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Cared for or Outcasts: A Case for Continuous Care in the Precontact U.S. Southwest

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New Developments in the Bioarchaeology of Care

Part of the book series: Bioarchaeology and Social Theory ((BST))

Abstract

Aztec Ruins is an important pre-Euro-American site in the U.S. Southwest that came into prominence after the decline of Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon. A number of individuals interred at the site show evidence of having survived traumatic injuries, which seems to suggest a level of community care. This chapter focuses specifically on a woman who suffered, but survived, a severe fracture to the pelvis. The injury, defined as pelvic ring disruption, is consistent with a high impact injury. In addition to the fractured, misaligned pelvis she had several other traumatic injuries. Using the newly created web-based instrument known as the Index of Care (Tilley and Cameron, International Journal of Paleopathology 6(1):5–9, 2014), this woman was assessed to determine if the injuries suffered during her lifetime were sufficient to require caregiving by other members of the community. In this chapter we suggest that, taken together, these injuries suggest a decreased mobility and lessened efficiency of physical labor, and a review of clinical literature suggests serious health implications and ongoing pain. Care would have been required on a continuum beginning with trauma management and transforming into accommodation from community members, and suggests agency on the part of the injured to rehabilitate and reintegrate back into group practices.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA

    Alyssa Y. Willett & Ryan P. Harrod Ph.D.

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  1. Alyssa Y. Willett
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  2. Ryan P. Harrod Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Alyssa Y. Willett .

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  1. School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, Aust Capital Terr, Australia

    Lorna Tilley

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

    Alecia A. Schrenk

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Willett, A.Y., Harrod, R.P. (2017). Cared for or Outcasts: A Case for Continuous Care in the Precontact U.S. Southwest. In: Tilley, L., Schrenk, A. (eds) New Developments in the Bioarchaeology of Care. Bioarchaeology and Social Theory. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39901-0_4

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