The occurrence of enamel hypoplasia, porotic hyperostosis and cribra orbitalia in three prehistoric skeletal assemblages from Indonesia

Sa？etak Enamel hypoplasia (EH), porotic hyperostotsis (PH) and cribra orbitalia (CO) have frequently been used to indicate the presence non-specific stress during child-growth periods. They are routinely assessed to investigate health along with patterns of morbidity and mortality of past populations. This study aims use macroscopic analyses to describe and analyse the presence of EH, PH and CO in three prehistoric populations that lived in different environments - coastal and mountainous. For this study, we analysed human skeletons from Melolo, Lewoleba and Liang Bua- three sites situated in Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia. The first two sites, Melolo, Sumba Island, and Lewoleba, are coastal sites whereas Liang Bua is located on a mountainous range in Flores. Excavations in Melolo, East Sumba, conducted in the 1930s, discovered 19 human skeletons buried in urns. Three individuals from the Melolo skeletal sample displayed EH (16%), 21% individuals were recorded to possess CO and 26% experienced PH. Excavation of the Lewoleba site, Lembata Island, were conducted in 1961 and yielded 5 human skeletons. No EH was observed in the Lewoleba sample but 40% displayed PH and CO was not found in the Lewoleba samples. The excavation of Neolithic skeletons from Liang Bua, Flores, yielded 7 individuals who displayed PH, CO, and EH (57%, 57% and 14% respectively). Surprisingly, the study in Liang Bua depicted the highest percentage compared to that of in Melolo and Lewoleba populations