Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
C ASE STUDY: ARCHAEOLOGICAL TAPHONOM Y
Introduction
In a case from Chaco Canyon, located in the San Juan River Basin of northwestern present-
day New Mexico, a combination of taphonomic analysis and careful archival research has
provided new insights on the treatment of human burials at the enigmatic pre-Columbian
site of Pueblo Bonito, site 29SJ387 (Marden, 2011a, b). Taphonomic analysis has helped to
demonstrate that these bones are indeed haphazardly distributed, probably by scavengers,
rather than by elaborate ritual behavior to which their arrangement was previously
attributed.
Documenting the Environmental and Recovery Context
The sealed outer doorway of a burial chamber in Pueblo Bonito referred to as Room 32
was breached by Harvard archaeologist George Pepper during his first field season in 1896.
The roomwas filledwith sand, suggesting that the doorway had remained open for a period
of time after it had stopped being used regularly ( Pepper, 1909 :197). The first human
remains encountered comprised a partial skeleton consisting of 13 vertebrae, a complete
pelvic girdle, a femur, several ribs, a clavicle, and a scapula. Pepper also reported finding
a human tooth, a “broken vertebra,” “several vertebrae,” and a “phalange” in this room
(1896-47 Accession file), although descriptions of the numbers and locations of these
last elements are extremely vague. Pepper described the discovery of these remains as
follows:
The human backbone and pelvis which were found in the southwest corner (p. 134) were the
next objects to receive attention. They were intact and were lying northwest by southeast, the
pelvis being toward the northern point and 6 inches above the level of the western doorway. The
vertebrae were lying in an almost horizontal position, ten of them were intact and in position, as
were also the sacrum and the pelvic bones. Three vertebrae fell in removing the surface dirt, but
they had probably been in place when the body was found. [
] Wrapped around the bones and
extending into the western doorway, there is a mass of burnt cloth, the greater part of which was
simply woven textiles of finely spun yucca cord.
.
( Pepper, 1920 :138)
Pepper's field notes contain a sketch of these remains depicting the vertebrae and pelves
in partial anatomical order in situ , consistent with his published description. The field notes
also list the specific bones that were found in anatomical order:
The back bone and pelvis were intact and were lying NW by SE, the pelvis being toward the
former point. The pelvis was 6” above the level of the W doorway and the vertebrae were almost
on a longitudinal plane. Ten of the vertebrae were intact and in position as were also the sacrum
and the pelvic bones. The other vertebrae (3) fell when the man was removing the surface dirt and
these too were probably in place. The vertebrae that were in place are numbered and run from 1 to
10, being numbered consecutively according to position. There were seven sticks that had been
burnt off at one end, they were in a slanting position and rested against the lower part of the
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