Abstract:

The Xifengbu cemetery, located in Xifengbu village of Hongtong County, Shanxi Province, is the first large-scale scientific archaeological excavation of this era in Shanxi Province. It provides precious archaeological materials for the study of burial customs and social development in the Ming and Qing dynasties, promoted the research on Ming and Qing archaeology to a certain extent. Foot-binding of female is the most noticeable cultural phenomenon among the burial populations in the cemetery. This paper started with the health status of females with and without foot-binding, and described the incidence of skeletal injury and osteoarthritis in a sample of 93 individuals unearthed from the Xifengbu cemetery of Qing Dynasty. The result shows that: 1) foot-binding females had a higher prevalence rate of foot osteoarthritis than females without foot-binding, which is closely related to the physiological structure changes of female feet caused by foot-binding custom; 2) The severity of elbow, and left wrist osteoarthritis in females with foot-binding was basically the same as that in females who were free of foot-binding, while the severity of right and bilateral wrist, and hand joint osteoarthritis was slightly higher than that in non-foot-binding females; 3) The prevalence of marginal osteophyte in all vertebral segments in foot-binding females was higher than that in females without foot-binding, and cervical vertebra and lumbar vertebra were the most seriously affected parts in all female residents; 4) There were no significant differences in the prevalence and severity of skeletal injury and osteoarthritis between the two groups, which may be related to the fact that both females with and without foot-binding were required to undertake physical labor against the background that the lower-class families pursued females’ economic value in the Chinese premodern male-dominant feudal society. The development and prosperity of sedentary production activities that did not rely on lower limb movements in the Ming and Qing Dynasties created more labor opportunities for females who suffered from this infamous custom. At the same time, foot-binding female in lower-class civilian families would also try their best to do some hard physical labor in the fields, which reduced the difference in the degree of skeletal injury and joint disease between them and normal females. The preliminary study on skeletal injury and osteoarthritis of female residfents in Xifengbu cemetery not only shed light on how this gender-biased custom might have compromised the health and quality of life for females in pre-modern societies, but also gave us a window into the miserable life of lower-class females in feudal families.

Key words: Homo sapiens sapiens, Xifengbu, cemetery, foot-binding, osteoarthritis