Of Caves and Shell Mounds

11. Health and Disease in the Green River Archaic

11 Health and Disease in the Green River Archaic Mary Lucas Powell HASKINS AND HERRMANN (this volume) reviewed major theoretical and methodological developments over the last century in bioarchaeological analyses of skeletal series representing Archaic period populations from the Green River region in western Kentucky as a prelude to the presentation of their own recent analysis of the Archaic skeletal sample from the Read Shell Mound (15Bho). As a complement to their historical overview, I present here a brief synthesis of available data on selected aspects of health and disease patterns in Green River Archaic Native Americans. I have drawn on the multifeature studies of Cassidy (1972, 1980, 1984) and Kelley (1980), as well as on more particularistic studies of demography (Johnston and Snow 1961; Mensforth 1986, 1990; T. Stewart 1962; N. Sullivan 1977), biological relationships and growth (Cook 1971; Perzigian 1972; Snow 1948; Wyckoff 1977), osteoporotic bone loss (Perzigian 1971, 1973), dental pathology (Adkins 1988; Leigh 1925; Perzigian 1977b; Rabkin 1943; Ward, in prep.), and infectious disease (Brothwell1970; Brothwell and Burleigh 1975; Mensforth, in press; Snow 1948; N. Sullivan 1977). Sites Indian Knoll Cassidy (1972, 1984) compared Archaic hunter-gatherers from Indian Knoll (150h2) on Green River with Fort Ancient maize farmers of the late prehistoric/ protohistoric period from the Hardin Village site (15Gp22) in northeastern Kentucky . Kelley (1980) drew similar comparisons between the Indian Knoll Archaic people and two later populations: prehistoric maize farmers at Grasshopper Pueblo (P:14:1) in Arizona and historic Arikara hunter-farmers at Mobridge Village (39WW1) in South Dakota. Both authors carefully consider the influences of environmental settings, settlement strategies (seasonal mobility versus year-round sedentism), and diet (relative reliance on cultivated versus gathered plant foods and the importance of hunting, fishing, and shellfish collecting ) of these diverse cultures in shaping the observed patterns of health and disease (mortality, traumatic injuries, nutritional deficiencies, dental pathology, osteoarthritis, and specific and nonspecific infectious disease experience). 120 I Mary Lucas Powell Chiggerville Skarland (1939) wrote a brief overview of the skeletal population sample recovered by Webb and Haag (1939) from the Chiggerville site (150hl) located 3 miles downriver from Indian Knoll. Norman Sullivan (1977) analyzed in greater depth the mortality patterns and skeletal pathology at that site. Wyckoff (1977) examined patterns of skeletal growth in this same series and also evaluated its biological relationships to Indian Knoll and other Archaic and Woodland period populations from the adjacent Eastern Woodlands. Carlston Annis Adkins (1988), Belovich (n.d.), Mensforth (1986, 1990), and Ward (in prep.) collected comparable data in many of these categories from the Archaic skeletal sample from Carlston Annis Shell Mound (15Bt5), located several miles upstream from Indian Knoll and across the river from Read Shell Mound (15Bho). I will first present the reported data for these skeletal series, categorized by topic, and then discuss the comparisons drawn by these researchers between Green River Archaic and other Native American population samples. Demography Frequent subadult mortality was a sad reality of Green River Archaic life (Table 11.1). At Indian Knoll, Carlston Annis, and Chiggerville, approximately one out of five infants died before the age of one year. Skarland (1939:30) called the "large number of infants, constituting more than one-fourth of the Chiggerville population" a "striking fact." Children who survived their first year had a somewhat better outlook, at least until puberty: the decade between 5 and 15 years showed the lowest mortality experience in all of the samples reported here. The slight rise in mortality around puberty probably reflects adolescent participation in life-threatening "adult" activities: pregnancy and childbirth for girls, hunting and warfare or raiding for boys. At Indian Knoll Kelley (1980) noted that 57% (463 of 813) survived to age 15. He calculated life expectancy as 19 years at birth; a 15-year-old could reasonably expect to live an additional 15.4 years (Table 11.2). At Carlston Annis, 54% (191 of 354) survived to age 15; Mensforth (1990, Table 4) calculated life expectancy at birth at 22.4 years, with an additional 19.4 years for those surviving to age 15. Mensforth (1990:81) interprets the demographic patterns in his sample as "indicating a healthy population with a substantial capability to replace preceding generations." Archaic adult mortality generally peaked during the fourth decade of life, and few people survived into their sixth or seventh decades (Table 11.3). At Indian Knoll, female mortality exceeded male mortality for ages 15 through 25, but this pattern was strongly reversed in the following...