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Maya Osteobiographies of the Holmul Region, Guatemala

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BOSTON UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Dissertation MAYA OSTEOBIOGRAPHIES OF THE HOLMUL REGION, GUATEMALA: CURATING LIFE HISTORIES THROUGH BIOARCHAEOLOGY AND STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS By AVIVA ANN CORMIER B.A., Brandeis University, 2009 M.A., Boston University, 2015 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2018 © 2018 by Aviva Ann Cormier All rights reserved Approved by First Reader David M. Carballo, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Archaeology Second Reader Jonathan Bethard, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Anthropology University of South Florida Third Reader Jane E. Buikstra, Ph.D. Regents’ Professor Arizona State University DEDICATION To my family, my mother, and Chad. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The completion of this dissertation and this stage of my academic journey would not have been possible without so many individuals and institutions. Thank you to my committee- David Carballo, Mac Marston, Jon Bethard, and Jane Buikstra- for their invaluable guidance and advice. Without their patience, encouragement, and inspiration, this dissertation would not have been possible. David and Mac, thank you for welcoming me as your student and providing me with endless support. Jon, thank you for being my mentor and friend and for teaching me the ways of the Dremel. Thank you, Jane, for introducing me to Kampsville and inspiring me to be a better bioarchaeologist. I also wish to thank Bill Saturno for welcoming me to BU and guiding me through the challenging start of my academic career. Thank you, Francisco Estrada-Belli, for the opportunity to work with the Holmul Archaeological Project and your support of my work both in Guatemala and in Boston. To my undergraduate advisors and mentors at Brandeis University, Charles Golden and Javier Urcid, thank you for introducing me to the Maya and the field of anthropology. To the faculty and staff of the BU Department of Archaeology, I owe you all a huge debt for inspiring me to be the archaeologist I am today. The research for this project would not be possible without the assistance of many laboratories, museums, and organizations. Thank you, Mac, for the use of the Environmental Archaeological Laboratory and Catherine West, for the Zooarchaeology Laboratory. To Ethan Baxter, Nilotpal Ghosh, and Mike Tappa, thank you for your guidance at both the Boston University TIMS Facility and the Boston College TIMS v Facility. And thank you Robert Michener and the Boston University Stable Isotope Laboratory. For access to and assistance with the osteological collections, thank you Olivia Herschensohn and Michèle Morgan and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. And lastly, thank you to Francisco and all of the members of the Holmul Archaeology Project for welcoming me to the team. To my friends and family, thank you for your love and encouragement. Many thanks to my graduate cohort for this wild ride: Ilaria Patania, Sara Belkin, Kristen Wroth, Anna Goldfield, Jade Luiz, Jen Fitzgerald, and Daniel Fallu. Ilaria, this would not have been possible without you. Chad Di Gregorio, you were my rock. Thank you for your hugs and your love. To my friends, who understood my absence during grad school and kept me sane and feeling loved: Zack Barr, Audrey Reid, Kelly Turner, Jamie Van Wagtendonk, Emily Pope-Obeda, Alix Lifka-Reselman, Emily Brown, Jen Kain, and Hilary Dulin. This would not have been possible without my extended family: the Cormiers, Galushas, Mirochnicks, and Kinderlanders. To my dad, thank you for everything and I love you. To my sister, Clarisse, thank you for the joy you bring to my life. To Mat, thank you for your support and love. This dissertation is dedicated to my family, especially those who are not here to see its completion: my uncle Steven and my grandparents Tillie, Marvin, Phiddy, and Ralph. And lastly, this is all for my mom- my inspiration and my best friend. She taught me to love, laugh, be strong, and make change. I am your sunshine and you are mine. vi MAYA OSTEOBIOGRAPHIES OF THE HOLMUL REGION, GUATEMALA: CURATING LIFE HISTORIES THROUGH BIOARCHAEOLOGY AND STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS AVIVA ANN CORMIER Boston University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, 2018 Major Professor: David Carballo, Associate Professor of Archaeology ABSTRACT This study applies a life history approach to analyzing the identities of 52 Maya individuals who lived between 2000 BC and AD 900 in and around the city of Holmul, within the Petén region of Guatemala. Primary goals were to: (1) identify migrant and local individuals within the urban population; (2) determine 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratio signatures for the sites of Holmul, Cival, La Sufricaya, K’o, and Hamontun; (3) compile osteobiographies, personal life histories revealed through skeletal remains, of the individuals in the sample; and (4) evaluate evidence bearing on the identities of inhabitants of the Holmul region and how they were represented within economic, political, and cultural landscapes of the ancient Maya. This work demonstrates how bioarchaeologists can implement osteobiographical analyses to advance the understanding of multifaceted social identities and individual experiences of life and death. By integrating osteological study, stable isotope analysis, and consideration of mortuary context, material culture, inscriptions, and monumental architecture, the individual, rather than the population, becomes the focus. This aggregate approach allows vii for an in-depth consideration of human remains as former social beings with complex identities. The findings of this research suggest that most elite inhabitants in this ancient Maya city were local to the Holmul region, with the few outliers having originated from elsewhere in the Maya lowlands. This conclusion aligns with Maya elite ideologies of establishing lineages and reinforcing power through ancestor veneration. The local 87Sr/86Sr ratio signature of the Holmul region is comparable to other archaeological sites in the southern Maya lowlands. The osteobiographies reveal life histories, which personalize prior interpretations that considered the population only as an aggregate. This project also elucidates identities of sacrificed children, elite/royal women, and the local Holmul elite. Results of the study support the use of the isotopic analysis of human remains as an essential tool for approaching complex archaeological questions and evaluating hypotheses previously addressed primarily using architectural, iconographic, and artifactual evidence. Further, this study demonstrates the benefit of the isotopic analysis of dental enamel, especially in the Maya region and other environments characterized by difficult excavation conditions and the poor preservation of human remains. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 Organization of the Dissertation ..................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2: THE HOLMUL REGION ........................................................................... 9 Mesoamerica and the Maya Region ................................................................................ 9 The Archaeology of the Holmul Region ....................................................................... 12 Holmul ...................................................................................................................... 13 Cival .......................................................................................................................... 23 La Sufricaya .............................................................................................................. 27 K’o ............................................................................................................................ 31 Hamontun .................................................................................................................. 34 Previous Bioarchaeological Investigations of the Holmul Region ............................... 36 Chapter Summary ......................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER 3: RECENT TRENDS IN BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD & THEORY .......................................................................................................................... 38 Methodological Advances ........................................................................................ 39 Theoretical Directions ............................................................................................... 40 The Bioarchaeology of Identity .................................................................................... 43 Gender, Age, and Disability ...................................................................................... 44 The Embodied Person ..............................................................................................
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