Ancient burial practices in the American Southwest: archaeology, physical anthropology, and Native American perspectives

Abstract

Archaeological work in the south-western United States has undergone tremendous growth during the last fifteen years, prompting vigorous debate over interpretation of the archaeological record. But renewed theoretical conflicts have been accompanied by the recognition that prehistoric burial practices provide an unparalleled opportunity for understanding and reconstructing ancient civilisations and for identifying the influences that helped shape them. To date, no single volume of scholarship on burial practices and sites has brought together the breadth of approaches, techniques, and analyses contained in this collection of essays by leading Southwest archaeologists, physical and biological anthropologists, paleopathologists, and Native American tribal historians and resource managers. Using modern methods and theory and a cross-disciplinary approach, the twenty authors evaluate ancient burial practices to recreate the structure and history of major south-western cultures, including the Hohokam, Anasazi, Sinagua, Zuni, Mogollon, and Salado. This state-of-the-art collection combines case studies, population analyses, an examination of new federal laws that have changed the face of archaeological mortuary studies, and an essential Native American perspective on archaeologists' study of human remains and mortuary artefacts.<