SMITHSONLIN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 2, Number 1 Early Skeletons from Tranquillity, California J. Lawrence Angel SMITHSONIAN PRESS Washington : 1966 A Publication of the SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION United States National Museum LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CARD 65-62172 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1966 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 Price 30 cents Contents INTRODUCTION I ECOLOGY AND H E A L T H 2 SKELETAL REMAINS 4 Descriptions 4 Synthesis 12 Comparisons 13 CONCLUSIONS 16 SUMMARY 16 LITERATURE CITED 17 Illustrations PLATES 1. Skeletal remains from the Tranquil l i ty site. 2. Skeletal remains from the Tranquil l i ty site. 3 . Palaeamerican skulls from California, Texas, and Kentucky. 4. Paleolithic skulls from Choukoutien, Nor th China. Tables 1. Measurements and indices of individual crania from the Tranquil l i ty site 6 2. Measurements and indices of postcranial skeletal parts 8 3. M e a n measurements of skulls from Tranquil l i ty compared with male samples from other areas 14 m Early Skeletons from Tranquillity, California By J. Lawrence Angel Introduction New World discoveries of human remains associated with those of extinct animals have been disappointing in two ways: First, contemporaneity of men and Pleistocene mammals has had to be inferred rather than stratigraphically proved; second, the human re? mains have been within the wide range of recent American Indian physical types. The Midland woman (Wendorf, Krieger, Albritton, and Stewart, 1955) forms an exception to the first half of this rule and the Tranquillity material forms a partial excep? tion since close similarity in fluorine, carbon, nitro? gen, and water content between Camelops, Equus, Bison, and the human bones (Heizer and Cook, 1952) makes the inference of contemporaneity a strong one. All the human bone from Tranquillity turned over to me for study is heavy, partly mineralized, and purple-brown to black in color. Hewes (1946) notes that " . . . almost all bone, including artifacts of this material, has remarkably increased density, increased hardness, and a purplish-gray to nearly bluish-black color; mineralogically the replacement is collophane, a form of calcium phosphate." Tranquillity, Calif., is in the Central San Joaquin Valley about 24 miles west of Fresno (between Ker- man and Mendota). The Tranquillity site is 2/^ miles northeast of the town, in the floor of the valley in a zone where changes of drainage between the Kings and San Joaquin Rivers systems have formed long sloughs. A bypass canal for the main slough formed a small slough, about 50 x 500 feet in size, through erosion caused when a levee was added on the north side of the canal in 1937-38. This erosion exposed and partly disturbed occupation remains and burials on a soil level slightly above the Fresno hard- pan, on the hardpan, and lower (burial and one pit). Gordon W. Hewes and William C. Massey and their wives discovered and excavated the site in 1939^2 for the University of California, and Linton Satter- thwaite and Malcolm Lloyd excavated further in 1944 for the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. Except for materials with the burials, the floodwater which exposed the site also moved practically all of the artifacts found, even fragments of mortars and metates (Hewes, 1943, 1946). Chester Stock and R. A. Stirton identified the animal bones, including the extinct species. The skeletons were carefully excavated under difficult soil conditions by Gordon Hewes (1943, 1946) and by Linton Satterthwaite. This care has preserved every discoverable fragment derived from over 30 individuals, of whom 3 male and 4 female adults are usably complete. I had the chance to study all the skeletal material in 1944 through the kindness of Dr. G. C. Vaillant and Dr. L. Satterthwaite, of the University Museum in Philadelphia, and of Dr. A. L. Kroeber, Dr. T. D. McCown, E. W. Gifford, and G. W. Hewes, of the University of California Museum of Anthropology in Berkeley. The California group (UCMA) sent their material to the University Museum (UM) in Philadelphia for study. I am most grateful to these anthropologists for making the material available. For advice and criticism, I also thank Drs. T. D. Stewart, R. F. Heizer, and R.W. Newman in addition to Hewes and Satterthwaite. 1 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 2 Dr. Satterthwaite has postponed reporting his results until a carbon-14 or a geologic date is available since he feels that a break in the hardpan layer from recent erosion in the slough at Tranquillity prevents perfect proof of contemporaneity of Camelops with human bones on opposite sides of this recent break. My report was to have been appended to Satterthwaite's. I am publishing it now separately for two reasons: first, I think that contemporaneity of the extinct mammal and human bones has been virtually proved by Heizer and Cook (1952) and I note that Worm- ington (1957), Beals and Hoijer (1959), and others, accept this as highly probable; second, it seems to me that contemporaneity is the simplest explanation according to Hewes' (1946) report. I hope that publication will stimulate interest in obtaining ab? solute datings, preferably by carbon-14 on newly excavated charcoal, for this and other California sites which culturally seem to antedate the Early horizon as defined by Kroeber (1938), Heizer (1949), Wedel (1941), and others. The Early cultural horizon lasts at least until 2,000 B.C. (Heizer and Baumhoff", 1956) but its beginning is less certain, although Heizer's guess of 5,000 B.C. based on (Californian) Olivella shell beads in the Leonard rock shelter site in west central Nevada seems now much more probable than Sauer's guess of 13,000 B.C. (Kroeber, 1938). Heizer (1952) notes further that the Tranquillity site presumably ante? dates this and may belong to the transitional warm? ing-up period after the "end" of the Wiirm-Wisconsin glaciation's final (Mankato) phase, in spite of his observation that some (unspecified) Tranquillity arti? facts resemble those of the Middle horizon. I cannot follow this latter part of his argument, since compari? son of published descriptions by Hewes (1946) and Heizer (1949) suggests that the Tranquillity artifacts (flaked projectile points, knives, bone points, mano and metate, mortar and pestle, blades, drills, scrapers, charmstone, quartz crystal, Olivella beads, asphalt, bone daggers and spatulae, evidence for stick and tule shelters) represent a somewhat substandard ver? sion of those of the Early horizon and that the only major difference is in Tranquillity's semiflexed rather than extended and prone burial position. Tranquil? lity culture is certainly interpretable as an earlier version of the Early horizon as established 50 to 100 miles to the north, and in the south at Buena Vista Lake (Wedel, 1941). Tranquillity should, in this case, long antedate the wet phase of high lake levels and it is possible that later (i.e.. Early and Middle horizon) sites lie beneath the southern San Joaquin Valley silt. Certainly Heizer's (1952) suggestion of an early or pre-Anathermal date for Tranquillity and for early man in California fits the results of recent excavations of the University of Wisconsin in the Aleutian region which give Laughlin (1963) a date of 6,000 B.C. for the microlith producing site on Anangula and 9,000 B.C. for the last phases of the Bering platform which would have served as a dry migration route. Hester's (1960) synthesis of carbon- 14 dates for the extinction of Pleistocene mammals likewise suggests a late Pleistocene to earliest post? glacial date for the Tranquillity site; during the dry postglacial phase of climate the San Joaquin Valley could have served as a refuge area for such herd mammals as camel, horse, and extinct bison before and perhaps even after 6,000 B.C. when they became extinct on the Plains. Ecology and Health At present the annual rainfall is only 6 inches (Hewes, 1946), with a salt desert shrub vegetation around the water courses and sloughs, where willows and cottonwoods (but no oaks) grow sparsely. In the postglacial dry phase the climate would have been comparable to this, with the water in the tule swamps serving as a supply for herds of Plains un? gulates and other fauna. The Tranquillity hunters plausibly ate flesh of game stalked in and around the tule swamps and killed with spears having obsidian, chert, or bone points and thrown with the atlatl. Besides camel, horse, and bison, Hewes (1946) lists tule elk, antelope, coyote, fox, badger, jackrabbit, mole, and gopher, noting that the larger mammals were probably brought as a result of hunting activities, and that the paucity of birdbones is surprising. The Camelops remains include two mandibles, an astragalus, and tooth fragments; the horse remains are teeth only; and the Bison remains include teeth and an orbital fragment. These (heads and feet) may represent food and flint-flaking tools carried home, since long bones would be left at the site of butchering. These remains of extinct mammals antedate some of the human burials?one Camelops jaw was cemented to the Fresno hardpan as it formed, while burials NUMBER 1 ANGEL: TRANQUILLITY SKELETONS were cut through hardpan or down to the equivalent level and hence made from a level at or above hard- pan, and tools occurred directly on the hardpan. However, the simplest explanation of all the bones of large mammals is that hunters brought them to this site which may have been occupied over a considerable period. Numerous oval manos and some metate fragments suggest that vegetable food (seeds ?) was an important part of the diet. Mortars and pestles point in the same direction, perhaps indicating preparation of roots or other softer food; this is outside the pre? sumable acorn area. There are no actual remains of baskets, though impressions in burned clay of tule leaves and fibers suggest matting. Hewes (1946) notes impressions of sticks and poles as suggesting structures, and a pit which probably contained hearth ashes. The whole picture is of a small village whose occupants lived both by hunting and food gathering in a tule marsh oasis variably rich in game and plant food. There is plenty of evidence that they led strenuous lives. All four preserved vertebral columns show fully developed hypertrophic arthritis in cervical and lumbar regions and one shows a healed fracture at waist level plus herniation of the disk nucleus into the body of the fourth lumbar vertebra. This degree of wear and tear of the disks and ligaments at the age of 25-40 is typical of hardworking populations (Gejvall, 1960, ch. vin; Nathan, 1962; Stewart, 1958) and one or two decades ahead of our vertebral column aging. There is no arthritis of hip, knee, or ankle (n=10). There is one arthritic foot, two slighUy arthritic shoulder joints (n=8), and one arthritic hand (n = 7) as well as a well-healed wrist fracture. But 6 of 13 people have arthritis in the elbow joint (pi. 2), usually including eburnation after friction removal of cartilage over the capitulum. This is the "ball" against which the concave upper surface of the head of the radius rubs both during flexion and extension of the elbow and pronation and supination of the hand and forearm. What repeated and stressful action combines those movements? One thinks at once of a baseball pitcher or javelin thrower, except that this equally strains the shoulder and clavicular joints. Dr. Henry Collins (personal communication) has pointed out that use of the atlatl by Eskimo or Aleut allows the hunter to throw without extending and abducting the shoulder: the extra lever arm gives a strong throw from elbow extension alone (plus a forearm twist) and such a throw is considerably quicker. A hunter in a kayak or stalking an animal through tall rushes must shoot the second he sees his quarry and he can do so with the spear thrower (or bow or rifle), but not with a shoulder-action spear throw. The spear thrower, of course, puts extra stress on the arm muscles and elbow. Hence it seems logical to describe this special pathological change as "adatl elbow." Laughlin (1963), Stewart, Merbs, and others have noted it among the Alaskan Eskimo and Aleut. It is less frequent in female skeletons. But it does occur in two out of four Tranquillity females even though the arthritic lipping is slight. Possibly seed- grinding has some effect. It is equally likely that a genetic weakness or avascularity of the joint plays a part in small and isolated populations. This is given point by the frequency of a similar elbow avascular necrosis in baseball playing Japanese, as opposed to Westerners (Nagura, 1960). The Tranquillity people show other postural spe? cializations in the frequency of flexion facets at the ankle (80 percent) and in retroversion of the tibia in two out of four cases. Together with the marked femoral pilaster and platymeria, these suggest active running in rough terrain. In five out of nine cases the olecranon fossa floor is perforated, a condition supposedly linked with elbow hyperextensibility. As expected, four of these five cases are female. This may relate to the general "economy of bone" which the Tranquillity skeletons show: the shafts of all long bones are flattened about to the degree seen in Old World Paleolithic and other hunting populations and often show a sinuosity and extra sharpness of muscle attachments which approach the bowing of sabre tibia seen in actual malnutrition. The supra- sacral fossae seen in 80 percent of ilia may also reflect bone economy or, more likely, an inherited postural specialization. It is not possible to tell if the teeth show growth arrests in the enamel because of extreme wear. This tooth wear apparendy amounted to 0.25- 0.30 mm. per year loss of crown height in permanent teeth and is definitely greater than the 0.20 mm. annual rate seen in the Hotu late Upper Paleolithic skulls (Angel, 1952). Milk teeth wore faster (pi. 2), and lower teeth outlasted upper teeth. This wear points to a diet bulky in animgil fibrous tissue and vegetable fiber, little softened by cooking and prob? ably not rich, agreeing with the indication on econ? omy of bone. Yet growth was by no means stunted, since the estimated male stature (170.5 cm.) is tall, exceeding that of modern California Indians in general. Tooth wear of the degree just described tends to exceed the rate at which secondary dentine can be laid down and hence allows carious lesions to pene? trate the pulp and root canal, giving rise to peri? apical abscesses and subsequent loss of affected teeth. There is also much chewing stress on roots and high incidence of paradontal disease. This was present in all Tranquillity mouths and likewise led to abscess formation. In the seven mouths available for study, SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 2 11.4 teeth per mouth were lost in life, 5.0 were abscessed, and 2.0 were carious. T h e caries ra te is artificially lowered by loss of 13.3 teeth per mouth after death, leaving 7.3 teeth on which caries or wear can be judged. In making these calculations, the da ta from one palate (6073 U C M A ) and two isolated mandibles (6075 a U C M A and 6334 plus B-31) have been doubled. Thus 16.4 teeth (over 50 percent) were diseased in each mouth , a rate almost as high as in our own population, though for very different reasons. Apparent ly no third molars were suppressed in this small sample. Except for the Burial 5 female with a medium overbite, an edge bite was the norm. These dentitions are much poorer than those of most groups and suggest tha t loss of chewing ability may have set an upper limit to lifespan in this g roup : those with the toughest teeth would have an advantage in longevity. O n e male and one female show skull depressions from blows, and the male from Burial 6 (B-181-184) shows a skull perforation which might have occurred a t the t ime of death . T h e average adul t lifespan was 31.5 years (34 in males, 29 in females). T h e r e are abou t 16 adul t males and 9 adul t females and 8 children and early adolescents. Skull fragments of one young infant, plus a child of 1 year ( U M B-12) give little clue to the proport ion of infant deaths. If these amounted to 2.5 X the child deaths, we could expect about 20 infant deaths . T h e adul t deaths would be about 40 percent of the total, as expected in a population of this sort which might be healthier than early farming populations. This would imply three dead and two living children per woman, about the number expected over the 12-15 years of chUdbearing avail? able before dea th a t 29-30. Since there is much variation in lifespan we can assume that a minority of longer-lived women produced most of the children and that selection operated effectively here where food supply was jus t adequa te for small hun t ing groups. Skeletal Remains DESCRIPTIONS Time-consuming matching of fragments, careful re? pair of skulls and long bones, and minute study of all small fragments has allowed extraction of far more information than seemed possible at first; only Burials 4 and 5 were at all well preserved. Alvar served as adhesive. Measur ing technique and observation standards are basically those of the " H a r v a r d school" led by Dr . E. A. Hooton. Measurements follow Mar t in (1928) and the average modern northwest European male is the elusive s tandard for morphology. BURIAL 1 (UCMA 6071) is the skeleton of a male, perhaps 35-45 years old, with parts of two other adults. The partial calva includes the upper part of the frontal bone showing a sloping and probably low forehead, imperceptible bosses, and an incipient median crest which rises into the pro? nounced sagittal elevation which is the only noteworthy feature of scanty parietal fragments. There is a small sharp depression (scar) on the left side of the forehead. Minimum and maximum frontal diameters are estimated at 93 and 108 mm., respectively. The incomplete postcranial skeleton includes the lower end of a right humerus and lower halves of both radii. These show weak bowing, oval shaft sections, and barely medium interosseous crests, A right ulna indicates a stat? ure of 173.8 cm. by Trotter's 1958 Mongoloid formula. A right femoral shaft with some upper flattening (platymeria) and very deep midshaft or prominent pilaster has prismatic cross section and medium rugosity for insertion of deep fibres of the lower gluteus maximus. Fragmentary in- nominates (one right, three left) have narrow sciatic notches. One pair of them shows deep and smoothly depressed con? cavities extending medially from the iliac fossa immediately anterior and superior to the auricular surface in an area normally relatively flat (pi. 2, lower). Anterior and pos? terior heights of centra for lumbar vertebrae 2, 3, and 4 are 26 and 32, 27 and 29, and 29 and 24 mm., respectively, suggesting a vertical lumbar index of 100 or over. These centra are rimmed by medium "arthritic" exostoses, the usual wear-and-tear result of strain by centrifugal pressure of intervertebral disks during hard use. Marked arthritis with exostoses occurs in the whole right elbow joint. BURIAL 2 (UCMA 6072) is the skeleton of a robust male about 40 years of age whose heavy calvaria lacks much of the right side and frontal (pi. 1, upper left). Estimated measurements in table 1 give general proportions which are useful for descriptive purposes though statistically invalid. The medium-sized vault is long and strikingly high, ellipsoid (almost byrsoid) from above and rounded hausform from behind. A constricted, low, and strongly sloping forehead leads back to parietals with marked sagittal elevation (the actual sagittal suture is neatly depressed), bosses perceptible only in rear view, and high though faintly marked temporal lines (41 mm. from midline at their highest point and about 115 mm. above porion). The occiput is projecting and the centrally massive torus, into which inion wrinkles down, is traceable as a thin ridge laterally into large mastoid processes. The occiput in front ^ ^ m ? b' H 13 < S ( ^ ^ 07 2 to C M A P CM c? 3 m s o ^ K. ra 13 6 en ? 3 3 >. u V _> 'S p l O _^, .3 'u 3 S,w ^ 1) en >. 3 a n q u H . S o <1 jS 13 H t ) < ^ i ^^ ? ^ t o ?* CO < s O 5, ^ 3^ 3 m ? 6 J:3 i n r^ o CO < s S p ^ 3 o ?^ o- 3 -C < 4 1 o 73 3 S i o w e ? ? ' ^ CM r^ o 3 O C ^'o'g 2 Sto "^ 3 ? .D ro , , ^ Si rt ^ S 5 ?g J3