Written in Bone - Chapter 3

Why did Michael Lavin send bone samples to Dr. Owsley? 

• These bone samples had not been treated with a conservation material that would protect them from decay and damage. These bones would be used by Dr. Owsley for scientific analyses that are performed on bones that have not been treated. 
• Dr. Owsley had never seen bones like this before and needed to study them for documentation.
• Dr. Owsley and his team collected these types of bones.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.1

CCSS.RI.7.1

CCSS.RI.7.8

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.7.1

What did Michael Lavin do with the remaining bones? 

• 1. Removed all soil
  2.  Dried the skeleton ( took two weeks)
  3.  Coated the bones with acrylic
  4. Glued broken bones together
  5.Wrapped bones in material used to protect fragile items
  6. Placed bones in storage boxes
  7. Stored boxes in a humidity-controlled and temperature-controlled vault. 
• Tagged them, dried them and shipped them to Dr. Owsley.
• Left them because they did not have permission from the Indian tribe to study them.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.3

CCSS.RI.7.3

CCSS.RI.7.5

CCSS.RI.8.3

CCSS.RI.8.5

What did the scientists at the Smithsonian Institution forensic laboratory do with the bones? 

• Shipped them to Dr. Owsley.
• Identified who they belonged to.
• 1. Placed the bones on the table in anatomically correct positions
  2. Examined each bone and tooth and took notes
  3. Used calipers to measure long bones
  4. Examined femur where the arrowhead was found and examined the broken clavicle (collarbone) 

What did the scientists discover about the skeleton? 

•  It was that of an African decent and he died of a wound to the leg and mouth.
• 1. There was a depression in front of the skull which might have been caused by a blow to the head.
  2. There were holes in the roofs of the eye sockets which could be caused by iron deficiency.
  3.    There were Harris lines in the leg bones which are a sign of poor nutrition or the stress of disease.
  4. There was infection in the lower jaw causing a potentially fatal infected tooth which could have been easily treated in modern times. 
• It was a young male.

What was revealed by the stable Carbon-13 isotope analysis?  

• What the deceased ate.
• What the deceased did for a living.
• Information about the person’s diet which provides clues to his birthplace and the amount of time he had lived in colonial America.

What causes the differences in the Carbon-13 analysis results between people living in England and people living in America? 

• It is caused by how many men lived at James Fort.
• It is caused by how many children the women had given birth to.
• It depends on how much water they had to drink. 
• The differences are caused by the grains people eat. People living in England ate barley, wheat, and rye, but people in colonial America ate corn. 

What information did the scientists find that pointed to the identification of the boy in the Jamestown grave?  

• The boy was of African decent and was a slave to a Colonial man.
• The boy was a Native Amercian killed by a Colonial American and buried at the fort.
• A Carbon-13 analysis of his bones measured -19.3, placing him in England.  Five boys arrived from England in 1607. One was too young. Two were documented to be alive in 1608. One named Richard Mutton was on the list of arrivals in 1607 but does not appear in other records. No information was given about the fifth boy. 

What do the scientist think likely caused JR1225B's mortality?

• corn
• Indian attack or violence
• tooth infection
• starvation

calipers 

• an instrument with two hinged legs like a pair of compasses used for measuring 
• done with secrecy
• a device for determining the presence and location of an object by measuring the time for the echo of a radio wave to return from it and the direction from which it returns
• the branch of geology concerned with the order and position of layers of archaeological remains

askew 

• causing something to happen sooner than it otherwise would
• likely to be influenced or harmed by a particular thing
•  not in a straight or level position