MicroCT, Maternal Health, and Stress at the Beginning of Life

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Adventures in Spatial Archaeometry: A Survey of Recent High-Resolution Survey and Measurement Applications" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In Winona LaDuke’s “All Our Relations,” the Mohawk midwife and environmental activist Katsi Cook declares that women are the first environment. Fetal growth and development correlate with the condition of that first environment. An infant skeleton with identifiable indicators of stress may hint to differential access to prenatal nutrition, maternal health, or other factors impacting pregnancy outcomes. However, bioarchaeologists have often avoided pathological studies of perinatal remains because the rapid new bone growth that typically occurs during this period is virtually indistinguishable from structures indicative of prolonged exposure to environmental stressors. MicroCT is a powerful nondestructive tool with the potential to distinguish between these osteological microstructures in the developing skeleton. This paper reviews recent studies that implemented MicroCT to investigate the microstructures of perinatal bone and considers factors that influence patterns of bone formation and growth in utero. Through MicroCT investigations of early life, we may also gain contextual insight on pregnancy in the past, and the lives of the women who experienced it.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Adventures in Spatial Archaeometry: A Survey of Recent High-Resolution Survey and Measurement Applications   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36077.0