Modeling Metabolism and Disease in Bioarcheology

Abstract

We examine two important measures that can be made in bioarcheology on the remains of human and vertebrate animals. These remains consist of bone, teeth, or hair; each shows growth increments and each can be assayed for isotope ratios and other chemicals in equal intervals along the direction of growth. In each case, the central data is a time series of measurements. The first important measures are spectral estimates in spectral analyses and linear system analyses; we emphasize calculation of periodicities and growth rates as well as the comparison of power in bands. A low frequency band relates to the autonomic nervous system (ANS) control of metabolism and thus provides information about the life history of the individual of archeological interest. Turning to nonlinear system analysis, we discuss the calculation of SM Pinus' approximate entropy (ApEn) for short or moderate length time series. Like the concept that regular heart R-R interval data may indicate lack of health, low values of ApEn may indicate disrupted metabolism in individuals of archeological interest and even that a tipping point in deteriorating metabolism may have been reached just before death. This adds to the list of causes of death that can be determined from minimal data.