![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This study utilizes a biocultural approach to investigate skeletal evidence for violence among Mississippian communities in the Middle Cumberland Region (MCR) of Tennessee. Bioarchaeological evidence for violence is placed within the local environmental and cultural context in order to better understand temporal trends in regional conflict. Bioarchaeological analyses were conducted on the crania of 599 adult individuals from 13 sites in the MCR. Approximately 7.2 percent of the sample (43/599) showed evidence of violent cranial injuries in the form of scalping, sharp force trauma, and blunt force trauma. While overall trauma frequencies appear to increase during the later Mississippian period, this may reflect a shift in the nature of violence, rather than simply an intensification of intergroup conflict. More fine-grained temporal comparisons are made for samples from the late Mississippian Averbuch site. The variability in the frequencies and types of violence observed within the MCR demonstrates the issues inherent in the reliance on broad generalizations about human behavior in the past and highlights the importance of utilizing both a regional and diachronic approach.
Acknowledgements
A special thank you to the following people and institutions for their help and granting permission to analyze skeletal collections from the MCR of Tennessee: The Tennessee Division of Archaeology, Boyce Driskell and Jennifer McDonough at the University of Tennessee Archaeological Research Laboratory, Lynne Sullivan at the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, Tiffiny Tung at Vanderbilt University, and Michele Morgan and Olivia Herschensohn at The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. I am grateful to Charles R. Cobb, Michael C. Moore, and Kevin E. Smith for sharing their archaeological knowledge and expertise. I would especially like to thank the anonymous reviewers, editors, as well as Giovanna M. Vidoli, Dawnie Wolfe Steadman, Erin Koch, Janet Mansfield, and Hilary Jarvis for their comments and suggestions on early drafts of this manuscript.
Data availability statement
The research materials (i.e., skeletal remains) analyzed in this study are curated by the Tennessee Division of Archaeology in Nashville (Arnold 40WM5; Gordontown, 40DV6; Moss-Wright, 40SU20), the Archaeological Research Laboratory (Averbuch, 40DV60) and the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture (Mound Bottom, 40CH8) at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Vanderbilt University in Nashville (Arnold, 40WM5; Ganier, 40DV15); and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University in Cambridge (Arnold, 40WM5; Bowling Farm, 40DV426; Cain’s Chapel, 40DV3; Gray’s Farm, 40WM11; Jarman, 40WM210; Rutherford-Kizer, 40SU15; Sellars 40WI1). The skeletal sample from the Fewkes site (40WM1) was curated by the Tennessee Division of Archaeology in Nashville; however, the remains have since been repatriated and reinterred. The data collected for this study can be accessed from the institutions in which they are curated or by contacting the author.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Note on contributor
Heather Worne is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Kentucky.
Notes
1 Sharp force trauma refers to injuries caused by a sharp object.
2 Blunt force trauma refers to injuries caused by an impact with a blunt surface or object.
3 Location definitions for cranial blunt force trauma injuries: Anterior = on the frontal bone above the orbits; Superior = on the left and right parietals above temporal lines, excluding parietal bosses; Posterior = on the occipital or parietal bosses.