Infancy and childhood in the pre-Columbian North American Southwest-first results of the palaeopathological investigation of the skeletons from the grasshopper pueblo, Arizona

Infant and child skeletons (n=369) from the pre-Columbian Grasshopper Pueblo site in east-central Arizona (US) dating from the 14th century AD were examined macroscopically and with low-power microscopy. They were studied as a representative example of a typical Mogollon community with respect to frequencies of deficiency and inflammatory diseases. First results revealed very poor living conditions, which are characteristic for this time period in the North American Southwest because of lack of food due to climatic and political changes. Thus, non-specific stress indicators were frequently observed. In the group of deficiency diseases, anaemia was found in more than 50% of individuals, and in the group of inflammatory diseases, meningeal irritations were diagnosed in more than 70%. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.