Explaining variability in mutilated human bone assemblages from the American Southwest: a case study from the southern piedmont of Sleeping Ute Mountain, Colorado

Abstract

Many scholars interpret assemblages of disarticulated human remains from Anasazi sites as evidence of cannibalism. Other scholars argue that variation in the condition of these assemblages implies that many, if not all, resulted from non-cannibalistic practices. This paper evaluates four well-documented cases of mutilated human bones from a dispersed community on the southern piedmont of Ute Mountain, Colorado. Evidence indicates that all four sites were suddenly abandoned around ad 1150, after events responsible for corpse mutilation took place. Still, variations in processing methods were observed between the sites and between two sets of remains at one site. The authors suggest that these, and similar assemblages in the Mesa Verde region, resulted from violent raiding involving cannibalism, and that minor processing variations are consistent with the expediency inherent in such attacks. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.