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Commingled and fragmentary remains are found in numerous contexts worldwide. These assemblages typically require large scale, long term study to fully extract and contextualize meaningful data. However, when uncovered in CRM and foreign settings where remains cannot leave their country of origin, there is a need for quick, reliable data collection. Presented here is a recording system for use in field- and research-based laboratory settings. Utilizing visual forms and a minimal set of observations for skeletal elements from the cranium to the foot, the database facilitates data collection of fragment identification, age at death and sex estimation, dental observations, trauma recording, and taphonomic observations. A data dictionary is also provided, with definitions and value lists used in the database itself. The database has been used in field labs throughout the old world and by numerous researchers who have modified it to meet their own research needs. By presenting a minimal standard of data in a highly adaptable database, the recording system described here provides consistent baseline data in a user-friendly, quick-access format Restos óseos mezclados y en estado fragmentario se encuentran en numerosos contextos en todo el mundo. Estos conjuntos típicamente requieren estudios a gran escala y de largo plazo para completamente extraer y contextualizar los datos significativos. Sin embargo, cuando se descubren durante actividades de gestión de recursos culturales o en contextos internacionales donde los restos no pueden salir de su país de origen, se necesita una manera confiable y rápida de recolectar datos. En este articulo presentamos un sistema de registro que puede emplearse en laboratorios de campo o de investigación. Utilizando formas visuales y un conjunto mínimo de observaciones para los elementos esqueléticos desde el cráneo hasta el pie, esta base de datos facilita la recopilación de información sobre identificación de fragmentos, estimación del sexo y de la edad al momento de la muerte, observaciones dentales, registro de trauma y observaciones tafonómicas. También se proporciona un diccionario de datos con definiciones y listas de valores usados en la base de datos. La base de datos ha sido usada en laboratorios de campo en todo el mundo y por numerosos investigadores quienes la han modificado para satisfacer sus propias necesidades de investigación. Al presentar un estándar mínimo de datos en una base de datos altamente adaptable, el sistema de registro descrito aquí provee datos de referencia consistentes en un formato fácil de usar y de rápido acceso.

Metric analysis of skeletal material is integral to the analysis and identification of human remains, though one commonly used measuring device, the osteometric board, has lagged in recent advancement. Traditional boards are bulky and require manual measurement recording, potentially generating intra- and interobserver error. To address these limitations, we tested the reliability, validity, and error rates of a novel device, the Portable Osteometric Device Version 1 (PODv1), which measures distance using laser sensors with time-of-flight technology. Forty-five volunteers measured four skeletal elements with the PODv1 and a PaleoTech osteometric board in three rounds. Comparison of tibia, humerus, and femur measurements with both devices showed no significant differences, although the maximum length of the ulna did differ, potentially because of observer confusion regarding the PODv1's user instructions for this element. Our results suggest that the PODv1 is a reliable, valid measurement device compared to traditional osteometric boards. Although both device types can produce calibration, transcription, and observer errors, the time-of-flight technology and the absence of manual recording built into the PODv1 may limit those errors. These advancements and their potential positive impacts on the accuracy of osteometric data collection may have far-reaching benefits for osteological, bioarchaeological, paleopathological, and forensic anthropological data collection. El análisis métrico del material esquelético es integral para el análisis e identificación de restos humanos, aunque uno de los dispositivos de medición más comúnmente utilizados, la tabla osteométrica, ha quedado rezagada en los avances recientes. Las tablas tradicionales son voluminosas y requieren la medición manual, lo que puede generar errores intra e inter-observador. Para abordar estas limitaciones, probamos la confiabilidad, validez y tasas de error de un nuevo dispositivo, el Dispositivo Osteométrico Portátil Versión 1 (PODv1), que mide la distancia utilizando sensores láser con tecnología de tiempo de vuelo. Cuarenta y cinco voluntarios midieron cuatro elementos esqueléticos con el PODv1 y una tabla osteométrica PaleoTech en tres rondas. La comparación de las medidas de la tibia, el húmero y el fémur con ambos dispositivos no mostró diferencias significativas, aunque la longitud máxima de la ulna difirió entre ellos, posiblemente debido a la confusión del observador en torno a las instrucciones de uso del PODv1 para este elemento. Los resultados sugieren que el PODv1 es un dispositivo de medición confiable y válido en comparación con las tablas osteométricas tradicionales. Aunque ambos tipos de dispositivos pueden implicar errores de calibración, transcripción y observación, la tecnología de tiempo de vuelo y la ausencia de necesidad de registro manual incorporadas en el PODv1 pueden limitar estos problemas. Estos avances y sus posibles impactos positivos en la precisión de la recopilación de datos osteométricos pueden tener beneficios de largo alcance para la recopilación de datos osteológicos, bioarqueológicos, paleopatológicos y antropológicos forenses.

Health-related caretaking was provided to individuals institutionalized in the Mississippi State Asylum (MSA), Jackson, MS (AD 1855–1935). However, because of limited associated documentary evidence on caretaking in the MSA and a general dearth of academic knowledge about caretaking in asylums in the Southern United States, information on caretaking and its efficacy in the MSA is limited. Accordingly, we apply a modified Bioarchaeology of Care (BoC) approach and associated web-based Index of Care to a single deceased individual from the MSA, referred to here as their burial designation—Burial 1—integrated with available documentary information, to generate direct insights into caretaking in the MSA. Burial 1’s skeleton exhibits recidivistic cranial trauma (i.e., cranial depression fractures) and substantial entheseal changes in the upper extremities. This trauma, paired with subsequent traumatic brain injury, suggests that Burial 1 may have experienced physical impairment and disability. Further, the disability Burial 1 experienced likely increased their risk of being institutionalized and created complications for them in the MSA. However, the lack of identifying information for individuals buried at the MSA complicates interpretations of the caretaking they may have received, both before and after institutionalization, as well as the efficaciousness of the caretaking and insights from the caretaking into patient and staff communities in the MSA and Burial 1’s social identity and agency. Despite this, findings affirm that future research applying the modified BoC approach could generate otherwise inscrutable information about the lived experiences of institutionalized patients with impairments and disability within historic institutions of care.

Assemblages consisting of fragmented, cut, and burned human bone in the prehistoric Southwest have a long history of both analysis and controversy. How do we interpret violence and destruction of the body that occurred hundreds to thousands of years ago? Two basic models have emerged with regard to these assemblages: cannibalism (as primarily codified by the work of Turner) and extreme processing (as developed by Kuckelman and colleagues). These two models are discussed in this article, as is their development and interpretive power. Through the lens of Sacred Ridge, a large Pueblo I assemblage dating to approximately A.D. 810 in southwestern Colorado, the different interpretations of violence in the Southwest are interrogated. This study highlights the importance of placing assemblages that are heavily fragmented with high degrees of perimortem violence, tool marks, and burning into larger regional and temporal contexts.

Studies of violence in the Southwest need to include multiple lines of evidence in order to understand the social role of that violence. Focusing solely on ethnographic or archaeological reconstructions can lead to an incomplete picture of lived experience in the past. The articles in this special issue provide contextualized bioarchaeological analyses of how violence is used within different groups in the Southwest prior to European contact. This introduction highlights the role that bioarchaeology can play within greater reconstructions of lived experience in the past.

Studies of violence in the Southwest need to include multiple lines of evidence in order to understand the social role of that violence. Focusing solely on ethnographic or archaeological reconstructions can lead to an incomplete picture of lived experience in the past. The articles in this special issue provide contextualized bioarchaeological analyses of how violence is used within different groups in the Southwest prior to European contact. This introduction highlights the role that bioarchaeology can play within greater reconstructions of lived experience in the past.

Violent interactions have three distinct actors: aggressors, victims and witnesses. Social identities of individuals within these groups are created and enforced through performative violence such as hobbling or torture. The Sacred Ridge site is a Pueblo I (AD 700-900) habitation site in Southwestern Colorado; during excavation, an assemblage consisting of 14,882 bone fragments representing at least 33 individuals was discovered. Perimortem trauma and tool marks indicate heavy processing of all individuals; the remains were deposited completely commingled within a pit structure. Foot and ankle bones from the Sacred Ridge processed assemblage have damage suggesting hobbling by blows to the sides of the ankle and torture by beating the soles and tops of the feet. These performative acts form the basis for social control of victims and witnesses by aggressors. Taphonomic analysis of human remains can be used to examine behaviors of each group creating the assemblage. Existen tres tipos diferentes de actores en las interacciones violentas: los agresores, las víctimas y los testigos. La identidad social de cada individuo perteneciente a estos grupos se crea y refuerza a través de la violencia conductual en casos como la paralización y la tortura; durante las excavaciones llevadas a cabo en la zona de Sacred Ridge, al suroeste de Colorado, durante la época de Pueblo I (700-900 a.C.), se halló un conjunto de 14.882 fragmentos de hueso pertenecientes a 33 individuos. Los traumatismos y las marcas dejadas por determinados instrumentos en el momento de la muerte indican que se sometió a los individuos a un proceso de manipulación complicado. Los restos de los cuerpos desmembrados se depositaron mezclados en una fosa común. Los huesos del tobillo y de los pies que se han procesado muestran heridas que sugieren que se paralizó a los individuos golpeándoles en los tobillos y que se les torturó, además, atizándoles en las plantas y en los empeines de los pies. Estas acciones conductuales son la base del control ejercido por los agresores contras las víctimas y los testigos. El análisis tafonómico de los restos encontrados puede usarse para examinar más detenidamente los comportamientos de cada uno de estos grupos.

Violent interactions have three distinct actors: aggressors, victims and witnesses. Social identities of individuals within these groups are created and enforced through performative violence such as hobbling or torture. The Sacred Ridge site is a Pueblo I (AD 700–900) habitation site in Southwestern Colorado; during excavation, an assemblage consisting of 14,882 bone fragments representing at least 33 individuals was discovered. Perimortem trauma and tool marks indicate heavy processing of all individuals; the remains were deposited completely commingled within a pit structure. Foot and ankle bones from the Sacred Ridge processed assemblage have damage suggesting hobbling by blows to the sides of the ankle and torture by beating the soles and tops of the feet. These performative acts form the basis for social control of victims and witnesses by aggressors. Taphonomic analysis of human remains can be used to examine behaviors of each group creating the assemblage. Existen tres tipos diferentes de actores en las interacciones violentas: los agresores, las víctimas y los testigos. La identidad social de cada individuo perteneciente a estos grupos se crea y refuerza a través de la violencia conductual en casos como la paralización y la tortura; durante las excavaciones llevadas a cabo en la zona de Sacred Ridge, al suroeste de Colorado, durante la época de Pueblo I (700–900 a.C.), se halló un conjunto de 14.882 fragmentos de hueso pertenecientes a 33 individuos. Los traumatismos y las marcas dejadas por determinados instrumentos en el momento de la muerte indican que se sometió a los individuos a un proceso de manipulación complicado. Los restos de los cuerpos desmembrados se depositaron mezclados en una fosa común. Los huesos del tobillo y de los pies que se han procesado muestran heridas que sugieren que se paralizó a los individuos golpeándoles en los tobillos y que se les torturó, además, atizándoles en las plantas y en los empeines de los pies. Estas acciones conductuales son la base del control ejercido por los agresores contras las víctimas y los testigos. El análisis tafonómico de los restos encontrados puede usarse para examinar más detenidamente los comportamientos de cada uno de estos grupos.