Reconstruction of Demographic Profiles from Ossuary Skeletal Samples: A Case Study from the Tidewater Potomac

Abstract

The excavation and analysis of two Late Woodland ossuaries from the Juhle site (18CH89) in southern Maryland are described in detail. The report includes a discussion of archeological features of the ossuaries, but emphasizes the reconstruction of population profiles derived from the analysis of the recovered skeletal samples. Ethnohistorical and arche- ological sources are consulted to suggest that ossuaries contain nearly all individuals who died in the contributing populations during culturally prescribed numbers of years and, consequently, offer somewhat unique opportunities for demographic analysis. Several methods are employed to estimate the chronological age at death of indi- viduals in both ossuaries. Subadult ages are derived from the formation and eruption of the teeth and from the maximum length of the femora. Adult ages are calculated from examinations of the symphyseal faces of the pubes and the degree of microscopic cortical remodeling in the femora. The latter method involved the preparation of 151 ground thin sections taken from the anterior cortices of the right femora, and it repre- sents the first application of Kerley's relatively new method (1965) to a large arche- ological population. The resulting death curves are compared and the methods evaluated. Data from the most reliable of these age-determinative methods are used to calculate curves of mortality and survivorship, life tables, and crude mortality rates for the populations represented. Population estimates are attempted by utilizing the crude mortality rates (calcu- lated from the life tables), the length of time represented by each ossuary (calculated from archeological data), and the total numbers of individuals in the ossuaries. The resulting population size estimates are considered against both archeological and ethnohistorical data to suggest the nature of the sociopolitical unit serviced by the ossuaries. Finally, both local and regional population-size estimates are compared with those estimated by others using different types of data.