http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
a bioarchaeological investigation of interpersonal violence on the West Gulf Coastal Plain
2 volumes : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm.
In this study, I evaluate two models explaining the origins and causes of interpersonal violence, using bioarchaeological data from burials derived from twenty-eight prehistoric and historic sites for two regions on the West Gulf Coastal Plain: the Central Coastal Plain (CCP) and the Mixed Deciduous Forest/Prairie (MDFP) region. Ecological models of violence predict that resource stress due to cultural or environmental shifts leads to violent interactions due to competition between neighboring populations. The European contact model suggests that violence intensified among Native American populations following the cultural, physiological, and environmental upheavals created through the process of colonialism. For both models, I examine the level of metabolic and hence resource stress by evaluating demographic parameters of the populations in question, as well as using paleopathological data and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. I use skeletal trauma, burial characteristics, and demographic anomalies to assess the degree and scale of interpersonal violence. Demographic analysis indicates that subadults and old adults are under-represented on the CCP. One site located in the MDFP region, Loeve-Fox, shows striking demographic anomalies. Minimum fertility estimates (based on the D₂₀₊/D₅₊ ratio) remained constant over time, except for a slight decrease during the Historic period in the MDFP region. Cribra orbitalia data suggest that the factors responsible for acquired anemia remained constant over time and space. Periostoses show few temporal or regional differences, although more ulnar periostoses are apparent in prehistoric samples. Enamel hypoplasias reveal that children in Archaic populations may have suffered more episodes of stress during childhood. Craniofacial trauma in Historic MDFP populations suggests that hand-to-hand combat may have been used to settle conflicts, while projectile point injuries in Archaic coastal populations and Late Prehistoric inland groups signify deadly intent. Mortuary data suggests that multiple burials were sometimes used to cope with simultaneous deaths due to violence or epidemic disease. As predicted by the ecological models, violent interactions on the CCP were most common among Archaic populations, and more frequent among Late Prehistoric populations in the MDFP region. These findings add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that violence among Native Americans significantly predates European contact.
Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 469-528).