Dental Health of the Delmarva Adena–Hopewell Native American of Pig Point Site in Lothian, MD

Summary

I examined the dental health of Delmarva Adena-Hopewell Native Americans from a mortuary ossuary pit at the Pig Point Site in Lothian, Maryland, dating to the Middle Woodland Period (300 BC-AD 900). The Pig Point Site is a site of impressive ritual mortuary features, five distinct secondary burial ossuary pits, indicating that this was an area of significance to local prehistoric populations. Douglas Owsley carefully examined the dental remains of the first burial ossuary pit and I compared Owsley’s analyses of the Pit One dental remains with the dental remains of the fourth burial pit. I established the minimum number of individuals (MNI) represented in Pit Four and assessed the dental health of the population through the occurrence of dental diseases, such as dental caries and enamel defect hypoplasia. In most prehistoric forager societies, the frequency of dental caries is low, while the frequency of linear enamel hypoplasia is high. My results concluded that the populations buried at Pig Point Site were in overall good health, with slight variation between Pit One and Pit Four. I hope my research will contribute to an understanding of the subsistence practices and daily life of local Delmarva peoples.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage