Kristrina Shuler
Associate Professor
Program Director of Anthropology at Auburn University
My research explores the health consequences of social inequalities and food production systems in the Caribbean and southeastern United States through the lens of Biological Anthropology and Bioarchaeology.
Address: Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work
Auburn University
Haley 7030
Auburn, AL 36849
Program Director of Anthropology at Auburn University
My research explores the health consequences of social inequalities and food production systems in the Caribbean and southeastern United States through the lens of Biological Anthropology and Bioarchaeology.
Address: Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work
Auburn University
Haley 7030
Auburn, AL 36849
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possible ARBD. Enamel lead data served as a proxy for developmental exposure to tainted rum in a subsample (n = 26). Elevated enamel lead (3.8 g/g), vertebral synostosis, and micrognathism in one subadult fit expectations for exposure. An adult male with low enamel lead (0.3 g/g) had congenital anomalies, but not those described with ethanol or lead exposures. Contrary to expectations, we did not identify ARBD in most individuals, including those with isotopic signatures of Barbadian origin who also showed consistently elevated dental lead levels. We discuss how such patterns may have emerged from timing of
exposures and colonial medical practices, but underreporting remains a likely concern with ARBD, past and present. Ours is the first attempt to explore developmental signatures of alcohol use archeologically. We report the first possible case of ARBD from a past community.
indicator, its determination and subsequent interpretation are not
always straightforward. A study of 77 individuals from eight
prehistoric populations from the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway
illustrates this issue. Application of three common stature estimation formulae to five Middle/Late Woodland and four Mississippian groups strongly suggests that use of partial versus whole bone, choice of element, and stature estimation method can create disparate patterns in health interpretation, not only for the direction of differences, but particularly regarding the degree of differences among groups."
possible ARBD. Enamel lead data served as a proxy for developmental exposure to tainted rum in a subsample (n = 26). Elevated enamel lead (3.8 g/g), vertebral synostosis, and micrognathism in one subadult fit expectations for exposure. An adult male with low enamel lead (0.3 g/g) had congenital anomalies, but not those described with ethanol or lead exposures. Contrary to expectations, we did not identify ARBD in most individuals, including those with isotopic signatures of Barbadian origin who also showed consistently elevated dental lead levels. We discuss how such patterns may have emerged from timing of
exposures and colonial medical practices, but underreporting remains a likely concern with ARBD, past and present. Ours is the first attempt to explore developmental signatures of alcohol use archeologically. We report the first possible case of ARBD from a past community.
indicator, its determination and subsequent interpretation are not
always straightforward. A study of 77 individuals from eight
prehistoric populations from the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway
illustrates this issue. Application of three common stature estimation formulae to five Middle/Late Woodland and four Mississippian groups strongly suggests that use of partial versus whole bone, choice of element, and stature estimation method can create disparate patterns in health interpretation, not only for the direction of differences, but particularly regarding the degree of differences among groups."
Skeletal evidence (as previously reported) attests to dietary inadequacy and a stressed population. High rates of growth arrest, hypercementosis, and caries suggest substandard, high simple-carbohydrate diet, with episodic starvation, but low rates of anemia and rickets support adequacy of some minerals and vitamins. Previously unreported stature estimates support skeletally and historically-documented low heights for Caribbean slaves in comparison with North American, but low mean age at death suggests individuals were dying younger, especially women. Associations by economy within the Caribbean were far less clear, due to few comparative samples. The physical effects of sugar cultivation were ubiquitous. Adult skeletal patterns conformed to historical accounts of the gang labor, but results in women, and even children, were surprising. Trauma was unexpected, affecting only women. Like other Diaspora skeletal series, Newton Plantation data suggest poorly nourished, unhealthy individuals. Low age at death, absence of severe infection, with high rates of generalized stress, and low life expectancy support archival records of rampant acute epidemics and malnourishment in the West Indian enslaved. High rates of localized chronic infections attest to the physical dangers associated with sugar cultivation, especially to the lower body. Rare genetic defects (e.g., Klippel-Feil Syndrome and supernumerary dentition) may suggest gene drift and bottleneck effects of the Middle Passage and isolated island and plantation contexts, but more data are needed to assess these potential familial relations within the cemetery. Future collaborative efforts may provide fuller understandings of the social relations and identity for enslaved Africans at this plantation.