BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF SUBSISTENCE AND HEALTH AT THE LAKE GEORGE SITE,MISSISSIPPI (22YZ557)

Abstract

Bioarchaeological investigations of subsistence and health were conducted on a skeletal population from the Lake George site (22YZ557), a large prehistoric settlement in the lower Yazoo basin of west-central Mississippi. Subsistence is inferred from oral health indicators (including dental caries, calculus, periodontal disease, abscesses, antemortem tooth loss, and macrowear) and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios from bone collagen and apatite. Health is inferred from nonspecific indicators (including cranial porous lesions, enamel hypoplasias, and Harris lines). The sample includes 25 adults and 25 subadults, all of which date to the Coles Creek period (A.D. 700–1200). Frequencies of all pathological conditions are reported for the entire sample and divided by sex and age for adults. Results indicate a heavy pathology load at Lake George, but one that is not dissimilar to other Coles Creek populations. Isotope values indicate a diet that included primarily C3 plants (δ¹³C_Col = ?21.03‰, δ¹³C_Ap-Diet = ?22.06) and terrestrial protein (δ¹⁵N = 9.72‰). The sources of nonspecific pathologies are attributed to stressors associated with increasing population density and cultural complexity that occurred during the Coles Creek period.