Human Osteological Analysis of Bones from Jarrett's Point Ossuary (Site 31ON309)

In 2008, Rick Richardson, base archaeologist for Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL), conducted salvage exploration of a prehistoric ossuary (31ON309) on the grounds of Camp Lejeune. During his site visit, a number of human bones were recovered. Mr. Richardson contacted SEARCH, Inc. to solicit a statement of work and budget for the analysis of the human remains. SEARCH needs to submit a report on the human skeletal material to fulfill their contract with MCBCL and the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic (NAVFACLANT). The project PI, Bryan Harrell, contacted Dr. Megan Perry, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, to oversee the study of these remains at East Carolina University and present a report to the company. Dr. Perry will hire an ECU Anthropology graduate student to study these remains, which will constitute the primary dataset for an MA thesis. Dr. Perry and the graduate student assistant will use standard human skeletal analytical techniques to clean, sort, and study the human skeletal material. The analysis will take place in the Bioarchaeology Laboratory in Flanagan 278. These data will be combined with other information on previously excavated ossuaries from Jarrett's Point and the coast Carolinas to create a broader picture of health, disease, and quality of life of this region's prehistoric inhabitants. The skeletal remains eventually will be held permanently in the facilities at the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology.

Scholars @ ECU