Introduction

Great variability in shape and size of the bony pelvis can be observed in the current population, but there is not enough data on how long the historical period must elapse to gain changes in pelvic shape and size. The aim of the study was to identify morphological changes in bony pelvis in males and females after a developmentally short period of approximately one thousand years.

Material and Methods

Seventeen defined external dimensions of pelvic bone from 120 adult individuals (two craniocaudal, two ventrodorsal, six mediolateral, three acetabular dimensions, and four dimension of the auricular surface) were measured. The medieval sample of 60 pelvic bones (30 male and 30 female) was obtained from the Great Moravian site of Mikulčice-Valy (9th–10th century), while the modern collection of 60 pelvic bones (30 male and 30 female) dates from the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. Obtained results were evaluated using the independent t-test at a 5% level of significance.

Results

A comparison of male and female pelvic dimensions within a single population yielded expected results: the mean male values were greater. In modern population, male pelvis mean values were greater in 15 of defined parameters, while in medieval population, male dimensions were larger in 16 variables.

A comparison of modern and medieval female pelvic bones found 11 variables to be greater in medieval sample (one determining the craniocaudal dimension, five the mediolateral, all three the acetabular, and two determining the auricular surface dimensions), but only two were significant (two dimensions determining the mediolateral dimensions). In modern female samples, there were five variables greater (one determining the craniocaudal dimension, one the ventrodorsal, one the mediolateral, and two determining the auricular surface dimensions), but only two were significant as well (one determining the craniocaudal and one the ventrodorsal dimensions).

A comparison of male pelvic bones found 13 variables to be greater in medieval pelvis (one determining the craniocaudal dimension, all six the mediolateral, one the ventrodorsal, all three the acetabular, and two determining the auricular surface dimensions), but only four were significant as well (all determining the mediolateral dimensions). In modern male sample, there were only four variables greater (one determining the craniocaudal dimension, one the ventrodorsal, and two determining the auricular surface dimensions), but only one was significant (determining the craniocaudal dimension).

Conclusion

Unexpectedly, our study did not find the early medieval population to have a smaller pelvis compared to the modern population. While pelvic bones of the former were somewhat lower, but wider, those of the latter population were a bit higher and narrower.

The study allows a very careful statement that one millennium is a time period long enough for measurable morphological deviations of the pelvic bones shape and size to occur.

中文翻译：

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人类骨盆的大小和形状：现代和中世纪人口的比较研究

介绍

在当前人群中可以观察到骨盆形状和大小的巨大变化，但是没有足够的数据说明必须经过多长时间的历史时期才能获得骨盆形状和大小的变化。该研究的目的是确定男性和女性在大约一千年的短暂发育期后骨盆的形态变化。

材料与方法

测量了来自 120 名成年个体的 17 个定义的骨盆骨外部尺寸（两个头尾、两个腹背、六个内侧、三个髋臼尺寸和四个耳表面尺寸）。中世纪的 60 块骨盆样本（30 块男性和 30 块女性）取自 Mikulčice-Valy 的大摩拉维亚遗址（9 世纪至 10 世纪），而现代收集的 60 块骨盆骨骼（30 块男性和 30 块女性）可追溯到19 世纪末和 20 世纪上半叶。在 5% 的显着性水平下使用独立t检验评估获得的结果。

结果

单个人群中男性和女性骨盆尺寸的比较产生了预期的结果：男性的平均值更大。在现代人群中，男性骨盆的平均值在 15 个定义的参数中更大，而在中世纪人群中，男性在 16 个变量中的尺寸更大。

现代和中世纪女性骨盆骨的比较发现中世纪样本中有 11 个变量更大（一个确定头尾尺寸，五个确定内侧，三个确定髋臼，两个确定耳廓表面尺寸），但只有两个变量显着（两个尺寸决定中间尺寸）。在现代女性样本中，有五个更大的变量（一个确定头尾尺寸，一个确定腹背，一个确定中间外侧，两个确定耳廓表面尺寸），但只有两个也很重要（一个确定头尾尺寸，一个确定腹背尺寸）方面）。

对男性骨盆骨的比较发现中世纪骨盆中有 13 个变量更大（一个决定了头尾尺寸，所有六个都是内侧，一个是腹背，三个都是髋臼，还有两个决定了耳廓表面尺寸），但只有四个是显着的以及（都决定了中间尺寸）。在现代男性样本中，只有四个变量更大（一个确定头尾尺寸，一个确定腹背尺寸，两个确定耳廓表面尺寸），但只有一个变量显着（确定头尾尺寸）。

结论

出乎意料的是，我们的研究并未发现中世纪早期人群的骨盆比现代人群更小。前者的骨盆略低，但较宽，后者的骨盆略高且窄。

该研究提供了一个非常谨慎的声明，即一千年是一个足够长的时间段，足以发生骨盆骨骼形状和大小的可测量形态偏差。