Relationships Between Lower Limb Cross-Sectional Geometry and Mobility: The Case of a Neolithic Sample From Italy Damiano Marchi* Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0383 KEY WORDS tibia; femur; biomechanics; mobility; European Neolithic ABSTRACT This study investigates the relationships between lower limb robusticity and mobility in a Neo- lithic sample (LIG) from Italy (6th millennium BP). This study tests the hypothesis that the high femoral robustic- ity previously observed in the LIG sample is a conse- quence of the subsistence strategy (i.e., high mobility on uneven terrain) practiced by LIG. Cross-sectional geo- metric properties of the femur and tibia at midshaft of LIG (eight males and eight females) were collected and results compared to Late Upper Paleolithic (12 males, five females), Mesolithic (24 males, 8 females), and Eneo- lithic (28 males, 17 females) samples from other sites throughout Europe. The results show that the LIG sam- ple does not show the reduction of lower limb robusticity that is characteristic of the Eneolithic sample, but rather that the LIG sample is most similar to the earlier, highly mobile, populations. This high level of robusticity in the LIG sample could reflect both their pastoral subsistence strategy combined with a rugged environment, as well as their earlier temporal position within the Neolithic. The results of this study further point to significant variation in male-female mobility patterns in the region, also possi- bly related to pastoral behavioral patterns. Am J Phys Anthropol 137:188–200, 2008. V V C 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Archaeological and biological studies suggest that the change in subsistence that took place from the Upper Paleolithic through the Neolithic in Europe involved a significant decrease in mobility. The appearance of new technologies as well as evidence of organizational sys- tems following the Last Glacial Maximum form the basis for the division of the Upper Paleolithic into the Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) and Late Upper Paleolithic (LUP). The EUP is characterized by extremely high lev- els of mobility (Hahn 1987; Scheer, 1993). In contrast, the LUP archaeological assemblages suggest an increase in regional diversification (Rozoy, 1989) due to climatic deterioration. This led to a decline in resource reliability (Stanley, 1980; Gamble, 1986) that, together with a rise in population density (Mussi and Zampetti, 1988), caused demographic stress (Straus, 1995) and increased exploitation of existing resources in the LUP (Stiner et al., 1999). Large residential groups and permanent settlements are characteristic of many Mesolithic (MESO) settlements (Price, 1987) with growing evidence of sedentism as early as 9,000 BP (Price, 1985, 1987). In general, morphology of the long bones can reflect changes in mobility. Specifically, variation in mobility can alter bending patterns of the midshaft femur and tibia (Ruff and Hayes, 1983; Brock and Ruff, 1988), resulting in changes in diaphyseal robusticity and shape. Results of a study of lower limb long bone diaphyseal robusticity and shape (Holt, 2003) showed a significant decrease in bending strength and an increase in diaphys- eal cross-sectional circularity from the EUP to the MESO that the author interpreted as reflecting re- stricted levels of mobility. Therefore, both archaeological and osteological evidence suggest a drastic decrease in mobility from the Upper Paleolithic through the MESO, especially at the EUP-LUP boundary (Holt, 2003). Within the last 10,000 years, centers of domestication of plants occurred on all inhabitable continents (except Australia) (Harris and Hillman, 1989), first in the Old World and later in the New World (Fritz, 1994), culmi- nating in further reduction in mobility and a dramatic increase in population size around the world, especially in areas adopting agriculture (Cohen, 1989; Armelagos et al., 1991). Comparisons between hunter-gatherer and farming populations from archaeological settings indi- cate a pattern of decreased lower limb diaphyseal robus- ticity and increased cross-sectional circularity (Ruff et al., 1984; Ruff, 1987; Larsen and Ruff, 1994), which is thought to reflect a decrease in mobility and physical demand (Larsen, 1995). Ruff et al. (2006) found a similar reduction in lower limb cross-sectional dimensions in a MESO to NEOL European sample that may also reflect a reduction in mobility. These findings suggest that human populations share a common theme involving a decline in mobility from LUP through NEOL. There is a general trend in lower limb diaphyseal strength change throughout human pop- ulations but it is especially pronounced in males (Ruff, 1987). Sexual dimorphism shows a decline with the tran- sition from hunting and gathering to agriculture (Ruff, 1987, 1992, 1994a; Larsen and Ruff, 1994). Ethnographic documentation of mobility patterns in hunter-gatherers indicate that long distance movement and acquisition of protein sources through hunting are almost always done *Correspondence to: Damiano Marchi, Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Duke University, Box 90383, Biological Sciences Bldg., Science Dr., Durham, NC 27708-0383. E-mail: damiano.marchi@duke.edu Received 28 July 2007; accepted 24 March 2008 DOI 10.1002/ajpa.20855 Published online 9 May 2008 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). V V C 2008 WILEY-LISS, INC. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 137:188–200 (2008)