Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

Fall 11-18-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

November 2025

Department

Anthropology

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Meredith Ellis

Abstract

Retroversion is an angled measurement of the humerus that is indicative of habitual overhand activity. Elevated retroversion measurements (in degrees) indicate overhand activity. Overhand activity indicates subsistence gathering from spear or atlatl throwing. Most retroversion research is conducted in populations where men perform more physically demanding labor. Therefore, bioarchaeologists are producing the same data over and over. Additionally, contemporary retroversion data is used as comparative figures. These subjects range from youth to professional baseball players, but the data on women is nearly obsolete. Bioarchaeology needs contemporary female retroversion data. Research was conducted at the University of Tennessee Knoxville where humeral head retroversion was measured on both left and right humeri in populations of known physical activity to investigate how retroversion materializes on the skeletal body between sexes. Data analysis was conducted using Jupyter Notebook. Left-right asymmetry can be used as a new model or method in predicting overhand activity in women.

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