Dust Cave (1Lu496) and the O’Neal Site (1Lu61)
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AN INVESTIGATION OF VIOLENCE-RELATED TRAUMA AT TWO SITES IN THE PICKWICK BASIN: DUST CAVE (1LU496) AND THE O’NEAL SITE (1LU61) By James Harvey Turner, II A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Mississippi State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Applied Anthropology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Mississippi State, Mississippi May 2006 AN INVESTIGATION OF VIOLENCE-RELATED TRAUMA AT TWO SITES IN THE PICKWICK BASIN: DUST CAVE (1LU496) AND THE O’NEAL SITE (1LU61) By James Harvey Turner, II Approved: _______________________________ _______________________________ S. Homes Hogue Janet Rafferty Associate Professor of Anthropology Professor of Anthropology (Director of Thesis) Graduate Coordinator for Anthropology (Committee Member) _______________________________ _______________________________ Evan Peacock Philip B. Oldham Associate Professor of Anthropology Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (Committee Member) Name: James Harvey Turner, II Date of Degree: May 13, 2006 Institution: Mississippi State University Major Field: Applied Anthropology Major Professor: Dr. S. Homes Hogue Title of Study: AN INVESTIGATION OF VIOLENCE-RELATED TRAUMA AT TWO SITES IN THE PICKWICK BASIN: DUST CAVE (1LU496) AND THE O’NEAL SITE (1LU61) Pages in Study: 137 Candidate for Degree of Master of Arts Osteological evidence for violence has only in recent times been thoroughly investigated. Several kinds of traumas indicative of violence have been identified in human skeletal remains worldwide. Such traumas include scalping, embedded and/or associated projectile points, cranial fractures, parry fractures and defensive injuries, decapitation and dismemberment, and evidence of cannibalism. Analysis of traumas at Dust Cave (1LU496) and the O’Neal site (1LU61), two sites in northwestern Alabama with Middle and Late Archaic occupations, was undertaken. Violence-related traumas were observed at both sites. A highly significant difference exists in trauma patterns between the sites. Results were compared to research done on other populations in an attempt to gain a better understanding of violence in prehistory and to place these sites in a wider regional context. DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this research to the memory of my father and mother, James and Jean Turner, and to my grandmother, Mamie Burnett, whose love and sacrifice has made all of this possible. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author expresses his sincere gratitude to everyone who offered kindness and support and made completion of this thesis possible. First and foremost I wish to thank Dr. S. Homes Hogue for her instruction, support, and guidance throughout my academic career. Her mentorship and friendship will never be forgotten. I would also like to thank the other committee members, Drs. Janet Rafferty and Evan Peacock. Over the past seven years, these three individuals played invaluable roles in my academic development and I truly am a better person for having known them. I would also like to express gratitude to Dr. Keith Jacobi, the Laboratory for Human Osteology, and the Alabama Museum of Natural History at the University of Alabama for providing access to research materials, photographs, comparative materials, and thesis guidance. I would like to thank John O’Hear, of the Cobb Institute of Archaeology, for aiding in ceramic identification and providing general information about Tennessee River Valley archaeology. I would like to thank Sam McGahey, of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, for aiding in projectile point identification. M.C. Hill, of Jacksonville State University, provided skeletal information for comparative purposes. Aaron Deter-Wolf, of TRC, Inc., also provided useful comparative information. David Dye, of the University of Memphis, provided insights into trauma data. I must also thank everyone at the Cobb Institute of Archaeology for their support over the years. Special thanks are extended to Joe Seger, James Hardin, iii Paul Jacobs, and Ron Loewe for all of their guidance. I would also like to thank John Underwood, who served as an informal reviewer of this thesis. Lastly, I would like to thank my wife, Tere, for all of her assistance and support. Thanks again to all those mentioned above and to all my friends and family who have aided in making this possible. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION .......................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... iii LISTS OF TABLES .................................................................................................. vii LISTS OF FIGURE................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 II. PROBLEM STATEMENT............................................................................ 3 III. SITE INFORMATION .................................................................................. 6 Dust Cave (1LU496) ..................................................................................... 6 O’Neal Site (1LU61) ..................................................................................... 10 IV. THE ARCHAIC PERIOD IN REGIONAL CONTEXT............................... 16 Early Archaic................................................................................................. 17 Middle Archaic.............................................................................................. 17 Late Archaic .................................................................................................. 19 V. PREVIOUS RESEARCH .............................................................................. 20 Scalping Marks.............................................................................................. 23 Embedded and Associated Projectile Points ................................................. 24 Parry Fractures and Defensive Injuries ......................................................... 25 Cranial Fractures ........................................................................................... 28 Decapitation................................................................................................... 29 Dismemberment ............................................................................................ 30 Cannibalism................................................................................................... 31 Mortuary Treatment....................................................................................... 32 v CHAPTER Page VI. METHODS .................................................................................................... 34 Estimating Age .............................................................................................. 36 Sex Determination ......................................................................................... 37 Determination of Archaic from Non-Archaic Burials at the O’Neal Site ..... 38 Analysis of Trauma ....................................................................................... 39 VII. RESULTS OF ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ......................................... 43 Dust Cave ...................................................................................................... 43 Dust Cave: Tier One Analysis Results .......................................................... 51 Dust Cave: Tier Two Analysis Results ......................................................... 53 O’Neal Site .................................................................................................... 54 O’Neal Site: Tier One Analysis Results........................................................ 59 O’Neal Site: Tier Two Analysis Results ....................................................... 62 Combined Sites Results................................................................................. 65 Trauma Locations.......................................................................................... 67 Traumatic Events By Age and Sex................................................................ 71 Comparison of Tier One and Tier Two Analyses Methods .......................... 74 Comparison with Previous Analyses............................................................. 76 VIII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ............................................................ 80 GLOSSARY........................................................................................................... 99 REFERENCES CITED .......................................................................................... 104 APPENDIX A BURIAL DATA TABLES .......................................................................... 126 vi LIST OF TABLES TABLE Page 1 Ceramics from the O’Neal site (1LU61) ....................................................... 13 2 Projectile point types recovered from the O’Neal Site (1LU61) ................... 14 3 Dust Cave violence-related and possibly violence-related traumas .............. 52 4 Male and female violence-related traumas at Dust Cave by individual ........ 52 5 Male and female cranial and post-cranial violence-related traumas at Dust Cave by element................................................................................ 53 6 O’Neal site violence-related and possibly