Modelling Suture Ossification: A View from the Cranial Capsule

A review of the development, anatomy, and physiology of the human cranial vault suggests that post-adolescent ossification of the suture margins is dictated by interactions between tissues of the cranial capsule and forces deriving from ectocranial, endocranial and diploid sources. A model viewing suture physiology as sensitive to changes in the cranial capsule\u27s environment is tested to identify whether several processes stimulate connective tissue transformation in the suture area. Correlation and factor analysis of the suture-to-suture interactions produced results indicating that when age is controlled, endocranial and ectocranial surfaces independently respond to pressures placed on the anterior and posterior portions of the cranial vault. Post-adolescent suture changes appear to be responses to age change in the structures around the cranial capsule. Modeling the suture in terms of external pressures provides a clearer understanding of how the cranial capsule is affected by age

Origins of an Unmarked Georgia Cemetery Using Ancient DNA Analysis

Determining the origins of those buried within undocumented cemeteries is of incredible importance to historical archaeologists and in many cases, the nearby communities. In the case of Avondale Burial Place, a cemetery in Bibb County, Georgia, in use from 1820 to 1950, all written documentation of those interred within it has been lost. Osteological and archaeological evidence alone could not describe, with confidence, the ancestral origins of the 101 individuals buried there. In the present study, we utilize ancient DNA extraction methods to investigate the origins of Avondale Burial Place through the use of well-preserved skeletal fragments from 20 individuals buried in the cemetery. Through examination of hypervariable region I in the mitochondrial genome (HVR1, mtDNA), we determine haplotypes for all 20 of these individuals. A total of 18 of the 20 individuals belong to the L or U haplogroups, suggesting that Avondale Burial Place was most likely used primarily as a resting place for African Americans. After the surrounding Bibb County community expressed interest in investigating potential ancestral relationships to those within the cemetery, a total of eight potential descendants provided saliva in order to obtain mtDNA HVR1 information. This phase of the study revealed that two different individuals from Avondale Burial Place matched two individuals with oral history ties to the cemetery. Using the online tool EMPOP, we calculated the likelihood of these exact matches occurring by chance alone

Social and Biological Structures in the Mound C Cemetery, Wickliffe Mound Group (15BA4)

Cemeteries are archaeological phenomena that accumulate over time. When formed in socially unstable cultural environments, the messages communicated by mortuary-based material symbols may change over the course of grave accumulation. This dissertation explores whether Mississippian Period mortuary deposits in Mound C, of the Wickliffe Mound Group (15BA4) changed over time. Cemeteries are places where the dead\u27s social qualities are defined. They help reemphasize important community values and provide a biologically safe repository for the dead. Symbolized mortuary features convey seven general types of social information. This relationship is sensitive to temporal change. Several analyses placed the cemetery into socio-biological contexts. Radiometric analysis identified that graves accumulation coincided with an unstable socio-political expansion. Health conditions were similar to those in Mississippian communities. Age and sex structures conformed to those in other like assemblages. Evidence of internal structure was also identified. The interments exhibited 34 distinct attributes. For each of 104 interments, these attributes were transformed into Jaccard pseudo-distance measures. Several clustering approaches were used to model the structural organization of these variables. Cophenetic analyses determined that the Average Linkage Approach provided the best fit with the original data\u27s structure. No less than 71 unique mortuary attribute combinations were deposited in the cemetery. These were arranged into nine distinct clusters. The internal structure of each cluster varied between groups. The cemetery was observed to follow the same low entropy structural arrangement found in other Mississippian Period cemeteries. As a means of controlling for time, each clustered interment was stratigraphically ordered. Graves representing the most ancient and most recent deposits were compared. No strong differences between initial and ending accumulation events were found. Social change during the Mound C Cemetery accumulation period was not strong enough to alter the existing mortuary ritual in an archaeologically definable manner. Given that village use was longer than Mound C Cemetery use, more than one facility must have been used by the community. Major shifts in community dynamics may discourage interest in established burial areas and promote construction of new facilities