Written in Bone: Chapters 7–9

Further flexibility is needed as the infant grows and
the skull changes. Thus the bones
of an infant's cranium are not fused
together. Instead, fibrous joints called sutures fill the spaces between the
bones.

The lead-coffin baby offers clear proof that infants in the colonial Chesapeake
were susceptible to many diseases.

In colonial times, the best that could be done was to hold the leg in place with a wood splint while the patient rested in bed for several weeks.

Laboratory analyses of the lead-coffin lady's hair, carried out by Mark Moore at
Pennsylvania State University, yielded more information about her life and death.

Owsley found no signs of
debilitating illness, ongoing health problems, or a severe injury.

The women who prepared the lead-coffin man’s body must have thought that he deserved the very best burial garb, yet another indication that he was a person of high status.

Because the three coffins were buried together, the archaeologists were inclined to believe that the
individuals were related.

Anne Wolsey Calvert died two
years before Philip, yet the grave shaft stratigraphy showed they were buried at the same time, inside the same grave shaft — presumably after Philip died. Where had
Anne's coffin been for the intervening two years?

The elated team members bagged samples of the wood for laboratory analysis and placed
brightly colored markers in the
exact spots and positions of the
nails to record their locations.

Court records in Virginia and Maryland prove that at least some Africans and African Americans brought grievances to the legal system and won their cases.

This tiring
task topped the list of household
drudgery.

While her
 bones clearly indicate that she used her arms
for strenuous physical activity, it's impossible to
conclude exactly which
tasks she did — only that they were numerous and that she'd done them since she was a little girl.

The creation of facial
reconstructions perfectly illustrates how two seemingly different disciplines — science
and art — can complement each 
other.

“Skeletal remains provide us with the additional opportunity to document or confirm the historical record in a tangible way — for example, the struggle at Jamestown during the Starving Time, or
an attack on James Fort, as evidenced in the remains of JR1225B, the boy with the
arrowhead in his leg.”

Owsley added, "Most of these people lived their whole lives without anyone writing a word about them. The information we gather
from their skeletons is, in essence, their legacy."