The frequency of appearance of transverse (Harris) lines in the tibia in relationship to age at death.
BACKGROUND
The investigations of Harris lines (HLs) carried out for almost 80 years now have contributed to the understanding of the essence of individual growth and development processes and have enriched the knowledge of the human organism's ontogenetic reaction to adverse environmental factors.


OBJECTIVE
An attempt was made to find a relationship between the influence of adverse living conditions (expressed with the presence of HLs) and an individual's age at death.


METHODS
The bone material (233 adult individuals; 120 male and 113 female skeletons) was collected at the medieval burial ground in Cedynia, Poland. Recommended methods were used to determine the individuals' sex and age.


RESULTS
A statistical relationship was found between the frequency of HLs and the length of the individuals' adult lives. The results obtained justify the conclusion that the individuals who lived a shorter life were exposed to greater pressure from unfavourable environmental conditions (measured with the absolute number of HLs) in the period of growth and development.


CONCLUSIONS
Therefore, one can presume that the individuals who died in the maturus age were more resistant to adverse living conditions or their reaction to those conditions was weaker and hence they lived longer.
Nowak
Oskar
O
University of Poznan, Institute of Anthropology, Fredry 10, 61-701 Poznan, Poland. oskarn@main.amu.edu.pl
Piontek
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods*; D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011044:Poland; D013977:Tibia / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development