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Understanding Late Classic Maya Mortuary Ritual in Caves: Dental Evidence of Health from Macro- and Microscopic Defects and Caries

Amy R. Michael, Gabriel D. Wrobel, and Jack Biggs

Cathy Willermet and Andrea Cucina (eds)

in Bioarchaeology of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Bioarchaeology frequently investigates dental health in burial populations to make inferences about mortuary variability within and between ancient groups. In this chapter, micro- and macroscopic ... More

Bioarchaeology frequently investigates dental health in burial populations to make inferences about mortuary variability within and between ancient groups. In this chapter, micro- and macroscopic dental defects were examined in a series of ancient Maya mortuary cave and rockshelter burials in Central Belize. The nature of mortuary cave ritual use and funerary performance in the Late Classic is widely debated in the literature. This study utilizes two analytical approaches, mortuary practice and paleopathology, to better understand mortuary variability between two site types that may be distinguished by social status in life. Ethnohistoric accounts focused on mortuary activities in the Late Classic period have described sacrificial victims as individuals originating outside of the elite population. To test these accounts, this study compares the dental health data of individuals from non-elite (rockshelter) populations to elite (cave) burial contexts.Less

Biological Affinities and Mortuary Archaeology in Coastal Northern Populations of Yucatán at the End of the Postclassic Period: Demic Considerations

Andrea Cucina, Allan Ortega Muñoz, Sandra Verónica, and Elizalde Rodarte

Cathy Willermet, Andrea Cucina, Cathy Willermet, and Andrea Cucina (eds)

in Bioarchaeology of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica: An Interdisciplinary Approach

The authors of this chapter focus their attention on the distribution of mortuary practices and their relationship to population affinities among several Postclassic (AD 1000–1520) Maya sites located ... More

The authors of this chapter focus their attention on the distribution of mortuary practices and their relationship to population affinities among several Postclassic (AD 1000–1520) Maya sites located long the eastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. The archaeological evidence suggests a lack of clear and culturally well-established patterns of mortuary practices in the region. Coastal sites represented important commercial and ceremonial centers along maritime trade routes around the peninsula, and were therefore potentially subject to population movement. The joint analysis of mortuary patterns and site biological distances, based on the evidence of dental morphology, indicates that biological relationships between sites does not correspond to similarities in mortuary practices, suggesting a series of diverse relationships between sites long the peninsula’s east coast.Less

Mortuary Practices in a Colonial Environment

Roberto Valcárcel Rojas

in Archaeology of Early Colonial Interaction at El Chorro de Maíta, Cuba

Chapter 7 treats the study of the objects located in the cemetery and their relation with mortuary practices. It establishes the European origin of many of the pieces or their connection with the ... More

Chapter 7 treats the study of the objects located in the cemetery and their relation with mortuary practices. It establishes the European origin of many of the pieces or their connection with the action of importation by the Europeans. What is clear is that their presence was determined by the territorial origin of the individuals and their social status. The study established the presence of lace-ends (agujetas) made of brass, that together with certain taphonomic details indicate the burial of clothed individuals. The cemetery is distinguished by the variety of mortuary practices, some of which combine practices of indigenous origin with those of Christian origin, on occasion in the same burial. These show clear variations that depend on the territorial origin of the individuals, which together with the demographic structure of both groups indicates that the non-locals arrived at the site as part of the colonization process. More than a third of the burials were realized after European arrival and there is no evidence consistent with pre-Columbian burial. These characteristics and the absence of cemeteries in Antillean communities with Meillacan ceramics suggest that it was established in colonial times.Less

A Path Forward to an Integrated Study of Bioarchaeology in Southeastern Arabia

Kimberly D. Williams and Lesley A. Gregoricka

in Mortuary and Bioarchaeological Perspectives on Bronze Age Arabia

This chapter provides an introduction and brief overview on major themes in mortuary archaeology and bioarchaeology in southeastern Arabia. This context sets the stage for the subsequent chapters, ... More

This chapter provides an introduction and brief overview on major themes in mortuary archaeology and bioarchaeology in southeastern Arabia. This context sets the stage for the subsequent chapters, which focus on identification of transitions in mortuary practice and bioarchaeological inquiry in this region.Less

The Politicization of the Dead: Violence as Performance, Politics as Usual

Ventura R. Pérez

in The Bioarchaeology of Violence

Research on violence needs to move beyond viewing violence simply as an abhorrent act and develop a means of understanding why violence is a constant in human societies. The intent of this chapter by ... More

Research on violence needs to move beyond viewing violence simply as an abhorrent act and develop a means of understanding why violence is a constant in human societies. The intent of this chapter by Ventura R. Pérez is to explore the concept of the “politicization of the dead” which is the notion that human remains become a medium through which the living can manipulate cultural practices and behaviors of their own group or the “other.” The treatment (both at the time of death and after) of the individuals who die as a result of violent encounters then become a crucial indicator of the cultural realities of the group. The value of this approach is that violence is not seen as an isolated act but as the collective practices of the group with meaning that continues on long after death.Less

A Young Man Twice Burned: A Deviant Burial from West-Central Illinois

Della Collins Cook, Laura Gano, Kristin M. Hedman, Susan Spencer Helfrich, and Andrew R. Thompson

in The Odd, the Unusual, and the Strange: Bioarchaeological Explorations of Atypical Burials

The Schild site in west-central Illinois comprises two Mississippian cemeteries (ca. AD 1030), one of which includes the burial of a young male (SA117) without a left hand who was buried on the ... More

The Schild site in west-central Illinois comprises two Mississippian cemeteries (ca. AD 1030), one of which includes the burial of a young male (SA117) without a left hand who was buried on the periphery of the cemetery. We suggest a complicated scenario including that the forearm was burned, resulting in loss of the hand, and we argue for a deviant social identity for this unfortunate young man. SA117 was not provided with grave goods—he was buried in a semi-flexed position, and his grave is unusual in that a fire was built over the grave fill. His marginalization and his disability may reflect outsider status; in fact, based on principal components analysis, his skull differs significantly from other Mississippian males. Several American Indian groups marked unusual causes of death in mortuary practices, and survivors of some kinds of trauma—for example, scalping—were treated as if dead. The use of fire in ordeals marked the transformation of captives into slaves or adopted members of the captor community; SA117 may have been such a person.Less

A Bioarchaeological Perspective on the Burials and Basilicas of Medieval Polis, Cyprus

Brenda J. Baker and Amy Papalexandrou

in Bioarchaeology and Behavior: The People of the Ancient Near East

A wealth of material attesting to life and death in ancient Marion (Roman Arsinoë) has been uncovered during two decades of excavation by Princeton University's Expedition to Polis Chrysochous, on ... More

A wealth of material attesting to life and death in ancient Marion (Roman Arsinoë) has been uncovered during two decades of excavation by Princeton University's Expedition to Polis Chrysochous, on the northwest coast of Cyprus. Burials are clustered in and around two early sixth-century basilicas situated within a small-scale urban context. One basilica was reused for burials from the 13th to 16th centuries, extending into the Venetian period. Comparison of mortuary evidence from both basilicas indicates various ways of accommodating the dead. Analysis of the skeletal remains indicates a population with generally good health but frequent skeletal evidence of trauma. In one Late Antique burial grooves and wear on the woman's incisors arose from drawing thread through them, indicating activity involving sewing or spinning. Muscle attachments and facet development on this woman's hand bones are consistent with occupational stress attributed to tailors, while alterations in the hips, legs, and feet indicate habitual kneeling, sitting, or squatting.Less

The Axed Man of Mosfell: Skeletal Evidence of a Viking Age Homicide, the Icelandic Sagas, and Feud

Ann L. W. Stodder and Ann M. Palkovich

in The Bioarchaeology of Individuals

This chapter presents the osteobiography of an Icelandic Viking who died of massive cranial wounds sometime between A.D. 855 and 1015. The osteobiography details the health history and cause of death ... More

This chapter presents the osteobiography of an Icelandic Viking who died of massive cranial wounds sometime between A.D. 855 and 1015. The osteobiography details the health history and cause of death of this man, and the integration of this information with the broad goals of the Mosfell Archaeological Project allows the authors to address the historicity of Icelandic sagas.Less

Variation beyond the Grave: Contextualizing Unusual Burials in Early Medieval Bohemia

Lauren Hosek

in The Odd, the Unusual, and the Strange: Bioarchaeological Explorations of Atypical Burials

The study of deviant burials is enhanced through a social bioarchaeology perspective that incorporates multiple lines of evidence to better capture the nuances of these unusual mortuary practices and ... More

The study of deviant burials is enhanced through a social bioarchaeology perspective that incorporates multiple lines of evidence to better capture the nuances of these unusual mortuary practices and the life histories of individuals receiving such treatment. This chapter presents the range of unusual burials from an early medieval cemetery at the site of Libice nad Cidlinou in the Czech Republic. Additionally, three burials are examined in depth to explore how individual life histories might contribute to atypical mortuary treatment. The diversity revealed in terms of these individuals’ demographics and skeletal data, as well as the wide variation in burial contexts, highlights the interpretive challenges presented by multiple unusual burials at a single site. However, these burials also provide different opportunities to examine how identity, practice, and ideology might intersect at the graveside.Less

The Burial Customs of Early Christian Cyprus: A Bioarchaeological Approach

Sherry C. Fox, Ioanna Moutafi, Eleni Anna Prevedorou, and Despo Pilides

in Bioarchaeology and Behavior: The People of the Ancient Near East

Burial customs of the Early Christian period in Cyprus are thought to be relatively homogeneous, by consistently having an east-west orientation, no burials in the apse, and no infant burials within ... More

Burial customs of the Early Christian period in Cyprus are thought to be relatively homogeneous, by consistently having an east-west orientation, no burials in the apse, and no infant burials within the church. Studying both bioarchaeology and archaeological data from 5 different coastal and inland sites (N=95) identifies subtle differences that emerge in these burials. There is evidence of secondary burial and single and multiple individuals buried in simple pits, in cist graves, in tile graves, in tombs, in sarcophagi, in a kiln, and in a cistern. Bodies are buried in a supine position and with arms folded across the pelvis, abdomen or possibly the chest. Therefore despite overall adherence to a social expectation of burial, burial in ecclesiastical complexes are not as restricted as previously imaged.Less

Indigenous Anatomies: Ontological Dissections of the Indigenous Body

María Cecilia Lozada (ed.)

in Andean Ontologies: New Archaeological Perspectives

As bioarchaeologists who deal directly with the human body, we often neglect emic understandings of the body that are important to interpreting the worldview of indigenous populations. In this paper, ... More

As bioarchaeologists who deal directly with the human body, we often neglect emic understandings of the body that are important to interpreting the worldview of indigenous populations. In this paper, Andean notions of the body are presented using indigenous terminology in an effort to highlight dramatic differences in body concept interpretation. Furthermore, three bioarchaeological Andean case studies will be presented to illustrate perceptions of the age and wellness in different archaeological contexts. It is suggested that highly contextualized and multidisciplinary research questions need to be developed in an effort to interpret emic social and cultural dimensions of the living and dead body and mortuary practices.Less

In Feast and Famine: New Perspectives on Black Bears in the Southern Appalachians and Piedmont, AD 1000–1800

Heather A. Lapham

in Bears: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Perspectives in Native Eastern North America

This chapter reviews the archaeological record of black bears (Ursus americanus) in the southern Appalachian Mountains and adjacent Piedmont region of Virginia and North Carolina between the eleventh ... More

This chapter reviews the archaeological record of black bears (Ursus americanus) in the southern Appalachian Mountains and adjacent Piedmont region of Virginia and North Carolina between the eleventh and eighteenth centuries to better understand Native American bear procurement and use prior to and following European colonization. A contextual study of bear remains from two sites more clearly defines the role of bear in subsistence, ritual behavior, and mortuary practices, deepening our understanding of bear-human relationships. Differences among sites in geographic location, occupation period, disposal methods, and other variables suggest changing patterns of bear use through time and space. Careful consideration of bear-human relationships reveals the many roles and multiple functions that bears and their body parts had in Native North American societies, from subsistence resource, to gifted object, marketable good, ritual offering, and political symbol, among others.Less