March. I9I9] 



The Ottawa Naturalist 



165 



are never seen by scientists and have never been 

 produced by the story tellers. Another story that 

 seems to crop up everywhere is of the finding of an 

 immense human jaw so large that it could be placed 

 over the lower jaw of a large man. Practically 

 any v-shaped object can be placed over another 

 v-shaped object, so that any medium-sized human 

 jaw can be placed over the face of any man, but 

 the huge human jaw of the story is never in 

 evidence. 



Fine teeth are often attributed to the Indians, 

 and it is stated that savages never suffered from 

 toothache, but in every large collection of Indian 

 bones we are able to observe that they not only 

 sometimes had abnormal teeth, but that they suf- 

 fered much from toothache and even from large 

 and painful ulcers in the jaws. The teeth of Algon- 

 kins are found to have been affected by decay much 

 less than the teeth of Iroquoians who, being agricul- 

 tural, ate much soft cooked corn food. 



Diseased bones are found in large numbers in 

 Indian burial places, many of them among the bones 

 of fairly young people. These show that the 

 Indians were not all healthy. Many diseases do 

 not affect the bones, so that there was evidently a 

 still greater percentage of disease. In a series of 

 only twenty-four skeletons found near Prescott, 

 Ontario, at least three had diseased growths on the 

 spinal column, one so severe that two of the verte- 

 brae were grown together. In the same collection 

 were other diseased bones. When one has a suf- 

 ficiently large series, say one hundred skeletons, he 

 is usually able to tell what proportion of the people 

 had severe diseases that affected the bones, the 

 various parts of the body that were affected, and 

 the frequency in each part, also whether the bones 

 of an individual v/ere thus affected only in one 

 part or in many. Sores also sometimes leave their 

 traces on the bones to a certain extent. Where the 

 number of skeletons collected is sufficient, statis- 

 tical studies of all these diseased bones may be 

 made. 



Wounds in some cases are indicated by the bones. 

 In a large series from an aboriginal burial place 

 one frequently finds bones that were broken when the 

 individual was alive, which afterward grew together, 

 sometimes as strong and useful as before. Occasion- 

 ally arrow points are found in bones. Sometimes 

 such a point has been broken off in the bone and 

 healthy bone has grown partly over it, showing that 

 the individual recovered. Frequently these are only 

 found when washing the bones in the laboratory, 

 not having been seen by the excavator because of the 

 soil on the bones. In such cases the facts would 

 never have been known had some particular bone 

 or piece of bone been discarded and reburied. 



The uses to which human bones were put and 

 the things done with the body or the skeleton may 

 also be learned from the bones. Disks cut from 

 human skulls and perforated for use as ornaments 

 or charms are found in Ontario. Several lower 

 arm bones have been found in an Iroquoian site at 

 Roebuck in eastern Ontario, which show that one 

 end has been used as a handle while the other has 

 been sharpened for use as an awl or a dagger. Per- 

 haps they were considered to have special virtue 

 because made from human bones or possibly they 

 were for use in practising witchcraft. 



Cannibalism may at least be surmised when 

 cracked or burned human bones are found, and cre- 

 mation where burned bones are found. Scalping is 

 frequently indicated as having been practised in a 

 certain place and at a particular time, by knife- 

 marks found on the bones of the head. 



Painting of the bones or body is often indicated 

 by the paint found on the bones. Copper orna- 

 ments or implements placed with the dead, even 

 where the metal has completely decayed, often leave 

 a green stain and chemical evidence on bones. 



Skulls perforated with conical drilled holes after 

 death or so as to cause death are found in Ontario 

 and suggest that the skulls were suspended as 

 trophies or charms, or had something fastened to 

 them as a death dressing. 



The skeleton of a man differs from that of a 

 woman in many respects. If in each of these re- 

 spects the difference is extreme, it is easy to de- 

 termine whether the skeleton is that of a man or 

 woman, but if the difference is very slight, or if 

 in one respect the skeleton resembles that of a man 

 and in another that of a woman, it is more di.fficult 

 to make the determination. For instance, the skele- 

 ton of an athletic, outdoor woman in some respects 

 might resemble the skeleton of a man, while the 

 skeleton of a delicate man might resemble the 

 skeleton of a woman. Nevertheless, by careful ex- 

 amination and allowing for error, it is possible to 

 determine approximately the distribution of sex in 

 a series of skeletons and to use this information in 

 many other studies, as for instance to determine 

 whether certain bone diseases were more prevalent 

 among men than among women ; and it is possible 

 to compare certain physical features of the skelp.lons 

 of primitive women with those of our own women 

 who have long been subject to the conditions 

 peculiar to "civilization". 



Sutures in the skulls of some old people which 

 have been found had grown almost if not entirely 

 together, so that there was no further opportunity 

 for the brain to increase in size. 



The value of large collections of human bones 

 is illustrated by the fact that a dentist living in 



