Observations on health, genetics, and culture 



from analysis of skeletal remains from 



Roonka, South Australia 



Miroslav Prokopec and Graeme L. Pretty 



Site and environment 



The skeletal material reported here comes from the archeo- 

 logical site Roonka Flat on the right bank of the Murray 

 River, 8 km north of Blanchetown in South Australia. The 

 flat has a semicircular shape, is open to the west and bordered 

 by lagoons on the northern and eastern sides. Steep cliffs of 

 Tertiary deposits face the flat on the opposite side of the river. 

 The Aboriginal tribe which occupied the area at the time of its 

 colonization by Europeans in 1844 was known by the name 

 Ngaiawang. Freshwater mussels, fish, marsupial game and 

 rodents and various plant foods are assumed to have formed a 

 large proportion of the diet of the original inhabitants. A sand 

 dune located on an elevated place on the Roonka Flat was 

 frequently used as a burial site. It is likely that it was used 

 also as a camp site because of its pleasant position. Heaps of 

 mussel shells were found at several places. 



Human bones began to emerge from the soil in the early 

 1960s following floods and strong winds. Systematic ex- 

 cavations were commenced by one of us (G.L.P.) in 1968 

 with the support of volunteer labor and continued until 1976. 

 Most of the excavated graves (n = 1 1 1) come from trench A, 

 which was laid on the top of the dune, others from trenches 

 OA, lA, IB, B and from the bulks between the trenches. 

 Several skeletons were brought to the museum prior to the 

 beginning of systematic research. 



Materials and methods 



CHRONOLOGY OF INHUMATIONS 



Carbon from the basal zone of trench A was dated 18,000 

 years b.p. (Phase Roonka I) and carbon associated with one 

 of the older groups of skeletons was dated about 7000 years 

 B.p. (Phase II). Intermediate group Ilia is dated approxi- 

 mately 4000 years b.p. and the youngest group Illb is esti- 

 mated to have terminated at circa a.d. 1850 (Pretty 1977). 

 The site was thus used from time indefinite to the period of 



Zagreb Paleopalhotogy Symp. t988 



European contact. Questions posed to physical anthropolo- 

 gists were: who were the people; what did they look like; 

 which diseases affected them and which were the most proba- 

 ble causes of death? 



LABORATORY 



The bones available for assessment in the laboratory were in 

 a poor state. Most of the skulls had to be reconstructed and 

 sealed together from many fragments. Most of the skeletons 

 were incomplete. 



Analysis of human osteological remains from Roonka 

 showed that the same type of people occupied the flat for at 

 least 7000 years and made a positive contribution to archeol- 

 ogy by throwing light upon demography, health status, cul- 

 ture, way of life, and genetics of the past population. At- 

 tempts were also made to evoke the appearance of some 

 individuals by drawing or modeling the missing soft parts on 

 the skull. 



DEMOGRAPHY 



Current methods described (Martin and Sailer 1957; Lamach 

 and Freedman 1964; Hrdlicka 1947; Stewart 1952; Krogman 

 1962;Brothwell 1963; Trotter and Gle.ser 1952) were used to 

 determine sex, age and stature from the bones. Pathological 

 changes in the bones were reviewed with C.L. Manock and 

 D. Pounder (pathologists), and D. Simpson, a neurosurgeon, 

 reviewed a special case of a complete craniosynostosis in a 

 child. Demographic aspects were studied according to Ac- 

 sadi and Nemeskeri (1970) and Stloukal and Hanakova 

 (1971). 



Results 



There were 165 individuals identified in Roonka, including 

 60 (36%) children and subadults, 58 males (35%) and 47 

 females (29%). The mean age of all individuals buried at 



151 



