Project information
Experimental Study on The Osteocalcin Index to Detecting Biochemical Markers of Stress in Human Bones (Hyksos, Egypt) (OS)

Stress is one of the most significant health problems in the world and its effect on human health depends on its type. The topic of human migration has been discussed by historians, archaeologists, paleoanthropologists years ago to address debates on environmental adaptation, social behaviour and ethnicity. My project comes to focus its research on the human skeleton itself by analyzing stress markers as a direct effect of human migration. To attain this goal, I propose conducting an experimental investigation on the osteocalcin (OS) index and its concentration within the bone. A recent study, encompassing both animal models and human participants, indicates a rapid fourfold increase in oxidative stress levels when exposed to stressors, while another demonstrates the feasibility of recovering oxidative stress from archaeological remains, facilitated by its attraction to hydroxyapatite in bones. However, the connection between those three: OS, stress and migration has yet to be explored bioarchaeologically. For this, I am taking advantage of the Bronze age Levantine migration model to address several long-standing research questions and debates on identity, human demography and human migration through time and space.