Modern Clues From Ancient Indian Bones

Measurements of 1,000-year-old American Indian bones support the theory that stunted growth in the first years of life can damage health throughout adulthood, according to research anthropologists.

They found that ancient Indians who had smaller-than-normal spinal cord openings--a mark of stunted growth--died younger than other Indians. The findings suggest that poor nutrition in early childhood was responsible for such stunted development, which could also affect the immune and nervous systems, said Dr. George A. Clark of the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study in Boston. He theorized that weaker immune and nervous systems would make those people more susceptible to health problems later in life.

Clark based his conclusions on an analysis of skeletons of Indians who died between AD 950 and 1300. The bones were unearthed in Dickson, Ill., where Clark and his colleagues measured the spinal openings of Indians who spanned 18 generations. Their conclusions appear in the June issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. “I think that the significance of poor early growth may have been greatly underestimated,” Clark said.