Ryan P. Harrod

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.

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.

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.

Phylogeny of the southern Plateau—An osteometric evaluation of inter-tribal relations

This project focuses on whether determination of physical differences among closely affiliated Native American populations inhabiting the southern Plateau is possible. The study includes 318 individuals and approximately 100 recorded measurements of the cranium, humerus, femur, and tibia of each individual. The compiled measurements were evaluated in terms of their implied genetic affiliation, environmental location, and cultural identity. Along with metric measurements, pathological conditions were also compared to provide a control experiment to confirm or reject the findings. The results indicate that there are slight differences detectable among the populations as a result of environmental and European contact factors. The most apparent disparities are seen in relation to the size and shape of the lower extremities, which are highly associated with environmental and dietary stress. Pathological analysis supports the findings of the osteological analysis, suggesting that if the location of the burial and a general time period for interment are known, cultural identification is possible.

The Practice of Bioarchaeology

This chapter introduces the reader to the discipline and practice of modern bioarchaeology. Bioarchaeology is the study of ancient and historic human remains in a richly configured context. Situated within the parent discipline of anthropology, bioarchaeology shares the major goal of anthropology—to explain human behavior. Bioarchaeology is inherently interdisciplinary, and it seeks to frame research questions in a way that link the past to the present. Bioarchaeology is integrative (relies on multiple and cross-disciplinary data sets), engaged (uses robust theories to explore human problems in the past and the present), and ethical (considers all of the implications of scientific research using human remains). One invaluable tool to bioarchaeologists is the biocultural model that integrates environmental, cultural, biological, and ideological factors in a way that clarifies causal relationships.

An Ethos for Bioarchaeologists

This chapter advocates for the development of an ethos (worldview) for bioarchaeologists that embraces an engagement at every level with the larger context within which the human remains and artifacts are connected. This includes descendant populations, local communities, county, state and national legislation, government and local statutes, and repositories and museums that house skeletal collections and related materials. Understanding the historical development of physical anthropology forms a backdrop for the changes that have occurred as the emphasis on descriptive osteological studies shifted to fully realized population-level analyses of processes affecting human adaptation. Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and NAGPRA-like legislation is not perfect, and it is important that bioarchaeologists develop an ethos that guides responsible and ethical research instead of relying on laws.

The Mortuary Component and Human Remains

This chapter reviews the mortuary component in bioarchaeological research. Bioarchaeologists who incorporate mortuary archaeology into their analyses are able to broaden their interpretations. The practice of bioarchaeology remedies the decoupling of biological remains from their archaeological (and cultural) context, but it also means that bioarchaeologists need to have a great deal of archaeological training or be in close collaboration with archaeologists. Humans have not always buried their dead, and so the appearance of this practice approximately 10,000 years ago signaled a shift in how people were thinking about the significance of dying. Analysis of burial ritual and mortuary sites has revealed a great deal about social ranking, variability in location and positioning, social organization, and treatment of elites.

Bioarchaeology of Individuals: Identity, Social Theory, and Skeletal Analysis

There are many methods for the analysis of human remains that are regularly used by bioarchaeologists and forensic anthropologists. Standard analytical procedures involve the assignment of age at death and sex, the diagnosis of diseases, the reconstruction of height and body robusticity, and the determination of antemortem (premortem) and perimortem trauma. These basic analyses provide the identity of individuals. More importantly however is the use of these empirically based bone attributes to be used in the service of answering questions about human behavior. Social theory can be used to frame interesting questions that can be answered using bone data.

Bioarchaeology of Populations: Understanding Adaptation and Resilience

Analysis of individual skeletal remains can reveal much about that individual’s biocultural life history, while the context of the burial can reveal how the living dealt with the dead. When bioarchaeologists have access to larger collections of human remains that represent a group that is part of a culturally distinctive community, then a population-level analysis can be undertaken. Populations offer quantitative data that provides information on how well a group or society is adapting to local and regional conditions, how well they have adapted over time, and frequencies of disease or trauma in one group compared across regions. Examples are provided that illuminate different aspects of adaptation and resilience that can be explored at the population level.

Taphonomy After the Fact: Violence and Ritual in Room 33 at Chaco and Room 178 at Aztec

Chaco Canyon‘s Room 33 (excavated by George Pepper) and Aztec Ruins room 178 (excavated by Earl Morris) are recognized for their rich taphonomic context. These two mortuary features reveal a great deal of information about ritualized behavior. Researchers such as Akins and Palkovich have provided partial analyses of the Chaco skeletal material in the 1980s. The reanalysis of those remains considers the Chaco burials in relation to those at Aztec and analyzes their meaning through a thorough analysis of the grave goods, archaeological records, and ethnohistorical documents to provide a better understanding of these elaborate and unique mortuary rooms. Specifically, this study focuses on signatures of identity, biological, cultural, and socioeconomic. Biological identity markers include age, sex, and stature. Cultural identity includes mortuary context, graves goods, and site layout. Socioeconomic identity, which is the hardest to reconstruct is evidenced by the frequency and distribution of trauma related to exposure to violence, changes to anatomy related to unequal amounts of labor, and susceptibility to diseases over time. The result of looking at all these factors is that it is possible to reconstruct identity, such as Burial 3672 in Room 33. This male is especially intriguing because the burial shows evidence of extensive perimortem fractures on the cranium suggesting a violent death, and yet this is a very high status individual based on the stature and isotopic analysis as well as the grave offerings he was interred with. These kinds of taphonomic and mortuary features are explored.