Adding insult to injury: opportunistic treponemal disease in a scalping survivor

Although the taking of scalps is arguably a perimortem trophy‐taking behaviour, cases of scalping survival are occasionally reported in the historical documents of the American Colonial Period and the 19^th century westward expansion. Survival cases are also detected in pre‐Columbian bioarchaeological contexts. Although scalp avulsion injuries can heal without complication, often the process is compromised by secondary osteomyelitis, usually attributable to environmentally ever‐present Staphylococcal or Streptococcal bacteria. A scalping survivor case from the late prehistoric (AD 1200–1600) Hampton site (40RH41) of East Tennessee unusually displays infectious sequelae in the area denuded by scalp avulsion which are pathognomonic for treponemal disease (caries sicca, stellate scarring). This infection is probably a reflection of the easy opportunity afforded by the large size of the wound bed, poor post‐trauma hygiene, and direct inoculation of the diploë by a ubiquitous Treponema. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.