Re: Archaeology unearths gout in early Pacific people

Its no wonder they had signs of gout. All those shell fish!!!
Speaking from experience gout is excruciatingly painful, and a disease
in which you get not one onze of sympathy of understanding.
There you are walking around with a stick to walk whils all around you
people think it is funny and accuse you of drinking too much. Alcohol
is NOT the cause of gout BTW. Whilst they are 'aving a laff, the
slighest movement of the joints affected will cause the crystals
embedded at the ends of your joints to scrap the cartilage on the
other side.
I've had it in my big toe (yeah funny eh?) and the pain is akin to
haing your toe ripped off with a blunt axe and the end of the joint
being scraped with course sandpaper.

Gout is casued by eating large amounts of protien. In the absence of
sufficient carbohydrates the protien is used for glucose to work
muscles. Extracting carhohydrate from protien releases nitrogen in the
form of urea and uric acid. In excessive quantities this crystalises
in the joints at the extremities (most often the big toe). The
crystals can form in muscle tissue but are most often found inhabiting
the synovial fluid between layers of cartilage. The scratches the
crystals make provide new loci for newcrytals to form making the
disease progressive with many case where the crystal can find their
way out throught he skin.


On Nov 25, 11:43 am, Jack Linthicum <jacklinthi...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Another small clue linking the Pacific peoples with Taiwan, if only
because of a shared sore toe.
Photos at cite.

Ancient voyagers may have carried gout gene across Pacific

Update - The Lapita People

Working with archaeologists from Durham University and the Australian
National University, Dr Hallie Buckley and a team of scientists have
analysed archaeological skeletons to characterise the migrations of
the first Pacific Islanders.

The earliest ancient cemetery yet found in the Pacific Islands -
between 3200 and 3000 years old - was discovered in late 2003 at
Teouma, on Efate Island in Vanuatu. The excavations, co-directed by
Professor Matthew Spriggs and Dr Stuart Bedford of Australian National
University (ANU) and Ralph Regenvanu from the National Museum of
Vanuatu uncovered almost fifty adult burials, more than doubling the
number of skeletal remains of the 'Lapita people' from anywhere around
the Pacific.

In the October issue of American Antiquity, a paper co-authored by Dr
Alex Bentley of the Anthropology Department at Durham and Dr Hallie
Buckley, with ANU and Durham colleagues, the authors reported their
measurements of chemical isotopes in tooth enamel from seventeen of
the excavated skeletons. This research was funded by Dr Buckley's
Marsden Fast-start grant and a University of Otago Research Grant.

The analysis quickly revealed two distinct groups; a majority whose
isotope signatures fit a diet of local plants and seafood, and then
four standouts with a coastal, but still terrestrial diet. Three of
these four were buried in a distinctive position, with the head to the
south, and one was a man buried with three heads on his chest. This
chemical data indicates that the four individuals spent their
childhood somewhere other than Teouma and then 'migrated' into the
community sometime, as adults. The chemically homogenous group, based
on their tooth enamel, were most likely locals of Teouma and spent
their childhood in this community.

Strontium isotopes, which reflect a geological signature, matched
Vanuatu locals, but the four immigrants had signatures like any
coastal location in the Pacific. Carbon isotopes confirmed the
largely land-based diet, and significant levels of barium helped to
rule out the local coral reef platforms, where barium is nearly
absent.

The landmark discovery has revealed a richness of social complexity in
early Lapita communities from direct evidence from the people
themselves which could previously only be extrapolated from material
culture such as exchange of obsidian. This clearly indicates that the
early Lapita populations of the Pacific Ocean were not isolated after
initial colonization, but were dynamic and probably continually
receiving new people, with their accompanying genetic, cultural and
pathogenic input into the communities.

The October issue of Current Anthropology also contains a research
report authored by Dr Buckley on the presence of an erosive
anthropathy in the joints of a number of the Teouma males. Dr Buckley
argues that the pattern of lesions in these 3000 year old skeletons is
most likely the result of gouty arthritis. This surprising finding
suggests a very early antiquity of gout in the Pacific Islands and may
help to explain the unusually high incidence of hyperuricaemia and
gout in many modern Pacific Island populations, including New Zealand
maori.

To read more about Dr Buckley's research, please click here .

Image

Image

Main picture: This figure is of Burial 10, a multiple burial
consisting of an old man with three crania and a mandible placed on
his chest. All of the crania were isotopically 'local' to Teouma,
while the teeth of the old man suggest he spent his childhood
somewhere else.

Picture 2: A diagram of the pattern of erosive lesions in Burial 4, a
middle aged male from Teouma.

Picture 3: A radiograph of some of his toe bones showing changes
typical of gout.
Departmental Seminar
Tuesday 4 December 2007
Time: 1-2pm
Venue: Sayers Common Room, Ground Floor, Sayers Building

Associate Professor John Miller, Victoria University, Wellington
"Development of an anticancer drug, peloruside A"

http://anatomy.otago.ac.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=...

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Archaeology unearths gout in early Pacific people
    ... Ancient voyagers may have carried gout gene across Pacific ... Teouma, ... Strontium isotopes, which reflect a geological signature, matched ... Vanuatu locals, but the four immigrants had signatures like any ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Archaeology unearths gout in early Pacific people
    ... Ancient voyagers may have carried gout gene across Pacific ... Teouma, ... Strontium isotopes, which reflect a geological signature, matched ... Vanuatu locals, but the four immigrants had signatures like any ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Archaeology unearths gout in early Pacific people
    ... Ancient voyagers may have carried gout gene across Pacific ... Update - The Lapita People ... Teouma, ... Vanuatu locals, but the four immigrants had signatures like any ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Archaeology unearths gout in early Pacific people
    ... Speaking from experience gout is excruciatingly painful, ... Teouma, ... Vanuatu locals, but the four immigrants had signatures like any ... apparently not from Taiwan to the Pacific islanders but somewhat the ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Archaeology unearths gout in early Pacific people
    ... Speaking from experience gout is excruciatingly painful, ... Teouma, ... Vanuatu locals, but the four immigrants had signatures like any ... apparently not from Taiwan to the Pacific islanders but somewhat the ...
    (sci.archaeology)