THE SKULL

The first step in the facial reconstruction process is to assemble the skull. This was accomplished by Andrea Lain of the Anthropological Survey,who painstakingly took the fragments and backed them with some clay and glue to hold them in place.

 Before the reconstruction can begin in earnest, a physical anthropoligist looks over all the bones to extract as much information as possible about the life and times of the person. Quite a bit was learned. It was determined to be the remains of a female, and since she was found at the corner of Pearl and Howard streets we gave her the nickname of PEARL. Here is what we learned from Shawn Phillips who was responsible for the report:

• Pearl was a female who died in her early forties approximately three hundred years ago.
  

• She was caucasian, of European ancestry and stood about 5'1".
  
• Her dental health was extremely poor and she had lost 63 per cent of her teeth prior to death. She had no teeth on either side of her jaw. This was most important as the loss of those teeth would evidence themselves in the final reconstruction as sunken cheeks. Of her remaining teeth, the condition was poor and she had several abscesses.
  
• During her lifetime, there are indicators that she also suffered from acute infections, rickets, sinusities, an upper respiratory infection, arthritis, and gout. Whew--all this in an era when aspirin didn't exist!
  
• On the other hand, it was determined that she was very muscular, as the ridges on her long bones were very developed.

   
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