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A biocultural examination of trauma from the Colorado State Insane Asylum skeletal collection, 1879-1899

dc.contributor.authorLeavitt-Reynolds, Alissa Anne, author
dc.contributor.authorMagennis, Ann L., advisor
dc.contributor.authorVan Buren, Mary, committee member
dc.contributor.authorFiege, Mark T., committee member
dc.date.accessioned2007-01-03T08:22:02Z
dc.date.available2007-01-03T08:22:02Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.description.abstractThis thesis uses a biocultural approach to study skeletal trauma present in the Colorado State Insane Asylum (CSIA) Skeletal Collection from 1879 to 1899. The biocultural approach utilizes both the physical remains and historic documentary material present for this collection to connect the skeletal findings with the cultural environment in which the individuals lived and died. Of the 166 individuals present (both complete and incomplete), 69% in the collection show at least one instance of trauma, while 31% show no evidence of trauma. This trauma rate includes both fractures and dislocations, or acute trauma, in addition to chronic trauma (Schmorl's Nodes). Males have the highest traumatic injury rates, with 40% of the sample having one or more fractures or dislocations. Females show a rate of 29% for acute trauma, while indeterminate sex individuals have a rate of 38%. The trauma results were then compared with contemporary, mostly Euroamerican, skeletal collections from the Albany Almshouse and the Oneida Asylum in New York to reveal that while all three institutions show similar rates of chronic trauma, the CSIA Collection has much higher rates of acute trauma -- nearly double that of the other populations. Ultimately, the analysis of trauma as undertaken in this research provides yet another line of evidence to better understand and contextualize the health and health risks of individuals and populations from the nineteenth-century American West, and more specifically, those in institutionalized care during that time.
dc.format.mediumborn digital
dc.format.mediummasters theses
dc.identifierLeavittReynolds_colostate_0053N_10853.pdf
dc.identifierETDF2011400306ANPO
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10217/70808
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartof2000-2019
dc.rightsCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.
dc.subjectasylum
dc.subjectbioarchaeology
dc.subjectinstitutionalization
dc.subjectosteology
dc.subjectskeleton
dc.subjecttrauma
dc.titleA biocultural examination of trauma from the Colorado State Insane Asylum skeletal collection, 1879-1899
dc.typeText
dcterms.rights.dplaThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
thesis.degree.disciplineAnthropology
thesis.degree.grantorColorado State University
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts (M.A.)

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