Age-at-death estimation methods have faced challenges in their applicability to past populations. This study aims to evaluate the assessment and observer variability of the Suchey-Brooks (SB) and İşcan methods within archaeological contexts. Our sample consisted of 400 individuals from the medieval cemetery of the Dunes Abbey in Koksijde, Belgium. The skeletal remains exhibited good preservation, especially for the İşcan methods, which showed higher sensitivity to preservation conditions. Intra- and inter-observer variation were investigated using Spearman correlation coefficients, Wilcoxon paired ranks test, and Cohen's kappa test. The Spearman coefficient revealed a strong positive correlation, with a moderate to almost excellent kappa coefficient for both intra- and inter-observer error. Overall, the SB method displayed better inter-observer agreement, while the İşcan method presented better intra-observer agreement. Applying these methods to younger individuals resulted in less variability. Certain descriptive phase categories, such as phase III for the SB method and phase 3 and 4 for the İşcan methods, seemed problematic. Only 188 sufficiently preserved individuals could be scored using both the SB and the İşcan methods. They were classified into age groups, and the methods assessment were evaluated using the same statistical approach. The Spearman correlation coefficient indicated consistent age group attribution between the two methods (rho = 0.92), with a moderate to almost excellent agreement (k = 0.45; wk = 0.91). Overall, the two methods mainly differ by only one age group, except for older adults. The SB method tended to assign older age groups compared to İşcan's method, leading to effective overestimation.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Soil differential settlements that cause structural damage to heritage buildings are precipitating cultural and economic value losses. Adequate damage assessment as well as protection and preservation of the built patrimony are priorities at national and local levels, so they require advanced integration and analysis of environmental, architectural and historical parameters. The GEPATAR project (GEotechnical and Patrimonial Archives Toolbox for ARchitectural conservation in Belgium) aims to create an online interactive geo-information tool that allows the user to view and to be informed about the Belgian heritage buildings at risk due to differential soil settlements. Multi-temporal interferometry techniques (MTI) have been proven to be a powerful technique for analyzing earth surface deformation patterns through time series of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. These techniques allow to measure ground movements over wide areas at high precision and relatively low cost. In this project, Persistent Scatterer Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (PS-InSAR) and Multidimensional Small Baseline Subsets (MSBAS) are used to measure and monitor the temporal evolution of surface deformations across Belgium. This information is integrated with the Belgian heritage data by means of an interactive toolbox in a GIS environment in order to identify the level of risk. At country scale, the toolbox includes ground deformation hazard maps, geological information, location of patrimony buildings and land use; while at local scale, it includes settlement rates, photographic and historical surveys as well as architectural and geotechnical information. Some case studies are investigated by means of on-site monitoring techniques and stability analysis to evaluate the applied approaches. This paper presents a description of the methodology being implemented in the project together with the case study of the Saint Vincent’s church which is located on a former colliery zone. For this building, damage is assessed by means of PS-InSAR.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Small but significant differences were found in allele frequencies among five populations (overall F ST estimate (θ)=0.004, P=0.006; overall R ST estimate (RHO)=0.019, P<0.00001) of the demersal cichlid Copadichromis sp. `virginalis kajose', collected from five locations in Lake Malawi. Pairwise F ST estimates revealed significant differences between the most southerly population (Cape Maclear), and the three most northerly populations (Mbamba Bay, Metangula and Chilola). Pairwise R ST estimates also revealed significant differences between some populations, but no geographical pattern was discernible. There was no evidence of isolation by distance using either the shortest straight-line distance between samples, or the distance around the shoreline following a 50 m depth contour. F ST, estimates were considerably lower than found in previous studies on the mbuna (rock-dwelling species), but higher than those found in a study of three pelagic cichlid species from Lake Malawi. Substructuring in C. sp. `virginalis kajose' appears to be on a similar scale to the Atlantic cod. © 2001 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
