Human Skeletal Remains Recovered from the Bonner Springs Locality, Northeastern Kansas

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CURRENT RESEARCH IN THE PLEISTOCENE

VOLUME 8                                                    1991

Pages 57 To 59

Human Skeletal Remains Recovered from the Bonner Springs Locality, Northeastern Kansas

D. Gentry Steele, Joseph F. Powell, Larry D. Martin, and Wakefield Dort, Jr.

More than 50 human skeletal remains have been recovered from the channel bars along 19 km of the Kansas River near Bonner Springs, Kansas, and incorporated in the Kansas Museum of Natural History collections.  A wide range of Pleistocene fauna, including mammoth (Mammuthus.), mastodon (Mammut americanum), bison (Bison antiques and Bison bison), woodland musk ox (Symbos cavifrons), and stagmoose (Cervalces sp.) have been recovered from the bars along with numerous faunal remains. The present report is based upon 58 human specimens curated or loaned to the Kansas Museum of Natural History (KMNH) in September, 1990.

While there are no reliable chronometric dates for the assemblage, human remains from this locality are thought to be late Pleistocene or early to mid-Holocene in age, based on the stratigraphy and antiquity of nearby deposits. Near the locality of the channel bars at Bonner Springs, Pleistocene gravels are overlain by sediments of the Newman terrace fill, a lithostratigraphic unit dated 10,430+/-130 yr B.P. (Beta-2931) to 8,940+/-90 yr B.P. (DIC-3210) (Johnson 1987; Johnson and Logan 1990). ESR (electron spin resonance) data indicate that some of the human remains can be differentiated from the recent Holocene fauna recovered from the bars, and appear more similar in antiquity to the late Pleistocene or earlier Holocene remains.

The 58 human skeletal elements from the locality are represented predominantly by large, durable bones: 19 femora, 12 parietals, 10 frontals, 5 mandible fragments, 4 occipitals, 3 humeri, 2 temporals, and 2 tibiae. One intact subadult calvarium was also present in the sample. Preliminarily, each human element was assigned to one of three grades of fossilization based upon degree of staining and mineralization. Grade 1 specimens (n=22) appeared to be uniformly mineralized with darkly stained cortical bone, dark brown to black in color. Staining and mineralization in Grade 1 human bone resembled that noted in some of the Pleistocene and early Holocene fauna but was not seen in late Holocene fauna. Grade 2 elements (n=33) appeared less mineralized and the stain on the cortical bone was restricted to the external surface while the interior bone remained a lighter shade of brown or tan in color. Grade 3 specimens (n=3) were not mineralized and were a light brown color to chalky white color, the exterior and interior cortical bone being more equally stained. The state of preservation in Grade 3 specimens is similar to middle or late Holocene human remains from the Great Plains. There was no association between the grade of mineralization and a particular point bar.

Eleven Grade 1 specimens exhibited minor to extensive water and grit abrasion. Minimal water abrasion was noted in one Grade 2 specimen. Two explanations can account for the taphonomic difference between grades. Water damage and bone mineralization may be a function of time, with older specimens accumulating more damage and chemical alteration. Alternatively, the damage and mineralization in Grade 1 elements may be due to a longer period of direct exposure to water rather than because of their greater antiquity. The presence of only large, heavy skeletal elements with minimal wear and the sharp angularity of gravel clasts at the Bonner Springs locality, suggests that high velocity, short distance transport of gravel and bone took place (Johnson and Logan 1990; Johnson 1987; Holien 1982).

The MNI of humans represented by the complete sample was 11, based on the number of frontal bones. If the grades of mineralization and staining represent human remains of different antiquity, an MNI of 14 is indicated: four Grade 1 individuals (three adult frontals and one subadult humerus), eight Grade 2 individuals (seven adult left femora and one subadult calvarium), and two Grade 3 individuals (two adult left femora). Since we cannot confirm the grades represent relative differences in antiquity, the most conservative MNI is 11.

Of those 11 frontals for which age could be determined two were early adolescent (12 – 15 years) (KMNH 54011 and 87790), two younger adults (20 – 30 years) (KMNH 94002 and 54038), five adults (20 – 50 years) (KMNH 87716, 87728, 97032, 54039, 87869), and one old adult (50 plus years) (no catalog number). Accurate estimates of sex were impossible for most elements, but marked differences in size and robusticity of some elements indicated that both sexes were present.

Indications of the physical appearance of individuals from the locality were limited. The intact Grade 2 calvarium (KMNH 88790), a late child or early adolescent, is dolichocranic (long headed). Five frontals (KMNH 54088, 87716, 87869, 94002 and one uncataloged), all Grade 2 preservation, exhibit low rising foreheads suggesting these individuals would have been characterized by low as well as long heads. These five frontals also exhibit marked flattening due to some form of cultural modification. It appears that the flattening did not resemble frontal flattening seen in some late Pleistocene agriculturalists, but rather a type of deformation caused by the use of a tumpline or similar device for carrying loads.

One Grade 1 femur (KMNH 103409), was 459 mm in length, suggesting the individual was 170+/-3.4 cm tall assuming the robust femur represents a male (based on Genoves’ (1967) corrected formulae; Bass 1987). The mean playmeric index (index of flattens) for 14 Grade 1 and Grade 2 femora was 80.7, indicating extreme lower body muscularity for these individuals. A well developed gluteal tuberosity was present in seven femora with extreme flattening.

Several medical disorders were present. Periostitis was documented for one Grade 1 mandible (KMNH 103634), but no caries were documented in the assemblage. Evidence of an evulsed internal pterygoid muscle was present on one Grade 1 mandible (KMNH 103605). A projectile point was found imbedded in the ventral side of one Grade 1 femoral neck (KMNH 103409). Unhealed hairline fractures radiating from this wound were also visible.

Postmortem cultural modification, indicated by fine cut marks were noted on the posterior aspect of one Grade 1 proximal left femur (KMNH 87726) between the lesser trochanter and femur head. The cut marks on this specimen are similar to those associated with the dismemberment of the body for secondary burial.

In summary, the Bonner Springs human bone assemblage, or a portion there of, represents potentially one of the earliest and largest late Pleistocene/early Holocene human assemblages recovered from the Central Plains, and provides us with a unique view of early North American populations in this region.

References Cited

Bass, W. M. 1987. Human Osteology: A Laboratory and Field Manual of the Human Skeleton. 3^rd ed. Missouri Archeological Society, Columbia.

Genoves, S. 1967. Proportionality of Long Bones and Their Relation to Stature Among Mesoamericans. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 26:67-78.

Holien, C. W. 1982. Origin and Geomorphic Significance of Channel-Bar Gravel of the Lower Kansas River. Masters thesis. University of Kansas, Lawrence.

Johnson, W. C. 1987. Stop 15B – Bonner Springs site. In Quaternary Environments of Kansas, Kansas Geological Survey Guidebook Series 5, edited by W. C. Johnson, pp. 41-52. Kansas Geological Survey, Lawrence.

Johnson, W. C., and B. Logan 1990. Geoarcheology of the Kansas River Basin, central Great Plains. In Archeological Geology of North America, Geological Society of America Centennial Special Volume 4, edited by M. P. Lasca, and J. Donahue, pp. 267-299. Geological Society of America, Boulder.