ARCHEOLOOICAL INVESTIGATION'S IN jSIISiSOURI 249 



Sex. — The collection consists of 12 males (4 with sex questioned), 

 9 females (one with sex questioned), and 1 child. 



Suture closure. — Table 14 also gives the status of suture closure 

 for the individual specimens, and this will serve as an indication of 

 age. Of the adults, only four are young, as judged from the open 

 sutures ; at least four others may be in the stage of beginning suture 

 closure; and the remainder show the extensive obliteration of the 

 sutures characteristic of old age. In one case (Hansen 1) an unusual 

 height of the vault (porion-bregma height 12.9 cm.) suggests an 

 abnormality perhaps associated with premature suture closure. 



Teeth. — Eight skulls have teeth preserved. The youngest of these 

 (No. 379101) has its M^'s unerupted and shows only slight wear of M-. 

 This, of course, agrees with the patent sutures. No. 379102 appears to 

 be a little older ; its M^'s are erupted and the M-'s show somewhat more 

 wear. Two skulls in the stage of beginning suture closure (Nos. 379109, 

 379116) show moderate tooth wear; three others in a somewhat more 

 advanced stage of suture closure (Nos. 379100, 379111) show extreme 

 wear together with tooth loss. And finally, two skulls with extensive 

 suture closure (Shippee C, No. 379113) likewise show extreme wear 

 and loss. It is my impression that tooth wear in this group starts 

 early and progresses rapidly. However, it is noteworthy that tooth 

 loss is disi^roportionate to the wear; loss occurs finally through ex- 

 posure of the pulp cavity and consequent abscess formation. In two 

 cases (Nos. 379100, 379116) abscesses have made openings into the 

 antra. 



Hooton (1922, p. 118) remarks in connection with the Turner site 

 (Ohio Hopewellian) that "on the whole, this series includes a high 

 percentage of crania with deeply worn teeth (43.3 percent)". Accord- 

 ing to his table on page 119 he found pronounced wear appearing in 

 middle age (36-50 years). Also only 8 out of 29 individuals have lost 

 teeth in life and "caries and alveolar abscesses are not especially 

 prevalent." 



AawTnalies. — In 49 temporal bones (26 right, 23 left) no ear exos- 

 toses were observed. Although the tympanic plate was not intact in 

 all cases, perforation was observed in only eight cases (4 right, 4 left). 



Hooton does not mention ear exostoses in connection with the 

 Turner series, so presumably none was observed. He reports that 

 perforations of the tympanic plate were seen in only 4 of 24 individ- 

 uals (p. 121). 



Defoi^m/ition. — In the second column of table 13 the presence or 

 absence of deformity is noted. In seven of the skulls (3 male, 4 fe- 

 male) the occiput is definitely flattened in a vertical plane and with- 

 out much if any asymmetry. It is difficult to judge the grade of 

 flattening because we are dealing with skulls that were originally 

 quite long-headed and that in spite of being deformed still give in 



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