Michele Toomay Douglas

An assessment of health and disease in the prehistoric inhabitants of the Mariana Islands

Using a variety of skeletal and dental stress indicators, an assessment of the health and disease of the indigenous inhabitants of the Mariana Islands, the Chamorro, is made. The major hypothesis to be tested is that the Chamorro were relatively healthy and that deviations from the expected, as well as inter-island variation, may reflect environmental, ecological, and cultural differences. The major skeletal series surveyed include sites on Guam (N = 247 individuals), Rota (N = 14), Tinian (N = 20), and Saipan (N = 102). The majority of the specimens are from the transitional pre-Latte (AD 1-1000) and Latte (AD 1000-1521) periods. These data derive primarily from unpublished osteological reports. The indicators of health and disease surveyed include mortality and paleodemographic data, stature, dental paleopathology, cribra orbitalia, limb bone fractures, degenerative osteoarthritis, and infectious disease (including treponemal infection). Where appropriate, tests of significance are calculated to determine the presence of any patterning in the differences observed within and between the skeletal series. Information recorded in prehistoric Hawaiians provides a standard for external comparisons. Several of the larger skeletal series surveyed have paleodemographic features that are consistent with long-term cemetery populations. Females and subadults are typically underrepresented. Most subadult deaths occur in the 2-5 year age interval. Life expectancy at birth ranges from 26.4 to 33.7 years. A healthy fertility rate is indicated for these series. The prehistoric inhabitants of the Mariana Islands were relatively tall, exceeding living Chamorros measured in the early part of the present century. The greater prevalence of developmental defects in the enamel suggests that the Chamorro were exposed to more stress than prehistoric Hawaiians. The low frequency of cribra orbitalia further indicates iron deficiency anemia was not a problem. There are generally low frequencies of dental pathology in the remains from the Mariana Islands. Betel-nut staining is relatively common in all series which may help to explain the relatively low prevalence of dental pathology. Healed limb bone fractures are rare in these skeletal series; the frequency and patterns of fractures suggest accidental injury as the main cause. Greater physical demands involving the lower back region are indicated by a high frequency of spondylolysis, or stress fracture in the lumbar vertebrae in the Chamorro. Likewise, advanced degenerative bone changes, while of low occurrence, are significantly greater in the Chamorro than Hawaiians. The prevalence of skeletal and dental indicators of stress was generally higher in the smaller islands of the Mariansas chain (e.g., Rota), islands with fewer resources to buffer environmental catastrophe. Bony changes suggestive of treponemal (probably yaws) disease are common in most of these Marianas Islands skeletal series.

Matrilocality during the prehistoric transition to agriculture in Thailand

Stable isotopes in teeth are providing important correlations between ancient people and the geographical location of their childhood homes. In an exciting new application, the authors measured the varying signatures of strontium, oxygen and carbon isotopes in the teeth of a sequence of people buried in Thailand during the period of the introduction and intensification of agriculture. Preliminary results point to the arrival of immigrant men, followed by a change in the relationship between the sexes: the women grow up on local food, the men have access to more widespread resources. This perhaps implies a matrilocal system, where forager men raised elsewhere marry into farming communities. It provides a likely antithesis to the social consequences of introducing agriculture into central Europe.

Skeletal biology of Apurguan: A precontact Chamorro site on Guam

The human skeletal remains of a minimum of 152 individuals from the precontact Latte Period (AD 1000-1521) on Guam, Mariana Islands, are described. The sample, recovered at Apurguan, in the Tamuning District, is one of the largest series of well-provenienced Chamorro skeletal remains to be analyzed in recent years. The size and systematic nature of this database are a major contribution to the human biology of the region. Paleodemographic characteristics, dental and skeletal morphology, and paleopathology are presented, along with a limited examination of sex differences in frequencies of nonmetric variation. The mortuary sample, consisting of 51 subadults and 101 adults, exhibits underrepresentation of females, highest subadult mortality between 2 and 10 years, and an adult average age-at-death of 43.5 years. Cranial and infracranial indices and nonmetric variation are consistent with the Chamorros Southeast Asian origins. There are few statistically significant sex differences in nonmetric variation which suggests close genetic affinity. The frequency of dental pathology overall is low, reflecting a well-balanced, varied diet, and consistent with preagricultural subsistence; however statistically significant sex differences suggest the influence of differential cultural behaviors or resource access. Paleopathological observations include healed fractures (more common in males), little advanced osteoarthritis, evidence for gouty arthritis, and treponemal disease (yaws). One individual, a young adult male, was interred with 10 human bone spear points in situ. Twenty percent of the primary burials exhibit evidence of postdepositional removal of selected skeletal elements for cultural purposes such as keepsakes or raw material.

Intensification of Agriculture at Ban Chiang: Is There Evidence from the Skeletons?

Human skeletal remains excavated in 1974 -1975 at Ban Chiang, a premetal to Bronze/Iron Age site located in northeastern Thailand, are used to examine the health effects of sedentism and agricultural intensification. The archaeological sequence provides evidence for the introduction of iron and water buffalo in the Middle period, suggesting the beginning of intensified agriculture. The effects of this agricultural intensification on the paleodemography, health, and patterns of traumatic injury of Ban ChiangÕs early inhabitants is examined. The skeletal and dental attributes examined include palaeodemographic parameters, dental caries, dental enamel hypoplasia, cribra orbitalia, stature, skeletal infections, and trauma. The results of this analysis are mixed. There are decreases in life expectancy and mean age-at-death that are consistent with a decline in health over time, but evidence for an increase in fertility, expected with intensified agriculture, is not found. Expected temporal increases in dental enamel hypoplasia and adult cribra orbitalia are documented. However, the expected decline in adult stature and expected increases in dental caries, cribra orbitalia in subadults, skeletal infection, and traumatic injury are not found. Overall, the skeletal indicators support continuity in Ban Chiang health, suggesting continuous reliance on a broadly based subsistence system. These findings do not fit the typical pattern demonstrated for other human groups experiencing the transition to sedentism and intensified agriculture and may support the contention that Southeast AsiaÕs archaeological sequence differs markedly from those studied elsewhere in the world.

Cultural alteration of human teeth in the Mariana Islands

Evidence of cultural dental modification in a precontact (pre-1521) skeletal sample from the Academy of Our Lady of Guam gymnasium site in Agana, Guam, is documented. Two of the four individuals recovered at the Academy Gym site exhibit modification of the maxillary teeth. One individual displays vertical incising of a single tooth, and the other exhibits horizontal abrading of the anterior teeth which may be a purposeful or an incidental alteration. Although deliberate alteration of the dentition, including tooth extraction, notching, filing, and drilling, has been documented in human groups worldwide, little has been written about these cultural practices in the Mariana Islands. Examination of the available literature on precontact human remains from the region reveals at least three patterns of dental incising and similar cases of dental abrasion. While the origins of these practices are not known, the presence and style of these cultural alterations may be sex-specific, cosmetic in nature, or an indication of status in a ranked society. Alternatively, they may signify membership in a particular group or lineage, or mark a rite of passage. Because the comparative samples are limited in number and small, and the provenience of many of the skeletons is obscure, temporal variation cannot be ruled out.

Cultural Modifications in an Adolescent Earth-Oven Interment from Fiji: Sorting out Mortuary Practice

ABSTRACT The incomplete skeletal remains of a young adolescent (10–12 years of age) recovered from the surface of an earth-oven in Qaranicagi Cave, Site Y2–39, Waya Island, Fiji are used to explore mortuary practices in these islands. Mortuary practices in Fiji are documented in explorer and missionary accounts, and a limited number of excavated burials. Additionally, cannibalism is ethnographically and archaeologically known in the region. Cannibalism appears to be temporally and spatially sensitive, and is only one of a variety of perimortem behaviors. Criteria for the determination of cannibalism in human bone assemblages from Fiji are applied to these remains with limited success. The unique interment of the Qaranicagi Cave skeletal remains may represent cannibalism and the first evidence for transportation of human flesh outside of a village context in Fiji, or it may represent a secondary deposit of portions of a cave burial.

Health in Ancient Mariana Islanders: A Bioarchaeological Perspective

ABSTRACT Previous investigation of health and lifestyle in the Mariana Islands indicated that the prehistoric inhabitants living on the smaller islands of this archipelago experienced more stress than those living on the larger islands. This article expands on previous research by using one of the largest datasets (N = 385) now available for examining the health of prehistoric skeletons from the Mariana Islands. A total of 13 indicators of health are investigated, including cribra orbitalia, linear enamel hypoplasia, stature, trauma, infection, and dental disease. There is considerable inter-island variability for many of the indicators but, in general, the highest frequencies of stress are often associated with skeletons from the smaller islands. The sole exception is Rota, the smallest island that reveals levels of stress similar to Guam, the largest island. For several indicators (e.g., stature, long bone fracture, spondylolysis, alveolar defect) there were no significant differences among islands. Cultural habits such as chewing areca (betel) nut, environmental factors, and other cultural differences are examined to explain these differences.

Tooth Ablation in Early Neolithic Skeletons from Taiwan

Nankuanli East Site Sample • Earliest Neolithic (5000-4500 BP) skeletons from Taiwan (see map) • Excavations in Tainan Science Park (TSP), southwestern Taiwan from 2002-2003 • Extended supine burials with associated pottery and other funerary objects including domesticated and wild animals • Subsistence: extensive marine exploitation, hunting, plant collecting, & early farming including the cultivation of foxtail millet Tooth Ablation in Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan

Biocultural Practices during the Transition to History at the Vat Komnou Cemetery, Angkor Borei, Cambodia

Mainland Southeast Asia underwent dramatic changes after the mid-first millennium b.c.e., as its populations embraced new metallurgical and agricultural technologies. Southeast Asians transformed their physical and social environments further through their participation in international maritime trade networks. Early state formation characterized much of the mainland by the mid-first millennium c.e. We examined a protohistoric (200 b.c.e.–200 c.e.) skeletal sample from the Vat Komnou cemetery at Angkor Borei in the Mekong Delta (southern Cambodia) to understand the health impacts of this changing environment. Degenerative joint disease patterns indicate a distinct sexual division of labor. Although intentional dental filing was practiced, its impact on oral-dental health could not be determined. Dental pathologies suggest a mixed diet with more fibrous foods and a lower reliance on soft, processed agricultural foods. A broad-spectrum diet and varied use of the local environment are inferred from the faunal evidence. Stable isotope ratios indicate a relatively greater reliance on fish and estuarine dietary resources than on terrestrial protein. Affinities with other groups in the region are suggested by the cultural practices of the relatively tall, healthy inhabitants from Vat Komnou.

The Search for Don Francisco de Paula Marin: Servant, Friend, and Advisor to King Kamehameha I, Kingdom of Hawai'i

Don Francisco de Paula Marin was born in Spain in 1774. After briefly serving in the Spanish Navy, Marin took up residence in Hawaii at the age of 19 or 20. He had several Hawaiian wives and many children. In addition to being a keen horticulturalist, distiller, and entrepreneur, Marin was an interpreter, doctor, advisor, and confidant to King Kamehameha I. Marin built his house and other structures on land granted to him by Kamehameha I in downtown Honolulu around 1810, where he lived until his death in 1837, at the age of 63. Prior to the construction of a 28-story high-rise building (Marin Tower) and parking structure in 1994, archaeological survey and excavation identified 15 historic coffin burials representing ten adults, 3 children, and two fetuses, from the Marin property. Using historical, archaeological, and forensic/osteological evidence, I outline how we tentatively identified Marin’s skeletal remains. Other burials may represent two of Marin’s wives and any of his eight children who were likely to have been buried on the property.