Mortuary Sites Research Articles

Trauma and violence in the Wari empire of the Peruvian Andes: Warfare, raids, and ritual fights

This study examines bioarchaeological evidence for violence during the period of Wari imperialism in the Peruvian Andes through analysis of skeletal trauma from three populations dating to AD 650-800. The samples are from contemporaneous archaeological sites: Conchopata, a Wari heartland site in central highland Peru; Beringa, a community of commoners in the Majes valley of the southern Wari hinterland; and La Real, a high status mortuary site, also in the Majes valley. Given the expansionist nature of Wari and its military-related iconography and weaponry, it is hypothesized that Wari imperialism was concomitant with greater levels of violence relative to other prehispanic groups in the Andes. It is also hypothesized that differential articulation with the Wari empire (e.g., heartland vs. hinterland groups) affected the frequency and patterning of trauma. Results show that cranial trauma frequency of the three Wari era samples is significantly greater than several other Andean skeletal populations. This suggests that Wari rule was associated with high levels of violence, though it may not have always been related to militarism. The three adult samples show similar frequencies of cranial trauma (Conchopata = 26%; Beringa = 33%; La Real = 31%). This may suggest that differential positioning in the Wari empire had little effect on exposure to violence. Sex-based differences in cranial trauma frequencies are present only at La Real, but wound patterning differs between the sexes: females display more wounds on the posterior of the cranium, while males show more on the anterior. These data suggest that Wari rule may have contributed to violence.

Fragmentation, Personhood and the Social Construction of Technology in Middle and Late Bronze Age Britain

This article examines a range of practices involving the deliberate fragmentation of human bodies and objects in Middle and Late Bronze Age Britain. Focusing on evidence from settlements and mortuary sites, it is suggested that metaphorical links were drawn between people and things, and that productive processes such as potting and metallurgy provided potent metaphors for the construction of the human self. Building on these points, it is argued that current models which posit the rise of an ideology of the ‘individual’ during the Bronze Age may be inappropriate in this cultural context.

Nutrition and health at contact in late prehistoric central Gulf Coast Florida

This paper presents an analysis of human remains from Tatham Mound, a dual-component mortuary site from central Gulf Coast Florida. The human remains from Tatham are significant because they come from a limited time period during the initial contact with Europeans at AD 1525-1550. Dietary reconstruction demonstrates that at the time of European contact, maize was not a predominant dietary item. Low frequencies for several dental and skeletal pathological indicators are consistent with relatively good health as compared to other Southeastern late prehistoric and protohistoric populations. Despite the limited time period represented by the mound population, critical interactions occurred between Native Americans and Spaniards, as indicated by skeletal elements severed by metal weapons. The Tatham population is significant because it is one of the earliest studied populations contacted by Europeans in North America, and the only one with well-documented sharp-force trauma that represents intergroup hostility.

THE DEVELOPMENT AND COLLAPSE OF PRECOLONIAL ETHNIC MOSAICS IN TSAVO, KENYA

Archaeologists and historians have long believed that little interaction existed between Iron Age cities of the Kenya Coast and their rural hinterlands. Ongoing archaeological and anthropological research in Tsavo, Southeast Kenya, shows that Tsavo has been continuously inhabited at least since the early Holocene. Tsavo peoples made a living by foraging, herding, farming, and producing pottery and iron, and in the Iron Age were linked to global markets via coastal traders. They were at one point important suppliers of ivory destined for Southwest and South Asia. Our excavations document forager and agropastoralist habitation sites, iron smelting and iron working sites, fortified rockshelters, and mortuary sites. We discuss the relationship between fortified rockshelters, in particular, and slave trade.

Kissufim Road: A Chalcolithic Mortuary Site. Yuval Goren and Peter Fabian.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsKissufim Road: A Chalcolithic Mortuary Site. Yuval Goren and Peter Fabian.Alexander H. JoffeAlexander H. Joffe Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research Volume 334May 2004 A journal of the American Schools of Oriental Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/4150108 Views: 5Total views on this site Journal History This article was published in the Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research (1921-2021), which is continued by the Bulletin of the American Schools of Overseas Research (2022-present). Copyright 2004 American Schools of Oriental ResearchPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Five Corner Tang Bifaces from the Silo Site, 41KA102, a Late Archaic Mortuary Site in South Texas

Five corner tang bi/aces were recovered as grave inclusions with two burials, a young adult male and a child, at the Silo site (41KA102), a Late-Transitional Archaic mortuary and habitation locale in the northern portion of south Texas. Analysis of these corner tangs suggests their specific manufacture as grave goods. The association of grave goods with individuals of varying age and sex categories has led to a general assumption of relatively egalitarian societies inhabiting south and southeast Texas during the period. However, a review of the comparative literature and of social and subsistence patterns during the Late Archaic suggests instead that peoples at the Silo site, as well as across the region, were not entirely egalitarian. In particular, the interment ofhigh quality and rare grave goods, like the corner tangs, were part of both status display and status competition during this period.

Bronze Age boundaries and social exchange in north‐west Cyprus

Summary. During the Late Bronze Age a number of towns engaged in copper production and overseas trade arose throughout the coastal regions of Cyprus. While some of these towns were located within a few kilometres of major ore deposits in the Troodos Mountains, others were situated much farther away, and presumably acquired their copper supplies through extensive networks of exchange. This paper addresses the question of how such networks may have been structured in north‐western and north central Cyprus, within and adjacent to the research area of the Sydney Cyprus Survey Project. Based on our analyses of site locational factors, we propose the co‐existence of at least two distinct networks of copper procurement and transport. Consideration of the finds from settlement and mortuary sites in the northern Troodos and Mesaoria plain suggests a pattern of hierarchical exchange relations between coastal and inland regions.

Afterword Visible Death: Mortuary Site and Mortuary Landscape in Diachronic Perspective

Afterword Visible Death: Mortuary Site and Mortuary Landscape in Diachronic Perspective

Some Notes on prehistoric Mortuary Sites from the American Illinois

Some Notes on prehistoric Mortuary Sites from the American Illinois

The Sidney Burial: A Middle Plains Archaic Mortuary Site from Western Nebraska

The remains of a Middle Archaic (radiocarbon dated to 2288 - 2466 B. C.) young adult male and an infant of indeterminate sex were discovered eroding from a road cut near Sidney, Nebraska, and excavated. Associated cultural materials included amazonite pendants that suggest trade routes and (along with fragments of a perforated turtle carapace) represent the earliest regional examples of ornamentation in direct association with a burial. The funerary items and burial style tenuously link the Sidney Burial (25CN55) with the Oxbow Complex, best represented in the northern Plains

Regional Variation in the Pattern of Maize Adoption and Use in Florida and Georgia

Dietary reconstruction using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from archaeological human bone samples from coastal Georgia and northern and Gulf Coast Florida dating between 400 B.C. and A.D. 1700 serves to illustrate the complexity of the agricultural transition in that region. Isotope analysis of 185 collagen samples drawn from early prehistoric, late prehistoric, and contact-period mortuary sites encompasses two major adaptive shifts in the region, namely the adoption of maize agriculture in late prehistory and the increased emphasis on maize during the mission period. Prior to European contact—and especially before the establishment of Spanish missions among the Guale, Yamasee, Timucua, and Apalachee tribal groups—diet was strongly influenced by local environmental factors. Before contact, coastal and inland populations had different patterns of food consumption, as did populations living in Georgia and Florida. Coastal populations consumed more marine and less terrestrial foods than inland populations. In general, maize was adopted during the eleventh century A.D. by virtually all Georgia populations. However, with the exception of the Lake Jackson site, a major Mississippian center in northern Florida, Florida populations show little use of maize before contact. Following European contact, maize became wide-spread, regardless of location or habitat within the broad region of Spanish Florida. Missionization appears to have been an important factor in the convergence of native diets toward agriculture and away from foraging. This increased emphasis on maize contributed to a decline in quality of life for native populations.

Brief encounters: Tatham Mound and the evidence for Spanish and Native American confrontation

Skeletal trauma often has been utilized to examine facets of inter- and intragroup violence. Eighteen skeletal elements from Tatham Mound are considered in this study, which exhibit wounds similar to documented cases of trauma caused by edged metal weapons. Tatham Mound is a sixteenth century mortuary site in central Gulf Coast Florida and is located within the reconstructed zone of contact with the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Macroscopic and microscopic analyses of skeletal elements are conducted in order to distinguish trauma due to edged metal weapons from other perimortem and post-mortem bone modification. The damage on elements from Tatham Mound is compared with documented cases of trauma from edged metal weapons as well as medieval European skeletal remains exhibiting trauma due to edged metal weapons. It is concluded that some of the observed cases are probably due to metal weapon wounds inflicted by the Spanish explorers.

Brief encounters: Tatham Mound and the evidence for Spanish and Native American confrontation

Skeletal trauma often has been utilized to examine facets of inter- and intragroup violence. Eighteen skeletal elements from Tatham Mound are considered in this study, which exhibit wounds similar to documented cases of trauma caused by edged metal weapons. Tatham Mound is a sixteenth century mortuary site in central Gulf Coast Florida and is located within the reconstructed zone of contact with the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Macroscopic and microscopic analyses of skeletal elements are conducted in order to distinguish trauma due to edged metal weapons from other perimortem and post-mortem bone modification. The damage on elements from Tatham Mound is compared with documented cases of trauma from edged metal weapons as well as medieval European skeletal remains exhibiting trauma due to edged metal weapons. It is concluded that some of the observed cases are probably due to metal weapon wounds inflicted by the Spanish explorers.

Elemental signatures of human diets from the Georgia Bight

Multielement analysis was performed on bone samples extracted from the femora of 39 adults from three mortuary sites (Johns Mound, Santa Catalina de Guale, and Santa Catalina de Guale de Santa Maria) and time periods (late preagricultural, early contact, and late contact) in the Georgia Bight. This study was used to investigate whether elemental analysis would support or contradict other lines of data regarding diets and dietary change previously generated for the region. The data are in agreement with an earlier interpretation, based on stable isotopes, that dietary maize increases through time but fails to support the idea that marine resources decreased in importance. Rather, it appears that the wild plant food component of the diets decreases as maize increases in importance; throughout the sequence, marine resources comprise a significant portion of the diets.

Subsistence in the Florida Archaic: The Stable-Isotope and Archaeobotanical Evidence from the Windover Site

A paleodietary analysis of the mid-Holocene mortuary site, Windover (8BR246), based on carbon and nitrogen bone-collagen values and archaeobotanical information is consistent with a subsistence strategy that utilized river-dwelling fauna and a range of terrestrial flora, such as grapes and prickly pear. The isotopic analysis does not support the extensive human dietary use of either marine mammals or classic terrestrial fauna such as deer or rabbit. Seasonal (late summer/early fall) use of the site is indicated by the range of flora found in association with the burials.

New Smith, 34RM400: A Plains Village Mortuary Site in Western Oklahoma

Structural remains, burials: and trash pits exposed by land leveling activities in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma, were recorded dunng July, 1984. Based on the material remains and corrected radiocar...

Warfare in Late Prehistoric West-Central Illinois

Social-group competition and cooperation are critical elements of models of cultural evolution. Despite the presumed significance of such interactions, archaeologists find it difficult to measure these forms of behavior. An Illinois cemetery consisting of 264 burials dating to ca. A.D. 1300 illustrates the unique information that only mortuary sites can provide on the characteristics and intensity of prehistoric intergroup conflict. In this instance, violent death was indicated by several forms of bone damage. Chronic warfare caused a heavy loss of life (at least one-third of all adult deaths) and contributed to considerable hardship. Available evidence indicates that this conflict was part of a broader pattern of volatile Precontact-era social relationships that featured intergroup cooperation coupled with antagonism.

Human skeletal remains: Preservation or reburial?

Recent years have witnessed a surge of scientific interest in the biocultural analysis of mortuary sites and human remains. Concurrently, members of the American Indian community and others have questioned the merit of scientific study and argued for reburial of Indian human remains and associated artifacts. Strong differences of opinion have led to varied responses among museums, professional organizations, federal and state organizations, and individuals. This article addresses the scientific, ethical, religious, political, and legal issues raised by this debate.

Pearls or People: A Biometric Analysis of Interregional Exchange During Hopewell Times

The pattern of Hopewell site distribution throughout the midwest has given rise to several models of interaction during Middle Woodland times. Primary among these is the idea of the Hopewell Interaction Sphere (HIS), involving the movement of material items and ideological concepts but not groups of people. An analysis of biological distance between skeletal populations drawn from Ohio and Illinois Hopewell mortuary sites was done in order to test this interpretation. The pattern of biosocial interaction resulting from comparison of inherited osteological traits, both metric and non‐metric, supports such a model. The degree of heterogeneity between the two areas of Hopewell expression suggests little exchange was occurring on a biological level. The HIS as an interregional trade network composed of locally adapted, indigenous cultural groups appears to have reality in both the biological and material aspects of its archeological remains.

The Chalcolithic Mortuary Site near Mezad Aluf, Northern Negev Desert: A Preliminary Study

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Chalcolithic Mortuary Site near Mezad Aluf, Northern Negev Desert: A Preliminary StudyThomas Evan Levy and David AlonThomas Evan Levy Search for more articles by this author and David Alon Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research Volume 248Autumn 1982 A journal of the American Schools of Oriental Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/1356673 Views: 6Total views on this site Journal History This article was published in the Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research (1921-2021), which is continued by the Bulletin of the American Schools of Overseas Research (2022-present). Copyright 1983 The American Schools of Oriental ResearchPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.