Artifacts and Commingled Skeletal Remains from a Well on the Medical College of Virginia Campus: Human Skeletal Remains from Archaeological Site 44HE814

This is a report prepared by Douglas W. Owsley and Karin Bruwelheide, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in fulfillment of the Contract Agreement between the Smithsonian Institution. The objectives of this report included identification and documentation of the bones and artifacts recovered from the well, establishing the temporal context, and interpreting the relationship of the materials to the site’s use and history as an early medical school in the city of Richmond. This report has three main sections: a review of the archival history of the school as it related to the use of the well, a description of the artifact assemblage, and documentation of the human remains, including craniometric and postcraniometric analyses. Researchers with differing areas of expertise contributed to this report

Artifacts and Commingled Skeletal Remains from a Well on the Medical College of Virginia Campus: Introduction

This is a report prepared by Douglas W. Owsley and Karin Bruwelheide, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in fulfillment of the Contract Agreement between the Smithsonian Institution. The objectives of this report included identification and documentation of the bones and artifacts recovered from the well, establishing the temporal context, and interpreting the relationship of the materials to the site’s use and history as an early medical school in the city of Richmond. This report has three main sections: a review of the archival history of the school as it related to the use of the well, a description of the artifact assemblage, and documentation of the human remains, including craniometric and postcraniometric analyses. Researchers with differing areas of expertise contributed to this report

Artifacts and Commingled Skeletal Remains from a Well on the Medical College of Virginia Campus: Appendices

This is a report prepared by Douglas W. Owsley and Karin Bruwelheide, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in fulfillment of the Contract Agreement between the Smithsonian Institution. The objectives of this report included identification and documentation of the bones and artifacts recovered from the well, establishing the temporal context, and interpreting the relationship of the materials to the site’s use and history as an early medical school in the city of Richmond. This report has three main sections: a review of the archival history of the school as it related to the use of the well, a description of the artifact assemblage, and documentation of the human remains, including craniometric and postcraniometric analyses. Researchers with differing areas of expertise contributed to this report

Otitis Media, Mastoiditis, and Infracranial Lesions In Two Plains Indian Children

One disease condition that is common to nearly all children is otitis media, also known as middle ear disease. Although most people speak of it as a middle ear infection, other causes such as neoplasm (tumor) can result in manifestations and symptoms mimicking an infectious process. This paper presents findings related to osseous lesions in two Indian children, approximately three to five years of age, who died with otitis media and infracranial lesions. Through macroscopic and radiographic analysis, it is possible to show that one child probably suffered from tuberculosis and the other from histiocytosis X. From an epidemiological and historical perspective, these determinations in skeletons from the Plains contribute to improved understanding of the evolution of infectious and tumorous disease in North America

Easter Island Origins: Implications of Osteological Findings

A primary objective of the 1981 Easter Island Anthropological Expedition was to acquire a well documented sample of prehistoric Easter Island skeletons, to collect craniofacial metrics and to record observations of nonmetric characteristics (as well as some data on postcranial traits) that would make possible a thorough study of population affinities. The 1981 expedition was highly successful with regard to both the archaeological recovery of well-documented human skeletons and a concurrent field analysis of osteological remains (Gill, Owsley, and Baker 1983; Gill 1986a). During the six-month field season in 1981, plus an earlier brief archaeological field season in 1979, and a few short field laboratory sessions between 1981 and 1991, recovery, curation, full osteometric data collection and a complete inventory of skeletal pathology were accomplished on a sample of 426 prehistoric and protohistoric skeletons. Analysis of another 110 Easter Island skeletons from other museums in North and South America was also accomplished during that same period (Gill and Owsley 1993; Owsley, Gill and Ousley 1994).</p

Search for the grave of William Preston Longley, Hanged Texas Gunfighter

William Preston Longley was one of the most notorious out-laws in Texas when he was finally tracked down, arrested, and convicted for shooting a boyhood friend. Since he had cheated death before, contemporaries easily believed Longley\u27s hanging in October 1878 was a hoax that allowed him to live and raise a family in Louisiana under an alias. The ultimate test of the hoax hypothesis would be to find Longley\u27s grave and expose either his remains or a weighted coffin. In fall 1992 and spring 1994, a team of scientists used electrical resistivity and magnetometer surveys to locate unmarked burials in areas where historical research indicated Longley\u27s grave may be located. Team members hoped a grainy historic photograph of the marked gravesite could be correlated with a position in the cemetery. The team determined the approximate location of an unmarked grave that could be Longley\u27s. Excavation uncovered the remains of a tall white male, which fit his description, and artifacts recovered from the grave were consistent with those known to have been buried with Longley. Finally, a mitochondrial DNA comparison with his living maternal relative produced a very high probability match

Transverse Line Formation in Protein-Deprived Rhesus Monkeys

Transverse lines (Harris lines) in long bones are density anomalies thought to be associated with intervals of growth disturbance and subsequent recovery. In this study, radiographs of infant rhesus monkeys, Macaca mulatto, were examined for evidence of transferse lines in the distal ends of the left radius. The objective was to document the frequency of early postnatal transverse line formation, i.e. the ap­pearance of birth lines. Other variables considered were animal sex and birthweight. The effects of different infant diets were also evaluated to determine whether the availability of protein affected the frequency of line formation.Thirty monkeys were placed on a protein-restricted diet at birth. Data for the experimental animals were compared with that of controls (n = 55) maintained on a diet adequate in protein. A higher mean number and higher percentage of transverse lines occurred in controls than in protein-restricted infants. No sex differences were present. Animal birthweight was not correlated with the occurrence of transverse lines.At age 120 days, 10 protein-restricted animals were placed on the higher protein diet of controls. Sequential x-rays were then examined to determine whether this transition was followed by the appearance of transverse lines. Recovery from the protein-restricted diet was not reflected by the formation of a line