A biocultural study of human skeletal remains from southwestern Colorado

Abstract

The Ewing Collection is a large collection of artifacts and skeletal materials originating from a number of archaeological sites in Colorado, all located near the Four Corners region with the exception of one. The sites comprising the Ewing Collection were excavated from the early 1950s throughout the late 1970s. Although some provenance information remains, a large amount of pertinent information and documentation of the materials were excluded during the curation, and are in the possession of the project manager. Subsequently, little investigative work has been conducted on the collection. The focus of this research was centered on the skeletal materials of the Ewing Collection. The current standards used in biological anthropology for the purpose of skeletal analysis were applied to the skeletal materials of the collection. Methods were applied for the determination of age, sex, group affiliation, stature, and pathology. Cultural modifications and epigenetic traits were also documented. The cultural affiliation of the skeletal material was investigated. A discussion of the importance of provenance information for archaeological collections was included, and when unavailable, what information can be useful in the further understanding of such a collection. It was found that a large amount of valuable information can still be gained from a collection with a high degree of provenance loss.