Bioarchaeology and the Skeletons of the Pre-Columbian Maya (original) (raw)
Related papers
Bones of the Maya: Studies of Ancient Skeletons
Latin American Antiquity, 1998
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Comparative Civilizations Review by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology, 2022
In this essay, we review the practice of bioarchaeology in the Maya area. Other chapters in this volume offer a more detailed look at particular methods and findings from the study of ancient Maya human remains. Here, we focus on how research in Maya bioarchaeology has been and continues to be structured and framed. Our focus is especially on the years following the inception of formalized bioarchaeology in the 1970s. For a review of prior decades of research on Maya skeletons, see the Introduction of this book and Chapter 1 of Part I. As we explore the practice of Maya bioarchaeology we ask a series of interrelated questions: How is research on ancient Maya skeletons structured? What is the practice of doing Maya bioarchaeology? How does that practice shape the questions asked of ancient Maya skeletons? We begin the chapter with a discussion of bioarchaeological work that focuses on a single or limited number of skeletons, what has come to be known as osteobiography. We then consider studies that have a more expansive scope, looking at site-based, intra-regional, and macro-regional analyses of Maya remains. We conclude with a discussion of some of the opportunities and obstacles facing Maya bioarchaeology, especially as they pertain to the curation of human remains. There exist other excellent reviews of Maya bioarchaeology that the interested reader may well wish to consult.
Latin American Antiquity, 1998
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Comparative Civilizations Review by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
Past, present and future itineraries in Maya bioarchaeology
Journal of Anthropological Sciences, 2005
During the first half of the last century, studies of Maya skeletal remains gave emphasis mainly to head shaping and dental decoration, while little or no attention was bestowed to the ancient Maya's skeletal biology and bioarchaeology. It was not until the late 1960's and early 1970's that more comprehensive approaches started visualizing this ancient society from its biological and cultural aspects by perceiving skeletal remains as a direct indicator of past cultural interactions. The recent growth in skeletal studies was also a natural consequence of the emergence of "bioarchaeology" as a specific discipline. From then on, increasing numbers of studies have been carried out, applying more and more sophisticated and modern techniques to the ancient Maya skeletal remains. This works attempts to briefly review the research history on Maya skeletal remains, from the pioneering works in the 1960's to the development of more conscientious approaches based on theoretical, methodological and practical concepts in which the individual is the basic unit of biocultural analysis. Although, ecological issues and the biological evidence of social status differences still remain central cores in Maya bioarchaeology, new methodologically and topically oriented approaches have proliferated in the last years. They contribute to the development of a more complete, wide-angled view of the intermingled biological and cultural dynamics of a population that has not disappeared in the past and that continues to raise the interest of scholars and the public in general.
Cucina, Andrea, y Vera Tiesler (2005). Past, present and future itineraries in Maya bioarchaeology
Journal of Anthropological Sciences, 2005
During the first half of the last century, studies of Maya skeletal remains gave emphasis mainly to head shaping and dental decoration, while little or no attention was bestowed to the ancient Maya's skeletal biology and bioarchaeology. It was not until the late 1960's and early 1970's that more comprehensive approaches started visualizing this ancient society from its biological and cultural aspects by perceiving skeletal remains as a direct indicator of past cultural interactions. The recent growth in skeletal studies was also a natural consequence of the emergence of "bioarchaeology" as a specific discipline. From then on, increasing numbers of studies have been carried out, applying more and more sophisticated and modern techniques to the ancient Maya skeletal remains. This works attempts to briefly review the research history on Maya skeletal remains, from the pioneering works in the 1960's to the development of more conscientious approaches based on theoretical, methodological and practical concepts in which the individual is the basic unit of biocultural analysis. Although, ecological issues and the biological evidence of social status differences still remain central cores in Maya bioarchaeology, new methodologically and topically oriented approaches have proliferated in the last years. They contribute to the development of a more complete, wide-angled view of the intermingled biological and cultural dynamics of a population that has not disappeared in the past and that continues to raise the interest of scholars and the public in general.
El análisis de 2685 depósitos mortuorios publicados, provenientes de 63 yacimientos de las Tierras Altas y Bajas y que contenían los restos de 3700 individuos, muestra que el cadáver fue muy importante para los antiguos mayas. Entre los tratamientos aplicados se encuentran la evisceración, la cremación de los órganos internos, la cocción del cuerpo, entero o mutilado y la ahumación (en ocasiones con resultado de huesos quemados), la aplicación de sustancias sobre el cuerpo que retardaban o impedían la descomposición, la excarnación pasiva a través del almacenamiento, la cremación de huesos secos tras un periodo de almacenamiento y la cremación de cadáveres.
Before the Maya: A Review of Paleoindian and Archaic Human Skeletons Found in the Maya Region
Ancient Mesoamerica, 2021
This article presents a review of the earliest known skeletal remains in the Maya area, which are found in submerged caves in Mexico and rock shelters in Belize and date to the Paleoindian and Archaic periods. While few in number, several of these individuals have been the focus of intensive analyses, providing an emerging picture of life in the region before the transition to agriculture and settled village communities.