Osteological evidence for smallpox: A possible case from seventeenth century Ontario

Identification of possible osteomyelitis variolosa in a Neutral Indian cemetery dated to just before A.D. 1650 provides the first recognition of smallpox in an archaeological context. The radiological literature is reviewed to support the identification. The ethnohistorical literature is at odds with the evidence presented and the historical background is briefly discussed, together with the ambiguities and contradictions in both primary and secondary sources.