Type of Document	Master's Thesis
Author	Penney, Adrienne Elizabeth
Author's Email Address	apenne1@lsu.edu
URN	etd-04142005-222948
Title	Analysis of the Talus and Calcaneus Bones from the Poole-Rose Ossuary: A Late Woodland Burial Site in Ontario, Canada
Degree	Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department	Geography & Anthropology
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Mary Manhein Committee Chair Heather McKillop Committee Member Robert Tague Committee Member
Keywords	osteology demography tarsal
Date of Defense	2005-04-11
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract This study reports on the demography and osteological profile of the Poole-Rose Ossuary. Excavated in 1990 under the direction of Heather McKillop and at the request of the Alderville First Nation, the Poole-Rose Ossuary is a Late Woodland burial site in southern Ontario, Canada. Lack of European artifacts in the burial suggests that this site predates European contact. The Poole-Rose Ossuary is radiocarbon dated to A.D. 1550 ± 50 years. The skeletal remains were commingled. This ossuary likely represents the mass re-burial known as the “Feast of the Dead” or the “Kettle.” For the most part, closely related individuals were involved in such re-burials, which occurred every eight to 12 years. The talus and calcaneus were used in this study. The left talus shows a minimum number of individuals (MNI) of 212; approximately 15% of the individuals are subadults. The MNI is within the range reported in previous studies on the Poole-Rose Ossuary (range of MNI is 161 to 337). The incidence of degenerative joint disease is low, which is consistent with the clinical literature. This study also reports on issues of concordance and discordance of the Poole-Rose Ossuary with an ethnohistoric account and other studies of Late Woodland ossuaries (e.g., burial of infants, de-fleshing, and cremation).
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