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Bioarchaeological Analysis of Sacrificial Victims from a Postclassic Maya Temple from Ixlu, el Peten, Guatemala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William N. Duncan
William N. Duncan*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, East Tennessee State University, 223B Rogers-Stout Hall, PO Box 70644, Johnson City, TN 37614-1702 ([email protected])
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Abstract

Excavations at the site of Ixlú in northern Guatemala recovered a series of skulls and dismembered postcrania from a Postclassic (ca. A.D. 1000—1525) Maya temple. The current study considers demography, taphonomy (including mortuary processing), cultural modification and biological distance among the remains in light of ethnohistoric and archaeological data. Doing so addresses who made the deposits, why they were made, and who was interred, and informs on the use of ritual violence in the Postclassic Southern Lowlands. Six skulls were arranged in pairs on the east-west midline of the building, and fifteen skulls were placed in rows in the center of the building. All of the skulls faced east. Four postcrania were placed perpendicular to the skull rows. The skulls and postcrania were primarily late adolescent to young adult males. Three of the individuals exhibited a rare dental trait, supernumerary teeth, indicating that at least some of the individuals were related. The most likely scenario to account for the deposits is that the Itzá, a dominant political group in the area, sacrificed enemy combatants drawn from raiding and buried them as a part of a dedicatory ritual in the temple.

Resumen

Resumen

Las excavaciones de Ixlú en el norte de Guatemala recuperaron una serie de calaveras y restos poscraneales desmembrados de un templo maya posclásico (ca. 1000—1525 d.C.). El presente estudio considera la demografía, tafonomía (incluyendo el procesamiento mortuorio), modificación cultural y distancia biológica de los restos considerando los datos etnohistóricos y arqueológicos, para comprender quién hizo los depósitos, por qué fueron hechos, y quiénes fueron enterrados en ellos. Seis cráneos estaban dispuestos en pares en la línea media de este a oeste del edificio y quince cráneos estaban colocados en filas en el centro del edificio. Todos los cráneos veían hacia el este. Cuatro restos postcraneales estaban colocados perpendicularmente a las filas de cráneos. Las calaveras y restos postcraneales eran principalmente de adolescentes y adultos jóvenes varones. Tres de los individuos exhibieron un rasgo dental raro, dientes supernumerarios, indicando que por lo menos algunos de los individuos estaban emparentados. El escenario más probable para justificar los depósitos es que los Itzá, grupo político dominante en el área, sacrificaron a combatientes enemigos tomados en los asaltos y los enterraron en el templo como parte de un ritual dedicatorio. En los últimos cinco años se ha visto un aumento dramático en las investigaciones enfocadas en entender los depósitos no funerarios en Mesoamérica, aquellos que incluyen restos humanos pero que carecen de evidencia de tratamiento reverencial. Con unas pocas excepciones notables, los investigadores interesados en los mayas del Posclásico han realizado más estudios de estos depósitos en las Tierras Bajas del Norte que en el área del sur. El estudio que aquí se presenta amplía esta literatura porque considera cómo los depósitos en Ixlú podrían reflejar temas semejantes a los vistos en las Tierras Bajas del Norte y muestra cómo el análisis de distancia biológica y la contextualización política podrían identificar más temas locales implicados en la práctica de violencia ritual en el Posclásico maya.

Type
Themed Section on the Bioarchaeololgy of Ritual Violence
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , December 2011 , pp. 549 - 572
Copyright
Copyright ©2011 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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