Were late Gomphotheres (Plio-Pleistocene) of the Siwaliks at more Stress as Compared to early Gomphotheres (middle to late Miocene)?

Gomphotheres existed in the Siwaliks from the middle Miocene (14.2Ma) to the middle Pleistocene (0.8Ma) and became extinct later on. In this paper, we tried to discuss the reasons of such extinction of gomphotheres in the lower Pleistocene time span by considering Linear Enamel Hypoplasia (LEH) among 114 isolated tooth samples to assess whether ecological changes correlate with the stress factor in gomphotheres. For this purpose, the Siwalik gomphotheres were divided into two Groups viz. early gomphotheres (middle Miocene to late Miocene) and late gomphotheres (Pliocene to middle Pleistocene). We presented the hypothesis, that as the gomphotheres are characterized by the brachydonty and relied on browsing for their feeding while inhabiting the semi forest land setting thus, expected to have higher stress in Plio-Pleistocene time span as vegetational change around ~6 Ma may have exerted stress on late gomphotheres. The results for the occurrence of frequency of LEH indicated severe ecological stress in late gomphotheres (33%). The significant differences were found (P < 0.05) among the early gomphotheres and late gomphotheres which can be correlated to the vegetational change from C3 to C4, higher aridity indices and intensified seasonality after the late Miocene vegetational shift which may have resulted in substantial faunal turnover, extinction and speciation. We assume that such palaeoecological changes forced a competition with more pronounced grazers like of family Elephantidae and Bovidae resulting in extinction of gomphotheres during the late Pleistocene in the Siwaliks of Pakistan.

New and Emerging Prospects for the Paleopathological Study of Starvation

Starvation represents a significant contributor to morbidity and mortality, past and present, and is therefore of critical importance to the field of paleopathology. Scholars have previously argued that while critical to understanding past human health, starvation is often not directly observable in skeletal remains. But is this assessment still valid today? In re-evaluating this assessment, this paper discusses new developments in the analysis of (1) the “hunger osteopathies” (osteoporosis with some overlay of osteomalacia), (2) skeletal signs of arrested growth such as Harris lines and Linear Enamel Hypoplasia (LEH), and (3) carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of skeletal remains. Periods of starvation are known to cause these visible and chemical alterations within skeletal remains, but these phenomena are complex, multi-etiological, and approaches to evaluate them are often fraught with a lack of standardization and specificity. An interdisciplinary approach synthesizing multiple lines of osteological and dental evidence, borrowing anatomical and medical research, and implementing new advancements in computer modeling, imaging modalities, and chemical micro-sampling may theoretically aid in inferring starvation bioarchaeologically.