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RESIDENTIAL BURIAL ALONG THE SOUTHERN STREET OF THE DEAD: SKELETONS AND ISOTOPES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2019

Rebecca Storey ,
Gina M. Buckley Open the ORCID record for Gina M. Buckley [Opens in a new window]  and
Douglas J. Kennett
Rebecca Storey*
Affiliation:
Anthropology Program, Department of Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Houston, 3623 Cullen Blvd, Room 233, Houston, Texas 77204
Gina M. Buckley
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, 409 Carpenter Building, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802
Douglas J. Kennett
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, 409 Carpenter Building, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802
*
E-mail correspondence to: [email protected]
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Abstract

Skeletal remains from Tlajinga 33 (33:S3W1) have been the focus of research in the southern sector of Teotihuacan since excavations took place in the 1980s. Recent excavations in Tlajinga Compounds 17 and 18 (17:S3E1 and 18:S3E1, respectively), located along the southern Street of the Dead, recovered nine additional skeletons. This article is a description of the burials from Compounds 17 and 18 and a comparative analysis of health, diet, and chronology across all three compounds (Compounds 17, 18, and 33). Here, we test the hypothesis that individuals between residential compounds at Tlajinga lived similar lives and that health and biogeochemical markers of individuals will reflect these similarities. Although the sample size is small, the paleopathological analysis of individuals at Compounds 17 and 18 indicates morbidity patterns similar to Tlajinga 33, but also that these residents were perhaps less susceptible to stressors during periods of juvenile growth. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes suggest that, overall, diets were analogous across compounds, but Compounds 17 and 18 were able to supplement their diet with a greater variety of plant resources. There were no clear dietary differences between higher and lower status individuals, however. Finally, accelerated mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dates indicate that residential living may have occurred later at Compound 18 than at Compound 17 and Tlajinga 33.

Type
Special Section: Urban Life on Teotihuacan's Periphery–New Research at the Tlajinga District
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , Spring 2019 , pp. 147 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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