An assessment of health in early historic (200 B.C. To A.D. 200) inhabitants of Vat Komnou, Angkor Borei, southern Cambodia: A bioarchaeological perspective

From the growing archaeological record of mainland Southeast Asia, it is evident that the period from 500 B.C. to A.D. 500 witnessed changes in settlement patterns, subsistence strategies, landscape use, metallurgical technology, mortuary patterns, preferred prestige goods, economic industries, and trade networks. Such a dynamic socio-politico-technical environment would have had an impact on the health of inhabitants of the region, affecting men and women differentially as they adapted to changing roles. This period is known as the Early Historic Period in the Mekong Delta and the Iron Age in the rest of mainland Southeast Asia. A biocultural stress model is used to examine an Early Historic (200 B.C. to A.D. 200) human skeletal sample from Vat Komnou, Angkor Borei, Cambodia, located in the Mekong Delta, relative to two hypotheses: (1) The inhabitants of Vat Komnou are generally healthy, and (2) There are sex differences in patterns of health at Vat Komnou.;Paleodemographic indicators suggest the Vat Komnou group was increasing in size, with a high fertility rate and a high childhood mortality rate. While the cause of early death is not known, those who did not succumb to childhood disease attained a fairly tall stature in adulthood, comparable to other ancient groups in the region, and much taller than modern inhabitants of Cambodia. Life expectancy at birth is 22.63 years with an estimated crude birth rate of 44 live births per 1000 people per year. Dental pathologies are consistent with a horticulture/mixed economy not overly reliant on agricultural foods. Filing of the anterior teeth, observed in four individuals, may have negatively affected oral-dental health. Sex differences in oral-dental health, indicators of anemia, and degenerative disease suggest males and females had distinct labor roles and a differential access to foods. The adult sex ratio at this site is greatly skewed towards males (48:23), an imbalance that can be attributed to sampling error, differential mortuary practices, an out-migration of adult females, or an influx of young adult males. Low rates of dental disease, linear enamel hypoplasia, trauma, and infectious disease suggest this was a healthy group of people.