Disability, compassion and the skeletal record: using musculoskeletal stress markers (MSM) to construct an osteobiography from early New Mexico

Abstract

Activity patterns seen in the skeletal remains of an adult male (burial 391) from Gran Quivira Pueblo, New Mexico, suggest his complete dependence upon others during the progression of a debilitating disease that began in childhood and lasted until his death in middle adulthood. The combination of clinical disease progression data and joint mobility estimates provide a pattern to help interpret the potential range of his movements. The pattern can then be examined in relation to results obtained from musculoskeletal stress marker (MSM) data. The MSM data for Gran Quivira 391 contrasts sharply with the activity patterns commonly seen in MSM scores for other adult males also dating to the Late Period occupation (AD 1550–1672) at the site. All three of the above methods not only enable assessment of the extent of his impairment throughout life, but may also provide information concerning the degree of disability within the community. Although compassion cannot always be determined from the skeletal record alone, the severity of his condition suggests that he was wholly dependent on at least one other member of the group over a long period of time. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.