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Science 21 October 1977:
Vol. 198. no. 4314, pp. 291 - 293
DOI: 10.1126/science.198.4314.291
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Articles

Paleodemography of the Libben Site, Ottawa County, Ohio

C. OWEN LOVEJOY 1, RICHARD S. MEINDL 2, THOMAS R. PRYZBECK 3, THOMAS S. BARTON 4, KINGSBURY G. HEIPLE 5, and DAVID KOTTING 4

1 Division of Anatomy, Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown 44272, and Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242
2 Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01002
3 Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130
4 Department of Anthropology, Kent State University
5 Department of Orthopaedics, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106

The Libben site, a Late Woodland ossuary and occupation site from the Great Black Swamp of northern Ohio has yielded a well-preserved skeletal sample of 1327 articulated individuals. The outstanding preservation and completeness of the site and the utilization of an exhaustive aging methodology make this the largest and most comprehensively censused North American prehistoric cemetery. Survivorship data indicate a robust, successful population. Life expectancy at birth was 20 years. Among adults, male mortality was consistently higher than female, a condition possibly related to high interpersonal and intergroup aggression. Infant mortality was generally low, and a general hypothesis concerning the elevation of infant mortality and the simultaneous depression of adult mortality among aboriginal peoples after European contact is suggested.

Submitted on March 9, 1977
Revised on May 6, 1977


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