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Cited by 0Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology StudiesHistorical and Cultural Archaeology StudiesPaleopathology and ancient diseases

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 87 of the 91 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 7 of the 103 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

The Land of Opportunity: Bioarchaeological Perspectives of Women’s Lives in the Industrial Expansion into the Western UNITED STATES (1850–1915)

Open access
P. Anderson, Cheryl, P. Harrod, Ryan, M. Baustian, Kathryn·2024·International Journal of Historical Archaeology
DOI 10.1007/s10761-024-00744-8
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Abstract

Taking a bioarchaeological approach that puts human skeletal remains in context with historical records, we reconstruct the experiences of three women who lived in the West during the 1800s and early 1900s. Telling the stories of one woman from a homestead outside the city of Las Vegas, Nevada and two women recovered from a sand dune near Walters Ferry, Idaho, we offer insight into what life was like for those who ventured west in search of new identities and roles in developing industries. Our analysis includes documentation of pathological conditions, activity-related changes, and trauma in comparison to other historic cemetery samples from communities growing in this region. Through examination of the skeletal data from these diverse data sets, patterns emerge regarding the health profiles of these women. In particular, the results show that the pathological conditions observed on the three women from Nevada and Idaho align with those documented in the published literature and provide insight into their risk of morbidity and trauma.

Overview

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TL;DR

Bioarchaeological osteobiographies of three women from North Las Vegas, Nevada, and Walters Ferry, Idaho, contextualized with four historic western US cemetery samples, show skeletal signs of hard physical labor, disease, and trauma during industrial expansion (1850–1915). The authors argue women’s lived experiences were embodied and often comparable to men’s within the same communities.

Key findings

  • Mary Latimer (Kiel Ranch, North Las Vegas) was female, aged 60+ (known died at 68/69), stature 5 ft 4 in–5 ft 8 in; she had five carious lesions, periodontal disease, an upper right second molar abscess, only 14 teeth remaining, a healed right clavicle fracture, and osteoarthritis in multiple areas. Entheseal changes were mostly slight to moderate, but age-related changes made activity inference difficult.
  • Walters Ferry Individual A was probable female, aged 30+; pelvic sex probabilities were 76.34% female for the left os coxa and 42.00% for the right. She had ossified rib cartilage and Schmorl’s nodes on thoracic/lumbar vertebrae, with mild to moderate entheseal scores. Individual B was female, aged 18+, less than 50% complete, with a right femur fracture or infection, lytic lesions and osteophytes on both feet, fusion of left toe phalanges, and very little entheseal development.
  • Across four comparative cemeteries, female porotic hyperostosis was 1.72% at Alameda-Stone versus 23.8% at Cedar Grove (p < .001), and linear enamel hypoplasia was 60% at Legion of Honor versus 22.4% at Alameda-Stone (p = .003). Average female stature ranged from 156.2–162.8 cm across sites.
  • Within-site comparisons showed mostly similar male/female pathology frequencies, with significant sex associations only for porotic hyperostosis at Freedman’s cemetery (p = .022) and periosteal reactions at Alameda-Stone (p-value not reported). The authors conclude the three women’s pathological conditions align with published literature and reflect morbidity and trauma risks.

Methods

  • The study constructed osteobiographies of three women: Mary Latimer from Kiel Ranch, North Las Vegas, Nevada, and Individuals A and B from Walters Ferry, Idaho. Standard osteological methods estimated age-at-death, sex, and stature; recorded conditions included caries, linear enamel hypoplasia, trauma, cribra orbitalia, osteoarthritis, porotic hyperostosis, and entheseal changes.
  • Published data from four historic cemeteries were used for comparison: Alameda-Stone (Tucson, Arizona; 1,386 individuals), Cedar Grove (southwest Arkansas; 80 individuals, 21 females and 15 males), Freedman’s (Dallas, Texas; 1,157 individuals, 278 females and 288 males), and Legion of Honor (San Francisco, California; 90 individuals, 24 females and 56 males). Indicators compared included stature, porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, periosteal reactions, and trauma.
  • Statistical analysis used IBM SPSS with Pearson’s chi-square tests by sex and cemetery; Fisher’s exact test was used when sample sizes were below 40 or expected counts were less than 5. Some comparisons were not possible because published sources reported data differently.

Limitations

  • The paper states that age-related changes, especially osteoarthritis and entheseal robusticity, make activity inference difficult for Mary Latimer. Individual A’s stature was not attempted because long bones were too damaged; Individual B was less than 50% complete, lacked skull and pelvis, and had limited age, sex, and stature estimation. No cranial or dental remains were available for the Walters Ferry individuals, and small entheseal samples limited comparisons.
  • The paper states that comparative analyses were constrained by differences in how published sources reported data, preventing statistical testing for stature, osteoarthritis, and some trauma data; it also cannot determine whether stress differences occurred before, during, or after migration.
  • Evident from the text: the osteobiography sample is only three women, limiting generalizability; Individual A’s sex estimate is complicated by pelvic asymmetry; prior analyses disagreed about Individual A’s sex; and the Walters Ferry individuals’ identities and causes of death are unknown.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1007/s10761-024-00744-8

Cites

87 of 87 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

7 of 103 cited sources checked · 3 supported · 0 flagged · accuracy not yet measured

Show all 70 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 57
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 55
90 of 90

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Women were not absent from the industrial booms.

    “Women were not absent from the industrial booms, and it is important to account for their roles and experiences.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Expansion westward into California and the Pacific Northwest served as the first opportunity for many women to explore new roles and identities in society.

    “Expansion westward into California and the Pacific Northwest served as the first opportunity for many women to explore new roles and identities in society.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Women's lived experiences are 'written' on their bodies and tell a story of how they interacted with this new territory.

    “Their lived experiences are “written” on their bodies and tell a story of how they interacted with this new territory.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The skeletal remains of these individuals tell the story of their lives and can provide some insight into the experiences of those who ventured west.

    “The skeletal remains of these individuals tell the story of their lives and can provide some insight into the experiences of those who ventured west.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The West was like any other place in the world or time in history; people’s daily lives were often routine.

    “The West was like any other place in the world or time in history; people’s daily lives were often routine.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The skeletal remains identified as Mary Latimer are those of Mary Latimer.

    “historical records indicate that Mary Latimer was the only female buried at the site, so identification of sex was mostly to confirm her identity.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The historical records used to reconstruct Mary Latimer's life are accurate.

    “Historical records on Ancestry.com (and the old database RootsWeb they aquired) and other family history resources have helped us discover more about her life’s experiences.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The four comparative cemetery samples are representative of women living in the western United States during the study period.

    “In order to explore the ways that migration and industry impacted health during the mid to late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, published health data from four well-documented historic Western cemeteries are examined: Alameda-Stone cemetery, Cedar Grove cemetery, Freedman’s cemetery, and Legion of Honor cemetery.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The published health data from the four cemeteries are comparable enough to allow cross-site comparisons despite differences in reporting.

    “Unfortunately, it was not possible to include all indicators of stress and activity due to differences in how those data were reported.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The three osteobiographies and the four comparative cemetery samples are representative of the broader population living in the Western US during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

    “These complement the skeletal data reported for the comparative cemetery samples and illustrate that life was difficult for all who ventured into new landscapes, attempted to find success in work alongside developing industries, and took on new identities in western territories.”
10 of 10

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

  • Difference between reported average statures is misstated

    Minor

    The endpoints given for average female stature differ by 6.6 cm, not about 5.1 cm.

    Reported 5.1 · recomputed 6.6

  • Individual B's lower stature bound is labeled with two different heights

    Minor

    The same lower bound of 154.94 cm is labeled 5 ft 0 in in the osteobiography heading but 5 ft 1 in later in the section.

2 of 2

Citations

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Show all 91 references

4 of the 91 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 18

  1. Blatt, S. H., Reid, K. C., Quade, C. E., Moes, E., and Taylor, K. (2017). Boots made for walking: two late nineteenth century burials from Walters Ferry, Idaho. Idaho Archaeologist 40: 1–20.
  2. Drahold-Cross, K., Denney, B., and Streeter, M. (2010). Report Addressed to the State Archaeologist. Unpublished report. Boise State University, Boise, ID.
  3. Hafen, L. R. and Hafen, A. W. (1954). Old Spanish Trail: Santa Fe to Los Angeles: With Extracts from Contemporary Records Including the Diaries of Antonio Armijo and Orville Pratt. Arthur H. Clark, Glendale, CA.
  4. Harrod, R. P. and Tyler, D. (2008). An analysis of human remains found at Walters Ferry, Idaho, for the purposes of identification. Unpublished report, University of Idaho, Moscow.
  5. Harrod, R. P., Derbridge, P., and Reid, K. C. (2008). Walters Ferry burials of the late 19th century: analysis of two individuals excavated from a site in Canyon County, Idaho. Journal of Northwest Anthropology 42:228.
  6. Heilen, M. P. and Sewell, K. J. (2012). Historic and archaeological overview for the Alameda-Stone cemetery. In Heilen, M. P. (ed.), Uncovering Identity in Mortuary Analysis. Routledge, London, pp. 53–89.
  7. Huntley, J. L. (1979). Ferry Boats in Idaho. Caxton Press, Caldwell, ID.
  8. Jones, L. R. (1982). Snake River Ferries. Reference Series, Number 52. Idaho State Historical Society, Boise.
  9. Leher, T. L., Black, S. B., and Stanton, P. B. (2010). Pathological conditions. In Heilen, M. P., Hefner, J. T., and Keur, M. A. (eds.), Deathways and Lifeways in the American Southwest: Tucson’s Historic Alameda-Stone Cemetery and the Transformation of a Remote Outpost into an Urban City. Volume 2: The History, Archaeology, and Skeletal Biology of the Alameda-Stone Cemetery. Statistical Research, Inc., Tucson, AZ, pp. 511–574.
  10. Lincoln-Babb, L. and McClelland, J. (2010). Dental health in late-nineteenth-century Tucson. In Heilen, M. P., Hefner, J. T., and Keur, M. A. (eds.), Deathways and Lifeways in the American Southwest: Tucson’s Historic Alameda-Stone Cemetery and the Transformation of a Remote Outpost into an Urban City. Statistical Research, Inc., Tucson, AZ, pp. 611–675.
  11. McWilliams, C. (1931). Myths of the West. North American Review 232: 424–432.
  12. Ousley, S. D. and Jantz, R. L. (2005). FORDISC 3.0: Personal Computer Forensic Discriminant Functions. University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
  13. Rose, J. C. (1985). Gone to a Better Land: A Biohistory of a Rural Black Cemetery in the Post-Reconstruction South. Arkansas Archaeological Survey, Fayetteville.
  14. Rushton, P. (2005). Cholera and its impact on nineteenth-century Mormon migration. Brigham Young University Studies 44: 123–144.
  15. Rutter, M. (2005). Upstairs Girls: Prostitution in the American West. Farcountry Press, Helena, MT.
  16. Sparling, W. (1974). Southern Idaho Ghost Towns. Caxton Printers, Caldwell, ID.
  17. Townley, C. M. (1974). First Lady of Las Vegas, Part 2. Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 17: 3–32.
  18. White, T. D., Black, M. T., and Folkens, P. A. (2011). Human Osteology. Academic Press, San Diego.

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Metadata

Authors
P. Anderson, C., P. Harrod, R., & M. Baustian, K.
Venue
International Journal of Historical Archaeology
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2024-06-20
Volume
28
Issue
4
Pages
1081-1106
ISSN
  • 1092-7697 (ISSN-L)
  • 1573-7748
DOI
10.1007/s10761-024-00744-8
OpenAlex
W4399863637
Cited by
0
References
91
FWCI
0.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
International Journal of Historical Archaeology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Paleopathology and ancient diseases
Keywords
women's lives, industrial expansion, American West, Las Vegas, skeletal remains, pathological conditions, trauma (physical injury), health profile, homesteaders, gender roles, historical cemeteries, 19th century

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