Abstract:
Recent advances in paleodemographic age estimation techniques and the
integration of improved statistical methods into the bioarchaeological analysis of
mortality and physiological stress has the potential to reveal levels of frailty and selective
mortality within past populations. This study seeks to demonstrate how
paleoepidemiological techniques can be used to advance our understanding of how
behavioral and biological plasticity helped to mitigate the stressors caused by
environmental perturbations in the Ancestral Pueblo Southwest. By examining two
skeletal samples from the Ancestral Pueblo sites of Pueblo Bonito (A.D. 800-1200) and
Hawikku (A.D. 1300-1680), this study tests the relationship between survivorship and the
presence of periosteal lesions, linear enamel hypoplasia, and adult body size (i.e., adult
stature and body mass). Additionally, skeletal growth trajectories are compared to adult
body size to understand if smaller individuals died before reaching adulthood. Results of the study indicate that individuals with healed periosteal lesions, no observed LEH, and
males below average for body mass had an increased likelihood of survival, and
therefore, a lower level of frailty. The skeletal growth analysis documented a probable
stunting event occurring between the ages of 6 to 12, but does not appear to be indicative
of selective mortality. These results demonstrate the advantages of applying a framework
of mortality and survivorship, focusing on potential relationships with early life stressors
and longevity, to the bioarchaeological analysis of skeletal indicators of stress in the past.
