Applying the Index of Care to Antemortem Cranial Trauma at Bab adh-Dhra’

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Early Bronze Age II-III (EBA) at Bab adh-Dhra’ represents a period of significant social change partially marked by the establishment of a fortified town at the site. This research examines the individual and community-wide implications of antemortem cranial depression fractures (CDFs) during this shift in socio-economic lifestyles and population density. The Index of Care, a progression of four analytical steps utilized in bioarchaeology of care studies, was applied in the case of two individuals to determine possible brain damage and assistance required from the community after their initial cranial trauma based on the location of the CDFs and the use of Brodmann areas, a regional/functional map of the brain. Possible biological and social consequences of the injuries were determined using a combination of clinical, neurological, and archaeological data. Results determined that both individuals would have required short-term care following the initial injury. Possible long-term care would have been necessary if neurological or motor function was affected. Despite these possible impairments, both survived their initial injuries and were eventually included in the A22 charnel house at the site. This suggests that cranial trauma was an understood and accepted experience within the community of Bab adh-Dhra’ during the EBA II-III.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39069.0