Debra L. Martin

The Bioarchaeology and Taphonomy of Violence at Castle Rock and Sand Canyon Pueblos, Southwestern Colorado

Violence and the role of violence have emerged recently as topics important to understanding the prehistory of the northern Southwest. Recent excavations at Castle Rock and Sand Canyon pueblos, two thirteenth-century sites in the Mesa Verde region of southwestern Colorado, bring new data to bear on these subjects. Field contexts and the results of bone and myoglobin analyses indicate that nonlethal and lethal violence occurred in both of these villages and that additional modifications to bodies and bones occurred near the time of death. Around A.D. 1280, at least eight individuals at Sand Canyon Pueblo died violently, and at least 41 individuals died at Castle Rock. During or after the warfare event that ended the occupation of Castle Rock, some bodies were dismembered, bones were broken, crushed, and heat altered; a few bones were reamed, and the end of one bone was polished. Several incidents of violence and probable anthropophagy (the consumption of human flesh) have been documented in the Mesa Verde region for the mid-A.D. 1100s; however, this analysis of violent events in the late A.D. 1200s establishes a critical link between probable anthropophagy and warfare, and links both with the depopulation of the region.

Skeletal remodeling and mineralization as indicators of health: an example from prehistoric Sudanese Nubia

Microscopic analysis of bone is used to examine the physiological processes which underlie skeletal indicators of nutritional deficiency and poor health. Microradiographs were made from 185 adult human femora from archeological cemeteries in Sudancese Nubia. A variety of microstructural features—especially the density and morphology of osteons—provided information on rates of remodeling and mineralization. Among the Nubian burials, the youngest and oldest adult females show the strongest indications of problems with bone maintenance. These problems are related to nutritional stress among the reproducing young females and aging in older females. In addition, the important role of collagen in bone formation and turnover is discussed as an important factor to be considered in isotopic and elemental analyses of bone.

Critique of the claim of cannibalism at cowboy wash

Abstract The article by Billman et al. contributes to a growing body of data that demonstrates the complex variability of the Pueblo world during the twelfth century. Although the articles title promises a comprehensive review of major cultural and environmental processes (drought, warfare, cannibalism, regional interactions), relatively little theory regarding these processes informs their research design, and much of their interpretation is based on weak inferences. Their empirical data are not used to test alternative hypotheses or rigorously examine expectations derived from modeling. Dynamic aspects of cultural patterns relating to migration, settlement, environment, abandonment, mortuary behaviors, conflict, and group identity are implicated in their research but are not adequately contextualized. Our response to the study by Billman et al. is intended to provide a critical yet constructive commentary, propose fresh ways of thinking about what assemblages of disarticulated and broken bones might mean, and reformulate how research questions are being asked.

Bioarchaeological contributions to the study of violence

The bioarchaeological record has an abundance of scientific evidence based on skeletal indicators of trauma to argue for a long history of internal and external group conflict. However, the findings also suggest variability, nuance, and unevenness in the type, use, and meaning of violence across time and space and therefore defy generalizations or easy quantification. Documenting violence-related behaviors provides an overview of the often unique and sometimes patterned cultural use of violence. Violence (lethal and nonlethal) is often associated with social spheres of influence and power connected to daily life such as subsistence intensification, specialization, competition for scarce resources, climate, population density, territorial protection and presence of immigrants, to name just a few. By using fine-grained biocultural analyses that interrogate trauma data in particular places at particular times in reconstructed archaeological contexts, a more comprehensive view into the histories and experiences of violence emerges. Moreover, identifying culturally specific patterns related to age, sex, and social status provide an increasingly complex picture of early small-scale groups. Some forms of ritual violence also have restorative and regenerative aspects that strengthen community identity. Bioarchaeological data can shed light on the ways that violence becomes part of a given cultural landscape. Viewed in a biocultural context, evidence of osteological trauma provides rich insights into social relationships and the many ways that violence is embedded within those relationships.

CHANGING PATTERNS OF VIOLENCE IN THE NORTHERN SAN JUAN REGION

ABSTRACT Evidence of human violence in the Northern San Juan region of the American Southwest has stimulated a variety of inferences, including interpersonal strife, cannibalism, raiding, and warfare. We summarize existing information on regional violence and discuss new research results from excavations in the Sand Canyon locality. The analysis explores similarities and differences in patterns of violent deaths through time and across the region and explains these similarities and differences with respect to population movement and changing political systems.

Introduction of agriculture and its effects on women's oral health

This study explores the dynamic relationship between the introduction of agriculture and its effects on womens oral health by testing the hypothesis that female reproductive physiology contributes to an oral environment more susceptible to chronic oral disease and that, in a population undergoing the foraging to farming transition, females will exhibit a higher prevalence of oral pathology than males. This is tested by comparing the presence, location, and severity of caries lesions and antemortem tooth loss across groups of reproductive aged and postreproductive females (n = 71) against corresponding groups of males (n = 71) in an Early Agricultural period (1600 B.C.–A.D. 200) skeletal sample from northwest Mexico. Caries rates did not differ by sex across age groups in the sample; however, females were found to exhibit significantly more antemortem tooth loss than males (P > 0.01). Differences were initially minimal but increased by age cohort until postreproductive females experienced a considerable amount of tooth loss, during a life stage when the accumulation of bodily insults likely contributed to dental exfoliation. Higher caries rates in females are often cited as the result of gender differences and dietary disparities in agricultural communities. In an early farming community, with diets being relatively equal, women were found to experience similar caries expression but greater tooth loss. We believe this differential pattern of oral pathology provides new evidence in support of theinterpretation that womens oral health is impacted by effects relating to reproductive biology. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 2010.

The Bioarchaeology of Postmortem Agency: Integrating Archaeological Theory with Human Skeletal Remains

Taking the social agency of dead bodies as its main theme, this introduction discusses the articles in this special section on the bioarchaeology of post-mortem agency and discusses theoretical concerns relevant to the (bio)archaeological analysis of agency. In particular, the argument that only biological living persons have social agency or impact the direction of social processes, or the decisions of others is challenged. The challenges of defining and archaeologically detecting such agency of past humans as well as socially alive entities such as ghosts, corpses, relics and totem heads are discussed. A review of the ways investigations of the agency of the dead might unify bioarchaeologists and further integrate social archaeology into future research is also presented. It is argued that a holistic anthropological approach to humans and their ability to impact their surroundings is not complete if the symbolic and material effects of the dead are not considered.

Battered and abused: Analysis of trauma at Grasshopper Pueblo (AD 1275–1400)

Increasing violence and inter-group conflict in the American Southwest is prevalent into the 13th and 14th centuries AD. In the northern Mogollon region during this time period, the site of Grasshopper Pueblo experienced a shift in social organization as population movements occurred in response to regional stressors. The skeletal remains of 187 adult individuals from the site are analyzed for nonlethal and lethal trauma, musculoskeletal stress markers, and pathology as indicators of changing social dynamics. Nonlethal, healed trauma is present in all adult age groups and both sexes. Approximately one-third (n=63) of the population has healed cranial depression fractures. Females and males are fairly equal in the proportion of cranial injuries incurred; however more females are injured overall when post-cranial injuries are added. Musculoskeletal stress markers do not differ substantially among age groups or between sexes. Heavy musculature development is also similar for groups with and without cranial depression fractures. The results of this study suggest that interpersonal violence was ubiquitous within the pueblo and may have escalated as the community grew in size. Immigrants from other parts of the Southwest may have sought refuge at Grasshopper only to find that the community was experiencing its own social stress.

Commingled Human Skeletal Assemblages: Integrative Techniques in Determination of the MNI/MNE

Determining the MNI for the large number of commingled human remains from Tell Abraq in the UAE (ca. 2000 bc) required recording of both individual bones and bone features. This provided data on what elements were represented as well as those that were underrepresented. For example, the MNI for adults is 274 based on the right talus but 150 based on the distal left humerus. Variation in element representation can reveal cultural practices (secondary burial practices) and taphonomic variables (differential preservation). This method of analysis demonstrates the utility of using bone features when there are a large number of fragmentary remains.

Hard labor and hostile encounters: What human remains reveal about institutional violence and Chinese immigrants living in Carlin, Nevada (1885-1923)

This article identifies activity-related changes to, traumatic injuries on, and pathological conditions of the human remains of the Chinese immigrants from Carlin, Nevada, who were interred between 1885 and 1923. Chinese males came to the Americas to work as railroad laborers and miners, and when the railroad was completed many went home, but some found work in small towns. In Carlin, Chinese immigrants were employed as merchants, shopkeepers, cooks, laundry workers, and a variety of other occupations. Within this immigrant group, there were differences in the degree of physical labor each individual experienced. According to historical records, this was a time of increasing anti-Chinese sentiments, and there are accounts of intergroup conflict with the politically dominant settlers. However, little is known about the biological correlates of this sociopolitical inequality. An analysis of these correlates is assessed as a means for understanding patterns of social, economic, and political inequality between these immigrants and the local population. The findings demonstrate that socioeconomic and political inequality experienced by the Carlin individuals resulted in high rates of activity-induced changes, trauma, and pathological conditions. Furthermore, examination of the relationship between cranial trauma and other types of skeletal injuries supports research that has shown trauma to the head can predispose people to other types of trauma (accidental or deliberate). The results support the historical accounts of the time that indicate hard physical labor, accidental or deliberate trauma, and interpersonal conflict were part of the life history of this group of Chinese immigrants.