Cornell's Peruvian Weaver

Her health

A thorough examination of the Peruvian weaver's bones can tell us about her health, and even something about what may have caused her death.

Although she appeared to have lived into her late thirties, a ripe old age by pre-Columbian standards, our Peruvian weaver's life was not an easy one. She suffered from severe tooth decay, had lost a number of teeth, and possibly died of a tooth abcess. Her lumbar spine showed the bone spurs typically seen in people who put a lot of stress on their backs, and she had skeletal hallmarks of anemia.

About her teeth:

As of now, our Peruvian weaver only has eight teeth. Of those that are missing, she lost six before death, including both the right and left pre-molars and both first molars in her upper jaw, and both second molars in her lower jaw. The rest were lost after death.

She never had third molars - pre-Columbian people in Peru occasionally lacked these teeth.

All her remaining teeth have caries, and show wear - the kind of wear you would expect in someone who uses her teeth like a third hand, for gripping.

But her most striking problem was an abcess in her upper jaw on the right. The abcess centered around the roots of her pre-molar and first molar, and ate its way through the bone to the surface. This infection probably caused her to lose her pre-molar, and must have been very painful. Infection in this location can easily make its way to the blood stream and the brain, and can be fatal. While we cannot tell for sure, it is possible that this festering abcess contributed to her death.

About her back and pelvis:

Her back and her pelvis together tell a story of wear and tear: of sitting on the hard ground and pulling on a backstrap loom for long periods of time, and of carrying large loads. The vertebrae of her lower back (lumbar spine) show bone spurs, called osteophytes, whch appear when you put stress on your spine. While some people believe these changes are a natural part of aging, you can see the kind of extreme changes our weaver had in rowers, and especially Inuit (Eskimo) kayakers, who pull back on their oars while bending forward.

Her ischial tuberosity on her right - one of the boney structures she sat on - shows signs of inflammation, a condition that occurs when you sit on hard surfaces for long periods of time.

About her anemia:

Judging from the changes in her skull, she probably had a chronic anemia. It was not a severe anemia, but it probably lowered her stamina. We cannot tell what the cause for the anemia was. However a good guess would be parasites, coupled with an iron poor diet - the major causes for anemia throughout the world today.

To the slide show about her health

How bones and teeth tell us about the past -

How can we tell about her health?
Bones are eloquent - our lives, and especially the stresses and illnesses we experience - are written in our bones.

We should note, though, that severe and ultimately fatal diseases of brief duration leave no trace on bone, because the process of bone remodelling is slow. Only those individuals strong enough to survive will exhibit pathological bone remodeling and posthumously appear unhealthy.

Severe stress and illness in a growing child can cause bones to stop growing, and develop lines of heavy calcification, called Harris lines, which can be seen on x-ray at the lower end of the femur and the upper end of the tibia, just above and below the knee. Cornell's Peruvian weaver didn't have these lines, so she had a relatively stress-free childhood.

In the adult, any part of bone where muscles pull or where there is rubbing or pressure will show signs of overgrowth and abnormal growth, because these processes activate the bone's remodelling system. Bone that is dying due to the pressure is replaced in a somewhat disorganized way, and new bone is laid down to strengthen the parts of the bone that are being pulled on. As a result you will get areas of extra calcification as well as areas where calcium is lost.