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

最近对秘鲁北部沿海印加前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观点，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因素。人类活动可以在墓葬记录中留下可辨认的签名，但这些签名很容易被环境和动物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割草学。在John Verano博士的监督下，Heather Backo将使用秘鲁三个时期遗址Moche(公元100-800)、Chimu(公元1100-1550)和Lambayeque(公元800-1350)的祭祀受害者的遗骸，重建从个人死亡到沉积和恢复的事件序列，特别关注于区分死后文化事件和自然事件。攻丝学是一个日益重要的研究领域，有着广泛的应用前景。传统上，挖掘动物学研究的重点是将遗骸缓慢地并入化石记录。然而，最近，这些技术的应用已经扩展到更近的事件，为促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大到包括古病理学、古代疾病和创伤的研究以及法医人类学的研究问题。拟议的研究建立并扩展了这一基础，通过研究骨骼元素的分布、保存和放置模式，开发出区分故意肢解和遗骸仪式定位的方法，而不是通过食肉动物活动、风或水的自然脱节和扩散。此外，还将检查缺失元素的模式，以了解它们可能揭示的有关死后处理和故意管理或使用的信息。这一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有价值。此外，秘鲁沿海遗骸和相关文物的良好保存使该区域成为一个宝贵的资源，因为它提供了一个独特的机会，极大地扩大了我们对史前文化习俗的了解，并提供了多个案例研究环境，用来测试和扩大我们对影响随后对遗骸进行解释的挖掘和法医过程的知识。所有结果将提交同行评议的期刊和学术会议发表。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。然而，这项研究也有更广泛的影响。一名对人类学感兴趣的当地学生被列入预算，以帮助收集和重新管理骨骼遗骸。这是为了鼓励对秘鲁史前的参与和研究，最终结果是促进该地区当地人的保护和机会。此外，博士研究补助金将为作者提供有关攻丝经济学分析方法的培训和经验。

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.