Health and Cultural Interaction in the Illinois Country: A Bioarchaeological Analysis of Three Historic Native American Populations

Abstract

When sexes are compared between sites, males tend to show less variation (e.g., in caries rates, LEH frequency, and the nature of pathologies and trauma) than females, indicating that while the lifestyle of males was fairly similar, the lifestyle of women varied between populations in response to their changing roles in their individual communities. This study emphasizes the important contributions that bioarchaeological research provides to a more complete understanding of the historical consequences of cultural contact between Europeans and Native American communities.