Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T23:24:09.792Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Conquistadors, Excavators, or Rodents: What Damaged the King Site Skeletons?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

George R. Milner ,
Clark Spencer Larsen ,
Dale L. Hutchinson ,
Matthew A. Williamson  and
Dorothy A. Humpf
George R. Milner
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
Clark Spencer Larsen
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Dale L. Hutchinson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858
Matthew A. Williamson
Affiliation:
Department of Health and Kinesiology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460
Dorothy A. Humpf
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, East Tennessee State University, P.O. Box 70644, Johnson City.TN 37614
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It has been claimed that many Native American skeletons from the King site in Georgia show evidence of wounds from sharp-edged metal weapons that were wielded by members of the sixteenth-century de Soto expedition (Blakely and Mathews 1990). The supposed massacre of these villagers has caught the attention of the public and scholars alike. But we failed to find any evidence of damage caused by sixteenth-century Spanish weapons in our examination of the King site skeletons. Our finding-there is no evidence for a massacre-eliminates a major discrepancy between historical and archaeological information used in reconstructions of the de Soto route.

Resumen

Resumen

Se ha propuesto que muchos restos óseos de nativos americanos provenientes del sitio King, localizado en Georgia, muestran evidencia de heridas provocadas por armas metálicas punzo-cortantes, propias de las que usaban los miembros de la expedición Española comandada por Soto en el siglo XVI (Blakely and Mathews 1990). La supuesta masacre de estos aldeanos ha atraido la atencion del público y de academicos. Sin embargo, durante nuestro examen de las osamentas del sitio King, nosotros no pudimos encontrar evidencia de heridas ocasionadas por el tipo de armas usadas por los ejércitos españoles durante el siglo XVI. Nuestros resultados, en el sentido de que no hay evidencia de una masacre, eliminan una fuerte discrepancia entre la información historica y los datos arqueólogicos que se han usado en la reconstrucción de la ruta seguida por Soto.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 65 , Issue 2 , April 2000 , pp. 355 - 363
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Bennike, P. 1985 Palaeopathology of Danish Skeletons. Akademisk Forlag, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Blakely, R. L. (editor) 1988 The King Site. University of Georgia Press, Athens.Google Scholar
Blakely, R. L. 1989 A Coosa Massacre. Archaeology 42(May/June) : 30.Google Scholar
Blakely, R. L., and Mathews, D. S. 1990 Bioarchaeological Evidence for a Spanish-Native American Conflict in the Sixteenth- Century Southeast. American Antiquity 55 : 718–744.Google Scholar
Buikstra, J. E., and Ubelaker, D. H. (editors) 1994 Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains. Research Series 44. Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville.Google Scholar
Detweiler-Blakely, B. 1988 Stress and the Battle Casualties. In The King Site, edited by Blakely, R. L., pp. 87–98. University of Georgia Press, Athens.Google Scholar
Dye, D. H. 1989 Death March of Hernando de Soto. Archaeology 42(May/June) : 26–31.Google Scholar
Fisher, J. W. 1995 Bone Surface Modifications in Zooarchaeology. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 2 : 7–68.Google Scholar
Haglund, W. D. 1997 Dogs and Coyotes : Postmortem Involvement with Human Remains. In Forensic Taphonomy : The Postmortem Fate of Human Remains, edited by Haglund, W. D. and Sorg, M.H. pp. 367–381. CRC Press, Boca Raton.Google Scholar
Haglund, W. D., Reay, D. T., and Swindler, D. R. 1989 Tooth Mark Artifacts and Survival of Bones in Animal Scavenged Human Skeletons. Journal of Forensic Sciences 33 : 985–997.Google Scholar
Hally, D. J. 1988 Archaeology and Settlement Plan of the King Site. In The King Site, edited by Blakely, R. L., pp. 3–16. University of Georgia Press, Athens.Google Scholar
Hally, D. J., and Hill, M. C. 1994 Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia Excavations at the King Site (9FL5) 1992 and 1993 Seasons. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens.Google Scholar
Hally, D. J., Smith, M. T., and Langford, J. B. 1990 The Archaeological Reality of de Soto's Coosa. In Columbian Consequences, vol. 2, edited by Thomas, D. H., pp. 121–138. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Henige, D. 1993 Proxy Data, Historical Method, and the de Soto Expedition. In The Expedition of Hernando de Soto West of the Mississippi, 1541-1543, edited by Young, G. A. and Hoffman, M.P. pp. 155–172. University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville.Google Scholar
Hudson, C. 1990 The Juan Pardo Expeditions. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Hudson, C. 1997 Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun. University of Georgia Press, Athens.Google Scholar
Hudson, C, DePratter, C. B., and Smith, M. T. 1988 The Victims of the King Site Massacre : A Historical Detectives’ Report. In The King Site, edited by Blakely, R. L., pp. 117–134. University of Georgia Press, Athens.Google Scholar
Hudson, C, DePratter, C. B., and Smith, M. T. 1989 Hernando de Soto's Expedition through the Southern United States. In First Encounters, edited by Milanich, J. T. and Milbrath, S., pp. 77–98. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Hudson, C, DePratter, C. B., and Smith, M. T. 1993 Appendix I : Reply to Henige. In The Expedition of Hernando de Soto West of the Mississippi, 1541-1543, edited by Young, G. A. and Hoffman, M. P., pp. 255–269. University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville. DePratterGoogle Scholar
Hudson, C, DePratter, C. B., and Smith, M. T. 1985 Coosa : A Chiefdom in the Sixteenth-Century Southeastern United States. American Antiquity 50 : 723–737.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hudson, C, Worth, J. E., and DePratter, C. B. 1990 Refinements in Hernando de Soto's Route through Georgia and South Carolina. In Columbian Consequences, vol. 2, edited by Thomas, D. H., pp. 107–119. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Humpf, D. A. 1995 Coosa : Biocultural Studies of a Sixteenth-Century Southeastern Chiefdom. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.Google Scholar
Humphrey, J., and Hutchinson, D. L. 1999 Macroscopic Analysis of Hacking Trauma. Paper presented at the 51s’ Annual Meeting of the American Association of Forensic Sciences, Orlando.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, D. L. 1996 Brief Encounters : Tatham Mound and the Evidence for Spanish and Native American Confrontation. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 6 : 51–65.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, D. L., and Non, L. 1994 Late Prehistoric and Early Historic Diet in Gulf Coast Florida. In In the Wake of Contact, edited by Larsen, C. S. and Milner, G.R. pp. 9–20. Wiley-Liss, New York.Google Scholar
Ingelmark, B. E. 1939 The Skeletons. In ArmourfromtheBattleofWisby 1361, edited by Thordeman, B., pp. 149–209. Almquist and Wiksells, Uppsala.Google Scholar
Lai, R. C. 1974 Homicidal Axe Injury of the Head. Forensic Science 3 : 279–281.Google Scholar
Liston, M. A., and Baker, B. J. 1996 Reconstructing the Massacre at Fort William Henry, New York. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 6 : 28–41.Google Scholar
Lyman, R. L. 1987 Archaeofaunas and Butchery Studies : A Taphonomic Perspective. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 10 : 249–339.Google Scholar
Lyman, R. L. 1994 Vertebrate Taphonomy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Mathews, D. S. 1984 De Soto's Battle ofMabila : The Ulibahali Casualties from the King Site. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Georgia State University, Atlanta.Google Scholar
Mathews, D. S. 1988 The Massacre : The Discovery of De Soto in Georgia. In The King Site, edited by Blakely, R. L., pp. 101–116. University of Georgia Press, Athens.Google Scholar
Mays, S. 1998 The Archaeology of Human Bones. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Milanich, J. T, and Hudson, C. 1993 Hernando de Soto and the Indians of Florida. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Milner, G. R. 1996 Prospects and Problems in Contact-Era Research. In Bioarchaeology of Native American Adaptation in the Spanish Borderlands, edited by Baker, B. J. and Kealhofer, L., pp. 198– 208. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Milner, G. R. 1999 Warfare in Prehistoric and Early Historic Eastern North America. Journal of Archaeological Research 7 : 105–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milner, G. R., Anderson, E., and Smith, V. G. 1991 Warfare in West-Central Illinois. American Antiquity 56 : 581–603.Google Scholar
Milner, G. R., and Smith, V. G. 1989 Carnivore Alteration of Human Bone from a Late Prehistoric Site in Illinois. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 79 : 43–9.Google Scholar
Mitchem, J. M. 1989 Artifacts of Exploration : Archaeological Evidence from Florida. In First Encounters, edited by Milanich, J. T. and Milbrath, S., pp. 99–109. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Moller-Christensen, V. 1982 AZbelholt Kloster. Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Morimoto, I., and Hirata, K. 1992 A Decapitated Human Skull from Medieval Kamakura. Journal of the Anthropological Society of Nippon 100 : 349–358.Google Scholar
Ortner, D. J., and Putschar, W. G. J. 1985 Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains. 2° ed. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Potts, R., and Shipman, P. 1981 Cutmarks Made by Stone Tools on Bones from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Nature 291 : 577–580.Google Scholar
Shackley, M. 1986 Arms and the Men; 14th Century Japanese Swordsmanship Illustrated by Skeletons from Zaimokuza, Near Kamakura, Japan. World Archaeology 18 : 247–254.Google Scholar
Shipman, P., and Rose, J. 1983 Early Hominid Hunting, Butchering, and Carcass-Processing Behaviors : Approaches to the Fossil Record. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 2 : 57–98.Google Scholar
Smith, M. T. 1987 Archaeology of Aboriginal Culture Change in the Interior Southeast. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Smith, M. T. 1994 Aboriginal Depopulation in the Postcontact Southeast. In The Forgotten Centuries, edited by Hudson, C. and Tesser, C.C. pp. 257–275. University of Georgia Press, Athens.Google Scholar
Stroud, G., and Kemp, R. L. 1993 Cemeteries of St. Andrew, Fishergate. Council for British Archaeology, New York.Google Scholar
Trickey, E. B. 1995 Mauvilla : A New Approach. Journal of Alabama Archaeology 41 : 79–87.Google Scholar
Tucker, B., and Hutchinson, D. L. 1999 Leave It To Cleaver : Microscopic Analysis of Hacking Trauma. Paper presented at the 51s Annual Meeting of the American Association of Forensic Sciences, Orlando.Google Scholar
Varner, J. G., and Varner, J. J. 1983 Dogs of the Conquest. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Wakely, J. 1997 Identification and Analysis of Violent and Non-violent Head Injuries in Osteo-archaeological Material. In Material Harm : Archaeological Studies ofWar and Violence, edited by Carman, J., pp. 24–46. Cruithne Press, Glasgow.Google Scholar
Weber, D. J. 1992 The Spanish Frontier in North America. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Wenham, S. J. 1989 Anatomical Interpretations of Anglo-Saxon Weapon Injuries. In Weapons and Warfare in Anglo-Saxon England, edited by Hawkes, S. C., pp. 123–139. Monograph 21. Committee for Archaeology, Oxford University, Oxford.Google Scholar
White, T. D. 1991 Human Osteology. Academic Press, San Diego.Google Scholar
White, T. D. 1992 Prehistoric Cannibalism at Mancos 5MTUMR-2346. Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar
Willey, P. 1990 Prehistoric Warfare on the Great Plains. Garland, New York.Google Scholar