Early Skeletons from Tranquillity (sic), California

Description

Author: Angel, J. Lawrence  (1915-1986)

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press

Pub Date: 1966

Binding: Paperback

Condition:  Fair.  Stapled binding tight.  No tears.  Upper and lower front cover corners worn, bent.  Rear spine edge has an approx. 8″ fold.  Upper rear cover corner at spine head has an approx. 2″ bend.  Upper rear cover corner has an approx. 1/4″ bend, wear extends through last couple pages.  Some pencil markings.

Notes: Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology Volume 2, Number 1.  Oversize pamphlet–20 pages, 9.375″ x 11.75″.  Tranquillity (sic), California lies in the central San Joaquin Valley, about 25 miles from Fresno.  “This soothing name…was applied to the station by the Southern Pacific when the Ingle-Hardwick branch was built in 1912.  The name of the post office, listed in 1912, is spelled with a double ‘l’.” (Gudde, California Place Names, University of California Press, 1969).  Construction (in 1937 and 1938) of a levee added to a canal exposed the burial site.  Fragments of bone from over 30 individuals (25 adults, 8 children, 2 infants), and 3 male and 4 female skeletons “usably complete” (Page 1).  “The human bones appear to be ‘paleontologically’ Pleistocene in date.” (Page 16).  “Peculiar arthritis of the elbow, mostly in males, may reflect vigorous use of the atlatl.” (ibid.)  And here’s an archaeological characteristic I never dreamed of–“Teeth wear was extreme, especially on incisors and upper teeth, exceeding the rate of wear in some Upper Paleolithic groups and producing periapical  (n.b. the area around the tooth root) abscesses and early tooth loss which may have limited lifespan and thereby favored fertility of women with tough teeth.”