Entheseal changes as a reflection of activity patterns at 1st century BC./A.D. Petra

Summary

The residents of the Nabataean capital city of Petra (Jordan) remain an enigmatic element of Near Eastern history. Most research has focused on the site’s architecture rather than the inhabitants living amongst the city’s spectacular structures. Excavations of 1st century B.C./A.D. tombs from Petra’s North Ridge in 2012 and 2014 recovered a sizeable sample (N=113) of Petra’s non-elite inhabitants. This project explores entheses to understand physical activity levels and patterns within this sample. Entheses are insertion sites where tendons and ligaments anchor to bone, providing stability and support for musculoskeletal movement. New methods for scoring entheseal changes have served to advance the application of this technique to understand ancient activity. The Coimbra method, which is largely based on clinical evidence of entheses, was used to document entheseal changes in this segment of Petra’s population. Samples from a Nabataean-Roman community in Syria, a 9th century Great Moravia village, 19th century non-industrialized Holland, and a 20th and 21st century U.S. sample served as comparisons for physical activity levels. Results found the Petra sample to have similar activity patterns as non-industrialized settled populations. These physical activity patterns offer a new perspective on the socioeconomic aspects of the non-elite Nabataeans of Petra.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage