| The health status of a prehistoric Native American skeletal sample is assessed via a survey of infectious disease and non-specific stress indicators to better elucidate the stress incurred during the transition to maize agriculture in Central Illinois during the terminal Late Woodland (A.D. 800-1350) period.;Previous research has associated specific pathologies and differential prevalence of pathological conditions to osteological samples whose lifeways were archaeologically linked to intensive agricultural practices, or the interim transition. It has been posited that the time just prior to intensive maize agriculturalization, often coinciding with the Late Woodland period, was characterized by significantly increased health stress. For instance, an increase in the rate of infant deaths was likely reflective of increased fertility as linked to maize agriculture. A rise in fecundity often followed the introduction of maize intensive agriculture as parturition and weaning were facilitated with this high calorie resource. However, dietary nutrition was affected also and dependent communities frequently suffered from malnutrition, increasing their susceptibility to infectious diseases and growth retardation. Co-associations have also been made between growth interruption as exemplified by Linear Enamel Hypoplasia and risk for early age at death.;The study undertaken here is a community health survey to demonstrate the utility of these risk factors in the context of previously established archaeological parameters. Trends seen in resource procurement, ecology, and cultural development are assessed by the paleopathological prevalence at Hacker South Mound 2, part of the Hacker Mounds group (11JY569), a terminal Late Woodland cultural community located in Jersey County, Illinois. This cemetery population indicates pathological prevalence reflective of a Mississippianized subsistence strategy. Diagnostic tuberculosis, treponemal disease, and a relatively significant amount of health stress are evident. The Late Woodland period was a time of dynamic change and certainly stress, however it also a period of resilience and resourcefulness. |
