LIFE AND DEATH AMONG THE EARLIEST MAYA: A REVIEW OF EARLY AND MIDDLE PRECLASSIC BURIALS FROM THE MAYA WORLD

Gabriel D. Wrobel; Raúl Alejandro López Pérez; Claire E. Ebert

doi:10.1017/s0956536121000456

LIFE AND DEATH AMONG THE EARLIEST MAYA: A REVIEW OF EARLY AND MIDDLE PRECLASSIC BURIALS FROM THE MAYA WORLD

Ancient Mesoamerica ◽

10.1017/s0956536121000456 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 32 (3) ◽

pp. 545-557

Author(s):

Gabriel D. Wrobel ◽

Raúl Alejandro López Pérez ◽

Claire E. Ebert

Keyword(s):

Skeletal Remains ◽

Life And Death ◽

Middle Preclassic

AbstractThis article presents a review of the earliest Maya skeletal remains thus far found, including a list of 398 burials dating to the Early (1800–900 b.c.) and Middle Preclassic periods (900–300 b.c.) and adjacent regions. These sites are spread throughout the Maya region and the data allow basic descriptive syntheses about early mortuary behavior and aspects of health and diet. Poor preservation and differences in scoring and reporting severely limit the scope of interpretation possible at this point, but it is hoped that this review stimulates coordinated research into the biology of early groups.

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MORTUARY RITUALS AND CRANIAL MODIFICATIONS AT CEIBAL: FROM THE EARLY MIDDLE PRECLASSIC TO THE TERMINAL CLASSIC PERIOD

Ancient Mesoamerica ◽

10.1017/s0956536117000062 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 305-327 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Juan Manuel Palomo ◽

Takeshi Inomata ◽

Daniela Triadan

Keyword(s):

Public Spaces ◽

Skeletal Remains ◽

Classic Period ◽

Late Classic ◽

Terminal Classic ◽

Ceramic Vessels ◽

Local Residents ◽

Middle Preclassic ◽

Maya Site ◽

Terminal Classic Period

AbstractSkeletal remains excavated from the lowland Maya site of Ceibal, representing approximately 117 individuals, provide significant data for the study of changes in bodily treatments and mortuary practices from 1000b.c.toa.d.900. The early Middle Preclassic residents of Ceibal apparently did not bury their dead inside residential structures, which represents a burial practice different from those found at contemporaneous Belizean sites. During this time, tabular erect cranial deformations were found among possible local residents. Sacrificial burials were present by the end of this period, but skeletal remains of violent rituals deposited in public spaces increased from the Middle Preclassic to the Late Preclassic. During the Late Preclassic, tabular erect cranial deformations coexisted with tabular oblique shapes. The Classic period witnessed a prevalence of tabular oblique forms, which were probably tied to local residents. The common placement of the dead under house floors and the preference of ceramic vessels as burial goods also indicate Ceibal's strong affinities with other parts of the Maya lowlands during the Late Classic period. During the Terminal Classic period, there was a resurgence in the placement of sacrificial burials in public spaces and tabular erect cranial deformations were found in possible non-local individuals.

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Landscape Structural Violence: A View from New Orleans’s Cemeteries

American Antiquity ◽

10.1017/aaq.2019.49 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 84 (4) ◽

pp. 669-683 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ryan M. Seidemann ◽

Christine L. Halling

Keyword(s):

New Orleans ◽

Structural Violence ◽

Visual Representation ◽

Skeletal Remains ◽

Access To Resources ◽

Life And Death ◽

The Social ◽

Definition Of ◽

Established Order

“Structural violence” is a term used to describe inflicted systematic violence on a disenfranchised group by an established order, usually framed as a government or the social majority. The disenfranchised groups are marginalized and not provided with the same access to resources such as healthcare or food, the effects of which can be observed directly in their death. Bioarchaeologists often can detect the visible effects of this violence on skeletal remains, which provide a visual representation to and reinforcement of social prejudices inflicted in life and death. Discussed here is how the same concept of structural violence can be inflicted on the landscape through damage to or obliteration of cemeteries. We propose a definition of “landscape structural violence” exhibited through cemetery erasure as a reinforcement of preexisting social prejudices in death where the governments or the social majority, intentionally or passively, destroy, remove, or obscure a cemetery without consultation with the descendant community. This definition is applied to several examples of New Orleans cemeteries to determine the functionality of the definition and what activity is and what is not structural violence inflicted on the landscape.

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Mortuary and Bioarchaeological Perspectives on Bronze Age Arabia

10.5744/florida/9781683400790.001.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Near East ◽

Death And Dying ◽

Scientific Data ◽

Skeletal Remains ◽

The Novel ◽

Mortuary Archaeology ◽

Life And Death ◽

Continuity And Change ◽

New Ideas

Across the Near East, major changes in the commemoration of death and the formation of identity amongst the living took place at the beginning of the Neolithic. However, these investigations have largely focused on a narrow geographic expanse, including the Levant and Egypt, where processes of death and dying have been extensively documented. Much less is known about death and burial in the Near East, outside of the Levant. In recent years, however, interest in the mortuary landscapes of Arabia has steadily grown, and the potential for using death to reconstruct the lifestyles of once-living communities are becoming more fully realized. Mortuary and Bioarchaeological Perspectives on Bronze Age Arabia brings together an international consortium of archaeologists and bioarchaeologists, who are at the forefront of mortuary archaeology work across Arabia, to examine continuity and change in death and remembrance. While mortuary archaeology and bioarchaeology contribute important perspectives to the interpretation of life and death in ancient Arabia, these subdisciplines are rarely brought together in this region. Indeed, only recently have skeletal remains been recognized as a rich source of scientific data complementing burial context. Such joint collaboration highlights the novel, interdisciplinary perspective proposed in this volume, resulting in a synthesis of new ideas and interpretations that will undoubtedly guide future archaeological endeavors in Arabia and beyond.

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Bioarchaeology of Nubia

The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190496272.013.55 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1050-1069

Author(s):

Michele R. Buzon

Keyword(s):

Disease Activity ◽

Activity Patterns ◽

Skeletal Remains ◽

Archaeological Sites ◽

Archaeological Research ◽

Population Composition ◽

Significant Information ◽

Traumatic Injuries ◽

Life And Death ◽

Early Case

Bioarchaeology is the excavation and analysis of human remains from archaeological sites. Through numerous campaigns related to the building of dams and other projects, thousands of skeletal remains have been excavated from ancient Nubian sites. Paleopathological and morphological analyses of these collections have provided significant information about the lifeways of past inhabitants, including health, disease, activity patterns, traumatic injuries, diet, and biological relationships. From early case studies of pathological curiosities and racial typology to contextualized biocultural analyses of changes in health and population composition, Nubian bioarchaeology has adapted and expanded together with methodological and theoretical advancements in bioarchaeology more broadly. The integration of bioarchaeology within the larger archaeological research project from planning through analyses encourages more contextualized interpretations that combine skeletal evidence with settlement, environmental, and mortuary data to create a picture of life and death in the ancient Nubian past.

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