Premium
‘Parry’ fractures and female‐directed interpersonal violence: Implications from the Late Archaic Period of west Tennessee
Author(s) -
Smith Maria O.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
international journal of osteoarchaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1099-1212
pISSN - 1047-482X
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1212(199601)6:1<84::aid-oa262>3.0.co;2-g
Subject(s) - archaic period , interpersonal violence , period (music) , prehistory , parry , late period , craniofacial , forearm , medicine , demography , archaeology , poison control , history , injury prevention , surgery , art , psychiatry , medical emergency , artificial intelligence , sociology , computer science , aesthetics
The recognition of a high frequency of ‘parry’ fractures in the females from the Late Archaic Period (2500–1000/500 BC ) west Tennessee site of Eva prompted a more thorough examination of female‐directed interpersonal violence in prehistoric Tennessee sites. The study examined forearm fractures in eight ( N = 308) Late Archaic Period hunter‐gatherer sites and five ( N = 501) Mississippian Period (c. AD 1200–1600) agriculturalist sites. On the basis of chi‐square test results, there does not appear to be any gender bias in forearm fracture occurrence in the Archaic Period. The high frequency of female ‘parry’ fractures at Eva was an artefact of the ratio of females to males. More importantly, craniofacial trauma data do not support an aetiology that would explain mid‐shaft forearm fractures as a result of interpersonal violence.