Burial Population Research Articles

Migration and state expansion: Archaeological and biochemical evidence from Pataraya, a wari outpost in Nasca, Peru (A.D. 650–1000)

This paper reports on the results of archaeological excavations at the cemetery sector of the Middle Horizon (AD 650–1000) Wari site of Pataraya, located in the middle Nasca valley of southern Peru, and biochemical analyses of human skeletal remains recovered during those excavations. The findings reported here demonstrate that the sharp differences in cultural practice between Pataraya’s occupants and local traditions leading up to the Middle Horizon are echoed in noticeable isotopic differences in the biochemistry of its burial population. We explore the implications of these findings in the context of an uneven and unequal political landscape created by, and responding to, both overt Wari imperialism and the consequences of unprecedented regional interaction. We conclude that these data support previous conclusions drawn from other archaeological evidence that the site is formed from the remains of a Wari state colony. Pataraya’s inhabitants served an explicitly political function in the administration of a key transportation route between the Wari heartland and this distant province, roles that may have been filled by newcomers to the area or from elsewhere in the Nasca valley itself.

CONTEXTUALIZING HUMAN REMAINS IN THE THREE RIVERS REGION OF BELIZE

Approximately 150 human burials have been reported from excavations at 12 prehistoric Maya sites located within the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project (PfBAP). Of these, 115 are documented from residential settings. This dispersed sample of burials from varied Maya communities provides a unique perspective of scale, allowing for an assessment of household, community, and regional practices and customs, mortuary contexts, and cultural continuity. As a uniquely sustained research program, the PfBAP allows for inherently rich bioarchaeological research. This paper provides a brief overview of past work on human remains by PfBAP researchers, addresses recent and ongoing studies in the area, and assesses how bioarchaeological investigations can help to illuminate regional and temporal patterning among ancient Maya individuals from northwest Belize. Finally, we offer insight into the possibilities for future lines of inquiry involving this burial population.

Sex-Biased Differences in Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy at Síi Túupentak , an Ancestral Ohlone Village in Central California (ca. 540–145 cal. BP)

ABSTRACT: Síi Túupentak (CA-SCA-565/H) is a late precontact ancestral Ohlone village and cemetery site in Central California (ca. 540–145 cal. BP). Integration of proteomic, genomic, and osteological analyses provided highly confident biological sex estimates for remains of most individuals at this site (65 of 76), spanning all age groups, from perinatal infants to aged adults. Based on these relatively comprehensive data, it was possible to generate sex-specific Kaplan-Meier survival curves for this burial population of sedentary hunter-gatherers. As was common among societies predating modern Western medicine and antibiotics, infant mortality was high for both males and females. However, male infants (from birth to 5 years of age) appear to have died at nearly twice the rate of female infants (10 of 33 males vs. 5 of 32 females) and had a mean age of survival at birth of only 19 years, compared to 30 years for females. The difference in male and female survival was statistically significant by log-rank test ( p = 0.005). Compared to survival curves for other societies predating modern Western medicine and antibiotics, including American-era historical deaths recorded for a cemetery in San Francisco, this bias is larger than might be expected. We suspect the pattern of sex-biased infant mortality at Síi Túupentak could relate to an intrinsic survival advantage for female infants, combined with extrinsic factors such as environmental pathogens, nutritional stress, and gendered differences in weaning patterns detected through stable isotope analyses. Using isotopic data on weaning ages and ethnographic accounts of gendered foraging activities, we focus on the potential role of sex-biased differences in weaning patterns and highlight potential demographic and social implications. Broader application of proteomic and genomic sex estimation would allow sex-biased differences in nutrition and health, as well as social and cultural aspects of male and female life histories, to be compared across a wide range of archaeologically known hunter-gatherer societies.

The Bioarchaeology of Disability: A population-scale approach to investigating disability, physical impairment, and care in archaeological communities

ObjectiveThis research introduces ‘The Bioarchaeology of Disability’ (BoD), a population-scale approach which allows for a comprehensive understanding of physical impairment and disability in past communities through a combination of palaeopathological, funerary, and documentary analyses. MethodsThe BoD consists of three phases: 1) Contextualisation includes period-specific literature review; 2) Data collection consists of palaeopathological re-analysis of all individuals with physical impairment and collation of mortuary treatment data; and 3) Analysis integrates the gathered data, literature review, and theoretical frameworks to explore contemporary perceptions of disability. MaterialsThe BoD is demonstrated through an investigation of physical impairment and disability in later Anglo-Saxon England (c.8th-11th centuries AD) which includes four burial populations (Ntotal=1543; Nimpaired=28). ResultsIndividuals with physical impairment could be buried with normative or non-normative treatment (e.g., stone/clay inclusions, non-normative body positioning), and in marginal, non-marginal, and central locations. ConclusionsThe overall funerary variation for individuals with physical impairment was relatively slight, which may suggest that religious factors were influencing normative funerary treatment of impaired and potentially disabled individuals. The funerary variability that was observed for individuals with physical impairment was probably influenced by individual and community-specific beliefs. SignificanceThis research describes a population-scale approach to archaeological disability studies that can be replicated in other archaeological contexts. LimitationsIndividuals with non-skeletal physical impairment (e.g., soft tissue, mental) are not considered by the BoD. Suggestions for further researchThe BoD should be applied to different archaeological communities around the world to better understand disability and physical impairment in the past.

Analysis of mitochondrialDNAhaplogroup frequencies in the population of the slab burial mortuary culture of Mongolia (ca. 1100–300 BCE)

AbstractRecent research has shown evidence of ancient admixture from both eastern and western Eurasian genetics in the human populations of Mongolia going back to at least the Eneolithic Afanasievo archaeological culture (ca. 3000 BCE). Eastern mtDNA lineages found in ancient and living Mongolians in the past and present have greatest affinity with Neolithic populations from the Transbaikal region of southern Siberia, suggesting that people from this region were likely the first to colonize northern and eastern Mongolia after the last glacial maximum (ca. 24,500–17,000 BCE), while western Eurasian groups probably migrated to the steppe in association with the earliest forms of pastoralism. While some studies suggest the contribution of these ancient western lineages to the modern populations in Mongolia was minimal, this research demonstrates that western mtDNA lineages were particularly prominent among the burial populations of the Early Iron and Iron Ages in the region. This is most notable among the burial population associated with slab burials and the burial population of their successors, the people associated with the Xiongnu polity (209 BCE–91 CE). Similarities between mtDNA haplogroup frequencies of the slab burial and Xiongnu burial populations also strongly support the proposal that the builders of the slab burials were the principal ancestors of the Xiongnu people.ObjectivesThe objective of this research is to increase understanding of human population change on the Mongolian steppe during the first millennium BCE and how it may be associated with cultural change and the creation of early eastern steppe empires. It examines the mtDNA haplogroup frequencies of the burial population from slab burials in Mongolia and compares it with frequencies from various other populations to determine population affinities.MethodsThis study was primarily based on Sanger sequencing the HV1 of the mtDNA of ancient individuals from Mongolia during the Early Iron Age for haplogroup determination and then comparing mtDNA haplogroup frequencies with previously published data including 110 ancient and modern populations. The 21 samples used in this study were selected based on region, dating, and availability. Pairwise Fsts of mtDNA haplogroup frequencies were calculated using the Arlequin population genetics program.ResultsThe mtDNA hg of 20 of 21 samples are determined and added to previously published data, increasing the total sample to 35 for the particular population of interest. Using this mtDNA gene pool, it is determined that by the Late Bronze Age an east–west mixed population has already been established, which stays relatively stable into the Iron Age (Xiongnu) period, suggesting that the people practicing the slab burial tradition are the most likely biological ancestors of the Xiongnu. It also notes a distinct difference in mtDNA haplogroup frequencies between north‐eastern and central populations in Mongolia during the Iron Age.ConclusionsThere was little change in mtDNA haplogroup frequencies during the first millennium BCE, which contrasts with the clear change in the first millennium CE. MtDNA hg frequencies (matrilines) seemed to be stable at around 28%; however, Y‐ch frequencies have a dramatic shift towards western lineages during the Xiongnu period (300 BCE–200 CE). The mtDNA haplogroup frequencies from the population from the slab burials have close affinity with the Xiongnu population frequencies. This suggests a notable and consistent western Eurasian component in Mongolia during the first millennium BCE, established before the end of the Bronze Age and possibly associated with the introduction of the domestic horse.

‘Among his fellows cast’: A histotaphonomic investigation into the impact of the Black Death in England

The Black Death had a devastating impact on communities living in Europe during the mid-14th century. The devastation wreaked by the epidemic was thought to lead to the disruption of social norms, including those surrounding the burial of the dead. Some scholars have, however, suggested this was not always the case, in particular for those communities living in rural settings (Kacki et al., 2011). Recent excavation at Thornton Abbey in Lincolnshire revealed two burial populations; one associated with the abbey’s medieval hospital, and the other a mass grave that was in use during the Black Death epidemic. Together with the mass grave and post-epidemic burials from East Smithfield, London, these two populations presented an opportunity to explore the early taphonomic histories of the plague dead through the inspection of bone diagenesis associated with bacterial soft tissue decomposition. The histological analysis of 81 skeletons revealed striking differences in the post-mortem treatment of the plague dead in rural Lincolnshire compared to those buried in urban London, and in this paper we explore the possible scenarios that may account for this variability. We also present three cases where the individuals’ status in life may have led to attempts at inhibiting their corporeal decay.

HIGH-PRECISION BAYESIAN CHRONOLOGICAL MODELING ON A CALIBRATION PLATEAU: THE NIEDERTIEFENBACH GALLERY GRAVE

ABSTRACTWe combine the results of a radiocarbon (14C) dating program with archaeogenetic, osteological and sparse stratigraphic data, to construct a Bayesian chronological model for a multi-generational sequence situated entirely on a plateau in the 14C calibration curve. Calibrated dates of individual human bones from the Late Neolithic gallery grave at Niedertiefenbach, Hesse, Germany, span the entire calibration plateau in the late 4th millennium (ca. 3350–3100/3000 cal BC), but our model restricts the overall period of burial to 3–6 generations centered on the later 3200s, and provides narrower absolute date ranges for specific individuals and associated events. We confirm the accuracy and robustness of this model by sensitivity tests of each of its components. Beyond providing a more dynamic narrative for the formation of the heterogenous burial population at Niedertiefenbach, our results show that calibration plateaus are suitable periods for Bayesian chronological modeling of even relatively brief sequences, provided that all the information employed is correct. Prior information constraining both the order of events, and of potential date differences between them, is essential for the model to give accurate, unimodal estimates of the dates of these events.

Paleodiet and health in a mass burial population: The stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes from Potočani, a 6,200‐year‐old massacre site in Croatia

AbstractThis paper presents the results of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses on human remains uncovered from Potočani, a Copper Age (Eneolithic) mass burial site in continental Croatia. The remains of at least 41individuals were uncovered in a pit in 2007 during rescue excavations in Požeško‐Slavonska county. Skeletal evidence of violence and the disorganized arrangement of bodies suggest that burial took place over a short period of time. Radiocarbon dates and associated ceramics indicate these people were part of the Lasinja cultural group, dating to the Middle Copper Age (ca.4200 cal BC). Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses on 40individuals indicate higher than expected nitrogen values in comparison with other regional populations and significant differences between children, juveniles, and adults at the site of Potočani. Bioarchaeological and stable isotope results support the interpretation that the people buried at Potočani likely experienced dietary stress in the years leading up to their violent deaths.

A Black Death mass grave at Thornton Abbey: the discovery and examination of a fourteenth-century rural catastrophe

Abstract

Identification of trace metals and potential anthropogenic influences on the historic New York African Burial Ground population: A pXRF technology approach

The New York African Burial Ground (NYABG) is the country’s oldest and largest burial site of free and enslaved Africans. Re-discovered in 1991, this site provided evidence of the biological and cultural existence of a 17th and 18th Century historic population viewing their skeletal remains. However, the skeletal remains were reburied in October 2003 and are unavailable for further investigation. The analysis of grave soil samples with modern technology allows for the assessment of trace metal presence. Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry provides a semi-quantitative and non-destructive method to identify trace metals of this population and in the surrounding environment. Sixty-five NYABG soil samples were analyzed on a handheld Bruker Tracer III- SD XRF with 40 kV of voltage and a 30μA current. Presence of As, Cu, and Zn can potentially decipher the influence of the local 18th Century pottery factories. Elevated levels of Sr validate the assumed heavy vegetative diets of poor and enslaved Africans of the time. Decreased levels of Ca may be due in part to the proximity of the Collect Pond, the existing water table until the early 19th Century, and Manhattan’s rising sea level causing an elevated water table washing away the leached Ca from human remains. These data help us reconstruct the lives of these early Americans in what became New York City.

The Matty Canyon Population: Dental Observations of Late Archaic Individuals from Southern Arizona

Skeletal and dental material from the largest known burial population from the Late Archaic Period of southern Arizona was analyzed (Minturn and Lincoln-Babb, n.d.). Minturn performed the skeletal analyses, including the standard observations for age, sex, and pathologies. The dental analyses support a mixed economy subsistence of hunting-gathering and agriculture. This conclusion is based on observations for caries, enamel chipping, abscessing, and enamel hypoplasia.

Isotopic Evidence for Landscape use and the Role of Causewayed Enclosures During the Earlier Neolithic in Southern Britain

The nature of landscape use and residence patterns during the British earlier Neolithic has often been debated. Here we use strontium and oxygen isotope analysis of tooth enamel, from individuals buried at the Hambledon Hill causewayed enclosure monument complex in Dorset, England to evaluate patterns of landscape use during the earlier Neolithic. Previous analysis suggests that a significant proportion of the artefacts found at the site may originate from lithology of Eocene and Upper to Middle Jurassic age that the enclosures overlook to the immediate west and south. The excavators therefore argued that the sector of landscape visible from Hambledon Hill provides an approximate index for the catchment occupied by the communities that it served. Most of the burial population exhibit isotope ratios that could be consistent with this argument. Connections between Hambledon Hill and regions much further afield are also hypothesised, based on the presence of artefacts within the assemblage that could have been sourced from lithology in Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall in south-west England. However, few of the sampled individuals have strontium isotope ratios consistent with having obtained the majority of their diet from such areas during childhood. The individuals who exhibit the highest strontium isotope ratios are all adult males, whom the excavators suggest to have died during one or more episodes of conflict, following the burning and destruction of surrounding defensive outworks built during the 36th centurybc. At least one of these individuals, who was found with an arrowhead amongst his ribs, did not obtain his childhood diet locally and has87Sr/86Sr values that could be comparable to those bioavailable in the south-west peninsula.

“Other” possibilities? Assessing regional and extra-regional dental affinities of populations in the Portuguese Estremadura to explore the roots of Iberia's Late Neolithic-Copper Age

The relationship between the development of social complexity in the Iberian Peninsula during the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE (Late Neolithic and Copper Age) and population movement has been a longstanding question. Biological affinity analyses were used to explore Iberian demographic dynamics, and specifically, to discern whether there is evidence for migration and gene flow between northwest African, eastern Mediterranean, and Iberian populations. Affinities based on comparisons of nonmetric traits from the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System were estimated among samples of burial populations from three key Late Neolithic-Copper Age sites in the Portuguese Estremadura: Cova da Moura (3700–2300BCE), Bolores (2800–2600BCE), and Pai Mogo I (2800–2600BCE). Results indicate: 1) the possibility of genetic exchange with African and other Mediterranean peoples, 2) some measure of population continuity over time in the Estremadura, and 3) possible local isolation of populations, given distinctive patterning at the site of Pai Mogo, located 23km north of Cova da Moura and Bolores.

Bioarchaeological Investigations of Nineteenth-Century African American Burials at the Pioneer Cemetery (41BO202) in Brazoria, Texas

A search for unmarked graves in the state-owned right of way and underneath the pavement of State Highway 332 resulted in the discovery and archeological excavation of 11 unmarked graves associated with Pioneer Cemetery, an African American burial ground in Brazoria, Texas. Prewitt and Associates, Inc., conducted the fieldwork for the Texas Department of Transportation’s Archeological Studies Program. Between 2008 and 2012, the 11 unmarked graves were discovered, exhumed, analyzed, and then reinterred in Pioneer Cemetery in September 2012. This report describes the bioarcheological investigations of those burials along with 3 other unmarked burials that were previously exhumed and reburied in 2003. The mortuary remains, especially the manufacturing dates on the coffin hardware, indicate that the 14 exhumed burials date to the late-nineteenth century and early-twentieth centuries. Based on the osteological evidence, the deceased persons were 5 women, 2 men, 2 indeterminate adults, and 5 children. Seven of the 14 individuals display skeletal traits indicating that they are of African descent, but 2 indeterminate adults and 5 children do not. Based on historical evidence, it is likely that all 14 individuals were African Americans, and several of the older individuals may have been born into slavery. These 14 burials do not constitute a representative sample of the African Americans in Brazoria County or the town of Brazoria, but they are an interesting and historically significant burial population nonetheless. The overall health status of these people was generally good, with no evidence of abnormally high pathologies. However, skeletal remains of several older individuals exhibited evidence of various forms of degenerative joint disease indicative of lives spent doing hard labor. One adult male had an amputated leg and an iron and wooden prosthesis; it is not known if the loss of his leg was due to violence, accidental trauma, or disease. Several of the Pioneer burials exhibit traits that may represent mortuary behaviors of African origin. Three individuals had vaulted burials, with the casket or coffin located inside a shaft under a protective wooden arch. One adult female was buried with a complete whiteware saucer and a bird talon that was partially wrapped in gold plating and may have been worn as a necklace.

Isotopic evidence for residential mobility of farming communities during the transition to agriculture in Britain.

Development of agriculture is often assumed to be accompanied by a decline in residential mobility, and sedentism is frequently proposed to provide the basis for economic intensification, population growth and increasing social complexity. In Britain, however, the nature of the agricultural transition (ca 4000 BC) and its effect on residence patterns has been intensely debated. Some authors attribute the transition to the arrival of populations who practised a system of sedentary intensive mixed farming similar to that of the very earliest agricultural regimes in central Europe, ca 5500 BC, with cultivation of crops in fixed plots and livestock keeping close to permanently occupied farmsteads. Others argue that local hunter–gatherers within Britain adopted selected elements of a farming economy and retained a mobile way of life. We use strontium and oxygen isotope analysis of tooth enamel from an Early Neolithic burial population in Gloucestershire, England, to evaluate the residence patterns of early farmers. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that early farming communities in Britain were residentially mobile and were not fully sedentary. Results highlight the diverse nature of settlement strategies associated with early farming in Europe and are of wider significance to understanding the effect of the transition to agriculture on residence patterns.

Critical Review of Brown and Thomas "The First New Zealanders? An Alternative Interpretation of the Stable Isotope Data from Wairau Bar".

Critical Review of Brown and Thomas "The First New Zealanders? An Alternative Interpretation of the Stable Isotope Data from Wairau Bar".

Diet in Peru's pre-Hispanic central coast

The Tablada de Lurín cemetery (200 BC–AD 200; Lima, Peru) is characterised by two mortuary phases. Based on associated grave finds and the lack of habitation sites near the cemetery, it has been hypothesised that both burial populations came from a certain distance of the site (ca. 20km) and that they relied on land rather than marine resources. We tested these hypotheses, based on material culture, through stable isotope analysis. The aim was to understand the populations' diet and geographic origins. We sampled 47 human individuals and eleven sets of faunal remains from both phases for stable isotope analysis (carbon, nitrogen, sulphur and oxygen) of bone and dental collagen, and apatite. Modern samples of autochthonous food were also tested as a baseline for comparison. The results showed preservation differences between the remains from both phases. Individuals from Phase 1 provided the best isotopic dataset and showed consumption of protein from marine resources and C4 plants. On the other hand, bioapatite carbon and oxygen stable isotope results from both phases highlighted differences in C4 plant consumption and individuals of possible non-local origin. The results underline the need to study further the effect of brewed or cooked beverages on bioapatite oxygen levels. Finally, results from Phase 1 fit with the broader dietary pattern evident in other Andean sites, where coastal populations consumed marine protein and C4 plants, as opposed to highland populations who relied on terrestrial protein sources and C3 plants.

Dietary isotope patterns and their social implications in a prehistoric human population from Sigatoka, Fiji

The late-1980s excavation of a well organized cairn-burial cemetery at the Sigatoka Sand Dunes site on Viti Levu, Fiji, recovered a population that is closely grouped in time with individuals coming from a nearby Fijian Plainware Phase village (1435–1300cal BP). Analysis of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotopes from a sample of 22 of these individuals provides insight into village-level diet and its variation across the population. Results indicate a mixed diet high in C3 plant resources but with a key marine component. Variation in diet based on sex does not occur. Differential treatment of the dead through interment in large coral rock cairns versus pit burials in the cemetery, speaks to rank in Fijian antiquity. Individuals interred in cairns trend toward elevated carbon values, suggesting access to marine proteins as a potential correlate for status in the burial population. Isotopic measurements for a late prehistoric individual from Sigatoka and measurements from nine faunal samples also are presented. The latter, with other faunal measurements from Fiji, provides a food web for comparative interpretation of human diet.

The early colonial atlantic world: New insights on the African Diaspora from isotopic and ancient DNA analyses of a multiethnic 15th-17th century burial population from the Canary Islands, Spain.

The Canary Islands are considered one of the first places where Atlantic slave plantations with labourers of African origin were established, during the 15th century AD. In Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain), a unique cemetery dated to the 15th and 17th centuries was discovered adjacent to an ancient sugar plantation with funerary practices that could be related to enslaved people. In this article, we investigate the origin and possible birthplace of each individual buried in this cemetery, as well as the identity and social status of these people. The sample consists of 14 individuals radiocarbon dated to the 15th and 17th centuries AD. We have employed several methods, including the analysis of ancient human DNA, stable isotopes, and skeletal markers of physical activity. 1) the funerary practices indicate a set of rituals not previously recorded in the Canary Islands; 2) genetic data show that some people buried in the cemetery could have North-African and sub-Saharan African lineages; 3) isotopic results suggest that some individuals were born outside Gran Canaria; and 4) markers of physical activity show a pattern of labour involving high levels of effort. This set of evidence, along with information from historical sources, suggests that Finca Clavijo was a cemetery for a multiethnic marginalized population that had being likely enslaved. Results also indicate that this population kept practicing non-Christian rituals well into the 17th century. We propose that this was possible because the location of the Canaries, far from mainland Spain and the control of the Spanish Crown, allowed the emergence of a new society with multicultural origins that was more tolerant to foreign rituals and syncretism.

Oral histories: a simple method of assigning chronological age to isotopic values from human dentine collagen

Background: Stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) in bone and dentine collagen have been used for over 30 years to estimate palaeodiet, subsistence strategy, breastfeeding duration and migration within burial populations. Recent developments in dentine microsampling allow improved temporal resolution for dietary patterns.Aim: A simple method is proposed which could be applied to human teeth to estimate chronological age represented by dentine microsamples in the direction of tooth growth, allowing comparison of dietary patterns between individuals and populations. The method is tested using profiles from permanent and deciduous teeth of two individuals.Subjects and methods: Using a diagrammatic representation of dentine development by approximate age for each human tooth (based on the Queen Mary University of London Atlas), this study estimated the age represented by each dentine section. Two case studies are shown: comparison of M1 and M2 from a 19th century individual from London, England, and identification of an unknown tooth from an Iron Age female adult from Scotland.Results and conclusions: The isotopic profiles demonstrate that variations in consecutively-forming teeth can be aligned using this method to extend the dietary history of an individual or identify an unknown tooth by matching the profiles.