Long bone growth velocity in the Libben population

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Abstract
Growth‐attained curves have shown only limited effectiveness in studies of long bone growth in archaeological populations. As an alternative, the length of long bone diaphyses in children aged 0 to 12 years from the Libben skeletal collection were first normalized by average adult long bone length, and derivatives of fitted curves were then used to determine age‐specific growth velocity. The sample was compared to healthy Euroamerican children from Denver, Colorado (Maresh: American Journal of Diseases of Children 89:725–742, 1955). Results indicate almost identical patterns of growth in the two populations with one exception: the Libben sample shows significantly diminished velocity during the first three years of life. This period of depressed growth coincides with high levels of infectious disease.

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