Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T19:20:27.571Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Microevolution and the Skeletal Traits of a Middle Archaic Burial: Metric and Multivariate Comparison to Paleoindians and Modern Amerindians

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Marjorie Brooks Lovvorn ,
George W. Gill ,
Gayle F. Carlson ,
John R. Bozell  and
Terry L. Steinacher
Marjorie Brooks Lovvorn
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071
George W. Gill
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071
Gayle F. Carlson
Affiliation:
Archaeology Division, Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, NE 68501
John R. Bozell
Affiliation:
Archaeology Division, Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, NE 68501
Terry L. Steinacher
Affiliation:
State Historic Preservation Office, Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, NE 68501
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Skeletal remains recovered and analyzed from Archaic and Paleoindian periods demonstrate less pronounced Asiatic/Sinodont features that distinguish them from present day Amerindians. This paper describes the metric and nonmetric traits that link a Middle Plains Archaic male (radiocarbon dated to 2220-2500 B. C.), found near Sidney, Nebraska, to Sinodonts, Sundadonts, and Paleoindians. Metrically, the Sidney male differs from Late Prehistoric and Historic Mandan and Arikara males (1500 to 1830 A.D.) from the same region in cranial vault height (auricular height p ≤ .02 basion-porion height p ≤ .07). His cranium is longer and higher (acrocranic Cranial Breadth-Height Index) than that of the more highly derived Mandan and Arikara males. Several of the Sidney male’s cranial and femoral traits show a blend of Amerindian and earlier protomongoloid traits, distinguishable from recent Amerindian populations. These traits suggest affiliation to a common Eurasian progenitor for Sinodonts, Sundadonts, and Paleoindians, and support the hypothesis that Plains Amerindians descended from the earliest wave of Paleoindians who crossed the Bering Straits. Tracing microevolutionary changes across time is a challenging, incremental process, not yet resolved by the limited Paleoindian and Archaic skeletal remains discovered to date. However, the intermediate skeletal characteristics of the Sidney male indicate gradual adaptation and suggest that natural selection most strongly influenced the adaptation of Plains peoples. Information presented here increases the database needed for future investigations of microevolution, gene flow patterns and the cultural history that may someday link early Archaic populations and Paleoindians to specific tribes among the modern Plains Amerindians.

Résumé

Résumé

Restos humanos de los perídos Arcaico y Paleoindio demuestran rasgos Asiático/Sinodonte menos pronunciados que los distill guen de los Amerindios modernos. Este artículo describe los atributos métricos y no-métricos que conectan a un esqueleto masculino del período Arcaico en los Llanos Centrales (lafecha de 14C es 2220-2500 B.C.), encontrado cerca de Sidney, Nebraska, con los Sinodontes, Sundadontes, y Paleoindios. Metricamente, el esqueleto de Sidney difiere de aquéllos pertenecientes a los peníodos prehistórico tardío e histrico Mandan y Arikara (1500 to 1830 AD) de la misma región. Diferencias incluyen la altura de la bóveda craneal (altura auricular p<.02, altura de la bóveda basion-porion p < .07). Su cráneo es más largo y alto (índice de anchura/altura craneal acrocránica) que los de los hombres Mandan y Arikara, quienes son más evolucionados. Varios de los rasgos craneales y femorales del esqueleto de Sidney demuestran una mezcla de rasgos Amerindios y Mongoloides antiguos que se distinguen de las poblaciones recientes de Amerindios. Estos rasgos indican afiliación con un progenitor común eurasiático para los Sinodontes, Sundadontes, y Paleoindios, y apoya la hipótesis de que los Amerindios de los Grandes Llanos descienden de los primeros pobladores que cruzaron el Estrecho de Bering. Los cambios microevolutiovos son dificiles de trazar a través del liempo, dada la escasez. de restos humanos tempranos. Sin embargo, las características intermedias del esqueleto de Sidney indican una adaptación gradual y sugieren que la selección natural influenció fuertemente la adaptación de las poblaciones de los Grandes Llanos. La información presentada aquí incrementa la base de datos necesarios para investigaciones futuras en microevolución, patrones de flujo genético, e historia cultural, los que algún día podrían conectar las poblaciones arcaicas y paleoindias con los Amerindios modernos.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , July 1999 , pp. 527 - 545
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Adair, M. J. 1988 Prehistoric Agriculture in the Central Plains. Publications in Anthropology, vol. 16. University of Kansas, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Acheson, R. M. 1959. The Effects of Starvation, Septicaemia and Chronic Illness on the Growth Cartilage Plate and Metaphysis of the Immature Rat. Journal of Anatomy 93: 123–130.Google Scholar
Bass, W. M. 1995 Human Osteology. 4th ed. Missouri Archaeological Society, Columbia, Missouri.Google Scholar
Bass, W M., and Birkby, W H. 1962 The First Human Skeleton Material from the Huff Site, 32MO11, and a Summary of Putative Mandan Skeletal Material. Plains Anthropologist1': 164-177.Google Scholar
Bjorkman, O., and Berry, J. 1973 High-Efficiency Photosynthesis. Scientific American 229: 80–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, T.K. III 1978 A New Method for Assessing the Sex of Fragmentary Skeletal Remains: Femoral Shaft Circumference. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 48: 227–31.Google Scholar
Bozell, J. R. 1993 An Archeological Survey of a Parkland Development Tract near Sidney, Nebraska. Report prepared for the City of Sidney. On file, Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln.Google Scholar
Brooks, S., Brooks, R. H., and France, D. 1990 Alveolar Prognathism Contour, an Aspect of Racial Identification. In Skeletal Attribution of Race, edited by Gill, G. W. and Rhine, S., pp. 41–46. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Carlson, G. R, Bozell, J. R., Steinacher, T. L., Lovvorn, M. B., 1999 The Sidney Burial (25Cn55): A Middle Plains Archaic Mortuary Site from Western Nebraska. Plains Anthropologist 44: 105–119.Google Scholar
Cassidy, C. M. 1980 Nutrition and Health in Agriculturalists and Hunter- Gatherers: A Case Study of Two Prehistoric Populations. In Nutritional Anthropology: Contemporary Approaches to Diet and Culture. Redgrave Publishers, Pleasantville, New York.Google Scholar
Cavalli-Sforza, L. L. 1997 Genes, Peoples, and Languages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA 94: 7719–7724.Google Scholar
DeNiro, M. J. 1987 Stable Isotopy and Archaeology. American Scientist 75: 182–191.Google Scholar
DeNiro, M. J. and Weiner, S. 1988 Chemical, Enzymatic and Spectroscopic Characterization of “Collagen” and Other Organic Fractions from Prehistoric Bones. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 52: 2197–2206.Google Scholar
DeNiro, M. J. and Weiner, S. 1979 Sex Assessment of the Femur: A Test of a New Method. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 50: 635–38.Google Scholar
Forster, P., Harding, R., Torroni, A., and Bandelt, H-J 1996 Origin and Evolution of Native American mtDNA Variation: A Reappraisal. American Journal of Human Genetics 50: 935–945.Google Scholar
Frison, G. C. 1991 Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains. 2nd ed. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Gilbert, R., and Gill, G. W 1990 A Metric Technique for Identifying American Indian Femora. In Skeletal Attribution of Race, edited by Gill, G. W. and Rhine, S., pp. 97–99. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Gill, G. W 1974 Human Skeletons from Wyoming and Their Bearing on the Concept of Morphological Dating. In Applied Geology and Archaeology: The Holocene History of Wyoming, edited by M. Wilson. Report of Investigations No. 10: 100–107. Geological Survey of Wyoming, Laramie.Google Scholar
Gill, G. W 1981 Human Skeletal Populations of the Northwestern Plains: A Preliminary Analysis. Memoir 17. Plains Anthropologist 26: 57–69.Google Scholar
Gill, G. W 1991 Human Skeletal Remains on the Northwestern Plains. In Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains, 2nd ed., edited by Frison, G., pp. 431–447. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Gill, G. W, and Rhine, S. 1990 A Metric Technique for Identifying American Indian Femora, Appendix A. In Skeletal Attribution of Race, edited by Gill, G. W. and Rhine, S., pp. 99. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Green, T. J., Cochran, B., Fenton, T. W., Woods, J. C., Titmus, G. L., Tieszen, L., Davis, M.A., and Miller, S.J. 1998 The Buhl Burial: A Paleoindian from Southern Idaho. American Antiquity 63: 437–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, J. H., Turner, C. G. II, and Zegura, S. L. 1986 The Settlement of the Americas: A Comparison of the Linguistic, Dental, and Genetic Evidence. Current Anthropology 27: 477–497.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J. H. Saunders, R. 1997 Harris Lines: A Study of Age-Associated Bias in Counting and Interpretation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 103: 209–217.Google Scholar
Harris, H. A. 1933 Bone Growth in Health and Disease: The Biological Principles Underlying the Clinical, Radiological and Histological Diagnosis of Perversions of Growth and Disease in the Skeleton. Oxford University Press, London.Google Scholar
Howells, W. W. 1973 Cranial Variation in Man. Peabody Museum Papers, vol. 67. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Howells, W. W. 1995 Skull Shapes and the Map. Peabody Museum Papers, vol 78. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hughes, C, Heylings, D. J. A., and Power, C. 1996 Transverse (Harris) Lines in Irish Archaeological Remains. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 101: 115–131.Google Scholar
Hunt, E. E. Jr., and Hatch, J. W. 1981 The Estimation of Age at Death and Ages of Formation of Transverse Lines from Measurements of Human Long Bones. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 54: 461–469.Google Scholar
Jantz, R. L. 1977 Craniometric Relationships of Plains Populations: Historical and Evolutionary Relationships. Memoir 13. Plains Anthropologist 20: 162–176.Google Scholar
Jantz, R.L., Hunt, D. R., and Meadows, L. 1994 Maximum Length of the Tibia: How Did Trotter Measure It? American Journal of Physical Anthropology 93: 525–528.Google Scholar
Jantz, R. L., Owsley, D. W., and Willey, P. 1981 Craniometric Variation in the Northern and Central Plains. Memoir No. 17. Plains Anthropologist 24: 57–90.Google Scholar
Long, A., Benz, B.F., Donahue, D.J., Jull, A.J.T., and Toolin, L.J. 1989 First Direct AMS Dates on Early Maize from Tehuacan, Mexico. Radiocarbon 31: 1035–1040.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lovejoy, C. O. 1985 Dental Wear in the Libben Population: Its Functional Pattern and Role in the Determination of Adult Skeletal Age at Death. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 68: 47–56.Google Scholar
MacNeish, R. S. 1964 The Origins of New World Civilization. Scientific American 211(8): 29–37.Google Scholar
Mayr, E. 1970 Populations, Species, and Evolution. Belknap Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Mays, S. 1995 The Relationship between Harris Lines and other Aspects of Skeletal Development in Adults and Juveniles. Journal of Archaeological Science 22: 511–520.Google Scholar
Napoli, M., and Birkby, W. H. 1990 Racial Differences in the Visibility of the Oval Window in the Middle Ear. In Skeletal Attribution of Race, edited by Gill, G. W. and Rhine, S., pp. 27–32. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
O'Leary, M. H. 1981 Carbon Isotope Fractionation in Plants. Phytochemistry 20: 553–567.Google Scholar
Ousley, S. D., and Jantz, R. L. 1996 FORDISC 2.0: Personal Computer Forensic Discriminant Functions. University of Tennessee, Knoxville.Google Scholar
Owsley, D. W. 1981 Mobridge Site Cemeteries: Controversy Concerning the Location of the Over and Stirling Burials. Memoir 17. Plains Anthropologist 24: 43–8.Google Scholar
Owsley, D. W, Slutzky, G. D., Guagliardo, M. F., and Deitrick, L. M. 1981 Interpopulation Relationships of Four Postcontact Coalescent Sites from South Dakota: Four Bear (39DW2), Oahe Village (39HU2), Stony Point Village (39ST235), and Swan Creek (39WW7). Memoir 17. Plains Anthropologist 24: 31–42.Google Scholar
Owsley, D.W., and Symes, S. A. 1981 Morphological Differences between Mandan and Historic Arikara Crania. Memoir 17. Plains Anthropologist 24: 49–55.Google Scholar
Pellerin, C, and Fenart, R. 1988 An Analysis of Ainu Skulls in Vestibular Orientation. International Journal of Anthropology 3(3): 241–249.Google Scholar
Piatt, B. S., and Stewart, R. J. C. 1962 Transverse Trabeculae and Osteoporosis in Bones in Experimental Protein-Calorie Deficiency. British Journal of Nutrition 16: 483–195.Google Scholar
Rhine, S. 1990 Nonmetric Skull Racing. In Skeletal Attribution of Race, edited by Gill, G. W. and Rhine, S., pp. 9–20. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Schoeninger, M. J., and DeNiro, M. J. 1984 Nitrogen and Carbon Isotopic Composition of Bone Collagen from Marine and Terrestrial Animals. Geochitnica et Cosmochimica Acta 48: 625–639.Google Scholar
Schurr, Theodore|G., Ballinger, S. W., Gan, Y.-Y., Hodge, J. A., Merriwether, A., Lawrence, D.N., Knowler, W.C., Weiss, K.M., and Wallace, D.C. 1990 Amerindian Mitochondrial DNAs have Rare Asian Mutations at High Frequencies, Suggesting They Derived from Four Primary Maternal Lineages. American Journal of Human Genetics 46: 613–623 Google Scholar
Shields, G. F, Hecker, K., Voevoda, M. I., and Reed, J. K. 1992 Absence of the Asian-specific Region V Mitochondrial Marker in Native Beringians. American Journal of Human Genetics 50: 758–765.Google Scholar
Smith, B. N., and Epstein, S. 1971 Two Categories of l3C /12C Ratios for Higher Plants. Plant Physiology 47: 380–384.Google Scholar
Steele, D. G., and Powell, J. F. 1992 Peopling of the Americas: Paleobiological Evidence. Human Biology 64: 303–336.Google Scholar
Stewart, T.D. 1940 Some Historical Implications of Physical Anthropology in North America. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 100: 15–50.Google Scholar
Stewart, T.D. 1979 Essentials in Forensic Anthropology. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois.Google Scholar
Steinacher, T. L. 1992 Excavation Report of the Sidney Burial (25CN55). Archaeology Field Survey Report. Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office, Lincoln.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Reimer, P. J. 1993 Extended C14 Database and Revised CALIB Radiocarbon Calibration Program. Radiocarbon 35: 215–230.Google Scholar
Torroni, Antonio, Schurr, T. G., Yang, C. -C., Szathmary, E. J. E., Williams, R.C., Schanfield, M.S., Troup, G.A., Knowler, W.C., Lawrence, D.N., Weiss, K.M., and Wallace, D.C. 1992 Native American Mitochondrial DNA Analysis Indicates that the Amerindian and the NaDene Populations were Founded by Two Independent Migrations. Genetics 130: 153–162.Google Scholar
Trotter, M., and Gleser, G. C. 1958 A Re-evaluation of Estimation Based on Measurements of Stature Taken during Life and of Long Bones after Death. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 16: 79–123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turner, C. G. II 1971 Three-rooted Mandibular First Permanent Molars and the Question of American Indian Origins. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 34: 229–241.Google Scholar
Trotter, M., and Gleser, G. C. 1976 Dental Evidence on the Origins of the Ainu and Japanese. Science 193: 911–913.Google Scholar
Trotter, M., and Gleser, G. C. 1978 Dental Evidence for the Peopling of the Americas. National Geographic Society Research Reports 19: 573–596.Google Scholar
Trotter, M., and Gleser, G. C. 1979 Dental Anthropological Indications of Agriculture among the Jomon People of Central Japan. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 51: 619–636.Google Scholar
Trotter, M., and Gleser, G. C. 1983 Dental Evidence for the Peopling of the Americas. In Early Man in the New World, edited by Shutler, R., pp. 147–157. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, California.Google Scholar
Trotter, M., and Gleser, G. C. 1986 Dentochronological Separation Estimates for Pacific Rim Populations. Science 23: 1140–1142.Google Scholar
Trotter, M., and Gleser, G. C. 1987 Late Pleistocene and Holocene Population History of East Asia based on Dental Variation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 73: 305–321.Google Scholar
Ubelaker, D. H. 1989 Human Skeletal Remains. 3rd ed. Taraxacum Publishers, Washington D.C. Google Scholar
Vogel, J.C., and Merwe, N.J. Van der 1977 Isotopic Evidence for Early Maize Consumption in New York State. American Antiquity 42: 238–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, D. C., and Merwe, N.J. Van der 1995 Mitochondrial DNA Variation in Human Evolution, Degenerative Disease, and Aging. American Journal of Human Genetics 57: 201–223.Google Scholar
West, F. H. 1996 Beringia and New World Origins: U. The Archaeological Evidence. In American Beginnings, edited by West, F.H., pp. 537–559. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Woelfel, J. B. 1990 Dental Anatomy. 4th ed. Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Yongyi, L., Brace, C.L., Qiang, G., and Tracer, D.P. 1991 Dimensions of Face in Asia in the Perspective of Geography and Prehistory. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 85: 269–279.Google Scholar
Zitt, J. O. 1992 Prehistoric and Early Historic Subsistence Patterns and Dental Pathology on the Northern Great Plains. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming.Google Scholar