New article published in AJPA

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In a recently published article in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (click here to download the article), Marklein and colleagues proposed a new model for assessing biological health in archaeological samples, the skeletal frailty index (SFI).

This model defines frailty within the context of human biology, as cumulative wear and tear to the soma, and as such is a more robust way for us to study health in the past. Utilizing 13 biomarkers from the palaeopathological suite, the SFI was applied to monastic and nonmonastic samples from Medieval London to determine whether lifestyle significantly explained frailty distributions, and the results show higher lifetime morbidity among monastic groups. The findings complement previous studies on the same London populations, wherein lower risks of mortality and longer lifespans were observed for monastic populations. Ultimately, this study demonstrated the SFI’s utility in the study of past human populations, through its application, applicability, and its potential usefulness for assessing changes in the health of individuals over time and across specific geographies.

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Kathryn Marklein

Department of Anthropology

The Ohio State University

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