The pattern of spondylosis deformans in prehistoric samples from West-Central New Mexico

A Pre-Columbian skeletal sample (n=42) from two ancestral Pueblo sites in t he Rio Grande valley of west-central New Mexico was examined for frequency and severity of spondylosis deformans (vertebral osteophytosis). No signifi cant sex differences were detected. Degenerative changes in the collective sample are generally confined to no more than well-defined horizontal lippi ng at the joint margins. Advanced proliferative osteophytic change is infre quent even in the oldest age category. Not surprisingly, the lumbar vertebr ae were the most frequently and most severely involved vertebral segment fo r all three adult age cohorts defined. The cervical vertebrae were the leas t involved. This pattern generally conforms with observations made on other archaeological samples from west of the Mississippi River, but it contrast s with the general pattern of more extensive cervical involvement in Pre-Co lumbian North American samples from the Eastern Woodlands. This possible ea st-west difference is hypothesized (Bridges, P.S. 1994. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 93: 83-93) to be related to differential burden bear ing habits. Copyright (c) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.