Unfortunate frontiers: patterns of skeletal trauma in the Colorado State Hospital 1879-1898

Coppock, Rachel

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Unfortunate frontiers: patterns of skeletal trauma in the Colorado State Hospital 1879-1898 Public Deposited

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Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/jw827d30v

Abstract

This project explores trauma patterning in an institutionalized population from a late 19th-century state asylum in Colorado. The results are compared to contemporaneous skeletal assemblages and interpreted through the poetics of violence. A sample of 40 individuals from the skeletal assemblage associated with Cemetery 2 (1879-1898) of the Colorado State Hospital were assessed for traumatic injury. Fractures were documented by location, type, degree of healing, and descriptive measurements. Demographic distributions of trauma and analyses of injuries by body area demonstrate to what extent different cohorts of individuals presented with differential risks regarding traumatic injury. Of the 40 adult individuals assessed, 27 (67.5%) exhibited at least one fracture. Over half of these individuals (55%) exhibited more than one fracture. The most common fracture site was the ribs, with 18 individuals (66% of those with fractures) displaying one or more rib fractures. Amongst this sample, 44% females exhibited fractures in comparison to 74% of males. Nine individuals exhibited multiple fractures at varying stages of healing, suggesting injury recidivism. The extensive trauma in this sample fits patterns of occupational injuries and interpersonal violence, signifying the hazards of mining, farming, and institutionalization that these individuals faced. Trauma frequencies are significantly higher in this population than other contemporary institutional contexts, potentially reflecting unique intersections of gendered divisions of labor, violence, and institutional practices on the American western frontier.

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