Occipital lesions: a possible cost of cradleboards

This examination of a Mimbres-Mogollon pueblo skeletal sample reveals a surprising percentage of individuals with occipital lesions. Each lesion is located in the approximate center of the squama immediately superior to the external occipital protuberance. Notably, no child over the age of 1 year exhibits a lesion that would have been active at the time of death, but a number of older children and adults exhibit evidence of healed lesions in this same area on the occipital. The restricted nature of these lesions, in terms of both their locations and ages of those actively affected, suggests that the use of cradleboards may have been at least a contributing, if not initiatory, factor in their creation. Specifically, this study suggests that the pressure and friction of an infant's head against a cradleboard may have 1) produced ischemic ulcers, 2) produced the conditions favorable for bacterial infections such as impetigo or carbuncles, or 3) complicated the treatment of other infections appearing on the back of the scalp.