Activity and Aging in Adult Males: Investigation of Entheses and Cortical Bone from the Site of Lisieux-Michelet in Northern France

Abstract

Cortical thickness and entheseal robusticity were used to measure the effects of activity and age in a group of 77 adult males from the site of Lisieux-Michelet in northern France. There was no known age at death for this population; age was determined using a series of osteological age estimation methods. Based on the currently available dates for this sample, the skeletal remains were primarily from the Late Roman Period (3rd-7th century AD).The adults were divided into three age categories based on these estimation results. Trends in cortical and entheseal development were measured within and between age categories. Results showed that entheses increased with age while cortical thickness decreased. However, low correlation between these two factors suggests that while entheseal robusticity responds to age, it is highly influenced by physical activity. Activity levels also affect cortical thickness which causes variation within age groups. A comparison of the Lisieux-Michelet entheseal and cortical measurements to both modern and archaeological populations indicated that these males engaged in physically demanding occupations. The degree of activity experienced by these individuals decreased during the middle adult years likely due to a shift to less physically demanding occupations. However, cortical and entheseal data suggest that the old adults from Lisieux-Michelet were not particularly frail and continued to be active even after the decrease in activity during the middle years.