Theoretical Approaches to Analysis and Interpretation of Commingled Human Remains PDF
Preview Theoretical Approaches to Analysis and Interpretation of Commingled Human Remains
Bioarchaeology and Social Theory Series Editor Debra L. Martin Professor of Anthropology University of Nevada Las Vegas, USA More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11976 Anna J. Osterholtz Editor Theoretical Approaches to Analysis and Interpretation of Commingled Human Remains 1 3 Editor Anna J. Osterholtz Department of Anthropology University of Nevada Las Vegas Las Vegas Nevada USA Bioarchaeology and Social Theory ISBN 978-3-319-22553-1 ISBN 978-3-319-22554-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-22554-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015953016 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) For the ladies of the Perpetual Porch Foreword Working with human remains is fraught with ethical and methodological consider- ations that push researchers to contextualize their studies with as much information as possible. When human remains are relatively undisturbed and the bones map well onto the original location and position of the body, there is a wealth of con- textual information that can be used to reconstruct the identity of the person and to make meaning out of the circumstances that may have led to death. The studies in this volume do not have easy access to contextual information because the bodies of the deceased have been disturbed both culturally and/or natu- rally and the remaining bones no longer are part of their original context. The hu- man remains in these studies are variously commingled, disarticulated, modified, broken, burned, fragmentary, and often isolated from their original context. This represents bioarchaeology as the most challenging kind that relies on empirical data sets that are less than perfect. The extraordinary thing about this collection of papers is that all the authors use state-of-the-art methodologies to situate and reconstruct the original contexts and further, they all do so within richly configured theoretical contexts. The foundational work for this volume began with a previously edited volume (Osterholtz et al. 2014) that focused on best practices in the analysis of commingled and disarticulated remains. This volume builds on that one by utilizing the meth- ods outlined in the former volume, but now focusing on the use of social theory to provide more robust interpretations of these challenging and often understudied collections. These studies bridge social theory with bioarchaeology in ways that are innovative yet sensitive to the challenges and problems of working with incomplete data sets. All these chapters consciously use social theory to expand our understand- ing of social life and human behavior at multiple and dimensional levels. Culture change, climate change, power, inequality, class, gender, ethnicity, identity, and ma- teriality are all approached in various chapters using a wide variety of theoretical frameworks that best fits the data at hand. Engagement with theory in each of these chapters means that the authors have approached the meanings, values, intentions, beliefs and ideas about human behav- ior though the lens of available mortuary practices, and information on demography and pathology. This is a relatively new arena for study. This volume supplies a kind vii viii Foreword of road map for others working with imperfect collections who wish to expand their studies well beyond description of the bones. For example, some of the studies fo- cused on the socially created institutions, events and symbolic objects that animated how the lines between life and death were often blurred or reimagined as derived from the mortuary practices. The agency of human factors in creating the mortu- ary contexts discussed in these chapters is highlighted as a way to think about the interaction of the living and the dead. In these studies, methodology, social theory, and data are tethered. Data without theory has limited explanatory power and is difficult to generalize about meaning beyond a local context. Theory in these chapters has aided in making sense of the data in a broader context. These studies attest to the value of carefully collected em- pirical observations and robust data sets as the baseline for building interpretations that are enhanced with the use of social theory. Debra L. Martin University of Nevada, Las Vegas References cited Osterholtz, A. J., Baustian, K. M., & Martin, D. L. (eds.) (2014). Commingled and disarticulated human remains: Working toward improved theory, method, and data. New York: Springer. Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Debra Martin and Anna J. Osterholtz 2 A Tale of Two Platforms: Commingled Remains and the Life-Course of Houses at Neolithic Çatalhöyük ...................................... 5 Scott D. Haddow, Joshua W. Sadvari, Christopher J. Knüsel and Rémi Hadad 3 Bodies in Motion: Identity and Migration in Cyprus During the Bronze Age ............................................................................................ 31 Anna J. Osterholtz 4 Part of the Family: Age, Identity, and Burial in Copper Age Iberia ..... 47 Jess Beck 5 Limited Circumstances: Creating a Better Understanding of Prehistoric Peoples Through the Reanalysis of Collections of Commingled Human Remains ............................................................. 75 Maria Panakhyo and Keith Jacobi 6 When Space Is Limited: A Spatial Exploration of Pre- Hispanic Chachapoya Mortuary and Ritual Microlandscape ............... 97 Lori Epstein and J. Marla Toyne 7 Patterned Processing as Performative Violence ...................................... 125 Anna J. Osterholtz 8 Contexts, Needs, and Social Messaging: Situating Iroquoian Human Bone Artifacts in Southern Ontario, Canada ............................ 139 Tara Jenkins ix x Contents 9 In morbo et in morto: Transforming Age and Identity Within the Mortuary Context of Oymaağaç Höyük, Northern Turkey .......... 185 Kathryn E. Marklein and Sherry C. Fox 10 Linking Health and Marriage Practices Among Commingled Assemblages: A Case Study from Bronze Age Tell Abraq, UAE ......... 207 Kathryn Baustian and Cheryl Anderson 11 C emetery Preservation and Beautification of Death: Investigations of Unmarked Early to Mid-Nineteenth- Century Burial Grounds in Central Kentucky ..................................... 219 Peter Killoran, David Pollack, Stuart Nealis and Emily Rinker 12 Commingled Bodies and Mixed and Communal Identities ................. 243 Tiffiny A. Tung Index ................................................................................................................ 253 Contributors Cheryl Anderson Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA Kathryn Baustian Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA Jess Beck Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Lori Epstein Haun and Associates, Kailua Kona, HI, USA Sherry C. Fox School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA Rémi Hadad Département d’Anthropologie, UMR 7055 “Préhistoire & Technologie”, Maison de l’Archéologie et de l’Ethnologie (MAE), Université Paris-Ouest Nanterre, Nanterre, France Scott D. Haddow Çatalhöyük Research Project, Stanford Archaeology Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA Keith Jacobi Department of Anthropology, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA Tara Jenkins Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants Inc., London, ON, Canada Peter Killoran Department of Sociology, Criminology and Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Whitewater, WI, USA Christopher J. Knüsel UMR 5199 De la Préhistoire à l’Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Bordeaux, CS, France Kathryn E. Marklein Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA Debra Martin Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA xi
The list of books you might like
