James T. Watson - Ancient Southwestern Mortuary Practices

EDITED BY

James T. Watson and Gordon F. M. Rakita

U NIVERSITY P RESS OF C OLORADO

Louisville

2020 by University Press of Colorado

Published by University Press of Colorado

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Louisville, Colorado 80027

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The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by Adams State University, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Regis University, University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado, University of Wyoming, Utah State University, and Western Colorado University.

ISBN: 978-1-64642-012-4 (hardcover)

ISBN: 978-1-64642-013-1 (ebook)

https://doi.org/10.5876/9781607320131

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Watson, James T. (James Thomas), editor. | Rakita, Gordon F. M., 1971 editor.

Title: Ancient Southwestern mortuary practices / edited by James T. Watson and Gordon F. M. Rakita.

Description: Louisville, Colorado : University Press of Colorado, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019046954 (print) | LCCN 2019046955 (ebook) | ISBN 9781646420124 (cloth) | ISBN 9781646420131 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Funeral rites and ceremonies, AncientSouthwest, New. | Funeral rites and ceremonies, AncientMexico, North.

Classification: LCC GT3170 .A55 2020 (print) | LCC GT3170 (ebook) | DDC 393/.9309/01dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019046954

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019046955

The University Press of Colorado gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society toward the publication of this book.

Cover photograph by Gordon F. M. Rakita.

Gordon F. M. Rakita, James T. Watson, Sharon Wester, and M. Scott Thompson

Dawn M. Mulhern and Mona C. Charles

Ann L.W. Stodder

Nancy J. Akins

Catrina Banks Whitley

James T. Watson

Jessica I. Cerezo-Romn

Alison K. Livesay and Patricia A. Gilman

Gordon F. M. Rakita

James T. Watson

Lynne Goldstein

Gordon F. M. Rakita, James T. Watson, Sharon Wester, and M. Scott Thompson

The chapters in this volume represent the results of a multi-year, multi-researcher project to create a regional synthesis of prehistoric mortuary practices across the Southwest United States and Northwest Mexico. Inspired by Adlers (1996) and Adam and Duffs (2004) volumes that assembled, systematized, and reported data on sites and settlements in the region, we (the editors and authors of the volume) assembled and systematically aggregated mortuary data from four sub-regions across the Southwest United States and Northwest Mexico (). The primary goals of the project were to (1) collect data from prehistoric human burials from the region in one place, (2) chronicle the modal patterns and diversity of mortuary programs and behavior across the region and through time, and (3) encourage the responsible, respectful, and ethical curation of the already existing and extensive Southwest/Northwest mortuary data sets. We see considerable value in pursuing these goals. For example, preserving data and making it more accessible allows future researchers to make use of the data and ask new questions or reevaluate old interpretations. Our project also encourages the integration (to the extent possible) of data from both the biological and cultural remains of human funerary features. Finally, we feel that chronicling the prehistoric funerary practices and making the data used to develop those chronicles available responds to the needs of both anthropological scholars and indigenous descendant groups in the era of repatriation.

Table 1.1. Samples included in Southwest mortuary database

This volumes synthesis of mortuary behavior from across diverse times and places in the Southwest United States and Northwest Mexico will allow researchers to incorporate understandings of the mortuary record more fully into regional archaeological interpretations. Mitchell and Brunson-Hadleys (2001a) Ancient Burial Practices in the American Southwest represents the most similar collection of Southwestern mortuary research. Our work seeks to compliment that volume whereby, apart from Martin and Akinss (2001) chapter examining trauma and mortuary behavior at La Plata, our authors cover different (complimentary) areas and temporal periods. Chapters in the Mitchell and Brunson-Hadley volume focus on mortuary practices among the Hohokam along the Salt and Gila Rivers (McGuire 2001; Mitchell and Brunson-Hadley 2001b; Sheridan 2001), the Sinagua (Hohmann 2001), Salado (Loendorf, 2001), highland Mogollon (Whittlesey and Reid 2001), ancestral Zuni (Howell 2001), and in Chaco Canyon (Akins 2001). The areas considered by these authors represent the geographic core of the Southwest, focused largely around central and eastern Arizona and the central and northern edge of western New Mexico. In contrast, the chapters in our volume focus on the northern and southern borders of the Southwest, including southern Colorado and northern New Mexico and the Southwest international borderlands (southern Arizona and New Mexico and northern Sonora and Chihuahua).

In the Mitchell and Brunson-Hadley volume, Goldstein (2001, 249251) remarked that there was still much work to be done to integrate the incredibly rich, extensive mortuary data sets that exist for many parts of the Southwest. We believe our volume takes a step in that direction by filling gaps in describing regional patterns in mortuary behavior and offering a cohesive set of extensive bioarchaeological data sets that provide the empirical basis for those patterns. Thus it provides for the continued archiving and storage of prehistoric Southwest/Northwest mortuary data and a rich resource for comparative research on mortuary ritual for archaeologists in other regions and social scientists generally.