Intersite comparisons of trace element levels in human bone are complicated by differential leaching and permeation. Inadequate information is available on changes that have occurred in soil composition between aboriginal times and the present. Trace element studies are useful for deducing dietary stress, disease resistance, classes of cultigens, and social status among prehistoric populations. This study demonstrates how trace element data can be employed to corroborate and augment findings derived from archaeological and paleodemographic analyses; and to bring trace element information to bear on the question of social stratification at the Etowah site in Georgia. See 19-769 and 19-1949. -- AATA