essay
Chalcatzingo burials as indicators of social ranking
ancient chalcatzingo • Austin • Published In 1987 • Pages: 95-113
By: Merry de Morales, Marcia.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Merry de Morales interprets the raw data on human burials provided in Merry de Morales: 1987 (Document 34) to assess social ranking at the Olmec-influenced highland site of Chalcatzingo. Significant indicators of rank are found to be grave location (public and ritual space versus domestic space), type (full stone crypt, graves with some stone lining, and simple pit burials), and treatment of the corpse with hematite pigment. The presence and placement of furnishings is also important, if less discrete: jade/greenstone objects (mostly jewelry but rarely worn by the deceased) and ceramic vessels (especially censers, and jars placed within shallow bowls). Detailed descriptions are given of burials by phase or period (the overwhelming majority Middle Formative period Cantera phase), and according to context and associations. The work concludes with comparisons to relatively scarce Gulf Coast Olmec mortuary evidence, demonstrating shared traits among elites, who at Chalcatzingo may even have been leaders sent from the coast (perhaps from the dominant site at that time, La Venta) to rule an otherwise culturally distinctive native population.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Burial practices and funerals
- Status, role, and prestige
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Olmec
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2000
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Middle America and the Caribbean
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Central Mexico
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Paleoanthropologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Leon G. Doyon ; 2007
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1972-1976
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 3100 BP-2500 BP.
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Chalcatzingo, Morelos State, Mexico
- NotesAdditional notes
- Marcia Merry de Morales
- crypts, stone - use 'BURIAL PRACTICES AND FUNERALS (764)' and 'MASONRY (333)'; hematite pigment - use 'PERSONAL GROOMING (302)' or 'PAINT AND DYE MANUFACTURE (386)'
- For bibliographical references see Grove: 1987 (Document 3)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 85022673
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Olmecs