Who lived in the Dakota Territory long ago? From whence came they? How and how long did they live? What was their diet? What was their health and what diseases affected them? What were the principal causes of death? How did their health affect them individually, as a community, and in their relationship with contemporary groups? These and related questions have been asked many times by many people, but few have had the opportunity to do more than conjecture upon the matter. Probably the best resource for evidence of past people and cultures in this region is the Missouri River Basin that occupies a large portion of the upper midwestern part of the United States.
Because knowledge regarding the health of the American Indians was very limited, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark to collect information regarding the well-being and health-related practices of natives they met during 1804-1806 while following the Missouri River through the Louisiana Purchase. Specifically requested by Doctor Benjamin Rush was information regarding the natives' physical status, physiological processes, longevity, diet, illnesses, and methods for treating diseases (77: Appendix III). Although they did record much information, the data available today provide only insight into the health status of the people encountered.
The Missouri River and its tributaries have long been major routes for travel through the Midwest, particularly within the boundaries of North Dakota and South Dakota. Besides being a route of travel, the river system and its banks provided protection and sustenance for many aborigines over a long span in time. As a result, the Missouri River bluffs became the final resting place for many people.
During the past century, through various many ancient graves in this region were opened and their contents became available for scientific scrutiny. Study of these skeletons has provided much information regarding the people who inhabited the Upper Missouri River Basin during several periods in history.
The Dry Bones project started in 1962 as a study designed to document ancient human osteopathology in this region. The many excellently preserved skeletons that subsequently became available, were a superb source of anthropomorphic and osteopathological information. Although the large number of human remnants available has enhanced the Dry Bones study, for some skeletons the information obtainable has been hindered by archaeological methods and techniques used to procure skeletons, aboriginal cultural practices, and the regional environment.
The Indian tribes that inhabited the Dakota Territory in the past are classified by
language or racial affiliation, or by culture. The racial groups or stock are:
1. Algonquian - Cree, Chippewa, and Cheyenne.
2. Siouan - Yanktoni Dakota, Teton Dakota, Assiniboin, Hidatsa, Mandan, and Crow.
3. Caddoan - Arikara (Ree), Pawnee.
The cultural groups are:
1. Nomadic - Assiniboin, Yanktoni Dakota, Teton Dakota, and Crow.
2. Seminomadic - Chippewa and Cree.
3. Sedentary - Hidatsa, Mandan, Arikara, and Cheyenne, who later became the nomadic Cree
(94).
Aboriginal inhabitants of proto-South Dakota according to the time intervals during which they existed include:
Archaic period before A.D. 800 (little cultural data) Middle Plains Woodland A.D. 800-1200 (hunter-gatherers) Arikara A.D. 1150-1832 (agranian; hunters) Siouan (Dakota) A.D. 1750-present (nomads, hunter-gatherers)
The majority of skeletons evaluated during Dry Bones Project were Arikara, with some Mandan admixture. At least fifty Middle Plains Woodland skeletons and the Crow Creek massacre mass burial bones have been examined. A few Siouan skeletons from various places have been evaluated. A significant number of bones came from skeletons for which there was little or no provenience. The oldest human remnants we have seen from South Dakota (carbon dated 3,800 BP +/- 110 years) were 16 incomplete skeletons from the Hilde Gravel Pit near Lake Madison (161,162). The Middle Plains Woodland skeletons, the Crow Creek villagers (probably proto-Arikara) (361) and the Hilde Gravel Pit skeletons are pre-Columbian; those in museums, private collections, and salvage archaeology skeletons are primarily post-Columbian.
The Arikara were of Caddoan origin, descend from people who came into the Great Plains region from the southeast. Their immediate predecessors were of the Central Plains Tradition, which developed in present-day Kansas, Nebraska, and western Iowa. The proto-Dakota Territory Arikara were related to or a branch of the Skidi Pawnee of eastern Nebraska. By the eighteenth century the Arikara territory extended from present day northeastern Nebraska northward into the region between the Bad and Cheyenne rivers in mid-South Dakota. Following the migration of the Sioux from the northeast into the Dakota Territory during the mid-1700s, the Arikara gradually moved northward into proto-North Dakota, where their descendents now live (238).
THE HORSE, BETTER TRANSPORTATION, TRADE PATTERNS
The coming of the horse in the early 1700s had tremendous impact upon the economy of the area (Figure 1.1.) (69,88,149,238,353). Before its arrival travel was on foot, utilizing human or dog power to pull a travois. Mobility of individuals was slow, and removal of communities was difficult.
It is notable that the Siouan people were migrating into the region about the time the horse was spreading throughout the territory. These two factors significantly affected the cultural patterns of all regional tribes. The new means of transportation provided speedier and better transportation but brought with it additional health problems, especially new forms of physical trauma. Facilitation of travel also contributed significantly to the rapid dissemination of communicable infectious diseases.
Ray (272), Orser and Owsley (244), and Orser (243) explored the importance of the Arikara Indians in the fur trade industry and the flow of trade goods in the early Dakota Territory. Ray used artifacts found in village sites to establish trade patterns in the region. The other investigations differed from Ray's in that artifacts found in cemeteries were also used to base conclusions. The investigations indicated that the Arikara were important middlemen in the flow of trade through the region. In addition, in the last of these reports Orser commented that if analysis is limited to village artifacts, omitting cemetery findings, the number of Euro-American items in an archaeological assemblage is under represented.
Thurman (318) questioned the inter pretation of "covering the dead" by Orser and Owsley. These studies strongly implicate trade patterns in the Upper Missouri River Basin as being influential in the dissemination of contagious diseases.
COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
Nichols commented regarding the frequently marginal nutritional status of the Arikara Indians and the devastating effect of communicable diseases upon their population (238). Denig reported regarding the complete lack of sanitation in Arikara villages and alluded to parasitosis among, .rm105 the villagers. In addition he noted that Arikara children died off in far greater numbers than did those of roving tribes, "from diseases arising from the filthy state of their abodes, from cholera infantum in the season of green corn, and from impure air in their dark and damp hovels" (90). Because these people existed under conditions of marginal sanitation and nutrition and were reported by Denig to be infested with parasites (90), the probability is good that wound healing and resistance to infections were affected.
The impact of epidemic diseases upon the aboriginal population of the upper basin is
well recognized (193,194). Major smallpox epidemics occurred in the region in 1781-82,
1801-03, 1837-38, 1856, and 1870-71. Schulenberg cited Mooney who estimated population
losses by various tribes from smallpox in North Dakota during the interval 1780-1907 as
follows:
Arikara: reduced from 3000 to 389;
Assiniboin: 10,000 to 2080; Crow: 4000 to 1787;
Hidatsa: 2500 to 468;
Mandan: 3600 to 263.
The Cheyenne population declined slightly if at all, and the Dakota gained a few percent
(290). In addition to the viral epidemics, cholera was responsible for many deaths in
1849, 1851, and 1853 (217,290). The more rapid transportation provided by the horse, and
later by steamboats on the Missouri River, coupled with geographic isolation of aboriginal
villages, allowed virulent new diseases to establish beachheads in the "virgin
soil" of the non-immune population. Ultimately, the "herd type diseases"
were probably the single biggest factor contributing to the depopulation of most of the
regional tribes. Unfortunately for paleopathology, most of the highly contagious
"herd type" diseases involved soft tissue, and usually did not leave characteris
tic imprints in bone.
MORTUARY PRACTICES
Indigenous burial procedures have frequently influenced information obtainable from skeletons and cemeteries. The usual methods for disposal of the dead in the region were, 1. primary interment shortly after death, 2. scaffold burial, and 3. cairn burial (common in North Dakota, often in a sitting position, the body covered with rocks)(290). Scaffold burials usually were interred later.
ARIKARA
The Arikara were primarily sedentary farmers, seasonally hunter-gatherers, who usually
inhabited earth lodges in fixed villages (Fig. 1.2). The deceased were buried in community
cemeteries located upon heights near the villages. Arikara usually placed the dead body in
the fetal position (on the side with the legs drawn up to the body, Fig. 1.3). In most
Arikara inhumations the body was placed directly into the ground, often wrapped in buffalo
robes and accompanied by gravegoods. The grave was frequently covered with cedar wood. In
the winter when the ground was frozen, making digging difficult, they used scaffold
burial, with secondary interment after the Spring thaw (334).
When Arikara villages had existed in one place for a number of years, using a common cemetery, it was not unusual for later burials to be inserted into previous graves as intrusive burials (Figure 1.4). The commingling of skeletal components, especially if two or more individuals about the same age were buried together, produced problems for the archaeologists in identification of individual body components, and reflected upon the validity of abnormalities found during the search for search for osteopathology.
Ubelaker and Willey reported regarding the complexities of Arikara mortuary practices in 2,158 South Dakota burials at the Rygh, Leavenworth, Leavett, Mobridge, and Larson Sites. Of these, 1,131 (52.4%) were undisturbed, 62 (2.9%) were disturbed by rodents, 335 (15.5%) were disturbed by Indians, and 204 (9.5%) were disturbed by looters. There were 426 (19.7%) secondary, nondisturbed burials (334). They observed, as have others, that the presence of insect pupae with or within skeletons, and artifacts accompanying skeletons, make it possible to determine tentatively the season of the year in which bur ials occurred (112,204).
Orser compared the archaeological information regarding Arikara mortuary practices to information in McKay's "Indian Tribes" and found that historical reports and archeological findings relating to the Arikara mortuary practices are in agreement (242).
In the past more so than at present, pothunters searching for cultural artifacts quite often dug in Arikara cemeteries and opened burials. Unwanted skeletal components were discarded into the hole in the ground. Later, when a looted cemetery was excavated using scientific archaeological techniques, the anatomic disruption, bone breakage, and loss of skeletal components were apparent in the disturbed burial (Fig. 1.5). Burrowing animals (i.e., badger, fox, coyote, dog, rabbit, ground squirrel, field mouse) intrusions into aboriginal cemeteries have been another source of anatomic disruption and loss of complete or partial bones (Fig. 1.6) (334). With variability between communities attributable to factors already mentioned and differing soil conditions, skeletal preservation and anatomic details generally have been good for Arikara skeletons.
Figure 1.7. Mandan ceremonial circle of skulls, illustrated by Catlin (72).
MIDDLE PLAINS WOODLAND BURIALS
Most Woodland burials were in the eastern part of the Dakotas. In South Dakota no large
collections of Woodland skeletons or sizeable cemetery populations have been available for
study. Almost all Woodland skeletons we examined came from primary interments, usually in
single graves or small clusters of graves. Preservation of Woodland skeletons has been
variable, but generally quite good.
MANDAN and HIDATSA
For burial purposes the Mandan and Hidatsa usually erected a four pole scaffold about
seven feet high, upon which they placed the body wrapped in robes and blankets. Later, the
defleshed post-cranial bones were interred. The skulls were placed in a ceremonial circle
around poles in the village (Fig. 1.7) (72). Here offerings were made to supernatural
powers (290). Skull circles were also attributed to the Assiniboin (290).
SIOUX (Dakota)
The Sioux Indians were nomadic when they entered the Dakota Territory. In the
pre-reservation era fixed villages were not a feature of their culture. Most
pre-reservation Siouan burials in South Dakota were on scaffolds, with later interment of
the bones. As a result, few Sioux skeletons have been available to us for analysis.
Putative Siouan skeletons from the Upper Missouri River Basin have come from widely scat
tered sources, and few have had much, if any, provenience. The majority of
"Sioux" skeletons examined were those of adults, indicating a skewed population
and random sample specimens. The preservation of Siouan skeletons that have been examined
is good, but it was not possible to assess them for details that depend upon anatomic
continuity. In addition, most were partial skeletons from which important components were
missing. The state of preservation and the absence of components are attributable to
mortuary customs.
According to historical accounts some North American aboriginal cultures performed deliberate or ceremonial mutilation as part of mortuary procedures, or for other reasons (201). Although corporeal mutilation accompanying a massacre or killing has been observed, deliberate ceremonial mutilation has not been identified during the Dry Bones project.
At first the skull of an adult 40-45 yr. old male from the Sully Site cemetery, seemed an exception (Fig. 1.8). It was defaced in three ways, decapitation through the occipital portion, multiple fractures involving the calvarium and facial structures, and a 9 mm hole drilled into the squamous portion of the left temporal bone. This specimen was in the community burial area, but probably is the skull taken from an enemy and used as a trophy. The hole was intended for insertion of a thong to carry the skull. The practice of drilling holes in skulls to display them was reported from Kansas by Phenice, who described eight skulls with artificial defects in the occipital areas, and demonstrated that the defects had been made postmortem (263).
UPPER MISSOURI RIVER BASIN ARCHAEOLOGY
At various times in history a tremendous number of people lived in North Dakota and South Dakota,with particularly heavy concentrations of villages in the vicinities of present day Mobridge and Pierre, South Dakota (343). Some sites were multicomponent sites, having been occupied during different time periods. In the past, amateur and professional archaeologists have worked at many ancient village sites in the Dakota Territory. Most of these projects were excavations within the villages, primarily in search of cultural artifacts, but during the excavations human remnants were exhumed (Fig. 1.9).
Figure 1.10. Recognized archaelogical sites in Sioux Dakota, many the source of osteopathology.
Table 1.1 Prominent South Dakota Salvage Archaeology Project Sites
Time in Grant
Site Number History Excavated Agency
Sully 39SL4 1650-1700 A.D. 1956 S.R.B.S.*
1957 "
1958 "
1961
1962 "
Rygh 39CA4 1600-1650 A.D. 1965 N.S.F.** GS837
1966 " "
1969 N.G.S.*** 699, 912
1970 N.S.F.** GS2717
Leavenworth 39CO9 1800-1832 A.D. 1965 N.S.F.** GS837
1966 " "
1969 N.G.S.*** 699, 912
Mobridge
MO-1 39WW1 1700-1750 A.D. 1968 N.G.S.*** 699, 912
1969 " "
1970 N.S.F.** GS2717
MO-2 39WW1 1700-1750 A.D. 1970 N.S.F.** GS2717
1971 N.G.S.*** 699, 912
Larson 39WW2 1700-1785 A.D. 1966 N.S.F.** GS837
1967 " GS1635
1968 N.G.S.*** 699, 912
Nordvold 39CO31 Prehistoric 1969 N.G.S.*** 699, 912
32
33
Red Horse 39CO34 1675-1775 A.D.
Hawk
Davis 39CO14 1550-1675 A.D. 1969 N.G.S.*** 699, 912
Potts 39CO19 1970 N.S.F.** GS2717
Molstad 39DW234 1540-1575 A.D. 1969 N.G.S.*** 699, 912
Crow Creek 39BF11 1300-1350 A.D. 1978 C.E.**** DACW-45-
78-C-0018
* S.R.B.S.= Smithsonian River Basin Survey
** N.S.F.= National Science Foundation
*** N.G.S.= National Geographic Society
**** C.E.= U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Information supplied by P. Willey, Curator, Bone Laboratory, Anthropology
Department, University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
|
Figure 1.12. Young adult skeleton. Preservation facilitates identification of osteopathology.
As a consequence, today many human artifacts are in private and museum collections in the region. The largest numbers of early human skeletons were in the William H. Over Museum collection at the University of South Dakota, the Museum of the Historical Society of North Dakota, and the U.S. National Museum. Because facilities and techniques for obtaining human remnants were limited for early archaeological projects, the skeletons in private and museum collections are largely random samples in time, geography, culture, age, sex, and skeletal components. Unfortunately, provenience is minimal for many specimens.
As was pointed out by Stewart (306) abnormal components may affect skeletal material collected in two ways: 1. Bones affected by disease are often fragile, disintegrating and losing substance after burial, obviating the abnormality and making them less appealing specimens. 2. Abnormal specimens that withstand interment often are prized more than normals by opportunistic collectors seeking unusual artifacts. These phenomina were apparent in regional museum and private collections. Although the existence of specific skeletal abnormalities in the region can be documented through these specimens, because they are selective samples, demographic implications are not easily identifiable.
Prior to construction of large dams across the Missouri River in the 1960s, salvage archaeology was utilized to save human and cultural artifacts from the reservoir (158,159,182,344). During these projects entire village cemetery populations were exhumed and subsequently became available for study. From this research has come a tremendous amount of information about the physical characteristics, and the milieu of the people who lived in the region during known time intervals. Time and funding constraints upon the salvage archaeology precluded excavation of every aboriginal site in North and South Dakota prior to inundation within the reservoirs. Therefore, the major effort during salvage archaeology in the 1960s and 1970s focused upon recovery of relics from significant archaeological sites.
Important archaeological sites that have been excavated during the past 80 years, and as part of the Missouri River Basin salvage are listed in Table 1.1, with site number, period in history, year(s) of excavation, and funding agency. Salvage archaeology has produced a large number of human skeletons, many complete and in excellent condition, and most with good provenience (Figs. 1.3, 1.11, 1.12). The availability of the salvage specimens has contributed significantly to demographic, epidemiologic, and osteopathologic research in the region. These well preserved cemetery specimens represent cross sections of communities, with all age groups and both sexes represented, making it possible to assess longevity and well being of individuals and the health in the region, during a known interval in time.
SALVAGE ARCHAEOLOGY
Although all Missouri River Basin salvage projects were important to the search for ancient osteopathology, it is not feasable or desirable here to explore the projects individually, or in depth.
An exemplary salvage project was conducted during several summers in the mid-1960s at the Leavenworth Site (39C09, 1800-1832 A.D.). This site (Fig. 1.13) represents two former historic Arikara villages and their cemeteries. It is located upon the west bank of the Missouri River eleven miles north of present day Mobridge, S.D. The Arikara living in these villages at that time were visited by Lewis and Clark during their journey through the Louisiana Purchase in the early 19th century. The occasion was mentioned in their journals (33,238). Because of incursions by Arikara in northern South Dakota against fur traders in the area, in 1823 General H. Leavenworth campaigned against the people in these two villages. During this operation Leavenworth's troops shelled the villages, but most of the Indians had fled before firing started. During the attack, Vandenberg's first and second gun batteries were stationed in the village cemetery, located on heights north of the habitations (Fig. 1.14).
Time constraints upon salvage archeology to identify and excavate all possible human and cultural artifacts before they were inundated within the reservoir, forced expeditious location of burials by use of power equipment. After earth movers had removed a thin layer of top soil exposing the underlying loess, individual burial pits were usually located easily by finding characteristic round or oval shaped patches of altered soil color and/or texture, 18-36 inches in diameter, indicating an underlying burial.
In a 1966 photograph (Fig. 1.16A), made from a bluff about one mile southwest, the Leavenworth cemetery is indicated by a black arrow. An exploratory cut had been made with a power scraper in the topsoil of this bluff to search for burials peripheral to the main cemetery. None were found here. Figure 1.16B shows the archeological team at work in the Leavenworth cemetery when Figure 1.16A was taken.
In Figure 1.17 the topography southwest of the Leavenworth cemetery is as it was during the early stages of inundation. Both Leavenworth village sites in the old Missouri River bottom were deep beneath the water below the hill. Roots of the tree protruding from the water were in the soil near the mouth of Cottonwood Creek (Figs.1.13, 1.14). At the time of this photograph (summer 1966) the excavations were fifteen feet above water level. Much of this ground is now inundated within the reservoir.
Wave action and frequently changing water levels are eroding into the Missouri River bluffs, effac ing the topography and eliminating all cultural remnants at the Leavenworth Site. In July 1983 the Leavenworth Site was revisited. At that time, erosion into the river bluffs at the west edge of the cemetery seen in Figure 1.17, had exposed the skeleton of a young female (Fig. 1.18), missed during excavations in the 1960s. The smooth slope southwestward toward the river bottom in 1965 was replaced by a sharp bluff about 3 meters high. Over a period in time the skeleton in Figure 1.18 would have been lost as the bluff crumbled into the reservoir.
The location of habitations and cemetery at the former Rygh Site (39CA3) on the east bank of the Missouri River three miles southeast (downstream) from the Leavenworth Site, are as they appeared in 1965 (Fig. 1.19). This ground is now far beneath the water's surface within the reservoir. The Rygh Site was excavated promiscuously by many individuals and groups over a period of years, rendering it less valuable as a source of osteopathology specimens, or as a resource for relevant epidemiological data. However, a few unusual and interesting pathological specimens were discovered at the Rygh site, mostly by amateur archeologists. Some of these specimens have been included in the Dry Bones report.
MASS DISASTER ARCHAEOLOGY
When many individuals are involved in a catastrophe, the end result often is a mass burial. Examination of what remains reveals information about the individuals involved, as well as the health status of the population in the vicinity, as it was during one instant in time. The residua of two catastrophes, geographically 125 miles apart, have been investigated in South Dakota in the past 18 years. One occurred in the 14th century and the other was in the 18th century. Both werethe result of warfare, and both involved Arikara Indians.
The first massacre came to light during salvage excavations 1966-68, directed by William Bass, at the Larson Site (39WW2, 1750-1785 A.D.) village and cemetery (250). Six hundred twenty one skeletons were found in the Larson cemetery.
The scattered commingled bones of 71 other skeletons, 61 on earth lodge floors, were found in the village (251). The finding of non-interred human skeletons within the confines of Arikara earth lodges was unusual, presenting prima facie evidence of some disaster. Of the skulls recovered from the Larson village, 17/41 had para-mortem scalping marks. The other skeletons bore evidence of physical violence at the time of death. Because only 3/29 of the Larson village earth lodges were excavated prior to inundation within the Oahe Reservoir, the actual number of people involved in the massacre can only be contemplated. Owsley and co-workers speculated that there may have been many other skeletons in unexcavated houses, and the actual magnitude of the tragedy was many times greater than was established as fact (251).
Figure 1.18.Leavenworth July 1983. West end of burial hills showing severe erosion.
Figure 1.19. Rygh Site (arrows) 1966.
Figure 1.20 Crow Creek Site. Aerial photo. Fortification ditch, bastions, & earthlodge depressions.
Steep bluffs protect village perimeters. Massacre skeletons in west end of moat. Evidence of the second catastrophe appeared in 1978 at the Crow Creek Site (39BF11), located on the east bluff of the Missouri River eleven miles due north of Chamberlain, S.D. (Fig. 1.10). Carbon datings to 1325 and 1390 A.D. indicate that at the time of the massacre the village was occupied by people who were culturally of the Initial Coalescent variant, and ancestral to the Arikara (361). This large site, now a National Historic Landmark, was first excavated in 1954 and 1955 jointly by the United States Park Service and the Nebraska Historical Society, as part of the Missouri River salvage (184). The village occupied nearly eighteen acres and contained atleast fifty earth lodges.
Protecting the village's northern perimeter there was a pallisade with ten bastions, and a fortification ditch four meters wide, about two meters deep, and 380 meters (1,250 feet) long. Sheer bluffs along the westperimeter and steep hills and bluffs along the south and east protected these boundries, Figure 1.20.
Figure 1.21B. Mass grave with remains of more than 486 individuals.
By virtue of its accessability to pot-hunters, and the river's increasing erosion into its banks as the reservoir filled, the Crow Creek Site was gradually being destroyed. In 1978 the Corps of Engineers proposed stabilization of the bluffs at the west edge of the site to prevent further damage. While South Dakota Archaeological Society members were inspecting the site in May 1978, a few human bones were seen protruding at the west end of the fortification ditch, where soil erosion had caused a deep cut in the bank. The engineering project, to begin June 15th, was rescheduled to include removal of the few bones thought to be present.
For logistical reasons the project had to be postponed until July 5th. Two days before excavations were to start, a looter apparently seeking artifacts, approached the site from the river side and dug into the bank at the west end of the fortification ditch where bones were exposed. Remnants of at least 44 skeletons were discarded in the deep gully.
Table 1.2 Crow Creek Ages At Death* Ages____Males____Females_______Total 0- 1 5 4 9 1- 4 16 16 32 5- 9 36 35 71 10-14 20 20 40 15-19 22 7 29 20-24 21 7 28 25-29 16 7 23 30-34 15 7 22 35-39 4 7 11 40-44 3 8 11 45-49 4 13 17 50-54 7 13 20 55-59 6 13 10 Total 175 157 332 *Smoothed distribution FROM: Zimmerman et al, 1980:10.
|
Table 1.3 Crow Creek Skeletons, Minimum and Maximum Bone Element Counts
Total Expected
Bone_______________Left__Right__Observed___Expected____Observed_%
Innominates 1133 972 117.7
Temporals
petrous* 477 486 963 972 99.1
Sacra 396 486 81.5
Skulls 392 486 80.6
Skulls, relatively
complete 104 486 21.4
Femora* 367 367 734 972 75.5
Lumbar vertebrae 1694 2430 69.7
Thoracic vertbrae 3498 5832 60.0
Tibiae* 262 269 531 972 54.5
Scapulae 521 972 53.6
Cervical vertebrae 1665 3402 48.9
Humeri* 200 213 413 972 42.5
Fibulae* 143 156 299 972 30.8
Ulnae* 113 131 244 972 25.1
Clavicles 233 972 24.0
Radii* 91 115 206 972 21.2
Tarsals 577 6804 8.5
Sternum 61 486 12.6
Metatarsals 264 4860 5.5
Coccyges 41 486 8.4
Patellae 39 972 4.0
Carpals 99 7704 1.3
Metacarpals 47 4860 1.0
Hand phalanges 44 13608 0.3
Foot phalanges 11 13608 0.1
* Minimum element counts performed for these bones. Maximum
counts used for all other bones. Bones observed compared
with # expected, based on minimum count 486.
FROM: Zimmerman et al, 1980:77,112.
|
Table 1.4 Crow Creek, Frontal Bone Cut Marks
PROBLEM HERE
Table 1.5 Crow Creek Decapitation Markings
Bone Bed A. Definite N= 17 - - 94.4% Bone Bed A. Occipital N= 2 - 66.7 %
Possible N= 1 - - - 5.6% None N= 1 - 33.7 %
Bone Bed B. Definite N= 254 - - -85.5% C- 1 N= 1 - 100.0 %
Possible N= 24 - - - 8.1% Bone Bed B. Occipital N= 31 - 13.6 %
Uncut N= 19 - - - 6.4% Possible N= 6 - 2.6 %
None N= 191 - 83.8 %
Note: Both sexes and all ages were scalped. C- 1 N= 56 - 24.5 %
Possible N= 3 - 1.3 %
From: Zimmerman et al, 1980:154. None N= 170 - 74.2 %
C- 2 N= 31 - 16.5 %
Possible N= 4 - 2.1 %
None N= 153 - 81.4 %
From: Zimmerman et al, 1980:154.
Figure 1.22A. Multiple cut marks from scalping.
Figure 1.22B. Para-mortem depressed fractures and scalping cuts (arrow).
Figure 1.22C. Frontal bone with scalping marks & embedded flint chip, probably a scalping blade tip.
The looter's activity further weakened the bluffs' soil structure, forcing immediate intensive excavation. To facilitate exposure and to protect workers from bank slippage, the excavation proceeded from above and the bank was stepped back into the bluff. When the bone bed at the level of the former fortifi cation ditch floor was reached, the enormity of the situation was immediately apparent, Figure 1.21(A&B). A space seven meters square and one meter deep was completely filled with human bones. Remnants of men, women, and children were all present in the tremendous pile of bones. Notably, the skeletons of very children were few. Table 1.2 shows the smoothed distribution of ages at death in the skeletons.
The temporal bone count (right- 486, left- 477) provided the most accurate index for the total number of individuals in the mass burial. The minimum and maximum bone element count for the skeletons are in Table 1.3. Disproportionate representation of skeletal components indicated that certain bones were not in the mass burial, suggesting that some of them had not been buried, had been removed by car nivores, or were not in this cluster of bones.
Almost all of the skulls of both sexes and all ages bore evidence of scalping, (Fig. 1.22, A, B, C, Table 1.4). Many skulls had been decapitated (Fig.1.23, 1.24, Table 1.5), and many craniums were fractured, the type of fracture depicting the general type of weapon used to produce it (Figs. 1.25, 1.26, Tables 1.6, 1.7). Almost all hand bones and the majority of those in the feet were missing.
Table 1.6 Depressed Fractures, Number In Table 1.7 Depressed Fractures, Loci in
101 Crow Creek Skulls 68 Crow Creek Skulls
Fractures Skulls % Site Number %
One 28 27.7 Frontal - - - - - - 20 29.4
Two 8 7.9 Left - - - - 18 26.5
Three 2 1.9 Parietal 39.7
Four 2 1.9 Right - - - 27 39.7
Five_______________2________1.9 Occipital - - - - - 3 4.4
42 From: Zimmerman et al, 1980:157.
From: Zimmerman et al, 1980:156.
|
Table 1.8 Long Bone Modification, Bone Bed B Crow Creek Massacre Skeletons
Snapped & Not
Bone Chewed Splintered Crushed Modified Total
__________N=______%_____N=______%____N=______%_____N=________%_____N=________%___
Humerus 219 18.5 189 15.9 8 0.6 786 64.9 1185 99.9
Radius 44 8.2 138 25.6 4 0.8 352 65.4 538 100.0
Ulna 90 15.3 160 27.3 9 1.6 328 55.9 587 100.1
Femur 440 22.4 219 11.1 24 1.3 1293 65.4 1976 100.2
Tibia 160 11.8 276 20.3 20 1.5 908 66.6 1364 100.2
Fibula 34 5.0 115 17.1 4 0.5 521 77.7 674 99.9
Instances of questionable identification were omitted.
From: Zimmerman et al, 1980:169
|
Table 1.9 Crow Creek Metatarsal Alterations
Bone Bed B
Snap/
Location__Chewing__Splinter___Crush___None____
Proximal 7 3.3% 8 3.7% - - 199 93.0%
Shaft 4 1.7% 30 12.7% - - 202 85.6%
Distal___21_11.4%__48_26.1%__11_.5%__114_62.0%
Total 32 5.0% 86 13.6% 11 .2% 515 81.2%
From: Zimmerman et al, 1980:163.
|
Figure 1.25. Skull injuries inflicted with broad and semi-pointed instruments.
Marks on many bones indicated human manipulation and molestation by carnivores. Figure 1.27 shows three long bone defacements from carnivore teeth, articular surface cuts, and distal femoral amputation. The frequency of these findings are in Tables 1.8 and 1.9. The tooth marks in the femoral head suggest its use as a handle by a canine to drag the bone across the prairie (362). Many humeral and femoral heads had similar markings. The fact that carnivors scavenged the bones, leaving permanant imprints on them, indicates that the villagers' corpses either lay on the prairie for an inter val after death, or were disinterred from shallow graves after burial. Subsequently what remained was reburied.
Although there were over 700 articulations of two or more bones, the skeletons had been dismembered so extensively that no complete individual skeleton was identifiable.
As part of the Crow Creek archaeology, soil in and surrounding the mass grave in the fortification ditch was analyzed. The soil immediately surrounding the skeletons was from the river bed about 15.2 meters (fifty feet) below the west end of the fortification ditch. This finding indicates that the massa cre victims' remains were buried, possibly by survivors of the catastrophe who returned afterwards (361).
Crow Creek archaeology finished in December 1978, at which time the limits of the excavation agreed upon had been reached, and the weather was inclement, precluding further excavation. A conservatively estimated fifty more skeletons were still in the fortification ditch east of the limits of the excavation. Although only the west six meters of the fortification ditch 380 meters long were explored, the project is finished. It is very possible that the actual total number of human skeletons in the mass burial far exceeds the identifiable skeletons that were recovered. The Crow Creek skeletons received a ceremonial reburial close to the location of their communal cemetery. The entrance to the original mass grave was sealed by the Corps of Engineers, such that no further investigation into this situation is possible.
The mass burial of the Crow Creek villagers had not been found by Kivett and Jensen in the 1950s because the west end of the fortification ditch, where the skeletons were located, was not excavated (184).
Despite the fact these skeletons were available for only a short time, a tremendous amount of infor mation was extracted concerning these people and their health, before and at the time of their deaths.The dismemberment of the skeletons and the selective absence of skeletal components precluded evaluations for some anatomic variants and pathology.
Although the circumstances contributing to this catastrophe are vague, it is likely that those who perpetrated the massacre were inhabitants of a nearby village, and probably of the same culture. The successful attack upon the village may have been due to a night time raid, or the village could have been penetrated at the time of some communal incapacity that impairedthe villagers' ability to fight or flee. Evidence of nutritional stress preceding and at the time of the massacre has been found (Ch 5).
Information from human remains preserved from the catastrophies at the Larson village and the Crow Creek village has allowed a brief glimpse at the people who lived during two periods in time, as they were at the moment of death. The Crow Creek skeletons represented people who lived at least 100 years before 1492, while the Larson Site villagers lived long after European immigration. Inasmuch as both cemetery skeletons and those of people living in the earth lodges at the time of death were available at Larson Site, it was possible to investigate health related problems existing during life, and also to see the effect of health problems active at the time of death. There were no cemetery specimens at Crow Creek, so desirable demographic data are not available for comparison with the findings at the Larson village.
ENVIRONMENT and SOIL
Regional environmental conditions at death and subsequently have influenced what remains of corporeal components. The survival of soft tissue through natural mummification requires rapid desiccation (drying) of all tissues. Long term preservation of non-osseous structures is enhanced by continued low atmospheric humidity. Prolonged high ambient temperatures combined with low humidity necessary to dehdrate the body rapidly, followed by sustained low humidity, are not characteristic of this region. For this reason, only a few small fragments of mummified human tissue have been found. Likewise, mummified feces (coprolites) have not been preserved, precluding analysis for intestinal parasitosis, dietary consitituents, and other evidence of gastrointestinal health related factors.
Differentiation of pseudopathological defects has caused considerable consternation on several occasions, especially when the Dry Bone evaluations for osteopathology were in the early stages. With experience, expert consultations, and radiographs, most non-disease artifacts were explained. In regional skeletons non-disease structural defects were usually identifiable as having been produced at three times after death, 1) during preparation or at burial, 2) while in the ground or other place, or 3) during exhumation, or afterwards.
Because the primary chemical salts in bones (calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, calcium fluoride, and magnesium chloride) are quite soluble in water, the condition of bones in area burials has been influenced significantly by the soil composition at the place of interment. Occasionally, bones from burials in acidic soil or soil conditions conducive to leaching of calcium, have had alterations suggesting those associated with osteoporosis (Figs. 1.11,1.28,1.29A). Compact soil that held moisture, by impeding drainage of ground water away from burials, was less conducive to bone preservation. Porous, slightly alkaline soil has usually been present in the vicinity of burials having the best anatomic details. Careful examination, soil analysis, and radiographs have helped to differentiate the true and pseudopathological conditions.
SUMMARY
Information relating to diseases and abnormalities that affected people living in the Upper Missouri River Basin region in the past has been obtained from historical acounts supplied by contemporary observers. Scientific information concerning many of these same people has come from evaluation of cultural artifacts and by examination of representative human remnants. Environmental conditions have precluded mummification, limiting the scientific information obtain able from aboriginal burials to what is pre served as osteopathology. However, the combined historcal information and osteopathological data have allowed considerable insight into the physical and health status of aborigines in the region.
To assess osteopathology in given skeletal cohorts, it has been imperative to have as much information as possible about the people and their culture. Obviously, more pertinent information concerning anatomic variations and pathology were obtained from primary interments than from scaffold burials, or those that were for some reason interred later (secondary or bundle burials) or altered after death (disturbed burial).
The information obtainable from regional skeletons has been influenced significantly by their completeness and general condition. In turn, the skeletons' condition and completeness has been influenced very definitely by burial customs, climatic and soil conditions, and the variables of human and other animal intrusions. Archeological techniques utilized to procure anatomic specimens have been an important factor in the amount of data obtained and the accuracy of the statistics compiled relating to the health and well being of the previous inhabitants of this region.
Figure 1.29B. Leavenworth Cemetery 1965. Cultural artifact in burial area.
