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Skeleton Found In A Rhode Island Cave, Possibility Of Lyme Disease, Tooba Ghafoor

2014 Honors Council of the Illinois Region Papers

A skeleton of a member of the Wampanoag tribe was recently found in a cave near the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. Examination of the skeleton revealed the individual was most likely a male in his late 40s. Six Amblyomma americanum and nine Xodes scapalaris ticks were found in the fur cloth of the individual. These ticks, as well as abnormalities of the skeleton, including a missing arm and broken rib, raise the possibility of the individual suffering and dying from Lyme disease. Carbon-14 dated the remains and ticks to the year 1600.