ANALYSIS OF SITE 41WH44: INDICATIONS OF CAREGIVING DURING THE LATE ARCHAIC PERIOD

Disease and disability are intractable realities of human life. Traditional practice of archaeology has generally (with a few notable exceptions) limited study of the physical signs of disability and disease to the subject of statistical analysis. In the last ten years, the bioarcheology of care has become increasingly used to analyze archaeological remains. While it is impossible at the distance of centuries to presume to understand the emotions or intentions of a person, the extent of a life-altering medical condition can in many cases be understood from careful study of the remains of the afflicted individual. This diagnosis can be used in concert with information about the lifeways context of the population to develop a more nuanced understanding of the culture through the lens of caregiving. This thesis aims to combine modern medical understanding, historical and archaeological records , and contemporary comparisons to determine what kind of assistance, if any, the Late Archaic period individuals “A” and “B” excavated in Wharton Co. TX , would have required to live with a chronic skeletal infection for a significant period of time, and to infer the ways in which a nomadic hunter/gatherer population like Late Archaic period Texans responded to the requirements for the survival of IA & IB .