From health to civilization stress? in search for traces of a health transition during the Early Neolithic in Europe

Abstract

Under the assumption that the health status of a population is closely connected to its living conditions (Steckel and Rose 2002; Cohen and Armelagos 1984) the aim of this study is to track changes in signs of pathology during the transition period from foraging to farming societies in Europe. The NDT is expected to be related to a major shift in health parameters from Mesolithic to Early Neolithic populations. This hypothesis is followed by studying European LBK skeletal populations and by comparing their health status to earlier Mesolithic as well as to Late Neolithic samples, roughly following the site list composed by Bocquet-Appel (2002). A selection of skeletal populations was examined depending on the availability of data relevant to health. A database was built up including around 600 skeletons. The major limitations were given by the facts that (1) skeletal indicators connected to health factors were only available for a smaller part of the relevant skeletal samples, that (2) frequencies of pathological signs could not be obtained due to incomplete individual data published and that (3) coding systems differed significantly from each other. Representativeness for Mesolithic or LBK populations cannot be assured as the database is characterised by a few larger samples who lived under locally specific conditions. As a consequence, the data could not be broken down to a comparison of males and females. With these limiting factors in mind selected health parameters are collected following the Global History of Health Project database. In most studies, however, only few of these health parameters were included with a varying selection of indicators. This is the reason why this study is limited to a comparison of a few health indicators which show a clear tendency of health decline during the transition phase. The general health index, which from the Western Hemisphere already proved to be a significant indicator for the health status in past populations (Steckel and Rose 2002; Steckel et al. 2002), could not be applied to the actual database. Compared to the long transition phase of experience in the Near East, European populations seized the new way of life quickly. They might have faced severe problems in coping with the new set of pathogens, changing diet and variable situation of available resources. This might contribute to an explanation complex of the significant health decline in the European Early Neolithic skeletal material. These preliminary results should be supported by a systematically collected database to be constructed in the next future by going back to the skeletons rather than relying on data from the literature. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008.