ARCHEO'LOGiCAL INVESfTIGATTOilSrS EST MISSOTJRI 255 



Mississippi peoples, both of Missouri and Ohio, can be attributed only 

 to differences in diet. Just what this dietary factor was is not certain. 

 There is good archeological evidence that the Middle Mississippi peo- 

 ples were horticulturists, but only indirect evidence that the same was 

 true of the Hopewellians. Also, many more animal bones and mol- 

 lusk shells were found at the Eenner site than at Steed-Kisker. How- 

 ever, even if we assume that the Hopewellians were primarily hunters 

 and fishers, whereas the Middle Mississippi peoples were horticul- 

 turists, the greater wear of the Hopewellian's teeth still is not ex- 

 plained, for it is generally believed that ground corn was the major 

 source of abrasive material in the Indian diet. 



A suggestion as to the cause of the Hopewellian dental attrition 

 comes from the parallel case of the Southern Shell mound peoples. 

 As Leigh (1925) has pointed out in connection with Indian Knoll, 

 Skarland (1939) for Chiggerville, and Newman and Snow (1942) 

 for the Pickwick Basin, the teeth of these prehorticultural peoples 

 show extreme wear and few caries. Since fresh-water shellfish are 

 said to have been a major item in their diet, it would seem that the 

 abrasive material causing the dental wear — perhaps river sand — must 

 have come from this source. As for Hopewellians, their custom of 

 collecting fresh-water pearls suggests that they too used this food 

 source extensively. Incidentally, shellfish are undoubtedly high in 

 food values that make for sound teeth and the Shell Mound and 

 Hopewellian peoples are both relatively free from dental caries. 



Anomalies. — Of 63 temporal bones (33 right, 30 left) only two 

 (1 right, 1 left) show traces of ear exostoses. Of 59 of these bones 

 m which the tympanic plate is preserved only 6(3 right, 3 left) show 

 small perforations (10.2 percent). 



Hooton (1920, p. 85) states that no ear exostoses are present in the 

 Madison ville crania. However, he found dehiscences or perforations 

 of the floor of the auditory meatus in 26 (13 right, 13 left) out of 

 144 sides (18.0 percent). Thus perforations are more common here 

 than in the Steed-Kisker series. Nevertheless, it can be said that 

 perforation of the tympanic plate is not a feature of either of these 

 series. 



Deformation. — The skulls affected by artificial deformation are 

 listed in table IT. Since the skulls appear quite rounded and in some 

 instances show postmortem warping, it is difficult to judge the grades 

 of deformity. Pressure seems to have been applied directly to the 

 occiput, perhaps by means of a cradleboard, and probably thus was 

 unintentional. 



The frontal bones, although broader and much less curved than in 

 the Hopewellians, do not give indications of artificial flattening. 

 Transverse curves of the frontal bones (fig. 22) conform to arcs with 

 radii ranging from 7.5 to 8.0 cm. only. 



