The Trail that Impacted the Cherokees

The journey of Native Americans from the southeastern homeland were forced to migrate to eastern Oklahoma by the federal government. During the trail to Oklahoma, the Native Americans dealt with the trauma of starvation, variations of diseases, and even death. This article investigates through the study of Cherokee, that the stress from the traveling and new adaptations of the new environment could potentially cause the negative impact on normal growth development of their skulls. the study conducted by Ann H. Ross suggested that the external environment may have a hindering effect of growth in the Cherokee's skull. The prior studies did find that the skull measurements, such as the cranial length showed there is indeed a decrease in size that was affected by stress. The current study observed the Cherokee adult skulls that were from 1783 and 1874 births years to compare the skull measurements. The researchers found that the skull measurements were concluded to have shorter length craniums than those that were born before 1783 and 1874. The results suggested that the stress of the Native Americans having to be forced into new environments such as living in the harsh winters, and the lack of food during the events of the trail of tears, this could potentially be the main cause of the skull size decreasing. I found that this conclusion appears to be feasible due to the fact that the skulls they measured were decreased and they were the ones who were developing and growing during the time of the stress of the trail travels. The fact that the earlier natives showed larger cranium lengths makes me believe that the stress of external things can have and impact and cause a detrimental effect on the development of humans.