Greg C Nelson

To document and differentially diagnose facial pathology found in an isolated skull from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, southeastern Caribbean. To directly date this individual using radiocarbon dating. Materials: Isolated skull recovered from Petite Mustique Island. Methods: Describe facial pathology occurring in this individual and compare with known diseases or disease processes that impact the craniofacial complex. Results: Features of the rhinomaxillary syndrome are present, indicating a diagnosis of leprosy. Dating places the time of death to the late 18th or early 19th centuries. Conclusions: Analysis of the rhinomaxillary syndrome produces a diagnosis of early-stage leprosy in an individual that correlates with the apparent attempt to locate a leprosarium on Petite Mustique Island in the first decade of the 19th century. Significance: Location and time corroborate historical records of at least one attempt to locate a leprosarium on Petite Mustique Island. Only directly dated individual with leprosy in the western hemisphere and possibly the earliest yet recorded. Limitations: This is an isolated find that is archaeologically unprovenienced. Suggestions for further research: Professional archaeological survey of Petite Mustique.

Human skeletal remains have been discovered from a variety of contexts in the Palauan archipelago of western Micronesia. These include caves, rockshelters, earthen mounds, stone platforms, midden burials, crypts, sarcophagi, and historic period gravesites. Recent excavation of a prehistoric cemetery in a rockshelter on Orrak Island dating from ca 1000 BC–AD 200, combined with nearly contemporaneous surface finds in caves on both Orrak and other nearby islands, shed light on the earliest known burial practices in Palau. Interment in limestone caves and rockshelters was then replaced in succession by burial in earthwork terraces, beneath stone platforms, in middens, within limestone slab crypts and at least one known stone sarcophagus, and finally in Western or Asian-style gravesites with headstones. Here we present the first major synthesis of mortuary patterns in Palau from the earliest periods of known settlement (ca. 1000 BC) to modern times. Understanding how these burial practices change over time provides valuable insight into changing sociocultural practices within Palauan society, including how contact with outsiders during the historical period drastically altered traditional mortuary behaviours.

Multibeam echosounder (MBES) systems have enjoyed recent popularity as a tool in bedform-migration studies due to their ability to produce high-resolution seafloor imagery with complete bottom coverage. Although shallow-water MBES systems may achieve decimeter-scale data resolution, the use of MBES to successfully detect and quantify bedform migration on short time-scales (days to weeks) where the migration distance is relatively small (< 1 m) remains limited by positioning uncertainty. In this study we evaluate short-term bedform migration and sediment transport in a bedform field at the entrance to Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire, USA. Bedform dynamics over 24-hour and multi-day periods were determined from high-resolution bathymetry (0.25 m grid resolution) acquired with a Kongsberg EM3002D MBES system. Position, heading and attitude data were acquired with an Applanix POS/MV system with integrated real-time kinematic GPS correctors, providing a horizontal positioning uncertainty of < 0.1 m at the GPS receiver. MBES surveys were conducted on June 8, 14 and 15 in 2007 and July 3 and 9 in 2008. Acoustic current meters were deployed at two stations within the survey area in 2008 to provide simultaneous observations of current velocities at a height of 1 m above the bottom. A new approach was developed and used for detecting and quantifying bedform migration from the bathymetry. Our approach utilizes a ridge-extraction algorithm to derive a binary map of dune-crest positions from the bathymetric surface, and then calculates the displacements of small (6.25 m2) subsets of dune crest. Preliminary results indicate that bedform migrations of ≥ 0.1 m were successfully resolved. Morphology of the bedform field is dominated by medium and large, two-dimensional, asymmetrical subaqueous dunes (0.4 to 0.8 m height, 8 to 16 m wavelength). Small, two-dimensional, ebb-oriented subaqueous dunes (0.3 m height, 5 m wavelength) line the eastern margin of the bedform field, which is adjacent to the channel thalweg. Initial analysis indicates that bedforms are active on 24-hour and multi-day cycles, with migrations of > 1.2 m observed on multi-day cycles. The highest bedform-migration rates are observed along the eastern margin where smaller dunes occur. In 2007 we observed a reciprocal pattern of bedform migration, in which dunes in the western half of the bedform field migrated in a net flood (northward) direction and dunes in the eastern half migrated in a net ebb (southward) direction. In 2008, the eastern dune population was still active and southward-migrating, though the western half of the bedform field appeared to be inactive. The observed pattern of bedform migration is supported by current-meter data from six tidal cycles (spring tidal conditions) during the 2008 experiment, which reveal a strong cross-channel difference in the flood and ebb currents. The data indicate ebb-current dominance in the eastern half of the study area and flood-current dominance in the western half of the study area. Individual bedforms cannot be tracked over the annual period (2007 to 2008) without a higher survey-repetition rate, suggesting that annual migration distances are comparable with or greater than the bedform wavelength, and/or that bedform morphology changes significantly over time-scales shorter than one year.

Bringing together a variety of today’s most accomplished dental researchers, Technique and Application in Dental Anthropology covers a range of topics germane to the study of human and other primate teeth. The chapters encompass work on both individuals and samples, ranging from prehistoric through recent times. The focus throughout the book is the methodology required for the study of modern dental anthropology, comprising the most up-to-date scientific methods in use today – ranging from simple observation to advanced computer-based analyses – which can be utilized by the reader in their own dental research. Originating from the twentieth anniversary meeting of the Dental Anthropology Association, this is a valuable reference source for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, academic researchers, and professionals in the social and life sciences, as well as clinicians.

The discovery of human burials in Palau, Micronesia have often centered on traditional village sites with stone architecture dating post - AD 1200. Although the placing of the deceased in caves has been noted in the past, especially within the limestone Rock Islands, only recently have these sites been investigated in any detail. We present new data from a cemetery on Orrak Island, one of the largest and earliest burial sites in the Pacific Islands dating to ~ 900 BC. Surface reconnaissance in the smaller limestone islands suggests that cave burials were probably a frequent cultural practice in early Palauan prehistory.

Continued excavation in 2007 of the early (ca. 2000–3000 calBP) cemetery at Chelechol ra Orrak in Palau, Micronesia revealed the remains of at least six individuals, adding to a minimum number of at least 25 other mostly fragmented individuals recovered in previous years. Of particular interest was the discovery of two isolated adult partial crania one of which, when emptied of sandy matrix, was found to contain a complete child’s frontal bone. Here we explore the possibility that the placement of the skulls, particularly the commingling of the adult and child cranial elements, was done purposefully and discuss its significance for early Pacific mortuary behaviours.

Current archaeological evidence from Palau in western Micronesia indicates that the archipelago was settled around 3000– 3300 BP by normal sized populations; contrary to recent claims, they did not succumb to insular dwarfism.

Background: Previous and ongoing archaeological research of both human burial and occupation sites throughout the Palauan archipelago during the last 50 years has produced a robust data set to test hypotheses regarding initial colonization and subsequent adaptations over the past three millennia.

Principal Findings: Close examination of human burials at the early (ca. 3000 BP) and stratified site of Chelechol ra Orrak indicates that these were normal sized individuals. This is contrary to the recent claim of contemporaneous ‘‘small-bodied’’ individuals found at two cave sites by Berger et al. (2008). As we argue, their analyses are flawed on a number of different analytical levels. First, their sample size is too small and fragmentary to adequately address the variation inherent in modern humans within and outside of Palau. Second, the size and stature of all other prehistoric (both older and contemporaneous) skeletal assemblages found in Palau fall within the normal parameters of modern human variation in the region, indicating this was not a case of insular dwarfism or a separate migratory group. Third, measurements taken on several skeletal elements by Berger et al. may appear to be from smaller-bodied individuals, but the sizes of these people compares well with samples from Chelechol ra Orrak. Last, archaeological, linguistic, and historical evidence demonstrates a great deal of cultural continuity in Palau through time as expected if the same population was inhabiting the archipelago.

Conclusions: Prehistoric Palauan populations were normal sized and exhibit traits that fall within the normal variation for Homo sapiens—they do not support the claims by Berger et al. (2008) that there were smaller-bodied populations living in Palau or that insular dwarfism took place such as may be the case for Homo floresiensis.

Remote Oceania was one of the last geographical areas to be colonized by humans. However, the timing, direction, and origins of settlement are still unclear, particularly for Micronesia. Past research demonstrates that a transdisciplinary approach utilizing genetic, linguistic, and archaeological evidence can be successful in establishing a basic chronology for settlement of much of the region, but the general coarseness of the data, as well as a paucity of human skeletal remains in the region, have prevented researchers from identifying a point of origin for the earliest Micronesians1,2. The Chelechol ra Orrak site, one of two burial sites in the Pacific that extend back prior to ca. 2500 BP, and the earliest burial site in Micronesia, is allowing for direct study of early population dispersals into Remote Oceania via ancient DNA (aDNA) and isotopic analyses in an effort to better understand population dispersals and mobility of the earliest Palauans from a variety of geographical scales.