Preliminary Report on the Skeletal Analysis of Burials from the Washington Square Mound Site (41 NA 49) in Nacogdoches County, Texas

This paper provides a preliminary report on the skeletal analysis of burials from the Washington Square Mound Site (41 NA 49) in Nacogdoches County, Texas. The Caddoan mound site, excavated under the supervision of Dr. James E. Corbin of Stephen F. Austin University during three field seasons from 1979 through 1981 contained three burials, two of which when excavated, yielded a total of three individuals. Analysis of the remains indicates a young adult female, tall in stature, exhibiting intentional cultural cranial deformation and porotic hyperostosis; a young adult male, short in stature, also exhibiting marked intentional cultural cranial deformation; and a young male probably in his late teens. The remains of these three individuals collectively exhibit many of the features generally found in skeletal material from Caddoan burials such as multiple burials, cultural cranial deformation, low levels of dental attrition and a tendency towards increased dental caries and ante-mortem tooth loss.