High Impact Practices Student Showcase Spring 2026

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Course Code

ANT

Course Number

4591

Faculty/Instructor

Dr. Sarah Freidline

Faculty/Instructor Email

sarah.freidline@ucf.edu

About the Author

My name is Bonnie Radican, and I would like to thank Dr. Sarah Freidline, the course instructor, Dr. L. Williams for assistance with the Maya Archaeological Research collection (with permission of the Institute of Archaeology (NCIH), Belize), and Catherine Shipman, Tannistha Chakraborty, and Peter Mercier for their help. All human remains analyzed were treated in an ethical and respectful manner in compliance with standards of the AAA, AABA and SAA.

Abstract, Summary, or Creative Statement

Childhood skeletal growth is sensitive to environmental stress, and different limb segments may respond to developmental disruption unequally. This study explained whether lower limb bones showed greater growth deficits than upper limb bones in juvenile skeletal remains from the Kellis 2 cemetery at the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, a Roman period site (approximately AD 50-450) where nutritional stress and disease have been previously documented. The delta 1mean method developed by Goode et al., (1993) was applied to six long bones – humerus, radius, ulna, femur, tibia, and fibula – in a combines sample of 98 individuals drawn from original measurements and the dataset of Sandra Wheeler, using the combined-sex growth standards (Maresh, 1970; Wheeler (2009). All six bones showed negative mean delta 1mean values, indicating growth below expected standards. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed a statistically significant difference between upper and lower limb growth deficits, with lower limb bones showing greater deficits than upper limb bones by a mean of 0.054 log units (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, V = 3521, p < 0.001). Comparison with the Amarna South Tombs Cemetery (STC) indicated that Dakhleh Oasis juveniles experienced larger growth deficits across all bones and both limb segments (Shidner, 2018). These findings support the hypothesis that lower limb growth is more sensitive to environmental stress than upper limb growth and contribute to the growing bioarcheological literature on developmental plasticity and childhood health in ancient Egypt.

Keywords

bioarchaeology, paleoauxology, skeletal growth, developmental stress, delta 1mean, juvenile, Egypt, Dakhleh Oasis, limb proportions

Early-Life Stress and Skeletal Proportions in Egyptian Juveniles: A Comparative Analysis of Upper and Lower Limb Growth


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