Dental morphology and the phylogenetic "place" of Australopithecus sediba.

To characterize further the Australopithecus sediba hypodigm, we describe 22 dental traits in specimens MH1 and MH2. Like other skeletal elements, the teeth present a mosaic of primitive and derived features. The new nonmetric data are then qualitatively and phenetically compared with those in eight other African hominin samples, before cladistic analyses using a gorilla outgroup.

Dentoalveolar abscess variation among three groups of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii, Pan troglodytes troglodytes, and Pan paniscus).

The prevalence and pattern of periodontal and periapical dental abscess lesions are examined in 399 wild caught chimpanzee mandibles and maxillae from museum contexts (138 Pan troglodytes troglodytes, 152 Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii and 109 Pan paniscus). This study tests two predictions. First, canine size is the key determining factor in dental abscesses.

Brief communication: Transportation and trauma: Dog-sledding and vertebral compression in Alaskan Eskimos.

Vertebral compression, as evidenced by compression of the centrum, was observed within two Native Alaskan skeletal samples. Information was collected from 1,071 and 656 vertebrae from Golovin Bay and Nunivak Island, Alaska, respectively. In addition, patterns of compression related vertebral change in each collection were characterized by sex and location within the vertebral column.

The dangers of multi-male groupings: trauma and healing in cercopithecoid monkeys from Cameroon.

This study examines the potential linkage between social organization and trauma in a sample of cercopithecids from Cameroon. Skeletal trauma is described in a museum collection of eight sympatric monkey species. Macroscopic analysis was carried out on a total of 139 complete skeletons of mangabeys, colobines and guenons.

Estimating puberty in a prehistoric skeletal collection.

A method was introduced to estimate the age of puberty in prehistoric skeletal collections using stages of fusion of the epiphyses of the distal humerus, proximal radius and proximal ulna, as well as fusion of the ilium, ischium and pubis. Fusion of these bones is associated with the hormonal release coincident with the onset of puberty. Dental age-at-death and stage of fusion of these bones were compared in 22 sub-adult individuals from the Moundville (1TU500) site in Alabama, USA.