ABSTRACT
It is a generally agreed upon axiom in osteology that bone is a ‘dynamic material that interacts with stresses placed on it by mechanical loading’ (Hamill and Knutzen 1995: 2). This dynamism causes both periosteal and endosteal surfaces of bones to remodel in response to environmental and mechanical stress (Ruff et al. 2006). In general, an understanding of activity and mobility patterns in past populations requires assessing not only the variation in rugosity observed at the location of muscle and tendon insertion or origin in the periosteum (entheses), but also cross-sectional size and shape at specific locations on the diaphysis.
