Digital Commons Network^™

Book Review: Warfare, Violence And Slavery In Prehistory, John J. Crandall

Landscapes of Violence

Here, a book review of Warfare, Violence and Slavery in Prehistory (2005) is presented. The volume, containing 19 case studies, is considered in the context of the growing body of work examining violence and inequality in the archaeological record. Each case study is summarized and the overall tone, impact and relevance of the volume is discussed.

Violence, Taphonomy And Cannibalism In Chaco Canyon: Discerning Taphonomic Changes From Human Action In The Archaeological Record, Kerriann Marden

Landscapes of Violence

The claim of cannibalism in the Southwest has sparked much controversy, and Chaco Canyon plays a central role in the hypothesis of widespread Southwestern anthropophagy. Although logical weaknesses in the argument for cannibalism in Chaco have been addressed in detail elsewhere, the actual taphonomic evidence that underpins these assertions has not received similar attention. This presentation revisits the data and weighs the validity and reliability of the taphonomic criteria upon which claims of cannibalism in the Southwest have been based.

Taphonomy And Warfare In The Mesa Verde Region, Kristin A. Kuckelman, Debra L. Martin

Landscapes of Violence

Taphonomy and Warfare in the Mesa Verde Region

Kristin A. Kuckelman and Debra L. Martin

Abstract

The periodic eruption of warfare among the Ancestral Pueblo Indians who farmed the Mesa Verde region of southwestern Colorado is evidenced, on the remains of many individuals, by perimortem depression fractures of the cranium and other trauma characteristic of violence. Taphonomic study of the remains of those who died in warfare events reveals weathering, carnivore damage, and nonformal disposition of remains as well as evidence of trophy-taking and anthropophagy. Thoughtful analysis and interpretation of the taphonomic evidence has led to a richer and more …

Evidence Of Child Sacrifice At La Cueva De Los Muertos Chiquitos (660-1430 Ad), John J. Crandall, Debra L. Martin, Jennifer L. Thompson

Landscapes of Violence

The La Cueva de los Muertos Chiquitos site (AD 660-1430) is located just north of Durango, Mexico. A reanalysis of the human remains from this site, excavated in the 1950s by Sheilagh and Richard Brooks, has yielded important new information. This cave site contains at least 25 burials of infants and children (n=21 being 0-3 years of age) and at least three adult burials all associated with the Gabriel San Loma Cultural Phase. Using long bone lengths and radiographic analysis of dental development, age approximations for the subadults were obtained. All of the complete juvenile burials exhibit active cases of …

Personal Taphonomy At Sacred Ridge: Burial 196, Anna Osterholtz, Ann L.W. Stodder

Landscapes of Violence

The fragmentary remains of a female aged 45 to 50 years were recovered from floor fill in the ventilator shaft of a Pueblo I pit house at Sacred Ridge (5LP245). Taphonomic evidence indicates facial destruction, scalping, decapitation, dismemberment, and perhaps hand or foot removal. Human hemoglobin and myoglobin residue on associated artifacts suggest that processing took place in this structure. This study addresses the significance of this feature in regard to the remains of 33 other processed individuals in another pit structure at Sacred Ridge, and the implications of these features for interpretations of Pueblo I pit structure burials.

Postmortem Violence? Identifying And Interpreting Postmortem Disturbance In Mongolia., Judith H. Littleton, Bruno Frohlich

Landscapes of Violence

Deliberate violence to remains can be inflicted post-mortem but archaeologically distinguishing the source of disturbance is hard enough while interpreting motive may be impossible. We present the results of excavation of 37 Bronze Age mounds, northernMongolia. Based on detailed analysis of burial structure, patterns of articulation, damage to elements and movement of bones within and outside the burial space, we argue there is evidence of human activity distinguishable from that of animals. Alternative hypotheses of disturbance incidental to robbery versus intentional post-mortem violence are evaluated in the context of the graves themselves, the archaeological context and ethnographic studies.

Taphonomy After The Fact: Violence And Ritual In Room 33 At Chaco And Room 178 At Aztec, Ryan P. Harrod, Debra L. Martin, Shawn W. Carlyle

Landscapes of Violence

Chaco Canyon‘s Room 33 (excavated by George Pepper) and Aztec Ruins room 178 (excavated by Earl Morris) are recognized for their rich taphonomic context. These two mortuary features reveal a great deal of information about ritualized behavior. Researchers such as Akins and Palkovich have provided partial analyses of the Chaco skeletal material in the 1980s. The reanalysis of those remains considers the Chaco burials in relation to those at Aztec and analyzes their meaning through a thorough analysis of the grave goods, archaeological records, and ethnohistorical documents to provide a better understanding of these elaborate and unique mortuary rooms. Specifically, …

The Taphonomy Of A Sacrifice: Burial 6 Of The Patio Hundido At El Teul, Ventura R. Perez, Peter Jiménez Betts

Landscapes of Violence

El Teul’s eighteen centuries of continuous occupation, from ca. 200 b. c. e. till the Spanish conquest in 1531 offers a unique opportunity to understand aspects of ancient society in Southern Zacatecas. This poster focuses on a ritually-sacrificed male whose body was deposited as an offering in one of the main architectural complexes of the site during the early to mid-Classic (ca. 200 d.C. – 400/450 d.C.). Ritual landscape models currently applied to larger sites such as Teotihuacán using Huichol cosmology suggest the possible correspondence of this building with ritual sacrifice related to winter solstice with Venus playing an active …

From The Editor: Special Poster Presentation Issue, Ventura R. Perez

Landscapes of Violence

No abstract provided.

“A Reflection Of Our National Character”: Structurally And Culturally Violent Federal Policies And The Elusive Quest For Federal Acknowledgment, Kathleen A. Brown-Perez

Landscapes of Violence

On March 3, 1839, the Brothertown Indian Nation became the first American Indian tribe whose members had U.S. citizenship. One hundred and forty years later, the tribe learned that it no longer had a government-to-government relationship with the U.S. government. It soon entered the new administrative federal acknowledgment process, where it would remain for three decades. In August 2009, the Office of Federal Acknowledgment issued a Proposed Finding against federally acknowledging the Brothertown. This decision was based in part on the 1839 Act, which OFA determined was a congressional act of tribal termination. Having worked toward tribal survival since its …

On Resolution | Intellectual Property And Indigenous Knowledge Disputes | Prologue, Jane E. Anderson

Landscapes of Violence

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The issue of indigenous interests in intellectual property law is difficult precisely because of the historical, political, cultural dimensions that inform the subject notion of ‘property’ and the historical delineation, exclusion and current inclusion of populations now referred to as ‘indigenous’, ‘traditional’ or ‘local’. The current conditions of colonialism also mean …

Violence As Communication: The Revolt Of La Ascensión, Chihuahua (1892), Jose Angel Hernandez Phd

Landscapes of Violence

When examining “The Revolt of La Ascensión, 1892” past historiographical interpretations serve as examples of the theoretical traps that are succumbed to when employing modes of analysis that are inappropriate for studying this particular repatriate colony. The trope that is read throughout these historiographical examples is evident because they share the notion that this event can be termed pre-political and primitive. It will become patently clear that terms such as “pre-political,” “primitive,” and “unorganized” are outdated and require alternative methods of postcolonial analysis. As way to contradict and compliment this scant literature, the following examines the revolt of La Ascensión …

Colonial Violence And The Gendering Of Post-War Terrain In Southern New England: Native Women And Rights To Reservation Land In Eighteenth-Century Connecticut, Amy E. Den Ouden

Landscapes of Violence

This essay examines the significance of reservations in southern New England as indigenous places-in-the-making in the aftermath of King Philip’s War. It highlights crucial moments in the early eighteenth-century history of reservation communities in Connecticut that were engaged in struggles to defend their lands against the imposition of private property and the violence of dispossession that targeted Native women, who were purveyors of communal land rights. These post-war histories reveal that reservations were not localities of “pacified Indians”, but rather sites of new conflicts over the rights and futures of Native peoples within which gendered forms of dissent confronted the …

Wabanaki Resistance And Healing: An Exploration Of The Contemporary Role Of An Eighteenth Century Bounty Proclamation In An Indigenous Decolonization Process, Bonnie D. Newsom, Jamie Bissonette-Lewey

Landscapes of Violence

The purpose of this paper is to examine the contemporary role of an eighteenth century bounty proclamation issued on the Penobscot Indians of Maine. We focus specifically on how the changing cultural context of the 1755 Spencer Phips Bounty Proclamation has transformed the document from serving as a tool for sanctioned violence to a tool of decolonization for the Indigenous peoples of Maine. We explore examples of the ways indigenous and non-indigenous people use the Phips Proclamation to illustrate past violence directed against Indigenous peoples. This exploration is enhanced with an analysis of the re-introduction of the Phips Proclamation using …

From The Guest Editor: An Introduction To Stolen People, Stolen Land, Stolen Identity: Negotiating The Labyrinth Of Anglo-American Culture And Law, Kathleen A. Brown-Perez

Landscapes of Violence

No abstract provided.