Vladimír Sládek

Objectives: Entheses are commonly used to infer past activity patterns, yet their interpretation is limited by the combined effects of mechanical loading and intrinsic biological factors. This study addresses this issue by integrating an Early Medieval population from Pohansko (Czechia; 9th–10th centuries CE) with a Spanish modern professional athlete reference sample characterised by well‐defined activity regimes. Materials and Methods: Lower limb entheseal areas of the gluteus medius , gluteus maximus , vasti , gastrocnemius , and soleus muscles were quantified in the archaeological individuals and in Modern Athletes (sprinters, endurance runners, climbers) using 3D modeling and the VERA protocol. Non‐adjusted and size‐adjusted data were analysed using univariate and multivariate approaches. Results: Modern Athletes exhibit significantly larger entheseal areas than Pohansko individuals for all muscles except the soleus , supporting the relationship between cumulative mechanical loading and entheseal development. Multivariate analyses differentiate both samples and distinguish locomotor strategies among athletes, with the soleus enthesis contributing most strongly to functional variation. Sexual dimorphism is consistent and male‐biased in athletes but variable and enthesis‐specific in the Pohansko sample. Discussion: Our results highlight the potential and limitations of entheseal areas for reconstructing behavioral and functional variation in past populations. In Modern Athletes, only the soleus enthesis distinguished climbers from runners, regardless of sex, but not sprinters from endurance runners. In Pohansko, it displayed marked female–male differences, consistent with a sex‐based division of labour. These findings suggest that lower limb entheses differ in their sensitivity to mechanical loading, with the soleus primarily reflecting locomotor loading rather than sex differences.

Age-related deterioration in bone strength among Western humans has been linked with sedentary lifestyles, but the effect remains debatable. We evaluated aging of diaphyseal strength and cortical bone loss in a European Holocene sample of 1881 adult humeri, femora, and tibiae. Diaphyseal aging did not differ between Early and Late Holocene adults, despite their differences in physical activity. Adult diaphyseal aging was accompanied by the disproportionate rate between a faster increase in the medullary area and an absent or marginal increase in the total area. This indicates that subperiosteal apposition did not fully biomechanically compensate for the medullary expansion. Diaphyseal strength remained unchanged through age in female femora and male diaphyses but declined in female humeri and tibiae. We highlight the importance of postnatal growth to compensate for adult medullary expansion. Diaphyseal aging is critical for the upper limbs, as humeri are more sensitive to aging than femora and tibiae.

In the ninth century AD, Moravia (now in Czechia) was the heartland of the first Slavic state-like formation in Central Europe. Traditionally, the archaeology of the region has been interpreted via historical records only; the FORMOR project aims to broaden this view by using archaeometry, archaeogenetics, bioarchaeology and introducing new theoretical approaches.

Objectives: Muscle activity during crouched walking has been previously studied in the context of the evolution of hominin bipedalism and human movement disorders. However, crouched walking could also be used in approach hunting where postural height (actual height of the body from the ground to the top of the head during locomotion) is the limiting factor. Here, we aim to analyze the relationship between relative postural height (%stature), kinematics, and muscle activity during crouched walking.Materials and Methods: Adult males (n = 19) walked with extended limbs and at three degrees of crouch while their 3D motion capture kinematics and lower limb muscle electromyography were recorded. We measured activation of tibialis anterior, soleus, gastrocnemius medialis, gastrocnemius lateralis, vastus lateralis, rectus femoris, biceps femoris, and gluteus maximus. We analyzed the effects of postural height on kinematics and muscle activation using linear mixed effects model.Results: Flexion angles, individual muscle activation (except for medial gastrocnemius), and total muscle activation were negatively related to relative postural height, that is, were greater at more crouched postures. Relative postural height had a stronger effect on the activation of the thigh and gluteal muscles compared to shank muscles.Discussion: General increase in lower limb muscle activation at lower postural heights suggests a negative relationship between relative postural height and fatigue, and may indicate a possible mechanism by which short stature could benefit the hunter in approach hunting. Greater activation of thigh and gluteal muscles relative to shank muscles may help to identify crouched walking in past human populations.

Die Existenz Großmährens wird in die Zeit vom 9. bis zur 1. Hälfte des 10. Jahrhunderts datiert. Es erstreckte sich zwischen dem karolingischen Westen und dem slawischen „Außeneuropa“ und galt als erstes Staatsgebilde der Slawen, das die militär-aristokratische Struktur Westeuropas nachahmte. Neu entdeckte separate Bestattungen mit Waffen und Sporen lassen jedoch Zweifel an dieser Deutung aufkommen. Der besondere Bestattungsritus der hier vorgelegten Bestattungen weist zwar Ähnlichkeiten mit den separaten Friedhöfen des fränkischen grundherrschaftlichen Adels oder der freien Bauernkrieger auf, die archäologischen und bioarchäologischen Analysen erlauben in Mähren jedoch Rückschlüsse auf ein unterschiedliches soziales Phänomen, das zur Erschließung der historischen und kulturellen Spezifika dieses Raums als Schnittstelle zwischen Ost und West beitragen könnte.

Objectives: This article summarized errors obtained by diverse techniques used for the derivation of cross‐sectional contours in nonadult humeri and tibiae.Materials and Methods: We analyzed cross‐sectional contours in a total sample of 62 humeral and 75 tibial diaphyses in the age between birth and 12 years divided into three age groups. Long bone 35% (humeri) and midshaft (tibiae) cross‐sections were taken on micro‐CT images and analyzed by EPJMacro in FIJI. Properties were extracted from contours derived by manual, automatic, spline, and ellipse techniques. Agreement between techniques was assessed using manually extracted properties such as the true value using percent prediction error (%PE), reduced major axis regression, and ±95% limits of agreement.Results: The lowest measurement errors were obtained for total areas, moderate errors for cortical areas and section moduli, and the highest errors for medullary areas for both bones. Derivation of humeral nonadult cross‐sectional properties is less sensitive to the technique used for derivation of periosteal and endosteal contours, reaching mean %PEs below 5%. In contrast, tibial nonadult cross‐sectional properties are more sensitive to the technique used and exceed 5% for some combinations.Discussion: Automatic techniques provide reasonably high agreement with manually extracted contours for nonadult humeri but low agreement for tibiae. Semiautomatic approaches—spline and ellipse techniques—may reduce the error for all studied properties in tibiae, especially when combined with manually traced periosteal contours. The positive effect of the semiautomatic technique on measurement error is low for humeri.

Derivation of periosteal and endosteal contours taken from transversal long bone cross‐sections limits the accuracy of calculated biomechanical properties. Although several techniques are available for deriving both contours, the effect of these techniques on accuracy of calculated cross‐sectional properties in non‐adults is unknown. We examine a sample of 86 non‐adult femora from birth to 12 years of age to estimate the effect of error in deriving periosteal and endosteal contours on cross‐sectional properties. Midshaft cross‐sections were taken from microCTscans and contours were derived using manual, fully automatic, spline, and ellipse techniques. Agreement between techniques was assessed against manually traced periosteal and endosteal contours using percent prediction error (%PE), reduced major axis analysis, and limits of agreement. The %PEs were highest in the medullary area and lowest in the total area. Mean %PEs were sufficiently below the 5% level of acceptable error, except for medullary areas, but individual values can greatly exceed this 5% boundary given the high standard deviation of %PEmeans and wide minimum–maximum range of %PEs. Automatic processing produces greater errors than does combination with manual, spline, and ellipse processing. Although periosteal contour is estimated with stronger agreement compared with endosteal contour, error in deriving periosteal contour has a substantially greater effect on calculated section moduli than does error in deriving endosteal contours. We observed no size effect on the resulting bias. Nevertheless, cross‐sectional properties in a younger age category may be estimated with greater error compared with in an older age category. We conclude that non‐adult midshaft cross‐sectional properties can be derived from microCTscans of femoral diaphyses with mean error of < 5% and that derivation of endosteal contour can be simplified by the ellipse technique because fully automatic derivation of endosteal contour may increase the resulting error, especially in small samples.