
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 27, 1993                   TAG: 9306270083
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BALTIMORE                                LENGTH: Medium

OLD BONES SHOW OLDEN DAYS IN AMERICA HELD NO EASY LIFE

The remains of 17th century colonists uncovered at a Calvert County plantation site are telling researchers much about settlers' lives that was not previously known.

The colonists worked hard, struggled with famine and disease, and died young.

Some of the 18 Patuxent Point colonists were buried in rough wooden coffins while others were interred in simple shrouds secured by brass pins. Many are believed to have been indentured servants.

Their graves, excavated in 1988 and 1989 to make way for homes, initially gave researchers few clues. They lacked headstones, and no diaries or church records identified the remains.

But Smithsonian Institution anthropologist Douglas H. Ubelaker has been able to create a picture of the colonists' lives by examining the shapes, sizes and wear on the centuries-old bones.

"The general picture I have is that, particularly for adults, it was a very hard life," said Ubelaker, curator of physical anthropology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

The upper bodies of the men showed the strains of heavy physical labor.

The teeth of men, women and even a 13-year-old child showed tobacco stains and circular wear marks from clay pipes. About a third of the colonists had suffered broken bones.

Osteoporosis, a loss of bone density that makes them brittle, was widespread. Ubelaker said hunger may have been the cause.

Death also came early for most, with an average age for men of 31, and 36 for women.

The only black person discovered at the site, a 5-foot-9-inch teen-ager, was found buried with his pipe with three white people. This, and the fact that he was the only one found buried with a personal possession, indicate he was likely an indentured servant, not a slave.

"As far as we could tell, he was treated in the same way as others there," Ubelaker said.

Ubelaker also believes at least two of the colonists were textile workers, due to tiny grooves worn in their teeth. The grooves were probably caused by holding needles and thread between their teeth.

by CNB