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Violence and Trophy Taking: A Case Study of Head and Neck Trauma in Two Individuals from the Gant Site (3MS11)
Author(s) -
Thomas JL.,
Buchanan M.,
Wilson C.,
Crane A.
Publication year - 2015
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/oa.2474
Subject(s) - trophy , osteology , ethnohistory , archaeology , native american , tribe , repatriation , geography , history , anthropology , ethnology , sociology
Abstract In collaboration with Carrie V. Wilson, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA) Director for the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma, researchers at Indiana University undertook a comprehensive study of NAGPRA collections from the Gant site (3MS11), a pre‐Columbian village site in Mississippi County, Arkansas. Following non‐destructive, macroscopic analysis of skeletal material, evidence of violent trauma was identified in two young adult men from the site. In one individual, the trauma was likely perimortem, and the morphology and distribution of lesions were found to be consistent with trophy taking documented in the ethnohistory and archaeology of the region. In the second individual, the trauma was survived, indicated by lesions attributed to healing on the occipital squama and hyoid. The relationship between the violence identified in this study and other violence in the archaeological and ethnohistoric record of the region is discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.