著者

EUN JIN WOO PRANJALI WAGHMARE YONGJUN KIM NILESH JADHAV GO-UN JUNG WON JOON LEE YOGESH YADAV AVRADEEP MUNSHI MALAVIKA CHATTERJEE AMRITHAVALLI PANYAM JONG HA HONG CHANG SEOK OH DONG HOON SHIN VASANT SHINDE

出版者

The Anthropological Society of Nippon

雑誌

Anthropological Science (ISSN:09187960)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.126, no.2, pp.111-120, 2018 (Released:2018-08-31)

参考文献数

49

被引用文献数

3

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The Rakhigarhi site is the location of the ruins of an ancient megacity of the Harappan civilization and had not previously been investigated thoroughly. We tried to examine the physical and pathological traits of human skeletons (n = 37) from the cemetery at the site. In our study, a cranial index was calculated from one male skull (dolichocranic; index value = 65.78). The mean statures estimated by long bone length were 175.8 cm (male) and 166.1 cm (female). The indices of femoral diaphyseal shape were 79.8 (males) and 90.31 (females) for the platymeric index; and 113.78 (males) and 112.74 (female) for the pilasteric index. The dental health of the subjects appeared to be good as the overall prevalence of oral pathologies (caries and antemortem tooth loss) was generally low. Periosteal reactions were found in tibias and possible evidence of osteomyelitis was also observed in a femur. Some joint parts showed signs of osteoarthritis. Although various pathologies have been identified, we could not find any specific lesions suggestive of leprosy and tuberculosis in these skeletons. Although our study has added invaluable data to the existing information pool on the health and disease status of Harappan society, more accurate conjecture on the structure of Harrappan society based on bioarchaeological evidence will need additional research based on future excavations at Rakhigarhi cemetery.