likely that they received peri-mortem blunt force trauma and post-mortem trauma after death by being dropped into the 30 metre cave. It is speculated, given the demographic profile of women and children presenting with more severe blunt force trauma, the lack of defence wounds and the fact the individuals were dead before being dropped in the cave, that the site at Khoraxa-ams represents an execution location, though no secure evidence exists to support this theory. The forensic approach to this study has enabled the identification of otherwise unknown archaeological remains, and has also provided insight into a period of Namibian history where relatively little is known.
- ItemOpen AccessGrave tales : an osteological assessment of health and lifestyle from 18th and 19th century burial sites around Cape Town(2007) Friedling, Louise J; Morris, Alan GTwo unwalled 18th and 19th century colonial burial sites, Cobern Street and Marina Residence, were assessed osteologically and dentally to reconstruct the life histories and activity patterns of the poorer people living at the Cape. This was done to add to the history and knowledge of the descendants of these people, as little other information exists on them. Questions pertaining to diet, stress, activity patterns and trauma were investigated. Visual (standard and novel macroscopic methods e.g. distal humeri method), metric (femoral neck method) and histological (proximal anterior femur) techniques were tested and employed to estimate age and sex, as the skeletal material was fragmentary and incomplete. Only adults were assessed and analysed (n = 86 and n = 75 for Cobern Street and Marina Residence respectively) as the infant, juvenile and sub-adult skeletal material was too badly preserved and fragmentary to attempt reconstruction. Mortality profiles reveal that the two study sites were different in community dynamics. They led hard active lives as seen from their muscle marking and degenerative joint disease patterns. Osteoarthritis was not only very frequent within the groups but was found in much of the younger adult skeletal material. Stress and trauma were relatively low within the two populations. Dental disease was relatively high within the two study groups. This was as a result of a carbohydrate rich diet and poor oral hygiene. Thus the food they were consuming as well as the activities they were involved in had a huge impact on their lives. The first possible cases of syphilis, tuberculosis and Paget's disease at the Cape were found within these two study groups.
- ItemOpen AccessIs Greulich-Pyle age estimation applicable for determining maturation in male Africans?(2012) Dembetembe, Kundisai A; Morris, Alan GSkeletal age estimation as a means of assessing development and skeletal maturation in children and adolescents is of great importance for clinical and forensic purposes. The skeletal age of a test population is estimated by comparison with established standards, the most common standards being those in the Radiographic atlas of skeletal development of the hand and wrist published by Greulich and Pyle in 1959. These standards are based on the assumption that skeletal maturity in male individuals is attained by the chronological age of 19 years. Although they have been widely tested, the applicability of these standards to contemporary populations has yet to be tested on a population of African biological origin living in South Africa. We therefore estimated the skeletal age of 131 male Africans aged between 13 and 21 years, using the Greulich-Pyle method which we applied to pre-existing hand-wrist radiographs. Estimated skeletal age was compared to the known chronological age for each radiograph. Skeletal age was on average approximately 6 months younger than chronological age. The Greulich-Pyle method underestimated skeletal age for approximately 74% of the sample and overestimated skeletal age for 26% of the sample. Skeletal maturity as characterised by complete epiphyseal fusion occurred approximately 2.1 years later than Greulich and Pyle's estimate of 19 years. Thus skeletal maturation was still in progress in a large proportion of the 20- and 21-year-old individuals in our study. The Greulich-Pyle method showed high precision but low accuracy and was therefore not directly applicable to African male individuals. Formulation of skeletal age estimation standards specific to South African populations is therefore recommended.
- ItemOpen AccessNew Hominin fossils from Malapa: The unveiling of Australopithecus Sediba(2010) Morris, Alan GThe odds of archaeologists finding a nearly complete skeleton went up dramatically when humans began to bury their dead in formal graves. But this began only about 50 000 years ago, a relatively recent date in terms of human origins and only a small portion of the four-million-year history of our ancestral line. Before formal burial, the physical remains of our ancestors were processed by the environment in the same way as any other dead animal: chewed up by scavengers, dispersed in a river bed, on the open veld or in a cave, and finally preserved by fossilisation as isolated bones. Nearly complete skeletons in the fossil record of our earliest ancestors are as rare as the proverbial 'hen's teeth'. The discovery of the hominins from Malapa announced by Lee Berger has been just such a rare occurrence.
- ItemOpen AccessStandards for epiphyseal union in South African children between the ages of 6 to 24 years using low dose X-ray (lodox)(2015) Lakha, Kavita Novinchandra; Morris, Alan GSkeletal age is a measure of biological maturation and is based on the stages of formation of bones. As age increases, skeletal maturation progresses and the various hard tissue changes which take place are uniquely identifiable and defining to each stage of development. Age assessment using skeletal maturation is a diagnostic tool used clinically and in forensic investigations. Radiographs of the hand and wrist are frequently used to estimate age (Greulich and Pyle,1959); however studies conducted in South Africa have shown that these methods are not applicable to South Africans since the method over estimates age in the 17 - 22 year olds(Dembetembe and Morris, 2013) and both over and underestimates age in 0 - 13 year old individuals (Speed, 2012). There currently is a lack of comprehensive data and studies on the union of the major joints in South African children despite the need for population specific data in age estimations. The LODOX Statscan system, which emits low dose radiation and full body radiographs in thirteen seconds, was used to assess radiographs of1891 individuals between the ages of 6 - 24 years. Union was classified in four stages ranging from one (non-union) to stage four (complete union). Radiographs were obtained from the Red Cross War Memorial hospital and Groote Schuur hospital in Cape Town and Tygerberg and Salt River mortuaries in Cape Town as well as the Chris Hani Baragwanathand Milpark hospitals in Johannesburg. The standards developed on radiographs were later used to conduct gross analysis of skeletal material obtained from the Raymond Dart Collection. Complete union was classified as the age at which 95% of the both males and females showed stage 4 of union. Complete union of all joints in females occurs by age 21 years and 24 years in males with the iliac crest being the last epiphysis to fuse in both males and females. Ordinal logistic regression found significant differences between males and females in the stages of union and age (p < 0.05). There is however no significant differences in stage of union and age between different ethnic groups and individuals from various socio-economic status backgrounds (p > 0.05).Data for union times in South African children show that maturity in females at the elbow, hip and ankle are achieved at approximately 15 years of age followed by the knee at 16 years, wrist at 18 years, and shoulder at 20 years. The radiographically visible epiphyses the iliac crest are the last epiphyses to complete union at 21 years. Males progress through union in the same sequence with the exception that there is a two year delay in age at maturity. The elbow in males completes union at approximately 17 years followed by the hip and ankle at 18 years, knee at 19 years, wrist at 20 years, and shoulder at 21 years and finally the iliac crest at 22 years. The methodology derived on radiographs was successfully applied to gross observations of skeletal material. It therefore provides a useful diagnostic tool for use in skeletonised forensic cases in the absence of skeletal material from which to derive such standards. The current work provides an alternative to the Greulich and Pyle (1959) method and is specifically tailored toward South African children.
- ItemRestrictedThe myth of the East African 'Bushmen'(2003) Morris, Alan GRecent genetic studies of living African peoples have suggested that the KhoiSan in particular are of very ancient stock and that they share some ancient genetic features with living East Africans. Archaeological and linguistic evidence for an ancient KhoiSan presence in East Africa has been used to support these arguments. A re-examination of the archaeological evidence does not support this stance. In particular, the bulk of the osteological evidence for KhoiSan presence in East Africa is flawed because it is drawn from a typological context where individual osteological features were interpreted as KhoiSan and the total morphological pattern was not considered. More recent studies of archaeological specimens and living East Africans have not confirmed any KhoiSan linkage with East Africa. Linguistic evidence is also equivocal and the clicks found in East Africa may represent the remains of ancient linguistic phonemes rather than remnants of KhoiSan languages. Without the support of archaeological and linguistic evidence, the genetic similarities of East and South Africans should be seen as a more distant commonality of underlying genetic features of all Africans rather than a specific KhoiSan genetic identity. (The terminology used in this paper conforms to that of Jenkins & Tobias [1977]. The spelling of KhoiSan was adopted by the session on Nomenclature of People at the Origins of Humanity Workshop at Stellenbosch in September 2002 as part of the HSRC Africa Genome Initiative.)