Holt, Brigitte

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Associate Professor
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Holt
First Name
Brigitte
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Anthropology
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I am a biological anthropologist interested in human evolution in general, and in the ways humans adapt, biologically and culturally, to their environment. One of my research interests has been on the relationship between physical activity and postcranial skeletal robusticity as a means of inferring behavior in past populations. I was able to show, for instance, that in Upper Paleolithic populations from Europe, there is a marked decline in lower limb robusticity in the latter part of the Upper Paleolithic, after the Last Glacial Maximum (around 18,000 years ago). This confirms archeological evidence of decreased mobility during that period. An ongoing project (the European Project) focuses on the evolution of postcranial robusticity in Europe from Upper Paleolithic to the present, in an effort to answer questions such as: Why do Europeans have such high rates of osteoporosis and fractures? What role does decreased physical activity play in this? When did the major changes occur? What role did factors such as agriculture, social inequality, division of labor, mechanization and industrialization play? Another research interest centers around the origins of modern humans. Since 2002, I, along with colleagues from Duke University, University of Pisa (Italy) and Arizona State University, have been excavating the site of Riparo Bombrini (Liguria, Italy, a rockshelter that preserves Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) and Upper Paleolithic (Aurignacian) layers. The main of this project has been to clarify the transition between Neandertals and modern humans.
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2006 - 20085
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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolff? "Wolff is Law" and Bone Functional Adaptation
    (2006-01) Ruff, Christopher; Holt, Brigitte; Trinkaus, Erik
    "Wolff's law" is a concept that has sometimes been misrepresented, and frequently misunderstood, in the anthropological literature. Although it was originally formulated in a strict mathematical sense that has since been discredited, the more general concept of "bone functional adaptation" to mechanical loading ﴾a designation that should probably replace "Wolff's law"﴿ is supported by much experimental and observational data. Objections raised to earlier studies of bone functional adaptation have largely been addressed by more recent and better‐controlled studies. While the bone morphological response to mechanical strains is reduced in adults relative to juveniles, claims that adult morphology reflects only juvenile loadings are greatly exaggerated. Similarly, while there are important genetic influences on bone development and on the nature of bone's response to mechanical loading, variations in loadings themselves are equally if not more important in determining variations in morphology, especially in comparisons between closely related individuals or species. The correspondence between bone strain patterns and bone structure is variable, depending on skeletal location and the general mechanical environment ﴾e.g., distal vs. proximal limb elements, cursorial vs. noncursorial animals﴿, so that mechanical/behavioral inferences based on structure alone should be limited to corresponding skeletal regions and animals with similar basic mechanical designs. Within such comparisons, traditional geometric parameters ﴾such as second moments of area and section moduli﴿ still give the best available estimates of in vivo mechanical competence. Thus, when employed with appropriate caution, these features may be used to reconstruct mechanical loadings and behavioral differences within and between past populations.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Hunters of the Ice Age: The Biology of Upper Paleolithic People
    (2008-01) Holt, Brigitte M.; Formicola, Vincenzo
    The Upper Paleolithic represents both the phase during which anatomically modern humans appeared and the climax of hunter–gatherer cultures. Demographic expansion into new areas that took place during this period and the diffusion of burial practices resulted in an unprecedented number of well-preserved human remains. This skeletal record, dovetailed with archeological, environmental, and chronological contexts, allows testing of hypotheses regarding biological processes at the population level. In this article, we review key studies about the biology of Upper Paleolithic populations based primarily on European samples, but integrating information from other areas of the Old World whenever possible. Data about cranial morphology, skeletal robusticity, stature, body proportions, health status, diet, physical activity, and genetics are evaluated in Late Pleistocene climatic and cultural contexts. Various lines of evidence delineate the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) as a critical phase in the biological and cultural evolution of Upper Paleolithic populations. The LGM, a long phase of climatic deterioration culminating around 20,000 BP, had a profound impact on the environment, lifestyle, and behavior of human groups. Some of these effects are recorded in aspects of skeletal biology of these populations. Groups living before and after the LGM, Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) and Late Upper Paleolithic (LUP), respectively, differ significantly in craniofacial dimensions, stature, robusticity, and body proportions. While paleopathological and stable isotope data suggest good health status throughout the Upper Paleolithic, some stress indicators point to a slight decline in quality of life in LUP populations. The intriguing and unexpected incidence of individuals affected by congenital disorders probably indicates selective burial practices for these abnormal individuals. While some of the changes observed can be explained through models of biocultural or environmental adaptation (e.g., decreased lower limb robusticity following decreased mobility; changes in body proportions along with climatic change), others are more difficult to explain. For instance, craniodental and upper limb robusticity show complex evolutionary patterns that do not always correspond to expectations. In addition, the marked decline in stature and the mosaic nature of change in body proportions still await clarifications. These issues, as well as systematic analysis of specific pathologies and possible relationships between genetic lineages, population movements and cultural complexes, should be among the goals of future research.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Resource Availability and Stature Decrease in Upper Palaeolithic Europe
    (2007-01) Formicola, Vincenzo; Holt, Brigitte M.
    Th e stature of the fi rst anatomically modern Europeans decreases dramatically following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the culminating point, around 20.000 BP, of a period of climatic deterioration that had profound eff ects on demographic, biological and economic aspects of Upper Palaeolithic populations. Declines in nutritional and life conditions are commonly assumed to play a major role in stature reduction. Th e aim of this paper is to test this hypothesis using skeletal indicators of biological and functional stress in samples from the early and late phases of Upper Paleolithic (respectively EUP and LUP), and integrating the results with the relevant archeological and paleoecological information. Analysis of biological stress markers indicates that after the LGM only a minor decline occurred in health conditions. Th is and the absence of marked or frequent growth disruptions suggests that nutritional defi ciencies alone do not explain the observed trend. Biomechanical data, however, show an increase in upper limb robusticity, indicating that LUP populations were devoting more eff ort to subsistence activities. Th ose results dovetail with archaeological information pointing to increased competition for access to resources by growing populations living in a less productive environment. Based on that, we suggest that a microevolutionary adaptive process, involving reduction in body size to reduce energy requirements and hence nutritional demands, took place in the moderately adverse conditions following the LGM.
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    Biomechanical approach to the reconstruction of activity patterns in Neolithic western Liguria, Italy
    (2006-01) Marchi, D; Sparacello, VS; Holt, Brigitte M.; Formicola, Vincenzo
    This paper investigates the changes in upper and lower limb robusticity and activity patterns that accompanied the transition to a Neolithic subsistence in western Liguria (Italy). Diaphyseal robusticity measures were obtained from cross-sectional geometric properties of the humerus and femur in a sample of 16 individuals (eight males and eight females) dated to about 6,000-5,500 BP. Comparisons with European Late Upper Paleolithics (LUP) indicate increased humeral robusticity in Neolithic Ligurian (NEOL) males, but not in females, with a significant reduction in right-left differences in both sexes. Sexual dimorphism in robusticity increases in upper and lower limb bones. Regarding the femur, while all female indicators of bending strength decrease steadily through time, values for NEOL males approach those of LUP. This suggests high, and unexpected, levels of mechanical stress for NEOL males, probably reflecting the effects of the mountainous terrain on lower limb remodeling. Comparisons between NEOL males and a small sample of LUP hunter-gatherers from the same area support this interpretation. In conclusion, cross-sectional geometry data indicate that the transition to Neolithic economies in western Liguria did not reduce functional requirements in males, and suggest a marked sexual division of labor involving a more symmetrical use of the upper limb, and different male-female levels of locomotory stress. When articulated with archaeological, faunal, paleopathological, and ethnographic evidence, these results support the hypothesis of repetitive, bimanual use of axes tied to pastoral activities in males, and of more sedentary tasks linked to agriculture in females.
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    Body Size, Body Proportions, and Mobility in the Tyrolean "Iceman"
    (2006-01) Ruff, Christopher; Holt, Brigitte M.; Sladek, V; Berner, M; Murphy, WA; zur Nedden, D; Seidler, H; Recheis, W
    Body mass and structural properties of the femoral and tibial midshafts of the “Iceman,” a late Neolithic (5200 BP) mummy found in the Tyrolean Alps, are determined from computed tomographic scans of his body, and compared with those of a sample of 139 males spanning the European early Upper Paleolithic through the Bronze Age. Two methods, based on femoral head breadth and estimated stature/bi-iliac (pelvic) breath, yield identical body-mass estimates of 61 kg for the Iceman. In combination with his estimated stature of 158 cm, this indicates a short but relatively wide or stocky body compared to our total sample. His femur is about average in strength compared to our late Neolithic (Eneolithic) males, but his tibia is well above average. His femur also shows adaptations for his relatively broad body (mediolateral strengthening), while his tibia shows adaptations for high mobility over rough terrain (anteroposterior strengthening). In many respects, his tibia more closely resembles those of European Mesolithic rather than Neolithic males, which may reflect a more mobile lifestyle than was characteristic of most Neolithic males, perhaps related to a pastoral subsistence strategy. There are indications that mobility in general declined between the European Mesolithic and late Neolithic, and that body size and shape may have become more variable throughout the continent following the Upper Paleolithic.