Brenda J. Baker

Reconstructing the massacre at Fort William Henry, New York

Fort William Henry, in upstate New York, was the site of a legendary siege and massacre in 1757 during the French and Indian War. As part of the terms of surrender, the British garrison was to retreat with all their arms and possessions, thus denying the Indian allies of the French their spoils of war. Contemporaneous and fictionalized accounts of the resulting massacre have often been regarded as exaggerations of actual events. Five men buried in a mass grave within the fort, known as the crypt, however, were clearly victims of the massacre. These men were among the sick and wounded who were unable to make the 15 mile (24 km) journey to Fort Edward and were left in the care of the French. Four of the five men sustained pre-mortem leg trauma that would have resulted in their hospitalization and prevented them from walking. The other massive perimortem trauma on these remains vividly depicts the results of the massacre. Three of the five men were shot in the knee; two of these three were shot elsewhere as well. One man was decapitated. Both the front and back of all the bodies bear cut marks, probably from the use of both axes and long-bladed knives as weapons. The numerous gashes in the thoracic and pelvic regions indicate the men were mutilated. Our analysis of the remains from this mass grave confirms and enhances the historical accounts of the massacre at Fort William Henry. The skeletons of these five men provide gruesome testimony of the assault to which they were subjected.

Bioarchaeology of Native American adaptation in the Spanish borderlands

Most researchers of the European settlement of North America assume that the local populations were decimated solely by introduced disease. Challenging that assumption, this book demonstrates that Native American societies responded to European encroachment in complex and varied ways.

New World cranial deformation practices: historical implications for pathophysiology of cognitive impairment in deformational plagiocephaly.

INTRODUCTIONThroughout history, prehistoric and even some contemporary civilizations have practiced various forms of intentional and unintentional cranial deformation. Plagiocephaly can be the result of craniosynostosis, infant positioning, or other unintentional or intentional deformation. MATERIALSWe reviewed the medical and anthropological literature and utilized the anthropological collections of Arizona State University and the San Diego Museum of Man for evidence of cranial deformation and its possible physiological and cognitive side effects. Evidence of cranial shaping was also sought among art or stone work from representative cultures. RESULTSThe anthropological record and literature attest to the presence of much more severe forms of deformation than that seen as a result of contemporary infant positioning. Despite this evidence, there is no anthropological evidence as to the possible cognitive effects that such deformation may have, although some evidence is reviewed that suggests a possible physiological mechanism for the same. CONCLUSIONBecause we can only view these cultures through the relics of time, any conclusions one might draw from the anthropological and historical record regarding the cognitive effects of head deformation can only be inferred through generalized observations and are tenuous. Nevertheless, there does not seem to be any obvious evidence of negative effect on the societies that have practiced even very severe forms of intentional cranial deformation (e.g., the Olmec and Maya). On the other hand, the physical anthropology and the contemporary developmental literature suggest possible mechanisms for such an effect.

Biological and social implications of a medieval burial from Cyprus for understanding leprosy in the past

An early 15th-century burial from a basilica at Polis Chrysochous provides the first archaeological evidence of leprosy in Cyprus, extending the temporal depth and illuminating the biological and social history of this disease on the island. The skeletal remains of a young adult female (age 20-34 years) display pathognomonic features of lepromatous leprosy including maxillary alveolar resorption with antemortem loss of all but one incisor, remodeling of the margin of the nasal sill and resorption of the anterior nasal spine, with diaphyseal remodeling of hand and foot phalanges and the distal third through fifth metatarsals of both feet. Periosteal reaction on distal tibiae and the majority of both fibulae demonstrates tracking of inflammation from the feet to lower legs. Use wear on the remaining maxillary incisor signals participation in common occupational activities in life. Although disfigured and debilitated, burial inside the narthex of the basilica indicates that the community did not ostracize this woman in death. This contextualized analysis provides insight into the biological and social consequences of living with leprosy and illustrates the changing attitudes toward those afflicted with this disease in Cyprus.

King Tutankhamun's family and demise.

To the Editor: In their study, Dr Hawass and colleagues reported ancient DNA data from 11 royal Egyptian mummies and used microsatellites to ascertain kinship among specimens. We question the reliability of the genetic data presented in this study and therefore the validity of the authors’ conclusions. Furthermore, we urge a more critical assessment of the ancient DNA data in the context of DNA degradation and contamination. The long-term survival of DNA is determined by the environmental history of the samples, and Gilbert et al argued in reference to mitochondrial DNA that “in most, if not all, ancient Egyptian remains, [ancient DNA] does not survive to a level that is currently retrievable.” The age of the mummies (more than 3300 years before the present) coupled with their preservation history suggests that DNA survival is highly unlikely. Longterm survival of nuclear DNA sequences, as accessed by Hawass et al, is even less likely than mitochondrial DNA, given lower copy numbers per cell. Success in the retrieval of putative nuclear DNA sequences is also surprising given the use of traditional polymerase chain reaction techniques rather than newly developed capture approaches coupled with second-generation sequencing that allow for successful capture of degraded (shorter) DNA sequences. Contamination is a major obstacle in human ancient DNA research. Although laboratory members involved in the study were genotyped, no persons handling the specimens prior to the study were included, raising a question of the reliability of the microsatellite profiles. Precautions such as genotyping of associated nonhuman remains and including information on the microsatellite allele frequencies in presentday Egypt would have clarified the issue of modern contamination. Another cause for concern is the lack of reported quality control measures in the genotyping of microsatellites. Potential genotyping errors include allelic stutters, allelic dropout, short allele dominance, and null alleles, all of which can result in the incorrect identification of alleles. Even small error rates (0.01 per allele) can lead to high error rates in downstream applications, such as false paternity exclusion in kinship testing.