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B ODIES AND LIVES IN
ANCIENT AMERICA
B odies and Lives in Ancient America offers a broad overview of what it was like to live
and die throughout North America before European contact. Using a unique life
history approach, the book moves from pregnancy and birth through to senescence.
Drawing on biological data gathered from human remains, as well as cultural and
environmental data derived from archaeological investigations, the authors provide
students with a wealth of information on health and other aspects of life that leave
changes on the skeletal system. Rich case studies throughout demonstrate the tem-
poral, cultural, and environmental variability across the continent prior to colonial
times. The authors also examine how different groups faced a variety of challenges
in their lives, including climate change and violence, and the effects these had on
their health. The book concludes by considering the relevance of what ancient
bones reveal for people today. Written in an engaging style, with complex paleopa-
thology data synthesized and clearly presented, Bodies and Lives in Ancient America is
an accessible introduction to the state of health across prehistoric North America.
D ebra L. Martin is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Nevada,
Las Vegas, USA.
A nna J. Osterholtz is a visiting Assistant Professor in Anthropology at the Univer-
sity of Nevada, Las Vegas , USA.
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B ODIES AND LIVES IN
ANCIENT AMERICA
H ealth Before Columbus
D ebra L. Martin and Anna J. Osterholtz
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F irst published 2016
b y Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
a nd by Routledge
7 11 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
R outledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Debra L. Martin and Anna J. Osterholtz
T he right of Debra L. Martin and Anna J. Osterholtz to be identifi ed as authors of this
work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A ll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
T rademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe.
B ritish Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
L ibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Martin, Debra L.
Bodies and lives in ancient America : health before Columbus /
Debra L. Martin and Anna J. Osterholtz.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Indians of North America—Anthropometry. 2. Indians of North America—
Health and hygiene—History. 3. Paleopathology—North America. 4. Human
remains (Archaeology)—North America. I. Osterholtz, Anna J. II. Title.
E98.A55M37 2016
970.004'97—dc23
2015018405
I SBN: 978-1-138-90287-9 (hbk)
I SBN: 978-1-138-90428-6 (pbk)
I SBN: 978-1-315-69646-1 (ebk)
T ypeset in Bembo
b y Apex CoVantage, LLC
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C ONTENTS
L ist of Figures and Table vi
A cknowledgments ix
1 Ancient bodies, ancient lives 1
F rom bones to bodies using social theory 2
C onceptualizing the work that bioarchaeologists do 5
B ioarchaeology in the U.S. today 7
S ocial bodies and lives, then and now 12
C ultural sketches of core areas in the U.S. 14
P lan of the book 25
N ote to students and instructors 28
T o sum up 28
R eferences 29
2 Biocultural perspectives on health and disease 33
P aleopathology and the biocultural nature of disease 33
C omponents of bioarchaeological research projects 40
I ndicators of disease and trauma on bone and teeth 49
T o sum up 66
R eferences 68
3 Pregnancy and birth in ancient America 74
B ackground and some things to consider 77
V ignettes 82
T o sum up 89
R eferences 90
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vi Contents
4 Growing up in ancient America 93
B ackground and some things to consider 95
V ignettes 97
T o sum up 109
R eferences 110
5 Adult life in ancient America 114
B ackground and some things to consider 114
V ignettes 118
T o sum up 135
R eferences 136
6 Growing old in ancient America 141
B ackground and some things to consider 143
V ignettes 144
T o sum up 149
R eferences 150
7 Life histories and the arc of time 153
T he past does not need us, but the future does 154
U niquely American history lessons from ancient health 157
T o sum up 158
R eferences 159
I ndex 161
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F IGURES AND TABLE
F igures
F igure 1.1 P ottery image depicting two human fi gures on a
Mimbres pot circa A D 1 000 from the Mogollon
culture (New Mexico and Arizona) 3
F igure 1.2 R ock art (petroglyphs) from New Mexico
depicting a hunchback fi gure playing a fl ute 4
F igure 1.3 C indi Alvitre (Tongva) speaks to students of the 2012
Pimu Catalina Island Archaeological Field School
regarding the respectful and culturally appropriate
treatment of Tongva ancestors during a reburial
ceremony held on Catalina Island 9
F igure 1.4 M ap depicting the location of the archaeological sites
discused in the text 13
F igure 1.5 T he coast of Southern California in the
Santa Barbara region 15
F igure 1.6 Desert landscape typical of the American Southwest 18
F igure 1.7 M ound 72 at Cahokia outside of St. Louis, Missouri 22
F igure 1.8 A view from St. Catherine’s Island in the Georgia
Bight region 23
F igure 2.1 E xample of a cradleboard 36
F igure 2.2 H istoric Hopi vilage 37
F igure 2.3 A model demonstrating all of the important variables that
need to be considered beyond the analysis of the human
remains 45
F igure 2.4 A model demonstrating the systemic stress perspective and
the kinds of variables that can be brought to bear on the
analysis of the human remains 45
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viii Figures and Table
F igure 2.5 A model demonstrating variables that may be utilized
if there is access to ethnohistoric documents and
other kinds of evidence 48
F igure 2.6 A composite showing the kinds of indicators of stress that
can be seen on bone and teeth 56
F igure 3.1 H opi Indian mother carrying her baby on her back outside
an adobe dweling, circa 190 75
F igure 3.2 D istribution of deaths for neonates in the fi rst 28 days of
life asesed on a global level for the year 2000 78
F igure 3.3 F emale pelvis showing the normal dimensions
of the birth canal 79
F igure 3.4 A Hopi mother with her infant, titled
“In the cradle-basket” 85
F igure 3.5 A diorama of a Cahokia woman grinding maize 86
F igure 3.6 Staphylococus aureus outside a white blood cel 88
F igure 4.1 H opi children 94
F igure 4.2 T his photo shows the linear enamel hypoplasias (LEH) that
are visible in adult teeth but that were effected by some type
of stress while those teeth were forming in early childhood 98
F igure 4.3 M ap showing the locations of all sites mentioned that had
child burials that are reviewed in this chapter 100
F igure 4.4 L ooking across rows of corn from a historic
Hopi agricultural plot 103
F igure 4.5 Hopi children 104
F igure 4.6 What a burial mound in the Mississippian
region looked like in historic times 106
F igure 5.1 F ishing was an important aspect of life, and would
have been accomplished through either fi shing from
the coast or through the use of watercraft 119
F igure 5.2 S eed gathering was a common activity and would have
provided valuable carbohydrates for the population 120
F igure 5.3 D ry farming in the Arizona desert 123
F igure 5.4 C ut marks consistent with scalping from the site of
Sacred Ridge on the right temple area 127
F igure 5.5 A diorama of a Cahokia elite personage 130
F igure 5.6 Artist’s re-creation of the sacrifi ce at Mound 72 132
F igure 6.1 A n elderly woman mixing clay for ceramic
production in the Puebloan world 142
F igure 6.2 Severe osteoarthritic lipping on the neck vertebrae 146
Figure 6.3 A n elderly edentulous individual from Black Mesa 147
F igure 6.4 A n example of heavy tooth wear 148
T able
T able 2.1 Summary of skeletal and dental indicators of stres 67
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A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
F or the title of the book, we wanted to acknowledge two infl uential scholars who
came before us and taught us well: Rosemary Joyce, for her groundbreaking book
A ncient Bodies, Ancient Lives: Sex, Gender and Archaeology (New York, NY: Thames
and Hudson, 2008), and Wenda Trevathan, for her trailblazing book A ncient Bodies,
Modern Lives: How Evolution Has Shaped Women’s Health (New York, NY: Oxford,
2010). We are also indebted to the bioarchaeologists who have been publishing on
health in America for the last several decades, setting a high bar for data collec-
tion and analysis. Our gratitude goes out to George Armelagos, Clark Larsen, Phil
Walker, Jane Buikstra, Della Cook, and their generations of students who continue
their work in areas such as the California coast, the American Southwest, the Mis-
sissippian region, and the Georgia Bight. The idea for this book began in 1991
while one of us (Martin) was a resident scholar at the School of Advanced Research
in Santa Fe. After percolating for 25 years, the book came to fruition with the sup-
port of the Lincy Foundation and Chris Hudgins in the dean’s offi ce at University
of Nevada, Las Vegas.
W orking on this book made us appreciate where we are in our own life histories
and the people and animals around us that make our particular moment in time
and space not unlike those of people who lived hundreds of years ago in the very
places we live today. They lived, they loved, they worked, they suffered, and they
experienced extraordinary, ordinary lives. We dedicate this book to those original
people who made the U.S. their home long before Columbus arrived.
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