Mississippian and Protohistoric/early Contact Diet and Health: Biological and Cultural Continuity and Change in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi

Abstract

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope assays, stature, trauma data, and pathology information are compared among three skeletal series from diverse settlements in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi. Two collections date to the Mississippian period and represent both mound/village and farmstead settlements. A third group consists of individuals associated with protohistoric farmsteads in the area. The comparative method is used to understand the influence of settlement patterns (mound/village site verses farmstead) on population health and diet and to document possible selective and cultural factors that affect health. Dietary isotopes and paleodemographic profiles show insignificant differences among the three groups. Disparities in the frequency of dental caries and antemortem tooth loss and male stature are observed between Mississippian and protohistoric series suggesting possible biological selection. In contrast, distinctions in frequencies of proliferative infections and traumatic injuries are linked with settlement types. Burial modes and cranial deformation are also considered to better articulate the associations among the three study groups. The focus of the study is a Mississippian/protohistoric single-mound/village site known as Lyon's Bluff (22OK520), where continuous occupation from A.D. 1200 to 1650 has been demonstrated (Peacock and Hogue 2005). Diet, health data, and traumas recorded for the Lyon's Bluff burials are compared with similar information for nearby Mississippian (220K534 and 22OK905) and protohistoric farmsteads (22OK509, 220K593, 220K595, 22OK902N, 22OK904, and 22OK905) (Figure 1). The major goals of this study are twofold. First, diet, health, and trauma characteristics are compared temporary among the three groups, and second, distinctions in these characteristics are examined between farmsteads and mound/village groups. This research documents possible selective and cultural factors that may influence health and lesion frequencies. In other words, the objective is to establish whether health differences among the groups are due to genetic selection factors (biological responses to stress) or other cultural factors, such as differences in settlement type or diet. Cultural patterns are also under selective pressure (Rafferty 1994) but by human rather than genetic determination. Since experimental science cannot be used to understand selective pressures on the study groups (Armelagos 1998), the comparative analysis is employed to test hypothesis on nutrition and health and to document the changes observed among the three skeletal series. Settlement pattern research in the area has recognized farmstead occupations to be short in duration, small, and situated in upland areas away from major streams. Generally, farmsteads are occupied year-round by one or two families engaged in maize agriculture (Hogue and Peacock 1995). This settlement pattern dates to the Middle Woodland in the research area, but its function as an agricultural unit begins in the Mississippian period (Hogue 2000; Hogue and Peacock 1995; Rafferty 1996, 2003) and continues through the protohistoric period (Rafferty 2003). In contrast to the farmstead localities in the area, larger, more permanent settlements, such as the Lyon's Bluff mound/village site, are typically located near major streams (Rafferty 2003:185, 2005). At this time the relationship between Lyon's Bluff and the nearby farmsteads cannot be firmly established. The settlements could represent a two-tiered hierarchy system, as proposed for the Tombigbee (Blitz 1993) and Big Black River (Lorenz 1996) valleys or economically independent units (Hogue and Peacock 1995). For this research the protohistoric (A.D. 1540 to 1717) is defined as the period between first European exploration and the establishment of continuous European trade and colonization (Sheldon 1974). Major shuts in settlement patterns occur at this time with the abandonment of many mound centers and changes in burial modes with urn and secondary interments replacing primary burials (Curren and Little 1981; Hogue 2000; Johnson and Lehmann 1996; Knight and Steponaitis 1998; Little and Curren 1995; Sheldon 1974). …

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