Mississippi State University Scholars Junction Theses and Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 5-1-2016 A Biogeochemistry Approach to Geographic Origin and Mortuary Arrangement at the Talgua Cave Ossuaries, Olancho, Honduras Monica Michelle Warner Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td Recommended Citation Warner, Monica Michelle, "A Biogeochemistry Approach to Geographic Origin and Mortuary Arrangement at the Talgua Cave Ossuaries, Olancho, Honduras" (2016). Theses and Dissertations. 25. https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/25 This Graduate Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Scholars Junction. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholars Junction. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Automated Template C: Created by James Nail 2013V2.1 A biogeochemistry approach to geographic origin and mortuary arrangement at the Talgua cave ossuaries, Olancho, Honduras By Monica Michelle Warner A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Mississippi State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Applied Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures Mississippi State, Mississippi May 2016 Copyright by Monica Michelle Warner 2016 A biogeochemistry approach to geographic origin and mortuary arrangement at the Talgua cave ossuaries, Olancho, Honduras By Monica Michelle Warner Approved: ____________________________________ Nicholas P. Herrmann (Major Professor) ____________________________________ Molly K. Zuckerman (Committee Member) ____________________________________ David M. Hoffman (Committee Member/Graduate Coordinator) ____________________________________ R. Gregory Dunaway Dean College of Arts & Sciences Name: Monica Michelle Warner Date of Degree: May 7, 2016 Institution: Mississippi State University Major Field: Applied Anthropology Major Professor: Dr. Nicholas P. Herrmann Title of Study: A biogeochemistry approach to geographic origin and mortuary arrangement at the Talgua cave ossuaries, Olancho, Honduras Pages in Study: 187 Candidate for Degree of Master of Arts Isotopic assays, including stable carbon, stable oxygen, and radiogenic strontium were measured for 37 individuals from the Talgua cave ossuaries to understand human movement and mortuary practice during Formative Period Honduras. Likelihood assignment models demonstrated that the individuals had diverse childhood geographic origins within the surrounding valleys. This shows that different kin or ethnic groups from diverse geographic origins were utilizing the ossuaries. Five possible ‘non-local’ individuals were identified from the radiogenic strontium and stable oxygen isotope datasets, suggesting minimal human movement into northeast Honduras from outside Lower Central America. The low number of ‘non-local’ individuals at Talgua Caves also suggests that trade items were acquired by down-the-line exchange processes rather than through a long-distance trade connection. This type of trade network and bioarchaeological evidence of limited ‘non-local’ individuals at Talgua Caves suggests the surrounding region was culturally distinct from Mesoamerica during the Formative Period. DEDICATION To my sister and my mother ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia (IHAH) generously granted permission to Nicholas Herrmann for the collection of loose dental remains throughout Talgua and Arañas, which made this research possible. Thanks to Nicholas Herrmann for allowing the isotopic analyses of the Talgua Cave dentition, for pushing me to apply for the Research-in-Residence grant funding, all of the mentoring, and for personally funding 13 18 18 the δ C, δ Op, and δ Oc measurements. I would also like to express my gratitude to my committee members, Molly Zuckerman and David Hoffman, who deserve many thanks for their comments, feedback, and advice. The 87Sr/86Sr isotope measurements and development of the assignment models was supported by the University of Utah’s NSF funded Research-in-Residence program. Thanks to Jason West for taking time to personally mentor me on the topic of isoscapes and assignment models. Special thanks to Clément Bataille and Gabriel Bowen for sharing their circum-Caribbean isoscape rasters. All of the lecturers and contributors during the SPATIAL short course at the University of Utah taught me about isotopes and how to create isoscapes within ArcGIS. Thanks to Lesley Chesson at IsoForensics, Inc. for running the 87Sr/86Sr samples and her feedback. Also, thanks to Dyke Andreasen and Colin Carney at the Santa Cruz Stable 13 18 18 isotope facility for the δ C, δ Op, and δ Oc measurements and advice regarding diagenesis. iii Last, but definitely not least, I would like to thank all of my family and friends for their support. Without you all, I would have never made it through this process. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER I. THESIS OVERVIEW AND PURPOSES .........................................................1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................1 1.2 Research design .....................................................................................3 1.2.1 Geographic origin ............................................................................4 1.2.2 Mortuary arrangement .....................................................................5 1.2.3 Dental metric analysis ......................................................................7 1.3 Chapter organization ..............................................................................8 II. BIOCULTURAL CONTEXT FOR NORTHEAST HONDURAS .................10 2.1 Beyond the Frontier .............................................................................10 2.2 Archaeology of northeast Honduras ....................................................12 2.3 Human movement ................................................................................16 2.4 Pre-Columbian cave practices ..............................................................19 2.4.1 Honduran mortuary practices .........................................................20 2.5 Dental metrics ......................................................................................22 2.5.1 Gender ............................................................................................24 2.6 Summary ..............................................................................................25 III. BIOGEOCHEMISTRY ...................................................................................27 3.1 The discovery of isotopes ....................................................................27 3.2 Radiogenic strontium isotopes .............................................................28 3.2.1 Complications of strontium ...........................................................31 3.3 Stable oxygen isotopes .........................................................................32 3.3.1 Oxygen fractionation .....................................................................33 3.3.2 Oxygen isotope variation ...............................................................34 3.4 Stable carbon isotopes..........................................................................36 v 3.4.1 Carbon isotope variation ................................................................36 3.5 Human tissue biochemistry ..................................................................38 3.6 Biogeochemistry in Anthropology .......................................................40 3.7 Isoscapes ..............................................................................................42 3.8 Summary ..............................................................................................44 IV. SITES AND SAMPLES ..................................................................................45 4.1 The Río Talgua drainage ......................................................................45 4.2 Environmental Setting .........................................................................46 4.2.1 Cueva del Río Talgua.....................................................................50 4.2.2 Cueva de las Arañas .......................................................................52 4.3 Isotope sample selection ......................................................................54 4.3.1 Talgua Cave lot descriptions ..........................................................55 4.3.2 Arañas Cave lot descriptions .........................................................60 4.4 Summary ..............................................................................................63 V. METHODS AND PROCEDURES .................................................................64 5.1 Isotope analysis ....................................................................................64