Papers by Lucille Pedersen
Age‐dependent change and intraskeletal variability in secondary osteons of elderly Australians
Journal of Anatomy, Jan 17, 2024
Investigating the Risk of Violence During the Neolithic to the Late Iron Age in Northeast Thailand (c. 1400 B.C. – A.D. 800)
Bioarchaeology and social theory, 2024
Anthropological science, 2022
Scientific literature frequently reports that age-at-death estimation standards developed on Euro... more Scientific literature frequently reports that age-at-death estimation standards developed on European and North American populations are less effective when used on genetically distant populations. Ultimately, this paper aims to inform forensic anthropologists and bioarchaeologists of the most appropriate methods to use on Southeast Asian skeletal remains by evaluating studies that have tested the replicability and accuracy of adult age estimation methods on Thai target samples. Results show that methods using the pelvis recorded the highest accuracy of up to 93%, but only when broad age ranges are used (±2 SD). Most methods produced the least bias and inaccuracy in young adults but considerably underaged older adults. Overall biases and inaccuracies tended to be lower for males than females. The sternal rib end method showed the weakest correlation with chronological age. Methods that produced age prediction equations developed with regression analyses derived from the Thai samples produced standard errors ranging from 9.5 to 13.9 years (using vertebrae and femora). Most of these methods were deemed too imprecise to be useful in Thai forensic cases. The best way forward to understand the wide range of morphological variation is for future studies to evaluate the influence of body size, activity patterns, socioeconomic status, nutrition, and health on skeletal aging and how it differs between Thai and geographically distant populations.
This study is the first comprehensive analysis of trauma prevalence representing a range of tempo... more This study is the first comprehensive analysis of trauma prevalence representing a range of temporal and geographic contexts from eighteen sites across Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam and includes new skeletal analysis data from Iron Age Non Ban Jak in northeast Thailand. The aim of this thesis is to use evidence of skeletal trauma combined with material evidence of defensive architecture, weapons and military paraphernalia to test if there was increase in trauma prevalence, especially resulting from interpersonal violence, from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. A statistically significant increase in trauma prevalence was observed between the Neolithic and the Iron Age. The patterning of injuries and the similar prevalence of trauma in both sexes in the Neolithic is indicative of accidental mechanisms, with the exception of two cases of cranial trauma suggesting that interpersonal violence may have been experienced by at least some individuals. Trauma prevalence increased in t...
Anthropological Science
Scientific literature frequently reports that age-at-death estimation standards developed on Euro... more Scientific literature frequently reports that age-at-death estimation standards developed on European and North American populations are less effective when used on genetically distant populations. Ultimately, this paper aims to inform forensic anthropologists and bioarchaeologists of the most appropriate methods to use on Southeast Asian skeletal remains by evaluating studies that have tested the replicability and accuracy of adult age estimation methods on Thai target samples. Results show that methods using the pelvis recorded the highest accuracy of up to 93%, but only when broad age ranges are used (±2 SD). Most methods produced the least bias and inaccuracy in young adults but considerably underaged older adults. Overall biases and inaccuracies tended to be lower for males than females. The sternal rib end method showed the weakest correlation with chronological age. Methods that produced age prediction equations developed with regression analyses derived from the Thai samples produced standard errors ranging from 9.5 to 13.9 years (using vertebrae and femora). Most of these methods were deemed too imprecise to be useful in Thai forensic cases. The best way forward to understand the wide range of morphological variation is for future studies to evaluate the influence of body size, activity patterns, socioeconomic status, nutrition, and health on skeletal aging and how it differs between Thai and geographically distant populations.
Asian Perspectives
The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users ar... more The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record.
Asian Perspectives, 2019
The Late Iron Age to early historic period site of Non Ban Jak (ca. fourth to eighth centuries A.... more The Late Iron Age to early historic period site of Non Ban Jak (ca. fourth to eighth centuries A.D.), in the Upper Mun River Valley, northeast Thailand, provides one of the largest and best preserved skeletal samples from an important period of change in social and technological complexity in prehistoric Southeast Asia. This study assessed the patterning of individual-level trauma prevalence and long bone fracture rates in this community to determine the level of risk of injury and the possible relationship with cultural change. One quarter (25.5%) of adults experienced antemortem or perimortem trauma. This level of trauma is high when compared to other Iron Age sites in the Southeast Asian region. Injury patterning suggests the majority of antemortem trauma is the result of accidental injury through occupational hazards and lifestyle activities. However, cranial injuries such as a depressed fracture, facial fractures, and perimortem sharp force trauma, as well as a possible parry injury and multiple trauma observed in some individuals, are indicative that at least a portion of the population had been engaged in interpersonal violence. This study emphasizes local variation. Non Ban Jak is one of only a few excavated sites that contributes to an understanding of the transition from the late Iron Age to the early protohistoric period in Thailand as well as the wider region in Southeast Asia.
Uploads
Papers by Lucille Pedersen