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1. The Long and Short of It: Height
variance and enamel hypoplasias
Lucy Donaldson
3rd Year Biological
Anthropology Bsc at UKC

2. Growth
Tanner J., (1962) Growth at Adolescence. (2nd ed) Blackwell Scientific Publishers:
Oxford,

3. Height determinants – Male and
Female differences
• Whilst there seems to be evidence for greater male
sensitivity pre-natal, post-natal results are
ambiguous at best with many studies finding
contradictory results. This may be, in part, due to
preferential treatment of boys to girls however it is
not sufficient to explain all of the contradictory data
and further study is necessary. (Stinson, 1985)

4. Height determinants – Important
Factors
• Genetics appears to be the primary factor in
height determination however environmental
influence cannot be denied. (Jelenkovic, 2011)
• Malnutrition and disease can have a huge
impact on height, particularly deficiencies of
animal protein, Vitamin A and β-carotene
(Graham, 1981)
• Steckle (1987) – Catch-up growth of American
slaves

5. Tooth Development

6. Enamel Hypoplasias
Enamel hypoplasias represent growth disruptions thought to occur most commonly as
a result of malnutrition or illness that occurs whilst the crowns are developing. Any
systemic disruption can affect the ameloblasts laying down enamel and thus create a
depression on the tooth due to thinner enamel. (Goodman, 1990).
• Reid, D., and Dean, M. (2006).

7. Hypotheses
• Enamel hypoplasias will be associated with an
effect on height
• Males and Females will differ in the extent to
which this effect occurs

8. Sample Requirements
• To be appropriate for this study the skeletal
remains examined were only included in the
analysis if:
• It could be reliably determined to be adult
• It had at least one complete long bone from which
stature could be determined
• At least one tooth remained which displayed no signs of
excessive wear which would obscure age-
determination of hypoplasias if present.

9. St. Gregory’s Cemetery
• Excavation of the remains was undertaken
by Canterbury Archaeological Trust and
roughly 1300 individuals were excavated
during this dig which lasted from 1988 to
1989.
• St. Gregory’s Priory and Cemetery was
active during the medieval period. Only
specimens from the pauper cemetery were
examined in this study.

10. Results – Male and Female differences
Levene’s Test for t-test for Equality of Means
Equality for Variance
F Sig. t d.f. Sig (2-
tailed)
Stature
Estimation –
Equal 3.82 0.057 6.072 41 0
variances
assumed
Based on the levene’s test, equal variance can be assumed and
the Significance value (2 tailed) demonstrates there is a
difference in height between men and women. As a result of
this, further analysis is split into male and female categories.

11. Results
Male Female
Stature (cm) 167.32 156.23
Age (Years) 40.05 39.42
Number of LEH’s 2.95 2.29
Youngest LEH (Years) 1.72 2.15
Oldest LEH (Years) 3.221 3.163
Averages of the various variables were calculated to give an overview of
the data spread for males and females.

12. Results - Females
This graph demonstrates the correlative relationship
between stature and the oldest occurring LEH (Years) in
females.
Women who experienced comparatively younger
disruptions were taller than those who experienced
disruptions later in their life.
(N=24, r=-0.014, Sig 2-tailed=0.02, p=0.05)

13. Results - Male
This graph shows the correlative relationship between
stature and the youngest occurring LEH (years) in males.
The older they were when they experienced their first
disruption, the taller they became as an adult.
(r=0.10, N=19, Sig 2-tailed=0.68, p=0.05)

14. Results – Male cont.
This graph shows the correlative relationship between
stature and the overall number of LEH’s in males.
The tallest men experienced the highest number of LEH’s
during childhood.
(r=0.28, N=19, Sig 2-tailed= 0.26, p=0.05)

15. Discussion and Conclusions
• Linear enamel hypoplasias do appear to have
some statistically significant relationships with
adult stature
• These could be either from illness or
malnutrition
• Disruption to early growth seem to impact, in
a small way, the maximal adult height
achievable

16. Acknowledgments
All remains examined are curated by the
Biological Anthropology lab at the University
of Kent and it is with their permission that
access to this material was possible.

17. References
• Stinson, S. (1985), Sex differences in environmental sensitivity during growth and
development. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 28: 123–147.
• Jelenkovic, A., Ortega-Alonso, A., Rose, R. J., Kaprio, J., Rebato, E. and
Silventoinen, K. (2011), Genetic and environmental influences on growth from late
childhood to adulthood: A longitudinal study of two Finnish twin cohorts.
American Journal of Human Biology, 23: 764–773.
• Graham, G., and Adrianzen, B. (1972). Late catch-up growth after severe infantile
malnutrition. The Johns Hopkins Medical Journal. 131 (3): 204.211.
• Steckel, R., 1987. Growth depression and recovery: the remarkable case of
American slaves. Annals Of Human Biology. 14 (2): 111-132
• Goodman, A. H. & Rose, J. C., (1990), Assessment of systemic physiological
perturbations from dental enamel hypoplasias and associated histological
structures, Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, 33 p.59-110
• Reid, D., and Dean, M. 2006. Variation in modern human enamel formation times.
Journal of Human Evolution. 50 (3): 329-346.