Bioarchaeological Sampling Strategies: Reflection on First Sampling Experience at the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City

Totem: The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology Volume 24 | Issue 1 Article 2 2016 Bioarchaeological Sampling Strategies: Reflection on First Sampling Experience at the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City Diana Karina Moreiras Reynaga Western University, Follow this and additional works at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/totem Part of the Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Moreiras Reynaga, Diana Karina (2016) "Bioarchaeological Sampling Strategies: Reflection on First Sampling Experience at the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City," Totem: The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology: Vol. 24: Iss. 1, Article 2. Available at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/totem/vol24/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Totem: The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact . Bioarchaeological Sampling Strategies: Reflection on First Sampling Experience at the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City Abstract Given that sampling strategies and protocols in bioarchaeology are rarely discussed in the literature, this paper is an attempt at reflecting upon the skeletal sampling process (e.g., preparation period, development of strategies and protocols, decision-making process, collaboration with those involved) as well as provide some considerations that may be useful to other junior researchers carrying out their sampling within the realm of bioarchaeology (also may be applicable to other research fields that engage in sampling specimens from museum collections). I provide the considerations about human bone and teeth as it pertains to stable isotope analysis from the literature and then move to discuss my sampling process experience: the preparation period, the sampling process, and the sampling map I developed as an initial guide in the field. Finally, I discuss the main considerations I found helpful in the field which overall involve: 1) Familiarity with the skeletal collections; 2) Constant communication and participant collaboration with those involved in the process; 3) Establishing a feasible sampling protocol well-founded on research questions and biochemical analysis planned as a guide in the field but flexible and open to changes; 4) Handling administrative and logistical aspects of the process well in advance of the sampling visit, and 5) Continual awareness that while as researchers we value skeletal collections in a scientific manner, these also may have other kind of value to others so we must treat these collections with outmost respect at all times (i.e., when discussing, sampling, analyzing, interpreting, and disseminating our research). Keywords bioarchaeology, stable isotope analysis, skeletal sampling process, sampling strategies and protocol, participatory collaboration, Templo Mayor Museum Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Acknowledgements I would like to thank the researchers of the Templo Mayor Project, particularly J. A. Román Berrelleza, E. Matos Moctezuma, X. Chávez Balderas, and L. López Luján for all their guidance and support and for allowing me to contribute to this project by studying these (and other) collections via stable isotope analysis. Thanks to my supervisors J. F. Millaire and F. J. Longstaffe and my thesis committee: A. Nelson, M. Spence, and A. Dolphin for their so valuable and endless support, feedback, and guidance on my PhD research (including my sampling strategies). Thanks to A. Dolphin and J. F. Millaire for their valuable feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript as well the comments and suggestions of two anonymous reviewers and the editors. This PhD project is primarily funded with the support of the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC) and the Research at Western Award (UWO). This article is available in Totem: The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/totem/vol24/iss1/ 2 Moreiras Reynaga: Bioarchaeological Sampling Strategies Moreiras Reynaga / University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology 24 (2016) 9-29 Bioarchaeological Sampling Strategies: Reflection on First Sampling Experience at the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City Diana K Moreiras Reynaga Abstract Given that sampling strategies and protocols in bioarchaeology are rarely discussed in the literature, this paper is an attempt at reflecting upon the skeletal sampling process (e.g. preparation period, development of strategies and protocols, decision-making process, collaboration with those involved) as well as providing some considerations that may be useful to other junior researchers carrying out their sampling within the realm of bioarchaeology (and also may be applicable to other research fields that engage in sampling specimens from museum collections). I provide the considerations about human bone and teeth as it pertains to stable isotope analysis from the literature and then move to discuss my sampling process experience: the preparation period, the sampling process, and the sampling map I developed as an initial guide in the field. Finally, I discuss the main considerations I found helpful in the field which overall involve: 1) Familiarity with the skeletal collections; 2) Constant communication and participant collaboration with those involved in the process; 3) Establishing a feasible sampling protocol well-founded on research questions and biochemical analysis planned as a guide in the field but flexible and open to changes; 4) Handling administrative and logistical aspects of the process well in advance of the sampling visit, and 5) Continual awareness that while as researchers we value skeletal collections in a scientific manner, these also may have other kind of value to others so we must treat these collections with outmost respect at all times (i.e., when discussing, sampling, analyzing, interpreting, research). and disseminating our Introduction My proposed PhD research project involves the use of stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotope analysis to study the diets and geographical origins of humans from the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan (presentday Mexico City) and adjacent archaeological sites in the Basin of Mexico dating to the Postclassic period (A.D. 12001519). The collections include adult and subadult sacrificial offerings from the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco’s Templo R, as well as nonsacrificial burials from nearby Aztec communities. These isotopic analyses will allow us to gain insight into the life histories of these individuals and improve our understanding of how these subjects were chosen for sacrifice by the Aztec priests. This study will also help document the diversity in dietary and migratory patterns within and between sacrif (...truncated)