Abstract
Objective: Scurvy in non-adults was assessed at the Pre-Neolithic site of Con Co Ngua and the Neolithic site of Man Bac in northern Vietnam to investigate nutritional stress during the agricultural transition in Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA).
Materials: 104 human skeletons under the age of 20 years old were assessed.
Methods: Lesions were recorded macroscopically and radiographically. Differential diagnosis using prior established paleopathological diagnostic criteria for scurvy was conducted.
Results: There was no clear evidence for scurvy at Con Co Ngua and a high burden of scurvy was present at Man Bac (>79% diagnosed with probable scurvy). Scurvy levels were high across all non-adult ages at Man Bac indicating significant burden throughout childhood and adolescence.
Conclusions: No scurvy at Con Co Ngua is consistent with widely available food sources at the peak of the Holocene Thermal Maximum. High levels of scurvy at Man Bac corresponds with decreased dietary diversity, high pathogen load, and increased population stress with the transition to agriculture around the time of the 4.2ka desertification event.
Significance: This is the first systemic population-level non-adult investigation of specific nutritional disease in MSEA and demonstrates an increase in nutritional stress during the Neolithic transition in northern Vietnam.
Limitations: Subperiosteal new bone deposits can be due to normal growth in infants and young children, therefore, identification of scurvy in children under the age of 4 years needs to be considered critically.
Suggestions for further research: Further work in diagnosing specific nutritional disease in other non-adult cohorts throughout MSEA is required.
Materials: 104 human skeletons under the age of 20 years old were assessed.
Methods: Lesions were recorded macroscopically and radiographically. Differential diagnosis using prior established paleopathological diagnostic criteria for scurvy was conducted.
Results: There was no clear evidence for scurvy at Con Co Ngua and a high burden of scurvy was present at Man Bac (>79% diagnosed with probable scurvy). Scurvy levels were high across all non-adult ages at Man Bac indicating significant burden throughout childhood and adolescence.
Conclusions: No scurvy at Con Co Ngua is consistent with widely available food sources at the peak of the Holocene Thermal Maximum. High levels of scurvy at Man Bac corresponds with decreased dietary diversity, high pathogen load, and increased population stress with the transition to agriculture around the time of the 4.2ka desertification event.
Significance: This is the first systemic population-level non-adult investigation of specific nutritional disease in MSEA and demonstrates an increase in nutritional stress during the Neolithic transition in northern Vietnam.
Limitations: Subperiosteal new bone deposits can be due to normal growth in infants and young children, therefore, identification of scurvy in children under the age of 4 years needs to be considered critically.
Suggestions for further research: Further work in diagnosing specific nutritional disease in other non-adult cohorts throughout MSEA is required.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 715-732 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | American Journal of Biological Anthropology |
| Volume | 180 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 28 Jan 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2023 |
Bibliographical note
AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank Dr Ngo Anh Son, Dr Bui Van Khanh, and Ms Nellissa Ling for their assistance with the radiographs, and Dr Anne Marie Snoddy for discussions on the diagnosis of scurvy and comments on the manuscript. We would also like to thank Dr Clare McFadden for assistance on an earlier version of the manuscript. This work was supported by Australian Research Council (DP110101097, FT120100299); National Geographic Early Career Grant (EC-54332R-18); Royal Society of New Zealand Skinner Fund Grant; and a University of Otago Doctoral Scholarship. Open access publishing facilitated by The University of Sydney, as part of the Wiley - The University of Sydney agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.
Data Availability Statement
Data is provided in the supplementary material.Keywords
- health
- agriculture
- nutritional disease
- MSEA
- diet
- Neolithic
Access to Document
- Vlok_etal_AJPA_Scurvy_in_the_VOR
© 2023 The Authors. American Journal of Biological Anthropology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.