Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Cultural vs. Natural Taphonomic Agents in the Reconstruction of Ritualized Postmortem Events on the North Coast of Peru

博士论文改进补助金：秘鲁北海岸仪式化死后事件重建中的文化与自然埋藏剂

• 批准号: 0718026
• 负责人: John Verano
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Tulane University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-07-15 至 2009-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0718026&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Cultural

Recent excavations of Pre-Inca sacrificial sites along Northern Coastal Peru has revealed a complex form of postmortem treatment for human remains. These discoveries have lent support to the argument that scenes of manipulation and display of remains in Moche art depict actual events, but accurate interpretation of the evidence requires the ability to reliably discriminate between human and natural agents among remains influenced by both environmental and ritual activity. Human activity can leave recognizable signatures in the burial record, but these are easily masked by non-human disturbances such as environmental and faunal activity. The scientific study of these postmortem processes is referred to as taphonomy. Under the supervision of Dr. John Verano, Heather Backo will use the remains of sacrificial victims at three Moche (AD 100-800), Chimu (AD 1100-1550), and Lambayeque (AD 800-1350) period sites from Peru, to reconstruct the sequence of events leading from death of individual to deposition and recovery, with a specific focus on differentiating between postmortem cultural and natural events. Taphonomy is an increasingly important field of study with a wide range of applications. Traditionally, taphonomic studies focus upon the slow incorporation of remains into the fossil record. More recently, however, the application of these techniques has expanded to more recent events, making a substantial contribution toward advancing the understanding of past and present human behavior. The definition of taphonomy can therefore be expanded to include research issues in paleopathology, the study of ancient disease and trauma, and forensic anthropology. The proposed research builds upon and expands this base by studying the patterns of distribution, preservation, and placement of skeletal elements to develop methods for distinguishing between intentional dismemberment, and ritualistic positioning of remains, as opposed to natural disarticulation and dispersal by carnivore activity, wind or water. In addition, patterns of missing elements will be examined for what they may reveal about postmortem treatment and intentional curation or use. The results will have value for multiple subfields of both archaeology and anthropology, and collections both ancient and modern. In addition, the excellent preservation of remains and associated artifacts of coastal Peru make this region an invaluable resource by providing a unique opportunity to greatly expand our knowledge of prehistoric cultural practices, as well as provide multiple case study environments with which to test and expand our knowledge of taphonomic and forensic processes that affect the subsequent interpretation of recovered remains.All results will be submitted for publication through peer-reviewed journals, as well as academic conferences. Relevant journals include subjects in both paleopathology, forensic anthropology, archaeology and Latin American studies. However, this research has broader impacts as well. A local student with interest in anthropology is included in the budget for assistance with collecting and re-curating the skeletal remains. This is to encourage participation and research into Peruvian prehistory, with the end result of promoting preservation and opportunity for people local to the area. In addition, the doctoral research grant will lead to training and experience in the methods of taphonomic analysis for the author.

最近对秘鲁北方沿海沿着的前印加祭祀遗址的发掘揭示了一种复杂的人类遗骸死后处理方式。 这些发现支持了这样一种论点，即莫切艺术中操纵和展示遗骸的场景描绘了真实的事件，但对证据的准确解释需要能够可靠地区分受环境和仪式活动影响的遗骸中的人类和自然媒介。 人类活动可以在埋葬记录中留下可识别的特征，但这些特征很容易被环境和动物群活动等非人类干扰所掩盖。对这些死后过程的科学研究被称为埋藏学。在约翰·维拉诺博士的监督下，石楠·巴科将在三莫切使用牺牲者的遗体（公元100-800年），Chimu（公元1100-1550年），和兰巴耶克（公元800-1350年）时期的遗址，重建从个人死亡到沉积和恢复的事件顺序，特别关注死后文化和自然事件之间的区别。埋藏学是一个越来越重要的研究领域，具有广泛的应用。 传统上，埋藏学研究的重点是缓慢纳入遗骸的化石记录。 然而，最近，这些技术的应用已经扩展到更近期的事件，为推进对过去和现在人类行为的理解做出了重大贡献。 因此，埋藏学的定义可以扩展到包括古病理学，古代疾病和创伤的研究，以及法医人类学的研究问题。 拟议中的研究建立在这个基础上，并通过研究骨骼元素的分布，保存和放置模式来扩展这个基础，以开发区分故意肢解和遗体仪式定位的方法，而不是食肉动物活动，风或水的自然肢解和分散。 此外，还将检查缺失元素的模式，以了解它们可能揭示的死后处理和故意策展或使用的情况。研究结果将对考古学和人类学的多个子领域以及古代和现代的收藏品都具有价值。此外，秘鲁沿海地区的遗迹和相关手工艺品得到了很好的保护，使该地区成为一个宝贵的资源，为我们提供了一个独特的机会，大大扩大了我们对史前文化习俗的了解，以及提供多个案例研究环境，以测试和扩展我们对影响后续解释的埋藏和法医过程的知识。所有结果将提交给通过同行评审的期刊以及学术会议发表。相关期刊包括古病理学、法医人类学、考古学和拉丁美洲研究等学科。 然而，这项研究也有更广泛的影响。预算中包括一名对人类学感兴趣的当地学生，以协助收集和重新整理遗骸。 这是为了鼓励参与和研究秘鲁史前史，最终结果是促进保护和当地人民的机会。此外，博士研究补助金将导致培训和经验的方法埋藏分析的作者。