Life at Mesa Verde: An Analysis of Health and Trauma from Wetherill Mesa, Mesa Verde National Park

Abstract

Many Mesa Verde cliff dwellings were occupied during the thirteenth century in the final decades before the Four Corners region was depopulated. Deposits in such cliff dwellings offer unique opportunities to research motivations for migration and to understand living conditions in these unusual locations. In compliance with NAGPRA, bioarchaeological data were collected from Wetherill Mesa burials in 1995; this study is the first systematic analysis of these data. Skeletal health indicators demonstrate increased physiological stress for residents of Pueblo III cliff dwellings. Worsening health related to resource availability and distribution, aggregation, and unsanitary living conditions might have influenced migration from the region. Skeletal fracture data indicate decreased trauma during the Pueblo III, contrasted with the possibility of culturally mediated violence or violent attack at Long House. This pattern of violence was likely a response to insecurity during the late thirteenth century and ultimately might have provided another motivation for migration.

Viviendas en acantilados de Mesa Verde fueron ocupadas durante el siglo XIII antes de que la región fuera deshabitada. De acuerdo con NAGPRA, datos bioarqueológicos fueron recolectados de los entierros de Wetherill Mesa en 1995; este estudio es el primer análisis sistemático de estos datos. Los indicadores de salud en el esqueleto demuestran un aumento del estrés fisiológico dentro de los residentes de las viviendas del acantilado Pueblo III. El deterioro de la salud relacionado a la disponibilidad y distribución de recursos, a el crecimiento poblacional y a las condiciones insalubres influido en la migración. Los datos de fracturas en los esqueletos indica una una disminución del traumatismo durante el Pueblo III, en contraste con la posibilidad de violencia culturalmente mediada o ataque violento en Long House. Este patrón de violencia fue una repuesta a la inseguridad a finales del siglo XIII, fue otro factor que motivó a la migración.

KEYWORDS:

• Mesa Verde
• Ancestral Pueblo
• Pueblo II and III
• bioarchaeology
• health
• paleopathology
• violence
• trauma

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Mesa Verde
• Pueblo Ancestral
• Pueblo II y III, bioarqueología
• salud
• paleopatología
• violencia
• trauma

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank five anonymous reviewers, whose helpful comments greatly improved this paper.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement:

The data used in this study are openly available at tDAR ID 463228, DOI:10.48512/XCV8463228.

Notes

1 Nordenskiöld sent his collection to Sweden in 1891. The collection was purchased and later donated to the National Museum of Finland. Skeletal remains and associated funerary objects from this collection were repatriated and reburied in Mesa Verde National Park in 2020.

2 Individuals with one bone with <25% preservation were excluded from assessment.

3 Individuals with only one cranial bone with <25% preservation were excluded from assessment.

4 If an individual could not be matched to the site report, they could not be confidently dated to a specific period (Pueblo II or III) because several sites were occupied during both periods, so they were excluded from temporal analyses. See Table 2.

5 Two Raven House was excavated as part of a park exhibition of Pueblo I-III architecture. Swannack (1969, 17) states that the “stabilization and exhibition requirements” prevented thorough excavation. Hayes (1998, 5) also states that the trash mound was not completely excavated because it was “difficult and time-consuming”.

6 Shopfner (1966; as cited in Weston 2012, 496–499) cautions against overinterpreting periosteal reaction on individuals 0–6 months, because such lesions typically reflect normal bone growth and development in young infants, particularly on long bones. However, the seven individuals younger than 1 year old in this sample with periosteal reaction present lesions exclusively on the cranium (parietals, frontal, temporals, and occipital). Three of these individuals present lesions that are indicative of otitis media on the temporals. Although Lewis (2004) also cautions against overinterpreting periosteal reaction on the endocranium of young infants, 82% of the non-pathological lesions from her study were located on the occipital. Only one of the seven infants in this sample presented lesions on the occipital, and these lesions were more extensive, spreading out onto both parietals as well. Therefore, we can be reasonably certain that the periosteal reactions found in the individuals less than 1 year old in this sample are pathological lesions and do not represent the normal growth and development of infants.

7 Crushing damage was identified and defined according to White (1992, 138).

8 Scrape marks and cut marks were identified and defined according to White (1992, 143–152).

9 Male biases in skeletal assemblages can be a result of excavation biases, differential mortuary practices, female infanticide, or raiding. However, the systematic and comprehensive excavations of both Pueblo III cliff dwellings preclude excavation biases and differential mortuary practices, especially because most individuals were buried in the trash slopes where digging was easiest. Kohler and Turner (2006) dismiss female infanticide as a possible hypothesis due to the rapid shift from an equal sex ratio during the 12th century to a male bias in the 13th century in the Northern San Juan.