Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T19:05:18.008Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Excavation and Curation Strategies for Complex Burials in Tropical Environments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2019

Carolyn Freiwald
Carolyn Freiwald*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Mississippi, 544 Lamar, 615 Grove Loop, University, MS 38677, USA
*
([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bioarchaeologists often are faced with the challenge of managing field excavations and lab analyses of skeletal remains at the same time—along with student and staff training and curation of osteological remains—and cannot be in two places at once. This article presents strategies for the recovery of human remains useful for large projects where multiple burials must be recovered simultaneously, remains are poorly preserved, and complex burial practices such as seated body positions and commingled remains are present. The excavation and curation strategies are presented in the context of the seated burial practice in the Maya region, a funerary tradition that requires detailed documentation of the burial as well as the body in order to understand its meaning. Classic period (AD 250-900) seated burials do not fit a single biological profile; in fact, the taphonomic profile of one seated individual at Actuncan, Belize, suggests a closer relationship to body processing and/or context than to status. Tropical and semitropical environmental conditions also require modified curation procedures, which present ethical challenges as well as physical ones.

Los bioarqueólogos frecuentemente tienen el desafío de gestionar la excavación y el análisis de laboratorio de restos esqueléticos --además de las responsabilidades de entrenar estudiantes y personal y de llevar a cabo la curación de restos osteológicos -- y no pueden estar en dos lugares al mismo tiempo. Este trabajo presenta unas estrategias para la recuperación de restos humanos en proyectos arqueólogos grandes con excavaciones simultáneas de más de un entierro, restos óseos mal preservados y tradiciones funerarias complejas tales como posiciones sentadas o sepulcros con más de un individuo. Se presentan estrategias de excavación y curación tomando como estudio de caso los entierros sentados en la región Maya, una tradición funeraria que requiere documentación detallada tanto del entierro como del cuerpo. Los entierros sentados del periodo Clásico no tienen el mismo perfil biológico, y el análisis de un individuo sentado enterrado en Actuncan, Belice, sugiere una relación íntima con el procesamiento del cuerpo o el contexto más que el estatus de la persona fallecida. Ambientes tropicales y subtropicales también requieren modificaciones en cuanto a la curación, lo que presenta retos tanto éticos como físicos.

Keywords

StrontiumMayaisotopesseated burialbioarchaeologyestroncioMayasisótoposentierro sentadobioarqueología
Type
Articles
Information
Advances in Archaeological Practice , Volume 7 , Special Issue 1: The Practice and Ethics of Skeletal Conservation , February 2019 , pp. 10 - 22
Copyright
Copyright 2019 © Society for American Archaeology 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES CITED

Adams, Bradley 1998 Analysis of the Xunantunich Archaeological Project (XAP) Human Skeletal Remains. Report on file at the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Antoine, Daniel, and Taylor, Emily 2104 Collection Care: Handling, Storing, and Transporting Human Remains. In Regarding the Dead: Human Remains in the British Museum, edited by Fletcher, Alexandra, Antoine, Daniel, and Hill, JD, pp. 43–48. Research Publication 197. British Museum, London.Google Scholar
Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona 2011 Arizona State Museum Human Remains Documentation Packet. Electronic document, https://statemuseum.arizona.edu/file/712, accessed September 22, 2018.Google Scholar
Audet, Carolyn M. 2006 Political Organization in the Belize River Valley: Excavations at Baking Pot, Cahal Pech, and Xunantunich. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.Google Scholar
Awe, Jaime J., Weinberg, Douglas M., Guerra, Rafael A., and Schwanke, Myka 2005 Archaeological Mitigation in the Upper Macal River Valley: Final Report of Investigations Conducted Between June–December, January–March 2004, and October–December 2004. Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Macal River Project. Report on file at the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan, and Belize Electric Company Limited, Belize City.Google Scholar
Bass, William M. 2005 Human Osteology: A Laboratory and Field Manual. Missouri Archaeological Society, Columbia.Google Scholar
Baker, Brenda J., Dupras, Tosha L., Tocheri, Matthew W., and Wheeler, Sandra M. 2006 The Osteology of Infants and Children. Anthropology Series No. 12. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.Google Scholar
Beaubien, Harriet F. 2019 Field Conservation of Skeletal Remains: Stabilization Treatment Techniques and Implications for Future Analysis. Advances in Archaeological Practice 7:23–29.Google Scholar
Becker, Marshall J. 1992 Ritual Deposits among the Classic Period Lowland Maya. In New Theories on the Ancient Maya, edited by Danien, Elin C. and Sharer, Robert J., pp. 185–196. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Bell, Ellen, Sharer, Robert J., Traxler, Loa P., Sedat, David W., Carrelli, Christine W., and Grant, Lynn A. 2004 Tombs and Burials in the Early Classic Acropolis at Copan. In Understanding Early Classic Copan, edited by Bell, Ellen E., Canuto, Marcello A., and Sharer, Robert J., pp. 131–158. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Bentley, R. Alexander 2006 Strontium Isotopes from the Earth to the Archaeological Skeleton: A Review. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 13:135–187.Google Scholar
Berggren, Åsa, Dell'Unto, Nicolo, Forte, Maurizio, Haddow, Scott, Hodder, Ian, Issavi, Justine, Lercari, Nicola, Mazzucato, Camilla, Mickel, Allison, and Taylor, James S. 2015 Revisiting Reflexive Archaeology at Çatalhöyük: Integrating Digital and 3D Technologies at the Trowel's Edge. Antiquity 89:433–448.Google Scholar
Billstrand, Nicholas 2016 Linearly Stressed to Death: Consideration of Early Childhood Stress as a Main Contributor to the Regional Variability in Classic Maya Mortuary Profiles. Master's thesis, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Mississippi. ProQuest/UMI: 10160607.Google Scholar
Black, Shannon 2007 Health and Biological Affinity of Two Classic Southern Lowlands Maya Plazuelas in the Western Belize Valley. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California.Google Scholar
Braswell, Jennifer Briggs 1998 Archaeological Investigations at Group D Xunantunich, Belize. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana.Google Scholar
Brown, Kathryn M., Glassman, David M., Ford, Owen, and Troell, Steven 1996 Report on the 1995 Investigations at the Site of Floral Park, Belize. In The Belize Valley Archaeological Project: Results of the 1995 Field Season, edited by Garber, James F. and Glassman, David M., pp. 35–62. Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos.Google Scholar
Buikstra, Jane E., and Ubelaker, Douglas H. 1994 Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains: Proceedings of a Seminar at the Field Museum of Natural History. Report Research Series 44. Arkansas Archeological Society, Fayetteville.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen 1983 A Contextual Consideration of the Tayasal-Paxcaman Zone, El Petén, Guatemala. Department of Anthropology, PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Chase, Diane Z. 1982 Spatial and Temporal Variability in Postclassic Northern Belize. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Chase, Diane Z., and Chase, Arlen F. 1988 A Postclassic Perspective: Excavations at the Maya Site of Santa Rita Corozal, Belize. Monograph 4. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, San Francisco, California.Google Scholar
Cheetham, David 2004 The Role of “Terminus Groups” in Lowland Maya Site Planning: An Example from Cahal Pech. In The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: Half a Century of Archaeological Research, edited by Garber, James F., pp. 125–148. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Childs, S. Terry, and Benden, Danielle M. 2017 A Checklist for Sustainable Management of Archaeological Collections. Advances in Archaeological Practice 5:12–25.Google Scholar
Cohen, Mark N., O'Connor, Kathleen, Danforth, Marie Elaine, Jacobi, Keith P., and Armstrong, Carl 1997 Archaeology and Osteology of the Tipu Site. In Bones of the Maya: Studies of Ancient Skeletons, edited by Whittington, Stephen L. and Reed, David M., pp. 78–86. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Connell, Samuel V. 2000 Were They Well Connected? An Exploration of Ancient Maya Regional Integration from the Middle-Level Perspective of Chaa Creek, Belize. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Davies, Diane E. 2012 Past Identities, Present Legitimation: The Reuse of a Late Preclassic Residential Group at the Maya Site of San Bartolo, Guatemala. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
De Reu, Jeroen, De Smedt, Philippe, Herremans, Davy, Van Meirvenne, Marc, Laloo, Pieter, and De Clercq, Wim 2014 On Introducing an Image-Based 3D Reconstruction Method in Archaeological Excavation Practice. Journal of Archaeological Science 41:251–262.Google Scholar
DiBiasie-Sammons, Jacqueline F. 2018 Application of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) to the Study of Ancient Graffiti from Herculaneum, Italy. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 17:184–194.Google Scholar
Duday, Henri, Cipriani, Anna Maria, and Pearce, John 2009 The Archaeology of the Dead: Lectures in Archaeothanatology, Vol. 3. Oxbow Books, Oxford.Google Scholar
Duday, Henri, Courtaud, Patrice, Crubezy, Eric, Sellier, Pascal, and Tillier, Anne-Marie 1990 L'anthropologie de terrain: Reconnaissance et interprétation des gestes funéraires. Bulletin et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris 2(3–4):29–50.Google Scholar
Duday, Henri, and Guillon, Mark 2006 Understanding the Circumstances of Decomposition When the Body Is Skeletonized. In Forensic Anthropology and Medicine: Complementary Sciences from Recovery to Cause of Death, edited by Schmitt, Aurore, Cunha, Eugénia, and Pinheiro, João, pp. 117–157. Humana Press, Totowa, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Duncan, William N., Balkansky, Andrew W., Crawford, Kimberly, Lapham, Heather A., and Meissner, Nathan J. 2008 Human Cremation in Mexico 3,000 years ago. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105(14):5315–5320.Google Scholar
Dupras, Tosha L., Schultz, John J., Wheeler, Sandra M., and Williams, Lana J. 2011 Forensic Recovery of Human Remains: Archaeological Approaches. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.Google Scholar
Fash, William L., Fash, Barbara W., and Davis-Salazar, Karla 2004 Setting the Stage: Origins of the Hieroglyphic Stairway Plaza on the Great Period Ending. In Understanding Early Classic Copan, edited by Bell, Ellen E., Canuto, Marcello A., and Sharer, Robert J., pp. 65–83. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
France, Christine A. M., Giaccai, Jennifer A., and Doney, Charlotte R. 2015 Brief Communication: The Effects of Paraloid B-72 and Butvar B-98 Treatment and Organic Solvent Removal on d13C, d15N, and d18O Values of Collagen and Hydroxyapatite in a Modern Bone. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 157:330–338.Google Scholar
Freiwald, Carolyn 2011 Maya Migration Networks: Reconstructing Population Movement in the Belize River Valley during the Late and Terminal Classic. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.Google Scholar
Freiwald, Carolyn 2012 Actuncan Burials: The 2011 Field Season. In Actuncan 2011 Field Report, edited by LeCount, Lisa and Keller, Angela, pp. 48–59. Report on file at the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Freiwald, Carolyn 2013 Reconstructing Burials: Strategies for Excavating Maya Human Remains. In Actuncan: Report of the 2012 Field Season, edited by LeCount, Lisa J., pp. 97–113. Report on file at the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Freiwald, Carolyn, and Billstrand, Nicholas 2014 Burial 11 in Structure 41 at Actuncan, Belize. In The Actuncan Archaeological Project: Report of the 2013 Field Seasons, edited by LeCount, Lisa J., pp. 75–95. Report on file at the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Freiwald, Carolyn, Fulton, Kara, Billstrand, Nicholas, and Micklin, Destiny 2018 Making an Ancestor at Actuncan: Exploring the Origins, Health, Burial Treatment, and Taphonomy of a Late Classic Maya Eastern Structure. Paper presented at the 83rd Annual Society for American Archaeology Meeting, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Freiwald, Carolyn, and Micklin, Destiny 2013 Burial Excavations in Group1 Patio. In The Actuncan Archaeological Project: Report of the 2012 Field Seasons, edited by LeCount, Lisa, pp. 81–92. Report on file at the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Freiwald, Carolyn, Mixter, David W., and Billstrand, Nicholas 2014 Burial Practices at Actuncan, Belize: A Seated Burial and Ongoing Analysis from the 2001–2013 Field Seasons. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 11:95–109.Google Scholar
Freiwald, Carolyn, Yaeger, Jason, Awe, Jaime, and Piehl, Jennifer 2014 Isotopic Insights into Mortuary Treatment and Origin at Xunantunich, Belize. In The Bioarchaeology of Space and Place: Ideology, Power, and Meaning in Maya Mortuary Contexts, edited by Wrobel, Gabriel D., pp. 107–139. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Garber, James F., Kathryn Brown, M., David Driver, W., Glassman, David M., Hartman, Christopher J., Kent Reilly, F. III, and Sullivan, Lauren A. 2004 Archaeological Investigations at Blackman Eddy. In The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: Half a Century of Archaeological Research, edited by Garber, James F., pp. 48–69. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Glassman, David 1995 Skeletal Biology of the Prehistoric Maya of Northern Ambergis Caye. In Maya Maritime Trade, Settlement, and Populations on Ambergis Caye, Belize, edited by Guderjan, Thomas H. and Garber, James F., pp. 73–94. Maya Research Program, San Antonio, Texas.Google Scholar
Graham, Elizabeth, Pendergast, David M., and Jones, Grant D. 1989 On the Fringes of Conquest: Maya-Spanish Contact in Colonial Belize. Science 246(4935):1254–1259.Google Scholar
Graham, Elizabeth, Simmons, Scott E., and White, Christine D. 2013 The Spanish Conquest and the Maya Collapse: How ‘Religious’ Is Change? World Archaeology 45:161–185.Google Scholar
Gwyn, Christina 2016 Analysis of Mortuary Patterns and Burial Practices in the Classic Period Burials from the Maya Site of K′axob in Belize. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas.Google Scholar
Haviland, William 1985 Excavations in Small Residential Groups of Tikal: Groups 4F-1 and 4F-2. Tikal Report No 19. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Helmke, Christophe G. B. 2006 A Report of the 2005 Season of Archaeological Investigations at Pook's Hill, Cayo District, Belize. In The Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project: A Report of the 2005 Field Season, edited by Helmke, Christophe G. B. and Awe, Jaime J., pp. 39–92. Report on file at the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Helmke, Christophe G. B., Piehl, Jennifer C., and Bassendale, Megan L. 2001 Pook's Hill 1, Operation 4A: Test Excavations of the Plaza Platform and Eastern Shrine Structure 4A, Roaring Creek Valley, Cayo District, Belize. In The Western Belize Regional Cave Project: A Report of the 2000 Field Season, edited by Ishihara, Reiko, Griffith, Cameron S., and Awe, Jaime J., pp. 325–390. Department of Anthropology Occasional Paper No. 4. University of New Hampshire, Durham.Google Scholar
Hoggarth, Julie A. 2012 Social Reorganization and Household Adaptation in the Aftermath of Collapse at Baking Pot, Belize. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Jonker, Cornelia, and Olivier, Jana 2012 Mineral Contamination from Cemetery Soils: Case Study of Zandfontein Cemetery, South Africa. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 9:511–520.Google Scholar
Kidder, Alfred, Jennings, Jesse D., and Shook, Edwin M. 1946 Excavations at Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala. Publication 561. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Knüsel, Christopher 2014 Crouching in Fear: Terms of Engagement for Funerary Remains. Journal of Social Archaeology 14:26–58.Google Scholar
Konefes, John L., and McGee, Michael K. 2001 Old Cemeteries, Arsenic, and Health Safety. In Dangerous Places: Health, Safety, and Archaeology, edited by Poirier, David A. and Feder, Kenneth L., pp. 127–136. Bergin and Garvey, Westport, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Iannone, Gyles 1996 Problems in the Study of Ancient Maya Settlement and Social Organization: Insights from the “Minor Centre” of Zubin, Cayo District, Belize. PhD dissertation, Institute of Archaeology, University of London, London.Google Scholar
Lee, David F., Helmke, Christophe G. B., Piehl, Jennifer C., and Awe, Jaime J. 2000 Report on Salvage Excavations of an Ancient Maya Chultun at Chaa Creek Resort, Cayo District, Belize. In The Western Belize Regional Cave Project: A Report of the 1999 Field Season, edited by Griffith, Cameron S., Ishihara, Reiko, and Awe, Jaime J., pp. 141–162. Department of Anthropology Occasional Paper No. 3. University of New Hampshire, Durham.Google Scholar
Lucero, Lisa J. 2006 Water and Ritual: The Rise and Fall of Classic Maya Rulers. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Lyman, R. Lee 2001 Vertebrate Taphonomy. Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
MacKie, Euan W. 1985 Excavations at Xunantunich and Pomona, Belize, in 1959: A Ceremonial Center and an Earthen Mound of the Maya Classic Period. BAR International Series 251. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce, and Flannery, Kent V. 1996 Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico's Oaxaca Valley. Thames & Hudson, New York.Google Scholar
Martin, Debra L., Harrod, Ryan P., and Pérez, Ventura R. 2013 Bioarchaeology: An Integrated Approach to Working with Human Remains. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A., Storey, Rebecca, and Lockard, Angela K. 1999 Mortuary Ritual and Family Politics at Formative and Early Classic K′axob. Ancient Mesoamerica 10:129–146.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A., Storey, Rebecca, and Lockard, Angela K. 1998 Ancestors and the Classic Maya Built Environment. In Form and Meaning in Classic Maya Architecture, edited by Houston, S.D., pp. 271–298. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
McRae, Laura 2004 Excavations of Structure 215, Baking Pot, Belize. In The Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project: A Report on the 2003 Field Season, edited by Audet, Carolyn and Awe, Jaime, pp. 15–25. Report on file at the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Meyers, Maureen, Borstel, C. L., Breetzke, D., and Holt, H. 1998 Arsenic and Old Graves: Testing Procedures at Nineteenth Century Cemeteries. Paper presented at the Archaeological Society of Virginia Annual Meeting, Winchester, Virginia.Google Scholar
Micklin, Destiny 2015 Using Isotope Analysis to Understand the Interaction between Migration and Burial at the Eastern Structure of Group 1 at Actuncan, a Maya Archaeological Site in Belize. Master's thesis, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Texas, Arlington.Google Scholar
Miller, Katherine Anne 2015 Family, “Foreigners,” and Fictive Kinship: A Bioarchaeological Approach to Social Organization at Late Classic Copan. PhD dissertation, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Patricia T. 2006 The Royal Burials of Buenavista del Cayo and Cahal Pech: Same Lineage, Different Palaces? Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, San Diego State University, San Diego.Google Scholar
Mixter, David 2012 The 2011 Excavations on Structure 41. In Actuncan 2011 Field Report, edited by LeCount, Lisa and Keller, Angela, pp. 60–116. Report on file at the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Nawrocki, Stephen P. 2011 Forensic Taphonomy. In Handbook of Forensic Anthropology and Archaeology, edited by Blau, Soren and Ubelaker, Douglas H., pp. 284–294. World Archaeological Congress Research Handbooks in Archaeology. Left Coast Press, Walnut, California.Google Scholar
Nilsson Stutz, Liv 2003 Embodied Rituals and Ritualized Bodies: Tracing Ritual Practices in Late Mesolithic Burials. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia 46. Almqvist & Wiksell International, Lund, Sweden.Google Scholar
Nilsson Stutz, Liv 2008 Coping with Cadavers: Ritual Practices in Mesolithic Cemeteries. In Mesolithic Horizons, 2 vols., edited by McCarten, Sinéad B., Schulting, Rick, Warren, Graeme, and Woodman, Peter, pp. 656–663. Oxbow, Oxford.Google Scholar
Novotny, Anna C. 2012 The Chan Community: A Bioarchaeological Perspective. In Chan: An Ancient Maya Farming Community, edited by Robin, Cynthia, pp. 231–252. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Novotny, Anna C. 2015 Creating Community: Ancient Maya Mortuary Practice at Mid-Level Sites in the Belize River Valley, Belize. PhD dissertation, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Novotny, Anna C. 2019 Curation in the Digital Age: The Potential for Bioarchaeology. Advances in Archaeological Practice, in press.Google Scholar
Osterholtz, Anna J. 2019 Advances in Documentation of Commingled and Fragmentary Remains. Advances in Archaeological Practice 7:77–86.Google Scholar
Pendergast, Arthur M. 1982 Excavations at Altun Ha, Belize, 1964–1970, Vol. 2. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada.Google Scholar
Pereira, Grégory 2103 Ash, Dirt, and Rock: Burial Practices at Río Bec. Ancient Mesoamerica 24:449–468.Google Scholar
Piehl, Jennifer C. 2002 The Skeletal Remains from the 2001 Field Season at Saturday Creek: A Summary and Preliminary Analysis of Saturday Creek Burials. In Results of the 2001 Valley of Peace Archaeology Project: Saturday Creek and Belize, edited by Lucero, Lisa J., pp. 85–94. Report on file at the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Piehl, Jennifer C. 2006 Performing Identity in an Ancient Maya City: The Archaeology of Houses, Health and Social Differentiation at the Site of Baking Pot, Belize. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Piehl, Jennifer C. 2008 Osteological Analysis of Baking Pot Burials B1-8 and B1-9. In The Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project: A Report of the 2007 Field Season, edited by Helmke, Christophe and Awe, Jaime J., pp. 145–155. Report on file at the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Price, T. Douglas, Burton, James H., Fullagar, Paul D., Wright, Lori E., Buikstra, Jane E., and Tiesler, Vera 2008 Strontium Isotopes and the Study of Human Mobility in Ancient Mesoamerica. Latin American Antiquity 19:167–180.Google Scholar
Price, T. Douglas, Burton, James H., Sharer, Robert J., Buikstra, Jane E., Wright, Lori E., Traxler, Loa P., and Miller, Katherine A. 2010 Kings and Commoners at Copan: Isotopic Evidence for Origins and Movement in the Classic Maya Period. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29:15–32.Google Scholar
Price, T. Douglas, Nakamura, Seiichi, Suzuki, Shintaro, Burton, James H., and Tiesler, Vera 2014 New Isotope Data on Maya Mobility and Enclaves at Classic Copan, Honduras. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 36:32–47.Google Scholar
Redding, Richard, Zeder, Melinda A., and McArdle, Jon 1978 Bonesort II—A System for the Computer Processing of Identifiable Faunal Material. In Approaches to Faunal Analysis in the Middle East, edited by Meadow, Richard H. and Zeder, Melinda A., pp. 135–147. Bulletin 2. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Ricketson, Oliver G. Jr., and Ricketson, Edith Bayles 1937 Uaxactun, Guatemala; Group E, 1926–1931. Publication 477. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Roberts, Charlotte, and Mays, Simon 2011 Study and Restudy of Curated Skeletal Collections in Bioarchaeology: A Perspective on the UK and the Implications for Future Curation of Human Remains. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 21(5):626–630.Google Scholar
Robin, Cynthia 1989 Preclassic Burials at Cuello, Belize. BAR International Series 480. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Robin, Cynthia, Gerhardt, Juliette Cartwright, and Hammond, Normal 1991 Ritual and Ideology. In Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize, edited by Hammond, Norman, pp. 204–214. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Sanchez, Gabriela, and Chamberlain, Nick 2002 A Summary and Preliminary Analysis of Saturday Creek Burials. In Results of the 2001 Valley of Peace Archaeology Project: Saturday Creek and Belize, edited by Lucero, Lisa J., pp. 65–72. Report on file at the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Scheuer, Louise, Black, Sue, and Schaefer, Maureen C. 2010 Juvenile Osteology: A Laboratory and Field Manual. Academic Press, Burlington, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Schubert, Kevin L., Kaphandy, Diamond, and Garber, James F. 2001 Results of the First Season of Investigations at the site of Esperanza, Cayo District, Belize. In The Belize Valley Archaeological Project: Results of the 2000 Field Season, edited by Garber, James F. and Kathryn Brown, M., pp. 22–33. Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos.Google Scholar
Schwake, Sonja A. 1996 Ancestors among the Thorns: The Burials of Zubin, Cayo District, Belize. In The Social Archaeology Research Program: Progress Report of the Second (1996) Season, edited by Iannone, Gyles J., pp. 84–105. Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
Schwake, Sonja A. 2008 The Social Implications of Ritual Behavior in the Maya Lowlands: A Perspective from Minanha, Belize. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Sempowski, Martha L., and Spence, Michael W. 1994 Mortuary Practices and Skeletal Remains at Teotihuacan, Vol. 3. University of Utah Press, Ogden.Google Scholar
Shiratori, Yuko 2014 Constructing Social Identity through the Past: Migration Myths and Exchange Systems of the Contact Period Itza. Paper presented at the Chacmool Conference, November 2014, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.Google Scholar
Smith, A. Ledyard 1950 Uaxactun, Guatemala: Excavations of 1931–1937. Publication 588. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Song, Rhan-Ju 1995 Bones and Bowls of the Formative Maya: A Preliminary Report on the Human Skeletal Remains from Cahal Pech, Belize, and the Implications for Mortuary Behavior. In Belize Valley Classic Maya Project: Report on the 1994 Field Season, edited by Healy, Paul and Awe, Jaime J., pp. 173–195. Occasional Papers in Anthropology No. 10. Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
Spotts, John 2012 Local Achievers or Immigrant Elites? Ancestral Relics or Warrior Trophies? Come Classic Period Cultural Historical Questions Addressed through Strontium Isotope Analysis of Burials from Western Belize. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California.Google Scholar
Steele, D. Gentry, and Bramblett, Claud A. 1988 The Anatomy and Biology of the Human Skeleton. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.Google Scholar
Sutinen, Jessica 2014 Identifying Non-Local Individuals at the Ancient Maya Centre of Minanha, Belize, through the Use of Strontium Isotope Analysis. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric 1939 Excavations at San Jose, British Honduras. Publication 506. Carnegie Institute of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Tiesler, Vera, and Cucina, Andrea 2006 Procedures in Human Heart Extraction and Ritual Meaning: A Taphonomic Assessment of Anthropogenic Marks in Classic Maya Skeletons. Latin American Antiquity 17:493–510.Google Scholar
Tiesler, Vera, and Cucina, Andrea (editors) 2006 Janaab'Pakal of Palenque: Reconstructing the Life and Death of a Maya Ruler. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Tiesler, Vera, Cucina, Andrea, Kam Manahan, T., Douglas Price, T., Ardren, Traci, and Burton, James H. 2010 A Taphonomic Approach to Late Classic Maya Mortuary Practices at Xuenkal, Yucatán, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 35:365–379.Google Scholar
Tourtellot, Gair III 1990 Number 2: Burials: A Cultural Analysis. In Excavations at Seibal, Department of Petén, Guatemala, Vol. 2, pp. 82–144. Memoirs 16. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Ubelaker, Douglas H. 1978 Human Skeletal Remains: Excavation, Analysis, Interpretation. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Weiss-Krejci, Estella 2006a Identifying Ethnic Affiliation in the Maya Mortuary Record. In Maya Ethnicity: The Construction of Ethnic Identity from the Preclassic to Modern Times: Proceedings of the 9th European Maya Conference, Bonn, edited by Sachse, Frauke, pp. 47–60. Acta MesoAmericana 19. Verlag Anton Saurwein, Markt Schwaben, Germany.Google Scholar
Weiss-Krejci, Estella 2006b The Maya Corpse. Body Processing from Preclassic to Postclassic Times in the Maya Highlands and Lowlands. In Jaws of the Underworld: Life, Death, and Rebirth Among the Ancient Maya: 7th European Maya Conference: The British Museum, London, edited by Colas, Pierre R., LeFort, Geneviève, and Persson, Bodil Liljefors, pp. 71–86. Acta MesoAmericana 16. Verlag Anton Saurwein, Markt Schwaben, Germany.Google Scholar
Weiss-Krejci, Estella 2011 The Formation of Mortuary Deposits: Implications for Understanding Mortuary Behavior of Past Populations. In Social Bioarchaeology, edited by Agarwal, Sabrina C. and Glencross, Bonnie A., pp. 68–106. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, United KingdomGoogle Scholar
Welsh, W. B. M. 1988 An Analysis of Classic Lowland Maya Burials. BAR International Series 409. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
White, Christine D., Spence, Michael W., Longstaffe, Fred J., and Law, Kimberley R. 2004 Demography and Ethnic Continuity in the Tlailotlacan Enclave of Teotihuacan: The Evidence from Stable Oxygen Isotopes. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 23:385–403.Google Scholar
White, Tim D., and Folkens, Peter A. 2005 The Human Bone Manual. Elsevier Academic Press, Burlington, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R., Bullard, William R. Jr., Glass, John B., and Gifford, James C. 1965 Prehistoric Maya Settlements in the Belize Valley. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology 54. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Wright, Lori E., Valdés, Juan Antonio, Burton, James H., Douglas Price, T., and Schwarcz, Henry P. 2010 The Children of Kaminaljuyu: Isotopic Insight into Diet and Long Distance Interaction in Mesoamerica. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29:155–178.Google Scholar
Wrobel, Gabriel D., Biggs, Jack A. and Hair, Amy L. 2019 Digital Modeling for Bioarchaeologists. Advances in Archaeological Practice 7:47–54.Google Scholar
Wrobel, Gabriel D., Helmke, Christophe, and Freiwald, Carolyn 2014 A Case Study of Case Use from Je'reftheel, Central Belize. In The Bioarchaeology of Space and Place: Ideology, Power, and Meaning in Maya Mortuary Contexts, edited by Wrobel, Gabriel D., pp. 77–106. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Yaeger, Jason 2000 Changing Patterns of Social Organization: The Late and Terminal Classic Communities at San Lorenzo, Cayo District, Belize. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Yaeger, Jason 2003 Small Settlements in the Upper Belize River Valley: Local Complexity, Household Strategies of Affiliation, and the Changing Organization. In Perspectives on Ancient Maya Complexity, edited by Iannone, Gyles and Connell, Samuel V., pp. 42–58. Monograph 49. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar