Infancy and childhood in the pre‐Columbian North American Southwest–first results of the palaeopathological investigation of the skeletons from the Grasshopper Pueblo, Arizona

Abstract

Infant and child skeletons (n ¼ 369) from the pre-Columbian Grasshopper Pueblo site in east-central Arizona (US) dating from the 14 th century AD were examined macroscopically and with low-power microscopy. They were studied as a representative example of a typical Mogollon community with respect to frequencies of deficiency and inflammatory diseases. First results revealed very poor living conditions, which are characteristic for this time period in the North American Southwest because of lack of food due to climatic and political changes. Thus, non-specific stress indicators were frequently observed. In the group of deficiency diseases, anaemia was found in more than 50% of individuals, and in the group of inflammatory diseases, meningeal irritations were diagnosed in more than 70%.

Growth and health status of children and adolescents in medieval Central Europe

“…The study of Cullen Doyle and Judd (2015) found 62.5% of eroded ossicles in individuals from the Byzantine period in Jordan. In contrast, approximately 10% of children from pre-Columbian Arizona showed signs of OM (Schultz et al 2007), and c. 1% of eroded ear bones were found in two populations from mediaeval Denmark (Qvist and Grøntved 2000). In summary, it can be concluded that adverse factors associated with the urban settlement were more detrimental to respiratory health than those in the village.…”

A Knowledge of Bone at the Cellular (Histological) Level is Essential to Paleopathology

“…Ancient bones in a good preservation state, ascertained by microscopic techniques, conserve extracellular matrix proteins and other macromolecules over thousands of years (Schmidt- Schultz and Schultz 2007). DNA analysis provides enormous potential and reliability in the identification of human remains (see Chapter 8 by Spigelman et al, this volume, for more detailed discussion on this topic).…”

Metabolic and Endocrine Diseases

“…Until the end of 20th century, the identification and presence of scurvy in human skeletal material was poorly documented (Ortner et al 1999). Rarely were any cases of scurvy described in the anthropological literature (Schultz et al 2007). Furthermore, paleopathologists focused their attention on the presence of the condition in adults, and had only a slight interest in the manifestation of the disease in juveniles (no doubt exacerbated by the poor preservation and sample bias of juvenile remains).…”

“…The localization appears to occur at sites where supporting muscles attach. Schultz (2001) and Schultz et al (2007) have argued that without the use of microscopy, the identification of scurvy as the cause of these types of general bone changes is very difficult (Schultz 2001;Schultz et al 2007), as both a number of in vivo and postmortem taphonomic processes can create porouslooking bone. However, similar changes can result from dura mater irritation by other disease processes (e.g.…”