Biological Impacts of Colonial Practices: Bioarchaeological Reconstruction of Health and Demography

This bioarchaeological project examines the impact of colonization practices on population health and mortality. Skeletal data on age, sex, pathologies, trauma, disability, cause of death, and other indicators of morbidity are used to test hypotheses about hardships, illnesses, and loss of life in the context of colonization practices. These bioarchaeological outcomes can extend our knowledge regarding the biological and cultural consequences of enslavement and marginalization beyond what can be understood from limited and biased historical records.

The project engages underrepresented minority students in science-based research and interpretation of empirical data involving their own community history. The research represents a multidisciplinary cooperation that engages the local community, directly involving them in the research process as co-producers of scientific knowledge and critical stakeholders in ensuring that the research findings are understood and communicated to the community and public audiences.

Settler colonialism is typically understood to be based on appropriation of resources and persistent removal of local, indigenous cultures. This project involves the excavation and analysis of skeletal remains from an historic cemetery in the American Southwest comprised of indigenous people who were conscripted into servitude. Hypotheses will be tested with the demographic, health and trauma data derived from the skeletal remains of infants, children, and adult males and females to expand our knowledge about the effects of enslavement and marginalization during colonization.

Retrieval and analysis of the skeletal remains, and the reburial of these remains in the local church cemetery, is part of a larger undertaking that will establish this location as a heritage site with an educational component featuring data retrieved from the skeletons about life, health, and death in this historic location. The outcomes of this project will provide a solid basis for future studies on colonial practices, morbidity and mortality.

This project is jointly funded by the Biological Anthropology Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.