Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Natufian Human Skeletal Remains From Wadi Hammeh 27 (Jordan), Steve Webb, Phillip C. Edwards

Steve Webb

This report describes skeletal remains from the early Natufian site of Wadi Hammeh 27 in Jordan. At least seven individuals are represented, and although small, the collection is notable for the eclecticism of its mortuary practice. Modes of mortuary disposal and ritual include a single-primary burial, a collective-secondary burial, burnt human cranial fragments disposed in residential contexts, and the ochre staining of bones. The two burials come from the lowest phase of the site, with fragmentary burials and smaller amounts of material issuing from the upper phases. The primary inhumation is marked by a neighbouring pit, which seems to be …

Prehistoric Eye Disease (Trachoma?) In Australian Aborigines, Steve Webb

Steve Webb

This paper discusses an as yet undescribed lesion of the orbit in Australian Aboriginal skeletal populations. The rather high frequency and geographical distribution of the lesion suggests an association with a common, chronic eye infection. Using differential diagnosis to eleminate a variety of ophthalmic conditions, it is proposed that chronic trachoma may be a possible causative agent. Distribution of the lesion follows that of trachoma among contemporary Aboriginal people, with the highest frequencies occurring in the hotter, arid portions of the Australian continent. It is positively correlated with age, with higher frequencies in older people; it is almost completely absent …

Two Possible Cases Of Trephination From Australia, Steve Webb

Steve Webb

Cranial surgery has been performed for thousands of years among a wide range of cultures. Although the extent of its use has varied, ethnographically the operation has almost always been used as a form of medical treatment following cranial trauma or as a remedy for head pain. This paper describes two cases of cranial trauma on Australian Aboriginal remains from widely separated areas of the continent. The position and morphology of the trauma, as well as other associated features, suggest that these individuals underwent some form of surgical procedure. The features are similar to those found on accepted cases of …

A Palaeodemographic Model Of Late Holocene Central Murray Aboriginal Society, Australia, Steve Webb

Steve Webb

A recent palaeopathological study has indicated that prehistoric Aboriginal society in some parts of southeastern Australia was sedentary and supported large populations. This conclusion generally supports archaeological evidence that a period of socio-enconomic intensification took place over the last 2–3,000 years. Also, concurrent research has focused attention on the possibility of extensive reductions among Aboriginal populations of the area through the introduction of smallpox. This process took place at a very early stage of European colonisation and in regions yet to be explored. As a result, smallpox probably killed large numbers of Aborigens before Europeans knew what the size of …

Reburying Australian Skeletons, Steve Webb

Steve Webb

Extract

In the last three years Aboriginal communities, particularly from south-eastern Australia, have shown great concern about the collection, storage and study of their skeletal remains. From the start there was an almost universal call for the immediate reburial of all such remains held in museums, irrespective of age and scientific value. Between May 1984 and the end of 1985, a series of Aboriginal meetings took place at which the maintenance of Aboriginal skeletal collections and research on them was condemned. Moratoria followed, preventing research even on those remains dating back 14,000 years. Antagonism arose between Aborigines and researchers, particularly …

A Congenital Meningocoele In Prehistoric Australia, Steve Webb, Alan Thorne

Steve Webb

This report concerns a congenital meningocoele in a young adult Aboriginal female from north-western New South Wales, Australia. The fact that this individual reached adulthood throws new light on the attitude of these nomadic people towards such conditions. Evidence of this kind may prompt also a re-evaluation by prehistorians and anthropologists of the popularly held belief that all such malformations were automatically eliminated by infanticide. The discovery of this form of pathology helps provide new information not only on past cultural attitudes towards disease, but its frequency and geographical incidence, and adds to our knowledge concerning the range of pathological …