The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology (Routledge Handbooks)

This volume brings together a range of contributors with different and hybrid academic backgrounds to explore, through bioarchaeology, the past human experience in the territories that span Mesoamerica. This handbook provides systematic bioarchaeological coverage of skeletal research in the ancient Mesoamericas. It offers an integrated collection of engrained, bioculturally embedded explorations of relevant and timely topics, such as population shifts, lifestyles, body concepts, beauty, gender, health, foodways, social inequality, and violence. The additional treatment of new methodologies, local cultural settings, and theoretic frames rounds out the scope of this handbook. The selection of 36 chapter contributions invites readers to engage with the human condition in ancient and not-so-ancient Mesoamerica and beyond. __The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology__ is addressed to an audience of Mesoamericanists, students, and researchers in bioarchaeology and related fields. It serves as a comprehensive reference for courses on Mesoamerica, bioarchaeology, and Native American studies. This volume brings together a range of contributors with different and hybrid academic backgrounds to explore, through bioarchaeology, the past human experience in the territories that span Mesoamerica. This handbook provides systematic bioarchaeological coverage of skeletal research in the ancient Mesoamericas. It offers an integrated collection of engrained, bioculturally embedded explorations of relevant and timely topics, such as population shifts, lifestyles, body concepts, beauty, gender, health, foodways, social inequality, and violence. The additional treatment of new methodologies, local cultural settings, and theoretic frames rounds out the scope of this handbook. The selection of 36 chapter contributions invites readers to engage with the human condition in ancient and not-so-ancient Mesoamerica and beyond. The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology is addressed to an audience of Mesoamericanists, students, and researchers in bioarchaeology and related fields. It serves as a comprehensive reference for courses on Mesoamerica, bioarchaeology, and Native American studies. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Table of Contents 6 List of Figures 11 List of Tables 16 List of Contributors 18 0.1 Foreword 34 0.2 Introduction 36 PART I Framing Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology 52 1.1 The Early Days of Mesoamerican Osteology 54 1.2 Management and Conservation of Human Remains From Mesoamerica: Ethical, Legal, and Technical Recommendations 66 1.3 The Preceramic Skeletal Record of Mexico and Central America 82 1.4 North of Mesoamerica: Bioarchaeology of the Northwest, North-Central, and Northeast 108 1.5 Bioarchaeological Studies in the Southern Periphery of Mesoamerica 142 PART II Across the Human Landscapes of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica 166 2.1 The Bioarchaeology of Preclassic Mesoamerica and the Advent of Statehood 168 2.2 Bioarchaeology of Oaxaca: Major Developments in the Study of 3500 Years of Mortuary Practice in Southern Mexico 183 2.3 Maya Bioarchaeology 201 2.4 The People of the Southern Central Region of Veracruz 214 2.5 The Bioarchaeology of the Central Highlands of Mesoamerica From the Early Classic Period Through the Toltec Period 231 2.6 The Heartland of the Empire: Studying the Aztecs 253 PART III The Bioarchaeology of Cities, Neighborhoods, and Communities 270 3.1 The Inhabitants of Monte Albán: A Bioarchaeological Approach 272 3.2 The Multiethnic Population of a Teotihuacan Neighborhood Center: Bioarchaeological, Archaeometric, and Ancient DNA Analyses 303 3.3 The Community of Xcambó, a Classic-Period Maya Port in the Yucatan Peninsula 323 3.4 Bioarchaeology at Copán, Honduras: Spearheading Maya Bioarchaeology 339 PART IV The Body as a Cultural Construct 360 4.1 The Bioarchaeology of Permanent Body Modifications in Mesoamerica 362 4.2 Royal Bodies: The Life Histories of Janaab’ Pakal and the “Red Queen” of Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico 381 4.3 Archaeothanatology: A Body-Anchored Approach to Mesoamerican Mortuary Analyses 397 4.4 The Bioarchaeology of Ritualized Violence and Posthumous Treatments of the Human Body in Mesoamerica 419 PART V Life Style, Diet, and Health 440 5.1 Mesoamerican Paleopathology: A Bioarchaeological Approach to Diseases From the Past 442 5.2 Living Conditions, Gender, and Stature 460 5.3 Geographic Variation in Mesoamerican Paleodiets: A Review of Recent Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Analyses 474 PART VI Population and Mobility 500 6.1 Population Continuity and Mobility Across Mesoamerica 502 6.2 Baseline Strontium Isotope Ratios in Mesoamerica 519 6.3 The Paleo-DNA of Ancient Mesoamerican Peoples 543 6.4 Population Structure, Fertility, and Growth 564 6.5 The Craniometry of Mesoamerican Population Distances 581 PART VII Breaking New Grounds in Methodology 594 7.1 3D Digitization and Analysis of Human Skeletal Remains for Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology 596 7.2 Methods in Bioarchaeology: What’s New in Profiling an Individual Inside and Out 610 7.3 Histomorphology of Un-Decalcified Bone in Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology 634 7.4 The Phenomenon of Mummification in Ancient Mexico 650 PART VIII The Bioarchaeology of the Thresholds of Modernity: Learning From the Past to Meet Today’s Challenges 664 8.1 The Bioarchaeology of Colonial New Spain 666 8.2 The Serdán Brothers: Reconstructing the Mortuary Trajectory of the Three Heroes of the Mexican Revolution 684 8.3 General Trends in Size in Maya Populations of the Yucatan Peninsula From the Preclassic to the 2010s: A Diachronic Perspective From Human Ecology 704 8.4 Making Research of Human Reference Collections Available to Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology 722 Index 737 "This volume brings together a range of contributors with different and hybrid academic backgrounds to explore, through bioarchaeology, the past human experience in the territories that span Mesoamerica. This handbook provides systematic bioarchaeological coverage of skeletal research in the ancient Mesoamericas. It offers an integrated collection of engrained, bioculturally embedded explorations of relevant and timely topics, such as population shifts, life styles, body concepts, beauty, gender, health, foodways, social inequality, and violence. The additional treatment of new methodologies, local cultural settings, and theoretic frames rounds out the scope of this handbook. The selection of 37 chapter contributions invites readers to engage with the human condition in ancient and not so ancient Mesoamerica and beyond. The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology is addressed to an audience of Mesoamericanists, students and researchers in bioarchaeology and related fields. It serves as a comprehensive reference for courses on Mesoamerica, Bioarchaeology and Native American Studies"-- Provided by publisher "This volume brings together a range of contributors with different and hybrid academic backgrounds to explore, through bioarchaeology, the past human experience in the territories that span Mesoamerica. This handbook provides systematic bioarchaeological coverage of skeletal research in the ancient Mesoamericas. It offers an integrated collection of engrained, bioculturally embedded explorations of relevant and timely topics, such as population shifts, life styles, body concepts, beauty, gender, health, foodways, social inequality, and violence. The additional treatment of new methodologies, local cultural settings, and theoretic frames rounds out the scope of this handbook. The selection of 36 chapter contributions invites readers to engage with the human condition in ancient and not so ancient Mesoamerica and beyond. The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology is addressed to an audience of Mesoamericanists, students and researchers in bioarchaeology and related fields. It serves as a comprehensive reference for courses on Mesoamerica, Bioarchaeology and Native American Studies"--Provided by publisher