Corpse treatment in a Late Formative bell-shaped pit at La Laguna, Tlaxcala, Mexico

• Autorzy: Borejsza Aleksander , Couoh Hernández Lourdes Rocío , Ángeles Guzmán Mauro de , Lesure Richard G. , Rodríguez López Isabel

Identyfikatory

DOI

10.4467/21995923FQ.24.001.21033

• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

A bell-shaped storage pit in central Mexico was converted in the fifth century BC into a repository for human corpses. It was used sequentially to place and later selectively remove the remains of at least four adults. The concomitant addition of fill has separated the different funerary gestures with unusual clarity. We use the piece-plotting of individual bones and other pit contents, osteological and stratigraphic analysis, and ceramic refitting to formulate hypotheses regarding the sequence in which different corpses and offerings were placed in the pit, disarticulated, dispersed, and otherwise modified upon reentry, or removed from the pit altogether. We try to reconstruct the logic of the ritual sequence by applying four simple interpretive principles in order to distinguish between a “tomb” and a “charnel” scenario. We conclude that reentry and bone removal were anticipated, and that the pit was used recurrently in the early stages of a prolonged and complex mortuary ritual. Comparisons with other contexts of the Middle and Late Formative lead us to briefly consider the relevance and possible meaning of double burial and the use of certain bones as relics or as raw material to be shaped into artifacts. Some of these practices were probably related to the importance of ancestors in the belief system. Bell-shaped pits were a convenient receptacle for letting corpses decay in a controlled fashion, but the form and function of features used in mortuary rituals do not map onto each other in simple ways.

Słowa kluczowe

EN

ancestors; Formative; Mesoamerica; mortuary ritual; multiple burial

PL

przodkowie; Formative; Mezoameryka; rytuały pogrzebowe; wielokrotny pochówek

• Wydawca: Polska Akademia Umiejętności
• Czasopismo: Folia Quaternaria
• Rocznik: 2024
• Tom: nr 92
• Strony: 5--46
• Opis fizyczny: Bibliogr. 89 poz., rys., tab., zdj.

Twórcy

autor

Borejsza Aleksander

• San Luis Potosí, Mexico

autor

Couoh Hernández Lourdes Rocío

• Dirección de Antropología Física, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Paseo de la Reforma s/n, Ciudad de México, C.P. 11650, Mexico

autor

Ángeles Guzmán Mauro de

• Museo Nacional de Antropología, Paseo de la Reforma s/n, Ciudad de México, C.P. 11650, Mexico

autor

Lesure Richard G.

• Department of Anthropology, University of California, 341 Haines Hall, Los Angeles, CA90095-1533, United States

autor

Rodríguez López Isabel

• San Luis Potosí, Mexico

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Uwagi

Opracowanie rekordu ze środków MNiSW, umowa nr POPUL/SP/0154/2024/02 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki II" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki i promocja sportu (2025).