“…Much is known about skeletal lesions that arise in the secondary and tertiary stages of treponemal disease. Primary clinical studies (e.g., Akrawi, ; Csonka & Pace, ; Freedman & Meschan, ; Gerstl et al, ; Gjestland, ; Grin, ; Hackett, ; Mitjà, Hays, Ipai, Wau, & Bassat, , Mitjà et al, ; Murray, Merriweather, Freedman, & de Villiers, ; Willcox, ) and recent overviews (e.g., Antal, Lukehart, & Meheus, ; Farnsworth & Rosen, ; Giacani & Lukehart, ; Koff & Rosen, ; Marks, Solomon, & Mabey, ; Meheus, ) include substantial information on skeletal lesions, their frequencies and patterning, and similarities among yaws, bejel, and syphilis. Paleopathologists, however, do not always consult these sources, or use them selectively, and studies of diagnostic skeletal manifestations associated with documented treponemal disease such as those described by Hackett () and Hillson et al () are sometimes ignored in favor of heavily criticized methods such as SPIRAL (Rothschild and Rothschild, ).…”