Ritualized violence in the prehistoric American Southwest

Abstract

The disarticulated and commingled human remains of at least 13 individuals were recovered from an archaeological site during salvage operations for a natural gas pipeline project near Ram Mesa in northwestern New Mexico. The condition of the remains and the nature of their interment suggested that unusual circumstances surrounded their deposition. The skeletal remains exhibited peri-mortem modification in the form of breaking, cutting and burning. This late Pueblo II (ca ad 900–1100) assemblage shares similarities with other mass inhumations from the American Southwest described as cannibalized. Interpretations of cannibalism have long overshadowed consideration of other reasonable alternatives. We suggest that the ritualized violence associated with the persecution and execution of witches offers a more parsimonious explanation for the bone damage patterns seen in this modified assemblage. Witchcraft is an integral part of Puebloan and Athabascan religious belief and the well documented accounts in the Southwestern literature are compelling. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.