Anna J. Osterholtz

The social role of hobbling and torture: Violence in the prehistoric Southwest

Violent interaction as a form of non-verbal communication has three distinct actors: aggressors, victims and witnesses. Social identities of individuals within these groups are negotiated and enforced through performative violence such as hobbling or torture. Sacred Ridge site is a habitation site occupied during the Pueblo I period, sometime between AD 710 and 825. An assemblage consisting of 14,882 bone commingled fragments representing at least 33 individuals was discovered during excavation. The hobbling of some individuals in the form of blows to the ankle is suggested by damage to the lateral and medial areas of the calcaneus. Torture in the form of blows to the bottoms of feet is evidenced by damage to the plantar surfaces of various other foot bones. These performative acts might have formed the basis for social control of victims and witnesses by aggressors. Taphonomic analysis of human remains can be used to examine behaviors of each group creating the assemblage.

Battered and abused: Analysis of trauma at Grasshopper Pueblo (AD 1275–1400)

Increasing violence and inter-group conflict in the American Southwest is prevalent into the 13th and 14th centuries AD. In the northern Mogollon region during this time period, the site of Grasshopper Pueblo experienced a shift in social organization as population movements occurred in response to regional stressors. The skeletal remains of 187 adult individuals from the site are analyzed for nonlethal and lethal trauma, musculoskeletal stress markers, and pathology as indicators of changing social dynamics. Nonlethal, healed trauma is present in all adult age groups and both sexes. Approximately one-third (n=63) of the population has healed cranial depression fractures. Females and males are fairly equal in the proportion of cranial injuries incurred; however more females are injured overall when post-cranial injuries are added. Musculoskeletal stress markers do not differ substantially among age groups or between sexes. Heavy musculature development is also similar for groups with and without cranial depression fractures. The results of this study suggest that interpersonal violence was ubiquitous within the pueblo and may have escalated as the community grew in size. Immigrants from other parts of the Southwest may have sought refuge at Grasshopper only to find that the community was experiencing its own social stress.

Commingled Human Skeletal Assemblages: Integrative Techniques in Determination of the MNI/MNE

Determining the MNI for the large number of commingled human remains from Tell Abraq in the UAE (ca. 2000 bc) required recording of both individual bones and bone features. This provided data on what elements were represented as well as those that were underrepresented. For example, the MNI for adults is 274 based on the right talus but 150 based on the distal left humerus. Variation in element representation can reveal cultural practices (secondary burial practices) and taphonomic variables (differential preservation). This method of analysis demonstrates the utility of using bone features when there are a large number of fragmentary remains.

Extreme Processing at Mancos and Sacred Ridge: The Value of Comparative Studies

This chapter sets forth a comparison of the processing that occurred at Mancos [as studied by White (Prehistoric cannibalism at Mancos 5MTUMR-2346. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992)] and Sacred Ridge [overall analysis by Stodder and Osterholtz (Analysis of the processed human remains from the Sacred Ridge Site: Methods and data collection protocol. In Perry, Stodder & Bollong (Eds.), Animas-La Plata project: XV-Bioarchaeology (pp. 243–278). Phoenix: SWCA Environmental Consultants, 2010)]. Data are presented in an element-by-element comparison showing that any differences between the two assemblages can be examined and qualified as the result of different choices made during the processing of the assemblage. The degree of variability in the extent of processing and the methods by which that processing occurred are rarely the focus of study by bioarchaeologists, and so this chapter shows that careful analysis of a commingled and fragmentary assemblage can be compared to other comparable assemblages to uncover different processing techniques that will ultimately lead to an assemblage that is superficially similar. The patterns for these two sites show that while some elements are similar in their appearance, the location of tool marks indicates that different methods were used to achieve disarticulation. A detailed analysis of fragments is the only way that such a comparison could have occurred. While on first glance, the two assemblages seem to be similar, different patterns of processing can be identified through careful analysis and comparison.

HOBBLING AND TORTURE AS PERFORMATIVE VIOLENCE

Abstract Violent interactions have three distinct actors: aggressors, victims and witnesses. Social identities of individuals within these groups are created and enforced through performative violence such as hobbling or torture. The Sacred Ridge site is a Pueblo I (AD 700–900) habitation site in Southwestern Colorado; during excavation, an assemblage consisting of 14,882 bone fragments representing at least 33 individuals was discovered. Perimortem trauma and tool marks indicate heavy processing of all individuals; the remains were deposited completely commingled within a pit structure. Foot and ankle bones from the Sacred Ridge processed assemblage have damage suggesting hobbling by blows to the sides of the ankle and torture by beating the soles and tops of the feet. These performative acts form the basis for social control of victims and witnesses by aggressors. Taphonomic analysis of human remains can be used to examine behaviors of each group creating the assemblage. Abstract Existen tres tipos diferentes de actores en las interacciones violentas: los agresores, las víctimas y los testigos. La identidad social de cada individuo perteneciente a estos grupos se crea y refuerza a través de la violencia conductual en casos como la paralización y la tortura; durante las excavaciones llevadas a cabo en la zona de Sacred Ridge, al suroeste de Colorado, durante la época de Pueblo I (700–900 a.C.), se halló un conjunto de 14.882 fragmentos de hueso pertenecientes a 33 individuos. Los traumatismos y las marcas dejadas por determinados instrumentos en el momento de la muerte indican que se sometió a los individuos a un proceso de manipulación complicado. Los restos de los cuerpos desmembrados se depositaron mezclados en una fosa común. Los huesos del tobillo y de los pies que se han procesado muestran heridas que sugieren que se paralizó a los individuos golpeándoles en los tobillos y que se les torturó, además, atizándoles en las plantas y en los empeines de los pies. Estas acciones conductuales son la base del control ejercido por los agresores contras las víctimas y los testigos. El análisis tafonómico de los restos encontrados puede usarse para examinar más detenidamente los comportamientos de cada uno de estos grupos.

Commingled and Disarticulated Human Remains

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Taking Analyses of Commingled Remains into the Future: Challenges and Prospects

Considered within an archaeological context, commingled and disarticulated skeletal remains can provide a more complete understanding of past populations, and data can be used to address both broad and specific research questions. The research studies included in this volume are incredibly variable and each has posed different challenges in analysis and interpretation. It is apparent that there is no right way to approach these assemblages. This chapter synthesizes themes contributed by the studies and presents innovative concepts in analysis. Themes include overcoming fragmentation, identifying taphonomy, understanding complicated mortuary practices, and revealing symbolism and agency. Collectively, these themes and recommended best methodological practices demonstrate the utility of disarticulated and commingled skeletal remains in bioarchaeological interpretation of past human groups.

Patterned Processing as Performative Violence

Violence serves social functions. Performative violence is used to reinforce social behavior and to create and reinforce social relationships between aggressors, witnesses, and victims. Sacred Ridge (a PI site in southwestern Colorado dating to approximately AD 100) is a large EP (Extreme Processing) assemblage where at least 33 individuals were killed, disarticulated and fragmented, and their remains placed within a pit structure. The crania, in particular, exhibit consistent patterning in fracture distribution and type, mutilation, burning, tool marks, and missing bone; this indicates that individual crania were treated similarly regardless of age or sex. Distribution of the remains within the pit structure indicates that the crania were deposited in a fragmented state, meaning they would have been unidentifiable as individuals and possibly as human beings. This chapter explores the patterned processing of the crania as performance. The roles of the aggressors, witnesses, and victims associated with this assemblage are explored through this performative lens.

Bodies in Motion: Identity and Migration in Cyprus During the Bronze Age

Analysis of human remains from the Bronze Age in Cyprus offers insight into underlying issues of social change and identity formation. This chapter uses social theory to amplify the analysis of bone fragments from over 100 individuals from Cyprus, spanning over 1000 years of human occupation. These data and interpretation add another line of evidence to the archaeological debate over the nature of culture change and the incorporation of new populations in Cyprus from about 2400 to 1700 BC. Essentially, this chapter presents a model for distinguishing colonization from migration (with integration) of new populations. Through examination of skeletal material and burial patterns, an argument can be made for inclusion of new populations to Cyprus without an overarching colonization during the time frame.

Personal Taphonomy at Sacred Ridge: Burial 196

The fragmentary remains of a female aged 45 to 50 years were recovered from floor fill in the ventilator shaft of a Pueblo I pit house at Sacred Ridge (5LP245). Taphonomic evidence indicates facial destruction, scalping, decapitation, dismemberment, and perhaps hand or foot removal. Human hemoglobin and myoglobin residue on associated artifacts suggest that processing took place in this structure. This study addresses the significance of this feature in regard to the remains of 33 other processed individuals in another pit structure at Sacred Ridge, and the implications of these features for interpretations of Pueblo I pit structure burials.