X-ray radiography in assessment of physiological stress and impacts on children's growth processes (the case study of Muscovites of the 14th-18th centuries)

This paper aims to study relationship of body size of adult population (bothmale and female) and the so called growth arrest lines (Harris lines) present on the X-raypictures of tibia. X-ray pictures of 37 adult males in the age group of 20-50 years, 52 adultfemales without signs of postdefinitive changes as well as bone remains of a child referredto the infantilis age group (4-5 years), remains of five children from the infantilis II group(6-10 years), remains of an 18 year old young man and an 18 year old girl were analyzed.These human fossil remnants were collected during excavations of a 16th-18th centuryMoscow necropolis near the John the Baptist Church in the Novodevichya sloboda (ledby L. A. Belyaev). The incidence of Harris lines among the males and among the femaleswas 62,16 % and 40,38 %, respectively. All males had multiple Harris lines; more than39 percent of the males who had experienced stresses had more than ten growth arrestlines. The females exhibited lower frequency of negative episodes (74,1 % and 9,4 %,respectively). No straightforward link between the number of growth arrest lines and thebody size of the adults was established. It may suggest strong compensatory mechanismin the period of juvenile growth spurt and relatively good living conditions of juvenilesand young men and women.