The price of freedom: health status in a freed slave community in Le Morne (18-19th centuries, Mauritius).

Author(s): Jonathan Santana Cabrera; Krish Seetah; Jo Appleby

Year: 2015

Summary

This contribution presents the preliminary results of an osteobiograhical approach to the life conditions of a slave/ex-slave population from Le Morne cemetery (18-19th centuries, Mautiritius Island). We evaluate the incidence of several stress indicators/pathologies on the human remains that are the result of environmental conditions during life. Dental health, infectious diseases and physical activity markers were analyzed to address the daily life of this population. Our results indicate high incidences of caries, periodontal disease, dental calculus, antemortem losses and dental enamel hypoplasia. In addition, a nonspecific infectious disease in form of osteomyelitis was recorded on bones from four of the individuals. Evidence of physical activity stress that consist of significant mechanical efforts were also observed in the sample. These markers are enthesopathies, Schmorl's nodes, herniated disks, osteoarthritis in the spine and appendicular skeleton, bilateral spondylolysises and fractures of the secondary ossification centers in some ulnae and calcaneus. The osteobiographical profiles documented in the population from Le Morne suggest poor health conditions, consistent with historical data. In this regard, osteobiographical research on this population contributes to recovering the historical memory of this community.

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Cite this Record

The price of freedom: health status in a freed slave community in Le Morne (18-19th centuries, Mauritius).. Jonathan Santana Cabrera, Jo Appleby, Krish Seetah. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 397136)

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Keywords

General
bioarchaeology • Mauritius • Slavery

Geographic Keywords
AFRICA

Spatial Coverage

min long: -18.809; min lat: -38.823 ; max long: 53.262; max lat: 38.823 ;