The influence of life history and sexual dimorphism on entheseal changes in modern humans and African great apes.

ABSTRACT: Entheseal changes have been widely studied with regard to their correlation to biomechanical stress and their usefulness for biocultural reconstructions. However, anthropological and medical studies have demonstrated the marked influence of both age and sex on the development of these features. Studies of entheseal changes are mostly aimed in testing functional hypotheses and are mostly focused on modern humans, with few data available for non-human primates. The lack of comparative studies on the effect of age and sex on entheseal changes represent a gap in our understanding of the evolutionary basis of both development and degeneration of the human musculoskeletal system. The aim of the present work is to compare age trajectories and patterns of sexual dimorphism in entheseal changes bet

SUBMITTER: Milella M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4175998 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature