What Mean These Bones?: Studies in Southeastern Bioarchaeology

244 Pages·1991·12.069 MB·English

by  Mary Lucas Powell, Patricia S. Bridges, Ann Marie Wagner Mires (eds.)

What Mean
These Bones?

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*
Contents
Figures vii
Tables viii
Acknowledgements xi
1. Introduction 1
Mary Lucas Powell, Patricia S. Bridges, and Ann Marie
Wagner Mires
2. Bioarchaeology and Subsistence in the Central and Lower
Portions of the Mississippi Valley 7
Jerome C. Rose, Murray K Marks, and Larry L. Tieszen
3. Ranked Status and Health in the Mississippian Chiefdom
at Moundville 22
Mary Lucas Powell
4. Health and Cultural Change in the Late Prehistoric American
Bottom, Illinois 52
George R. Milner
5. Mississippian Cultural Terminations in Middle Tennessee:
What the Bioarchaeological Evidence Can Tell Us 70
Leslie E. Eisenberg
6. Skeletal Evidence of Changes in Subsistence Activities Between
the Archaic and Mississippian Time Periods in Northwestern
Alabama 89
Patricia S. Bridges
7. Biomechanical Adaptation and Behavior on the Prehistoric
Georgia Coast 102
Clark Spencer Larsen and Christopher B. Ruff
8. Sifting the Ashes: Reconstruction of a Complex Archaic
Mortuary Program in Louisiana 114
Ann Marie Wagner Mires
9. The Prehistoric People of Fort Center: Physical and Health
Characteristics 131
Patricia Miller-Shaivitz and Mehmet Ya~ar i§can
10. Status and Health in Colonial South Carolina: Belleview
Plantation, 1738-1756 148
Ted A. Rathbun and James D. Scurry
11. Bioarchaeology in a Broader Context 165
Bruce D. Smith
12. Out of the Appendix and Into the Dirt: Comments on Thirteen
Years of Bioarchaeological Research 172
Jane E. Buikstra
References Cited 189
Contributors 221
Index 225
*
Figures and Tables
Figures
1-1 Geographical Location of Sites 3
3-1 Spinal Tuberculosis (Pott's Disease) 44
3-2 Caries Sicca of Endemic Treponematosis 45
4-1 The Probability of Dying (qx) for the Moorehead Phase Kane
Mounds (KM) Population and the Sand Prairie Phase East St. Louis
Stone Quarry (ESLSQ) Population 58
4-2 Distribution of Mortality Between the Ages of 0 to 5 Years in the
Moorehead Phase Kane Mounds (KM) Population and the Sand
Prairie Phase East St. Louis Stone Quarry (ESLSQ) Population 60
4-3 The Sacrum and Fifth Lumbar Vertebra from a Moorehead Phase
Skeleton from Kane Mounds 64
5-1 Map of the Averbuch Site 72
5-2 Skeletal Distribution of Vertebral and Long Bone Lesions 74
5-3 Active Periosteal Apposition on Subadult Long Bones (6 Months to
1.5 Years) 75
5-4 Relative Frequencies of Active and Healed Tibial Lesions by Age
Group 77
5-5 Resorptive Lesions in the Thoracic Vertebrae of a Female (30 to 34
Years) 78
5-6 Bilateral Cribra Orbitalia in a Subadult (3.5 to 4.5 Years) 80
5-7 Porotic Hyperostosis in an Averbuch Female (18.5 to 19.5
Years) 81
5-8 Relative Frequencies of Orbital and Cranial Lesions by Age
Group 82
5-9 Male and Female Mortality at Averbuch 86
*
Figures and Tables
viii
6-1 Maximum Bending Strength of Male Femora 94
6-2 Torsional Strength of Female Humeri 95
7-1 Bones Subjected to (a) Bending and (b) Torsion Around a Neutral
Axis 103
7-2 Percentage Decline in Femoral (a) Subtrochanteric and (b) Mid
shaft Cross-sectional Properties in Comparison of Georgia Coastal
Preagricultural and Agricultural Groups 108
8-1 Cowpen Slough: Site Plan 117
8-2 Plan View of Test Units Within the Delimited Cemetery Area 118
8-3 Plan View of the Distribution of Burial Modes Within Features 120
8-4 Plan View of Burial Features 120
8-5 Demographic Distribution of Individuals Within Features 121
8-6 Mortality Graph Representing the Number of Individuals Dying
Within Each Age Category, Sexes Combined (N = 17) 124
8-7 Processing of Individuals Following Death 125
9-1 Mound and Pond Complex 132
9-2 Reconstruction of the Charnel Platform with Burial Bundle 133
9-3 Cranial Pathology at Fort Center 139
9-4 Cranium (#B69-45) with Possible Treponemiasis, Displaying Nod-
ular and Serpiginous Cavitation 140
9-5 Pyogenic Osteomyelitis in a Femur 142
9-6 Postcranial Pathology 144
9-7 Pseudopathology 145
10-1 Burial Distribution at Belleview Plantation, South Carolina 152
10-2 Frequency Distribution of Lead Content in Skeletal Populations
from Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, and Belleview Plantation, South
Carolina 160
Tables
1-1 Chronology of Sites 4
2-1 Dental Caries in Adults in Central and Lower Mississippi Valley 11
2-2 Adult First Molar Mean Wear Scores in the Central and Lower Mis-
sissippi Valley 12
2-3 Percentages of Adult Infections and Porotic Hyperostosis in the
Lower Mississippi Valley 14
2-4 Percentages of Adult Infections and Porotic Hyperostosis in the
Central Mississippi Valley 16
2-5 Stable Carbon Isotope Values from the Ozark Highlands and Cen
tral Mississippi Valley 18
3-1 Mortuary Analysis of Moundville Burials 25
*
Figures and Tables
ix
3-2 Modeled Expectations of Variability in Biological Dimensions of
Ranked Status at Moundville 26
3-3 Demography, Status, and Skeletal Representation at Mound-
ville 28
3-4 Moundville Postcranial Skeletal Metrics 30
3-5 Maxillary First Molar: Mean Wear Scores 31
3-6 Maxillary Second Molar: Mean Wear Scores 32
3-7 Mandibular First Molar: Mean Wear Scores 33
3-8 Mandibular Second Molar: Mean Wear Scores 34
3-9 Teeth Carious or Lost Antemortem in Adults 36
3-10 Prevalence of Enamel Hypoplasia by Ranked Status 38
3-11 Skeletal Evidence of Anemia 38
3-12 Anatomical Distribution of Fractures by Sex 39
3-13 Trauma Cases by Age, Sex, and Status 40
3-14 Age Distribution of Proliferative Skeletal Reaction 42
3-15 Biological Dimensions of Ranked Status at Moundville: Modeled
Expectations vs. Observations 47
3-16 Ranked Status, Diet, and Health at Chucalissa, Dallas/Hixon,
Etowah, and Moundville 48
4-1 American Bottom Mississippian Phases and Population Change
Over Time 57
4-2 Skeletons with Cribra Orbitalia or Porotic Hyperostosis 65
5-1 Percentages of Active and Healed Porotic Hyperostosis Cases by
Age and Sex in the Averbuch Skeletal Series 83
5-2 Comparative Life Expectancies 87
6-1 Changes in Diaphyseal Indexes 92
6-2 Changes in Biomechanical Variables 93
6-3 Index of Bilateral Asymmetry: Females 97
6-4 Index of Bilateral Asymmetry: Males 98
7- 1 Frequency of Preagricultural and Agricultural Adult Articular Joints
Affected by Degenerative Joint Disease 109
8-1 Human Burials at Cowpen Slough: Demographic and Mortuary
Data 119
8-2 Frequency of Features by Number of Individuals Across Burial
Modes 122
8-3 Distribution of Age Categories Across Burial Modes 123
8-4 Sex Distribution of Adults Across Burial Modes 124
9-1 Age and Sex Composition of Cranial Sample from Fort Center 135
9-2 Cranial Metrics of Fort Center Adults 135
9-3 Cranial Metrics: Comparative Data from Florida Sites 136
9-4 Postcranial Metrics: Comparative Data from Florida Sites 136
9-5 Paleopathology at Fort Center 138