Postcontact Biocultural Adaptation of Native American Populations in Spanish Florida

这笔拨款允许拉森博士和他的合作者分析从佛罗里达州阿米莉亚岛圣玛丽亚传教会遗址发现的一系列人类骨骼。这些遗迹可以追溯到1684年。1702年，在房地产开发的土地清理过程中被发现。紧急挖掘发现了大约175具遗骸。将对这些遗骸进行分析，以提供人口和健康数据。死亡时的性别和年龄将会确定。将测量颅后、牙齿和颅骨的成分，以提供有关生长的信息。反映疾病的病理状况也会被记录下来。这个项目的目标是深入了解人类对压力的反应。通过对一系列不同时期的骨骼种群进行比较，拉森博士获得了欧洲殖民之前美国东南部印第安人群体的基线信息。通过对后来的群体的研究，可以确定在接触期间发生了什么，因为社会状况发生了变化，因为他们的饮食也发生了变化，因为他们接触到了欧洲疾病。圣玛丽亚传教会的人口尤其重要，因为这些印第安人是圣凯瑟琳岛一群人的直系后裔，在圣凯瑟琳岛被遗弃后，他们被西班牙人搬到了阿米莉亚岛。拉森博士已经分析了类似的圣凯瑟琳学院材料。这项研究很重要，因为它展示了人类如何从生物学上适应不断变化的饮食、疾病和社会状况带来的压力。在美国东南部，有可能通过历史记录和考古发掘获得对这些独立变量的一些控制，这为骨骼分析提供了一个很好的背景。因为这些骨骼将被重新埋葬，所以现在进行研究很重要。

This grant permits Dr. Larsen and his collaborators to analyze a series of human skeletons recovered from the site of Mission Santa Maria on Amelia Island, Florida. These remains date from the period 1684 . 1702 and were discovered during the process of land clearing for property development. Emergency excavation yielded a series of aproximately 175 individuals. These remains will be analyzed to provide demographic and health data. Sex and age.at.death will be determined. Postcranial, dental and cranial elements will be measured to provide information on growth. Pathological conditions which reflect disease will also be noted. The goal of this project is to gain insight into human response to stress. Through comparison of a series of skeletal populations which date to different times, Dr. Larsen has obtained baseline information for Southeast U.S. Indian groups immediately prior to European colonization. Through study of later groups it is possible to determine what happened during the contact period as the social situation changed, as their diet was also altered and as they were exposed to European diseases. The Mission Santa Maria population is especially important since these Indians are the direct descendents of a St. Catherines Island group and were moved to Amelia Island by the Spaniards after St. Catherines was abandoned. Dr. Larsen has already analyzed comparable St. Catherines material. This research is important because it shows how human populations adapt biologically to stresses imposed by changing diet, disease and social situation. In the Southeast U.S. it is possible to gain some control of these independent variables through historical records and archaeological excavation and this provides an excellent context for the skeletal analysis. Because these skeletons will be reburied it is important to conduct the research now.