Incorporating historic archaeology to inform osteological interpretations of the Kleinburg ossuary skeletal collection

Summary

The Kleinburg ossuary is a protohistoric ossuary excavated in 1970 by the University of Toronto. The skeletal collection comprises a minimum of 561 individuals who are ancestral to the Huron-Wendat. The collection represents an ideal study population to test bioarchaeological questions due to the associated ethnohistoric records, as well as previous osteological, stable isotopic, and paleoethnobotanical studies.Described as two of the most common pathological conditions observed in human remains, the underlying cause of cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis has recently been the subject of significant debate. Hypotheses of etiology cite iron deficiency anemia, megaloblastic anemia, the anemia of chronic disease and scurvy as potential causes of the lesions of interest. This paper describes how analysis of the Kleinburg crania incorporating a dietary reconstruction informed by several archaeological and ethnohistoric lines of evidence contributes to the debate concerning the etiology of cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014   •
• Archaeology and the Evolution of the Cultural Traditions of 16th-17th Century Wendat Sites

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-74,04