Palaeopathology of Aboriginal Australians

Webb, Steve

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511552182

Cited by 129 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…It suggests face-toface encounters. The pattern may reflect a culturally defined punitive measure in the form of ritualized interpersonal conflict resolution, similar to that observed archaeologically and ethnohistorically among the Australian Aborigines (Brown, 1989;Knuckey, 1992;Webb, 1995). Conflict resolution for both Aboriginal males and females includes ritualized faceto-face nonlethal club fights.…”

Section: The Case For Interpersonal Violencesupporting

confidence: 65%

“…Conflict resolution for both Aboriginal males and females includes ritualized faceto-face nonlethal club fights. The behavior is apparently codified based on gender (Knuckey, 1992;McNight, 1986;Webb, 1995). Indeed, a female bias is observed in historic Australian Aborigine crania (Brown 1989;Knuckey, 1992;Webb, 1995), not unlike the pattern seen in the Mouse Creek sample.…”

Section: The Case For Interpersonal Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond palisades: The nature and frequency of late prehistoric deliberate violent trauma in the Chickamauga Reservoir of East Tennessee

Smith

2003

American J Phys Anthropol

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Based on the presence of palisades and an iconography suggesting a warrior elite, warfare is presumed to be endemic in the Late Mississippian period (AD 1200-1600) of the southeastern United States. Warfare is theorized to play a vital role in the cycling of chiefdoms. However, apart from a few exemplary cases that display double-digit frequencies, very little direct (i.e., skeletal) evidence of violent trauma has dovetailed with the archaeological presumptions of warfare. Eight sites from the Chickamauga Reservoir of east Tennessee were examined for skeletal evidence of deliberate violent trauma. Violent trauma was anticipated because these sites are in close proximity and consist of two adjacent, sociopolitically distinct, and temporally overlapping phases: Dallas (AD 1300-1600) and Mouse Creek (AD 1400-1600). In addition to small, round, nonlethal ectocranial blunt-force trauma (BFT) on the frontal and upper parietal bones, inflicted projectile points and scalping were identified. The low total trauma frequency in the Dallas sample (3.86%, n = 259) is consistent with emerging evidence from east and west Tennessee Late Mississippian data, but significantly different from Mouse Creek (8.06%, n = 273). The proportion of nonlethal cranial BFT in the collective Chickamauga sample is large and at odds with the Tennessee River Valley comparative literature. Based on other bioarchaeological literature, this pattern suggests intragroup violence, but not face-to-face ritual contests. It is better explained as interpersonal conflict resolution along codified lines. This is consistent with southeastern ethnohistoric data and may explain the more frequent cranial BFT in the less stratified Mouse Creek phase, which likely would not have had an overarching civil authority.

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Section: The Case For Interpersonal Violencesupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: The Case For Interpersonal Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond palisades: The nature and frequency of late prehistoric deliberate violent trauma in the Chickamauga Reservoir of East Tennessee

Smith

2003

American J Phys Anthropol

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“…These remains are undated and have only general proveniences. Following the convention used by Molnar et al (1989) and later Webb (1995), they are assumed to be primarily late Holocene in date.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hunter‐gatherer variability: Dental wear in South Australia

Littleton

Scott

McFarlane

et al. 2013

American J Phys Anthropol

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Often it is assumed that hunter-gatherer dentitions are dominated by heavy attrition. Recent analyses, however, have shown unexpected variability in the pattern of wear between groups. It had been previously noted that wear differed between neighboring groups on the Murray River, Australia. This analysis extends that geographic scope as well as focusing on wear across the dentition, including the premolars. The samples came from coastal and riverine regions of southern Australia. The analysis used records from the Yorke Peninsula, Adelaide Plains (Gillman site), and Euston regions. These were compared with previously published work from the Adelaide Plains and four locations on the Murray River. The results confirm the overall severity of wear but reveal systematic differences between the samples in terms of the pattern of wear. Heavy wear on the incisors and canines is observed among males from the Euston, Kaurna, Middle A, Murray Mouth, and Yorke Peninsula samples but with marked intra-individual variability. Extensive premolar wear is noted among females from Kaurna and Middle B samples as well as among males and females from Euston. It is argued that these patterns relate to gendered non-masticatory use of teeth and reliance upon bulrush (Typha spp.) and related species for both food and fiber among some groups. We argue that analyzing the degree of variability within samples and across all teeth provides a more nuanced understanding of dental wear among hunter-gatherers.

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“…Pardoe's remarkable syntheses of Murray River evolution and human skeletal biology (Pardoe 2006), along with evidence of the development and nature of cemeteries (Pretty 1977;Pardoe 1988;Littleton 1999) argues strongly for very high population densities and a territorial organisation based on strongly exclusionary principles. This is supported by Webb's (1984Webb's ( , 1995 research on tooth wear, pathologies, stress and decrease in stature, all of which lead him to describe the Central Murray communities as 'very settled', and consisting of a 'large, sedentary population intensifying its economy to feed itself ' (1995: 280). Further, a heavy starch diet is supported by Webb's observation of thick calculus build-up on teeth from burials around the Willandra lakes dating back to at least mid-Holocene.…”

Section: Australiamentioning

confidence: 97%

Revisiting the ‘Neolithic Problem’ in Australia

White¹

2011

Rec West Aust Mus Sup

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-The more we learn about varieties of subsistence, the less clear defi nitions of 'agriculture' become, and the harder it is to see the Australian and New Guinean data as falling into separate classes. Some Australian data, if found in New Guinea, would label those societies as agricultural. I suggest two avenues, residue analysis and historical research, along which research in this matter might usefully continue.

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Palaeopathology of Aboriginal Australians

Cited by 129 publications

References 1 publication

Beyond palisades: The nature and frequency of late prehistoric deliberate violent trauma in the Chickamauga Reservoir of East Tennessee

Beyond palisades: The nature and frequency of late prehistoric deliberate violent trauma in the Chickamauga Reservoir of East Tennessee

Hunter‐gatherer variability: Dental wear in South Australia

Revisiting the ‘Neolithic Problem’ in Australia

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