Date of Award

8-2025

Degree Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

School

Social Science and Global Studies

Committee Chair

Marie Danforth

Committee Chair School

Social Science and Global Studies

Committee Member 2

Sharon Young

Committee Member 2 School

Social Science and Global Studies

Committee Member 3

Lida Gibson

Abstract

The Mississippi State Asylum (MSA), established in 1855, was the first such institution in but has been largely forgotten about since its closure in 1935. The cemetery associated with the facility, which is located on the University of Mississippi Medical Center campus, was recently rediscovered with new construction. As part of the Asylum Hill project, the remains of seven of the 7000 burials along with their mortuary artifacts were analyzed and allowed these forgotten individuals to once again regain their voice and tell a portion of their life story through osteobiographies.

The sample, dating to 1855-1899, included five males and two females, with an average age range of 28.5-33.5 for males and 35-40 for females. Most appear to have been African American. Caries were the most common dental pathology seen, and almost half experienced LEH and abscesses as well. This is undoubtedly related to the corn and carbohydrate rich diet, which also introduced certain nutritional deficiencies. Porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, and tentatively diagnosed pellagra also afflicted those analyzed. There was a lack of trauma within this sample, despite previous reports in the MSA population. Entheseal markers were largely gracile, perhaps due to patients being too ill to work.

With the exception of life expectancy, these findings generally comport with what was seen in analyses of cemeteries at contemporaneous institutions as well in the general population of the time, suggesting there was generally good care for these individuals. Nevertheless, much else is left to be learned from those interred in the MSA cemetery, this is just the beginning.

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