article

Perimortem damage to human skeletal remains from Wupatki National Monument, northern Arizona

Kiva • 55 (3) • Published In 1990 • Pages: 187-212

By: Turner, Christy G., Turner, Jacqueline A..

Abstract

Turner and Turner examine two assemblages of human skeletal remains from the Wupatki National Monument: Room 59 from Wupatki Pueblo and House of Tragedy in Big Hawk Valley. The 19 individuals from Wupatki Pueblo appear to have died from an epidemic and been rapidly buried. The pueblo was probably then abandoned due to the catastrophic nature of the epidemic on the pueblo. This allowed scavenging animals to disturb the graves. The remains were then deposited in Room 59 by later visitors to the Pueblo. These remains provide a "taphonomic signature for differentiating damage done by [carnivores] and that due to humans in other Southwest sites …" (page 206). At Tragedy House the authors found evidence of cannibalism with butchering marks, smashed long bones, and unceremonious abandonment of the dead. Turner and Turner point out "that repugnance to the eating of human flesh, particularly that of enemies, would not necessarily be expected to occur with a naturalistic worldview…[where] humans are not unique, animals can speak and change forms…and eating human flesh could be … permissible … in some situations such as seeing enemy humans as nonhuman." (page 207). The author's research does not support the view that the Wupatki basin was abandoned because of climate change or ash/soil depletion. Instead, abandonment of the Southwest can be linked to multiple causes and "increased chaos and social pathology." (page 209).

HRAF PubDate

2012

Region

North America

Sub Region

Southwest and Basin

Document Type

article

Evaluation

Creator Type

Physical Anthropologist

Document Rating

4: Excellent Secondary Data

Analyst

Sarah Berry; 2011

Field Date

not specified

Coverage Date

900-700 BP (AD 1100-1300)

Coverage Place

Wupatki basin, northeast Arizona, United States

Notes

Christy G. Turner II, Jacqueline A. Turner

Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-212)

LCCN

41020657

LCSH

Indians of North America--Antiquities