PALEODEMOGRAPHY OF THE PEARSON COMPLEX (33SA9) EIDEN PHASE CEMETERY

• Published in: Archaeology of Eastern North America Vol. 24; pp. 81 - 94
• Main Authors: Sciulli, Paul W., Giesen, Myra J., Paine, Richard R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Eastern States Archeological Federation 01-01-1996
• Subjects: Age; Cemeteries; Demography; Mortality; Older adults; Physical anthropology; Population size; Population studies; Seriation; Uniformitarianism
• ISSN: 0360-1021; 2327-9656

In the present paper we discuss the demographic features of the Sandusky tradition Pearson Complex. The Pearson Complex consists of three habitation areas and two cemeteries. The habitation areas were used by Eiden, Wolf and Fort Meigs populations, while the cemeteries are samples of the Eiden and Ft. Meigs populations. The latter cemetery is small (N=48 individuals) and not suitable for demographic analysis. However, we present the age-at-death distribution for this sample as well as describe the biocultural features of the burials. We present a paleodemographic analysis of the large (N=475 individuals) Eiden Phase skeletal series. Traditional paleodemographic analysis of this skeletal population results in demographic features of the population which are implausible for human populations (at least historically documented populations). A paleodemographic reconstruction based on uniformitarian human demographic patterns suggests that the Eiden Phase cemetery does not represent the living Eiden Phase population. We propose that the settlement pattern of the Eiden Phase population, in which only about half the year was spent at the village associated with the cemetery, may explain much of the deviation from uniformitarian demographic pattern. We hypothesize that the Eiden Phase cemetery does not represent the living population primarily because not all individuals from the population were buried at the cemetery. We also discuss methods for testing this hypothesis.