essay
Patterns of diet and disease: health profiles for the prehistoric Southwest
themes in southwest prehistory • Santa Fe, Nm. • Published In 1994 • Pages: 87-108
By: Martin, Debra L..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Martin discusses indicators of health and nutrition in the Southwest from around 1000 BC to AD 1550 with an emphasis on AD 900 to 1550. She includes the Anasazi, Hohokam, and the Mogollon in her discussions. Only the data that pertain to the Early Anasazi were marked for OCM (Outline of Cultural Materials) codes. Martin "outlines the general biological effects of disease and dietary stress in the prehistoric Southwest and briefly summarizes emergent regional and temporal trends in health. ... The profiles focus on paleopathology data…" (page 90). Martin concludes there were persistent nutritional deficiencies from the maize diet; unsanitary and crowded living conditions meant there were more communicable diseases and parasites; most adults had carried heavy loads throughout their lives and so had arthritis and spinal degeneration; and there was high infant and childhood mortality. Yet many females lived past child bearing years to old age and many men and women lived into their seventies. She ends her discussion with numerous questions that can be answered by using the human remains to learn more about Southwestern prehistoric health profiles.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Theoretical orientation in research and its results
- Morbidity
- Mortality
- Nutrition
- Physiological data
- Settlement patterns
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Early Anasazi
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2012
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Southwest and Basin
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Physical Anthropologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Sarah Berry; 2011
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- not specified
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1100-450 BP (AD 900-1550)
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- Debra L. Martin
- for bibliographical references see document 91:Gummerman
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 93020323
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Indians of North America--Antiquities