Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

ALEXANDRIA

EGYPT

3^
??
Ch
7-
I
n
(%)
n (%)
n (%)
n | (%)
n
(%)
Upper N.
29
(36.3)
34 (42.5)
13 (16.3)
4 (5.0)
80
(100.0)
Middle N.
1
(100.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
1
(100.0)
Lower N.
2
(100.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
0 (0.0)
2
(100.0)
sum
32
(38.6)
34 (41.0)
13 (15.7)
4 (4.8)
83
(100.0)

Ch - children, ? - indeterminate, E - sum, n - sample size
Table 1. Gender occurrence in examined individuals broken do wn by cemetery phases

has been presented in somewhat more
graphical manner in Chart 1.
Gender distribution in the analyzed
assemblage, considering the Upper Necro-
polis exclusively, constituted 46.03% male
skeletons and 53-97% female ones.
In many cases, the unsatisfactory con-
dition of the skeletal material, its consider-
able fragmentation and the fact that in most
cases bones of more than one individual
were mixed, excluded detailed anthropo-
logical examination. The essential data
necessary to estimate body height at death
were collected for five men and 11 women.
Stature was determined with Pearson's
regression equations,5 which appear suf-

ficient for the purposes of tentative com-
parisons.6 Result statistics are presented in
Table 2. All of the individuals whose height
could be estimated had been buried in
graves attributed by archaeologists to the
Upper Necropolis.
The age structure of the examined indi-
viduals was analyzed by attributing their
age at death to one of six groups deter-
mining the ontogenetic rhythm of human
life. The results of the analysis were put
together in Table 3 and presented in Chart 2.
Burials from the Lower and Middle Necro-
polises were excluded from the analysis in
view of their marginal share in the total
number of examined skeletons. Frequencies

n
X
range
s
33
5
163.6
157-173
7.73
11
156.2
151-165
4.00

n - sample size, x - arithmetical mean, s - standard deviation
Table 2. Statistics of the stature of examined individuals from the Upper Necropolis
(2004/2003 season)

5 Measurements taken in accordance with the widely applied methods of R. Martin, K. Sailer, Lehrbuch der
Anthropologie (Stuttgarr 1957-1959) were analyzed with methods suggested by K. Pearson, "On the reconstruction of
stature of prehistoric races. Mathematic contribution to the theory of evolution", Transactions of the Royal Society 192
(1899), 169-244. This was done in view of the absence of reliable data on the morphotype attribution of particular
individuals. In farther analyses, it would be constructive to set up such a division and to apply regression equations
developed by M. Trotter, G.C. Gleser, "Estimation of stature from long bones of American Whites and Negroes",
American Journal of Physical Anthropology 10 (1952), 463-514.
6 Various methods of estimating body height at death are compared in J. Strzalko, "Metody rekonstrukcji wzrostu
czlowieka na podstawie pomiarow szkieletu", Przeglqd Antropologiczny 37, fasc. 2 (Poznan 1971), 295-314.

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