Life in the Cliffs: Analysis of Health and Trauma in Ancestral Puebloan Populations from Mesa Verde

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park have been studied extensively by archaeologists, primarily with respect to understanding living conditions in the region prior to the widespread depopulation in the 13th century. There are far fewer bioarchaeological studies based on the analysis of human remains. This study incorporates data on demography, disease, and trauma from burials analyzed as part of NAGPRA compliance in the early 1990s. Burials came from larger sites on Wetherill Mesa that date to A.D. 900-1300. Health deterioration after the transition from mesa-top pueblos to cliff dwellings around A.D. 1150 is evident based on increased frequencies of two disease markers, cribra orbitalia and periosteal reaction. While trauma decreased during Pueblo III for males, females experienced increased frequencies of cranial and post-cranial trauma. Increased female trauma and a male-skewed sex ratio indicates raiding for women in the region. Perimortem trauma (occurring around the time of death and likely lethal) increased during Pueblo III, specifically at Long House, where multiple individuals exhibited spiral fractures, burning, and post-mortem scattering of body parts. These trends in health and trauma prior to depopulation provide important corroborating evidence of the troubled times that preceded mass migration out of the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32305