Scientists Assess Skulls in Prehistoric and Modern Population

Cribra orbitalia (CO), a condition in which the bone inside the eye sockets becomes porous, can be caused by iron deficiency anemia and is often used by anthropologists to assess the health and diet of prehistoric populations. It had been thought that this condition might have gone extinct but when anthropologists from North Carolina Sate University and the University of the Witwatersrand examined 844 modern, historic and prehistoric human adult and juvenile skulls for the prevalence of CO, they were surprised to find higher rates of CO in modern populations in both North America and South Africa.

The team suggests that access to adequate nutrition and the presence of intestinal parasites are still problems for disadvantaged socioeconomic groups and parts of the developing world. To read in depth about the bio-archaeology of disadvantaged people in nineteenth-century London.