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The First Claim for Cannibalism in the Southwest: Walter Hough's 1901 Discovery at Canyon Butte Ruin 3, Northeastern Arizona

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Christy G. Turner II
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
Jacqueline A. Turner
Affiliation:
2208 Campo Alegre, Tempe, AZ 85281

Abstract

A deposit of four fragmented individuals was excavated by Walter Hough in 1901 at Canyon Butte Ruin 3, northeastern Arizona. Hough thought the condition of the bones resulted from cannibalism and claimed it to be the first discovery of such in the American Southwest. Our examination of the skeletal remains identified much perimortem bone damage—cutting, anvil or hammerstone abrasions, smashing, burning, many missing vertebrae, and good bone preservation—the taphonomic signature of probable cannibalism. Facial mutilation suggests violence was associated with the multiple deaths. Hough should be credited as the first archaeologist to recognize that cannibalism likely existed in the prehistoric American Southwest.

Resumen

Resumen

En 1901, Walter Hough excavó un depósito con cuatro individuos fragmentados en Canyon Butte Ruin 3, en el noreste de Arizona. Hough pensó que la condición en que los huesos fueron encontrados era el resultado de canibalismo y propuso su descubrimiento como la primera evidencia de esta práctica en el suroeste de los Estados Unidos. Nuestro examen de los restos esqueletarios ha resultado en la identificación de severos daños perimortuarios en los huesos—cortes, abrasiones producidas mediante yunque o martillo, aplastamientos, quemaduras, ausencia de varias vértebras y buena preservación ósea—los indicadores tafonómicos de un probable canibalismo. La presencia de mutilaciones faciles sugiere que las muertes fueron violentas. Hough debe ser reconocido como el primer arqueólogo que reconoció la probable existencia de canibalismo en la prehistoria del suroeste de los Estados Unidos.

Type
Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1992

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