Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:38:57.744Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The missing femur at the Mitla Fortress and its implications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2010

Gary M. Feinman
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496, USA (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
Linda M. Nicholas
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496, USA (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
Lindsey C. Baker
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology - 4502, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA (Email: [email protected])

Abstract

The authors explore the practice of extracting the thighbone from burials in Mesoamerica, making use of a newly excavated Classic period Zapotec burial at the Mitla Fortress, where the femur had been carefully removed and the interment resealed. They conclude that the femur acted as an ancestral emblem and could be used by families of relatively low social rank. This function contrasts with the Aztec, where the large bones could also be used as war trophies. Archaeological readers studying ancestor worship and the cult of relics in other continents will find much of value here.

Type
Research articles
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2010

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

Agrinier, P. 1960. The carved human femurs from Tomb 1, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico (Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation 6). Orinda (CA): New World Archaeological Foundation.Google Scholar
Anderson, A.J.O. & Dibble, C.E.. 1950-1982. Florentine codex: general history of the things of New Spain (School of American Research Monograph 14). Santa Fe (NM): School of American Research and University of Utah.Google Scholar
Berryman, C.A. 2007. Captive sacrifice and trophy taking among the ancient Maya: an evaluation of the bioarchaeological evidence and its sociopolitical implications, in Chacon, R.J. & Dye, D.H. (ed.) The taking and displaying of human body parts as trophies by Amerindians: 377–99. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Blanton, R.E., Feinman, G.M., Kowalewski, S.A. & Peregrine, P.N.. 1996. A dual-processual theory for the evolution of Mesoamerican civilization. Current Anthropology 37: 114.Google Scholar
Caso, A. 1932. Monte Albán: richest archaeological find in America. National Geographic 62: 487512.Google Scholar
Caso, A. 1969. El tesoro de Monte Albán. Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Feinman, G.M. 1999. The changing structure of macroregional Mesoamerica: the Classic-Postclassic transition in the Valley of Oaxaca, in Kardulias, P.N. (ed.) World-systems theory in practice: 5362. Lanham (MD): Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Feinman, G.M. & Nicholas, L.M.. 2004. Hilltop terrace sites of Oaxaca, Mexico: intensive surface survey at Guirún, El Palmillo and the Mitla Fortress (Fieldiana: Anthropology, new series, 37). Chicago (IL): Field Museum of Natural History.Google Scholar
Feinman, G.M. & Nicholas, L.M.. 2009. La Fortaleza de Mitla: una perspectiva doméstica de los periodos Clásico y Posclásico en el valle de Oaxaca. Final technical report of the 2009 field season prepared for the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Feinman, G.M., Nicholas, L.M. & Haines, H.R.. 2002. Houses on a hill: Classic period life at El Palmillo, Oaxaca, Mexico. Latin American 13: 251–77.Google Scholar
Feinman, G.M., Nicholas, L.M. & Maher, E.F.. 2008. Domestic offerings at El Palmillo: implications for community organization. Ancient Mesoamerica 19: 175–94.Google Scholar
Fitzsimmons, J.L. 2009. Death and the Classic Maya kings. Austin (TX): University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Flannery, K.V. 1983. The legacy of the early urban period: an ethnohistoric approach to Monte Albán's temples, residences, and royal tombs, in Flannery, K.V. & Marcus, J. (ed.) The cloud people: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations: 132–6. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Foncerrada De Molina, M. 1993. Cacaxtla: la iconografía de los olmeca-xicalanca. Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Grube, N., Lacadena, A. & Martin, S.. 2003. Chichen Itza and Ek Balam: Terminal Classic inscriptions from Yucatan, in Grube, N. (ed.) Notebook for the 27th Maya Hieroglyphic Forum at Texas: 225. Austin (TX): University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Hamann, B. 1997. Weaving and the iconography of prestige: the royal gender symbolism of Lord 5 Flower's/Lady 4 Rabbit's family, in Claassen, C. & Joyce, R.A. (ed.) Women in prehistory: North America and Mesoamerica: 153–72. Philadelphia (PA): University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Haviland, W.A. 1967. Stature at Tikal, Guatemala: implications for ancient Maya demography and social organization. American Antiquity 32: 316–25.Google Scholar
Jones, C. 1991. Cycles of growth at Tikal, in Culbert, T.P. (ed.) Classic Maya political history: hieroglyphic and archaeological evidence: 102–27. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Klein, C.F. 2002. La iconografía y el arte mesoamericano. Arqueología Mexicana 19(55): 2835.Google Scholar
Lee, D., Piehl, J.C. & Meléndez, J.C.. 2004. Investigation of monumental architecture in the area of the North-western Palace Complex at El Perú-Waka, Petén. Available at: http://www.famsi.org/reports/03101/27lee_piehl_melendez/27lee_piehl melendez.pdf (accessed 24 May 2010).Google Scholar
Lind, M.D. 2003. Lambityeco – Tomb 6, in Plunket, P. (ed.) Homenaje a John Paddock: 4566. Puebla: Universidad de las Américas.Google Scholar
Lind, M.D. & Urcid, J.. 1983. The lords of Lambityeco and their nearest neighbors. Notas Mesoamericanas 9: 78111.Google Scholar
Lind, M.D. & Urcid, J.. 2010. The lords of Lambityeco: political evolution in the Valley of Oaxaca during the Xoo phase. Boulder (CO): University of Colorado Press.Google Scholar
Marcus, J. 1983. Monte Albán's Tomb 7, in Flannery, K.V. & Marcus, J. (ed.) The cloud people: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations: 282–5. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Lind, M.D. & Urcid, J.. 1989. From centralized systems to city-states: possible models for the Epiclassic, in Diehl, R.A. & Berlo, J.C. (ed.) Mesoamerica after the decline of Teotihuacan, AD 700-900: 201208. Washington (DC): Dumbarton Oaks.Google Scholar
Lind, M.D. & Urcid, J.. 1992. Mesoamerican writing systems: propaganda, myth, and history in four ancient civilizations. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Lind, M.D. & Urcid, J.. 2006. Identifying elites and their strategies, in Elson, C.M. & Covey, R.A. (ed.) Intermediate elites in pre-Columbian states and empires: 213–46. Tucson (AZ): University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Masson, M.A. & Orr, H.. 1998. The role of genealogical records in late Precolumbian Valley of Oaxaca political history. Mexicon 20: 1016.Google Scholar
Mcvicker, D. 2005. Notched human bones from Mesoamerica. Mesoamerican Voices 2: 131.Google Scholar
Middleton, W.D., Feinman, G.M. & Villegas, G.M.. 1998. Tomb use and reuse in Oaxaca, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 9: 297307.Google Scholar
Miller, A. 1995. The painted tombs of Oaxaca, Mexico: living with the dead. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Miller, V.E. 2007. Skeletons, skulls and bones in the art of Chichén Itzá, in Tiesler, V. & Cucina, A. (ed.) New perspectives on human sacrifice and ritual body treatments in ancient Maya society: 165–89. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Morley, S.G. 1937. The inscriptions of Peten, Volume V, Part 1. Washington (DC): Carnegie Institution of Washington.Google Scholar
Paddock, J., Mogor, J.R. & Lind, M.D.. 1968. Lambityeco Tomb 2: a preliminary report. (Boletín de Estudios Oaxaqueños 25). Oaxaca: Museo Frissell de Arte Zapoteco.Google Scholar
Pereira, G. 2005. The utilization of grooved human bones: a reanalysis of artificially modified human bones excavated by Carl Lumholtz at Zacapu, Michoacán, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 16: 293312.Google Scholar
Rabin, E. 1970. The Lambityeco friezes: notes on their contents, with an appendix on C14 dates. (Boletín de Estudios Oaxaqueños 33). Oaxaca: Museo Frissell de Arte Zapoteco.Google Scholar
Rub´in De La Borbolla, D.F. 1969. La osamenta humana encontrada en la Tumba 7, in Caso, A. (ed.) El tesoro de Monte Albán: 275303. Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Urcid, J. 1992. La Tumba 5 del Cerro de la Campana, Suchilquitongo, Oaxaca: un análisis epigráfico. Arqueología 8: 73112.Google Scholar
Urcid, J. 2003. A Zapotec slab in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca. Mesoamerican Voices 1: 6590.Google Scholar
Urcid, J., Winter, M. & Matadamas, R.. 1994. Nuevos monumentos grabados en Monte Albán, Oaxaca, in Winter, M. (ed.) Escritura zapoteca prehispánica: nuevas aportaciones (Contribución de Proyecto Especial Monte Albán 1992-4): 252. Oaxaca: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Von Winning, H. 1959. A decorated bone rattle from Culhuacan, Mexico. American Antiquity 25: 8693.Google Scholar
Welsh, W.B.M. 1988. An analysis of Classic lowland Maya burials (British Archaeological Reports International series 409). Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Winter, M. 1974. Residential patterns at Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico. Science 186: 981–7.Google Scholar
Winter, M. 2001. Palacios, templos, y 1300 años de vida urbana en Monte Albán, in Ciudad Ruiz, A., Iglesias Ponce de León, M.. & Del, M.Martínez Martínez, C. (ed.) Reconstruyendo la ciudad Maya: el urbanismo en las sociedades antiguas (Publicaciones de la Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas 6): 277301. Madrid: Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas.Google Scholar