WHEN ADAM DELVED - AN ACTIVITY-RELATED LESION IN 3 HUMAN SKELETAL POPULATIONS

A rare, activity-related lesion, the clay-shoveller's fracture, was id entified during osteological analysis in three human populations datin g from the Roman to the later Medieval period in England, circa fourth to 14th centuries A.D. The prevalence of this fracture in these popul ations suggests an osteological indicator for several possible manual activities, but also one that may be the result of a long-standing hum an subsistence adaptation requiring digging in the soil. Since males a s opposed to females appear to be preferentially affected, the occurre nce of such injuries has the potential to provide an insight into the sexual division of labor in earlier human populations. (C) 1996 Wiley- Liss, Inc.