This study analyzed skeletal health disparities among African American and Euro-American males of low socioeconomic status born between 1825 and 1877. A total of 651 skeletons from the Cobb, Hamann-Todd, and Terry anatomical collections were macroscopically examined for skeletal pathologies related to dietary deficiencies and disease. Individuals were separated into age, ancestry, birth (Antebellum, Civil War, Pre-Reconstruction, and Reconstruction), combined ancestry/birth, enslaved versus liberated, and collection cohorts. These groups were statistically evaluated using ANOVA and χ(2) analyses to determine if age, ethnic, and temporal differences existed. Results indicated that African Americans, especially those born during Reconstruction, had significantly higher frequencies of tuberculosis (P = 0.004) and treponematosis (P = 0.006) than Euro-Americans. Historical sources are important in contextualizing why these different ethnic and temporal patterns were present, pointing to environmental conditions related to enslavement, postliberation migration to the industrialized North, crowded urban living conditions, and poor sanitation.

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Comprehending violence among bioarchaeological and historical groups is a topic of recent interest among biological anthropologists. This research examines trauma among African American and Euro-American males of low socioeconomic status born between 1825 and 1877. A total of 651 male skeletons from the Cobb, Terry, and Hamann-Todd anatomical collections were macroscopically evaluated for skeletal trauma, based on the presence of fractures and weapon-related wounds, and statistically analyzed according to ancestry, birth (Antebellum, CivilWar, Reconstruction), combined ancestry-birth, and collection cohorts. Results indicated that African Americans and Euro-Americans expressed ethnic differences in regard to interpersonal violence. To interpret these disparities, documentary data were used to reconstruct the socioeconomic and cultural environment of these individuals. This research emphasizes the importance of evaluating skeletal data within the context of class, culture, and environment so that behavioral patterns observed in the skeleton can be better understood.

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Intersectionality, the theory named by Kimberlé Crenshaw, outlines how multiple elements of an individual's social identity overlap to create and preserve societal inequalities and discrimination. Recently bioarchaeology's engagement with intersectionality has become increasingly explicit, as the field recognizes the lived experience of multiple axes of an individual's identity. Evidence of trauma can remain observable in an individual's skeleton for years, making it an ideal subject of study for intersectional analyses in bioarchaeology. Using contrasting case studies of two individuals who died in hospitals and were unclaimed after death, we explore the theoretical and methodological application of intersectionality to investigations of accidental and interpersonal trauma. Differences in identities and structural inequalities affect bone quality and health outcomes. As we demonstrate, a broken bone is the intersecting result of biological, histomorphological, sociocultural, and behavioral factors. This approach allows for a better acknowledgement of the inherent complexity of past lives, elevating and amplifying previously silenced voices. In this way, intersectionality in bioarchaeology demands social justice.

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Hip fractures have high incidence rates in many current groups and are associated with high morbidity, mortality, and considerable expenditure. Although hip fractures associated with significant traumatic events can occur at any age, many hip fractures occur in older adults. To date, few hip fractures have been reported from archaeological skeletal material, and a number of hypotheses have been suggested for this. This research presents a comprehensive assessment of hip fractures in archaeological bone; 1597 adult (18 + years) skeletons from eight urban post-medieval sites from England dating from the 18 th and 19 th centuries were recorded, and contemporary medical texts reviewed. This adult sample included 834 males and 652 females as well as 11 persons of undetermined sex. Ways of classifying and describing fractures in the clinical literature were reviewed and a methodology applicable to paleopathology determined. Of this sample, 15 (0.94%) had fractures in the femoral neck or intertrochanteric area: nine males, four females, and two individuals of undetermined sex. The numbers of fractures in males were interesting and most likely represent examples of accidental trauma as well as osteoporosis-related fractures, the latter receiving growing awareness in recent clinical literature. Overall there was an age-related trend with more individuals aged 50+ years with fractures than in other age categories. Underlying osteoporosis was potentially a complicating factor in five individuals and was likely associated with a vitamin D deficiency osteomalacia and a metastatic neoplastic condition in a further two cases. Fractures occurring close to the time of death and healed fractures were observed, indicating that the risk of mortality following this trauma was not consistent across this 18 th and 19 th century sample. Skeletal and historical evidence presented in this study indicate that the impact of hip fracture injuries varied, with survival likely linked to the fracture type. Copyright

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