Biocultural Taphonomies and Analysis of an Emerging Terminal Classic (750–900 CE) Maya Deathway

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-024-09689-y (2025) 32:22 RESEARCH Biocultural Taphonomies and Analysis of an Emerging Terminal Classic (750–900 CE) Maya Deathway Saige Kelmelis1 · John P. Walden2,3 · Kirsten Green Mink4 · Julie A. Hoggarth5 · Claire E. Ebert6 · Carolyn Freiwald7 · Tia B. Watkins8 · Victoria S. R. Izzo9 · Michael Biggie10 · Amy E. Thompson11 · Rafael A. Guerra12 · Christina Warinner2,3 · Jaime J. Awe13 Accepted: 6 December 2024 © The Author(s) 2025 Abstract In bioarchaeology, funerary taphonomy and preservation become part of the biocultural narrative of the dead. We evaluate the role of these factors in reconstructing the identities of those buried in an emerging deathway, the ventrally placed legs flexed (VPLF) burial position, during the Terminal Classic (750–900/1000 CE) period at the Maya polity of Lower Dover in western Belize. The term “VPLF” describes a divergent burial practice which may have resulted from intentional binding prior to burial. In our analysis of VPLF burials (n = 12), we use a two-step process to reconstruct the social identities and potential meaning of the burial pattern: (1) interpretation of the archaeological context based on excavation observations and biogeochemistry and (2) osteological analysis of curated individuals to reconstruct their biological profiles and post-mortem/ post-excavation histories. Osteological analyses included age and sex estimation, paleopathological assessment of frailty and trauma, and skeletal modifications from cultural and taphonomic forces. Radiocarbon dating and ceramic analyses were used to date the burials. Stable and radiogenic isotopic analyses were applied to reconstruct diet and mobility for a subset of the VPLF burials. Our results show that individuals were buried in the VPLF position irrespective of age, sex, or social status, consistent with patterns at other Terminal Classic and Postclassic Maya sites, although VPLF interment may have been practiced earlier at Lower Dover. We hypothesize that the appearance of VPLF burials in the Terminal Classic period signified an ideological shift in light of emerging social and environmental pressures in the region. Keywords Funerary taphonomy · Atypical mortuary patterns · Classic Maya · Upper Belize Valley · Bioarchaeology Extended author information available on the last page of the article Vol.:(0123456789) 22 Page 2 of 55 S. Kelmelis et al. Introduction It is generally recognized in anthropology that human bodies are biocultural entities shaped by mutually acting forces, which can be biological, environmental, social, cultural, political, or economic in nature. Applications of life history theory in biological and ecological anthropology, for example, have demonstrated that human adaptations and health are the byproducts of our own lived experiences as well as our evolutionary histories, both contributing to our genetic and physical variation, and that cultural and environmental forces contribute to these processes (Agarwal, 2012; Barker, 2007; Barker & Osmond, 1986; Dean, 2006; Jones, 2009; Newham & Naji, 2022; Scherer, 2015; Smith & Alemseged, 2013). Death is also a biocultural force influencing the social lives of human bodies, which arguably continues long after death as the living continue to interact with the dead in any number of ways (McAnany, 2013; Parker Pearson, 1982, 1993, 1999). The disposal, veneration, appropriation, scientific recovery, and analysis of the dead inadvertently extend the postmortem narrative of the once-living through funerary and other taphonomic processes. Understanding these processes expands our knowledge about both the deceased individual and the living, whose actions have impacted the agency of the remains under study. Taphonomy, or the changes in biological remains from time of death until discovery, recovery, and analysis, impacts interpretation of ancient funerary practices or “deathways” and cultural modifications that occur long after death (Duday, 2009; Knüsel & Robb, 2016; Pokines & Baker, 2022). Within the realm of bioarchaeology, taphonomic processes are often regarded as destructive forces that impede our ability to reconstruct the identities and lifeways of those we study and, on an aggregate level, yield useful information about skeletal age distributions used to understand demographic and health patterns of past communities (Gordon & Buikstra, 1981; Hoppa et al., 2002; Kelmelis & Price, 2022; Knüsel & Robb, 2016; Waldron, 1987, 2007; Wood et al., 1992). However, with careful field documentation, taphonomic observations can potentially offer valuable insights into the internal and external processes that contributed to human decomposition and help reconstruct the mortuary practices of past populations (Duday, 2009; Nilsson Stutz, 2006). This approach, “l’anthropologie du terrain” or “archaeothanatology,” was developed in the 1980s within the scope of French rescue archaeology (Duday, 2009) and integrates methods from archaeology, biological anthropology, and forensic medicine to reconstruct the death practices of past populations through in-depth osteological, taphonomic, and archaeological analyses. As such, it is important that those who are engaged in field work are trained in osteological methods in identification and recovery, taphonomic processes, and archaeological understanding of the burial context (Duday, 2009: 6). In the USA, however, there are disciplinary lines of training and field objectives that separate archaeologists and bioanthropologists. Archaeologists may lack osteological training and prioritize architecture and other material remains over bones. Biological anthropologists, on the other hand, sometimes lack archaeological field training or are not well versed in architectural form and function. While Biocultural Taphonomies and Analysis of an Emerging Terminal… Page 3 of 55 22 the past century of archaeological work often lacked the detail needed for archaeothanatological analysis, recent efforts aim to integrate this approach to address these gaps and improve future studies (Nilsson Stutz, 2003, 2006). Additionally, technological advancements in bioarchaeology, and archaeology more generally, now provide rich data on diet, migration, health, and chronology that can further elucidate past mortuary practices when we also account for taphonomic factors. To more fully understand the patterns resulting from funerary practices and the systems that motivated them, we advocate using a biocultural approach that integrates multiple lines of evidence from the remains, their contexts, and those derived from ethnographic and archival sources to understand how taphonomic forces and mortuary patterns contribute to the reconstruction of past individuals’ identities (Agarwal et al., 2011; Green, 2016). To demonstrate how funerary taphonomy and preservation become intertwined with what happens after excavation and what that me (...truncated)