Biocultural Approach to Human Burials from Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

摘要

The study of human remains offers a unique perspective on prehistory. Environmental reconstructions can approximate the constraints of life in a particular area, but the examination of the human remains can measure the success of a population's adaptation to those conditions. Mortuary practices are a part of the cultural system that has seldom been studied by Southwestern archeologists. Too often biological and cultural aspects are treated as independent topics. The report uses both perspectives, augmented by the recent research on Chaco Canyon. After a short history of burial removal, the biological characteristics of a portion of the skeletal population was examined. In contrast to these biological studies, the craniometric and biological distance studies offered here center around one series of crania from Pueblo Bonito. Much of the material is archival and of poor quality. Yet there are quantifiable differences in the treatment of individuals from the small and large sites, as well as slight differences over time.