Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: "Family, "Foreigners," and Fictive Kinship: A Bioarchaeolgoical Approach to Ancient Maya Social Organization"

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Under the guidance of Dr. Jane Buikstra, Katherine Miller will conduct an analysis of biological and chemical data from human skeletal remains from the ancient city of Copan. The research site is located at the southeastern periphery of the ancient Maya world in western Honduras. Copan was a major social, political, and economic center that was occupied for nearly 3,000 years reaching its apogee during the Late Classic period (AD 600-820) when the population surpassed 20,000 inhabitants. Copan is ideal for this project because of its continuous occupation, its role as a major Maya urban center, and extensive excavations that have produced the largest skeletal collection in Mesoamerica. Ms. Miller's research explores kinship and residential patterns through an empirical and theoretically inclined methodology applicable to past societies by directly engaging individuals who were buried at Copan.The factors that influence how people choose to associate and organize into social, political, and economic groups both in the past and present are long-standing research issues in anthropology as they are central to (re)constructions of the past. This project takes a novel approach to the problem of social organization by using new methods and a largely neglected source of data, the human body. The chemical and biological signatures found in the skeleton highlight the interplay of genealogy and culture and are well-suited to accurately document relationships and affiliations since these signatures cannot be seen, distorted, or misrepresented by the individual or society in life or death. This project will address the role that kinship and shared residence played in the formation and maintenance of social groups by employing (1) biodistance analysis to infer biological kinship relationships through the physical expressions of underlying genetic traits found in teeth, and (2) radiogenic strontium isotope analysis to extract samples of strontium from human teeth to infer ancient migration and residence patterns. This study will provide a necessary and timely addition to the body of knowledge on ancient Maya social organization by including data drawn from those who created and maintained society.This research will have impacts that extend beyond the research topic. As part of an international collaboration with the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History and institutions from the United States, a major component of this research includes the conservation of the largest collection of archaeologically recovered ancient Maya human skeletal remains from a UNESCO World Heritage site. The intellectual merit of this project centers on the interdisciplinary nature of the research design that combines archaeology, biological and cultural anthropology, biogeochemistry, and statistics to address the long-standing problem of social organization. Results will be disseminated through a publicly available online database and in peer-reviewed publications. Public outreach will occur both in the United States and Honduras through public lectures, academic presentations, and workshops to improve the understanding of science and protection of archaeological collections. Finally, this project provides the foundation for long-term international scientific collaboration by training students and professionals from the United States and Honduras in bioarchaeological methodology, research design, conservation, and field analysis.