Abstract:

Any human body movement is dominated by the nervous system, which causes skeletal muscle contraction and drives the attached bones to entheseal changes. The attachment of these tendons or ligaments to the periosteum with blood supply or the surface of the bone cortex is called the attachment points of the tendon and ligament. Under the guidance of new archaeological theory, human osteoarchaeology focuses on rebuilding ancient people’s lifestyle and social behavior. Entheseal changes are the cumulative changes of long-term muscle use, which can reflect specific behavior patterns of individuals before their death. They are considered an essential index for restoring the intensity of activity or daily habitual behavior of ancient people. The Shuanghuaishu site is deemed the highest core settlement, with the nature of the capital city found in the Yellow River Basin. Studying the behavior patterns of the Shuanghuaishu people and the origin of Chinese civilization is of great significance. In this paper, the morphology of five fibrocartilaginous entheseal changes of scapular muscle, supraspinatus muscle and infraspinatus muscle, teres minor muscle, extensor common tendon and flexor common tendon of 70 individuals from the Shuanghuaishu site of Gongyi, Henan Province belong to the middle and late Yangshao culture was observed, and compared with Wanhua group in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The results show that the prevalence rate of the four entheses of women in the Shuanghuaishu site is higher than that of men, which indicates that women may undertake more daily work. Significant differences exist in the entheseal changes of extensor and flexor muscles between individuals over 30 years old and those under 30 years old in the site (p<0.05), and there may be differences in elbow behavior patterns. Compared with the Wanhua site, the prevalence rate of subscapular muscle and teres minor’s point is higher. The morphological changes of elbow entheseal changes in young individuals are rare, and some increase with age (p<0.05). The morphological changes of entheseal changes of the shoulders were more common (p<0.05). This difference may indicate that compared with the Wanhua group in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the upper limbs of the Shuanghuaishu population bear a heavier mechanical stress load, especially the shoulder joint activities. Since the morphological entheseal changes are easily influenced by many factors, the relationship between the morphological entheseal changes of upper limbs and their behavior patterns in ancient people still needs further discussion.

Key words: Shuanghuaishu, humerus, morphological changes, behavior pattern