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\"The meanings of ritualized head treatments among ancient Mesoamerican and Andean peoples is the subject of this book, the first overarching coverage of an important subject. Heads are sources of power that protect, impersonate, emulate sacred forces, distinguish, or acquire identity within the native world. The essays in this book examine these themes in a wide array of indigenous head treatments, including facial cosmetics and hair arrangements, permanent cranial vault and facial modifications, dental decorations, posthumous head processing, and head hunting. They offer new insights into native understandings of beauty, power, age, gender, and ethnicity. The contributors are experts from such diverse fields as skeletal biology, archaeology, aesthetics, forensics, taphonomy, and art history\"-- Provided by publisher.

The funerary rites of particular members of the pre-Hispanic Mayan society included the pigmentation of the corpse with a red color. In order to understand this ritual, it is first necessary to identify the constituents of the pigment mixture and then, based on its properties, analyze the possible form and moment of application. In the present approach, 1H-NMR analysis was carried to detect organic components in the funerary pigments of Xcambó, a small Maya settlement in the Yucatan Peninsula. The comparison of the spectra belonging to the pigment found in the bone remains of seven individuals, and those from natural materials, led to the identification of beeswax and an abietane resin as constituents of the pigment, thus conferring it agglutinant and aromatic properties, respectively. The 1H-NMR analysis also allowed to rule out the presence of copal, a resin found in the pigment cover from paramount chiefs from the Mayan society. Additionally, a protocol for the extraction of the organic fraction from the bone segment without visible signs of analysis was developed, thus broadening the techniques available to investigate these valuable samples.

We take an archaeodemographic approach and provide new insights into the population and demographic shifts of the prehispanic site of Xcambo, Yucatan, Mexico. Located in the coastal marshlands, Xcambo functioned as a salt production locale, administration center, and port during the Early Classic (AD 250–550) and Late Classic (AD 550–750) periods. Sierra-Sosa extensively excavated the settlement, and more than 600 skeletons, representative of all age groups, were recovered. We apply growth simulation models that combine archaeo- and paleodemographic approaches. Our simulation specifically takes into account Wood's (1998) theorem. Results show that Xcambo grew slowly during the Early Classic, with estimated figures ranging from about 860 individuals at the onset of the period to some 1,073 at the end. During the Late Classic, populations ranged from about 1,103 to 1,728 people at its peak occupation (AD 625). Eventually population drastically declined due to out-migration. During this last stage, the settlement had to face the consequences of political and economic shifts in the area. Considered jointly, both approaches provide a new research venue, because their application documents the population profiles and growth of a typical Maya coastal site over its 500 years of occupation. Este trabajo proporciona nuevas herramientas analíticas en materia de arqueo-demografía. Los estudios se realizaron en el asentamiento y puerto de Xcambo, localizado en una ciénaga costera del norte de Yucatán, México. Xcambo funcionó como lugar de producción de sal, centro administrativo y puerto de intercambio con otras regiones del área Maya y del Golfo de México durante el Clásico temprano (250-550 dC) y tardío (550-750 dC). Entre 1996 y 2000 el asentamiento fue objeto de excavaciones extensivas e intensivas bajo la dirección de Sierra-Sosa, durante las cuales se recuperaron más de 600 esqueletos que constituyen una muestra demográficamente representativa. Aplicamos modelos de simulación de crecimiento que combinan enfoques arqueo- y paleodemográficos. Nuestra simulación se basa específicamente en el teorema de Wood (1998) sobre modos de producción. Los resultados sugieren un crecimiento gradual durante el Clásico temprano, con una estimación poblacional de aproximadamente 860 individuos al inicio, ascendiendo a una estimación baja de 1.073 personas hacia fines de esta fase ocupacional. Posteriormente, se observa un crecimiento demográfico con un pico de 1.728 personas (estimación elevada) alrededor de 625 d.C. Finalmente, la población disminuye drásticamente debido a la emigración, lo cual se condice con la evidencia material del último siglo de ocupación que indica cambios político-económicos regionales previos al auge de Chichén Itzá. Considerando en conjunto los diferentes tipos de datos y perfiles de crecimiento poblacional en Xcambo, ofrecemos una visión sobre las dinámicas demográficas durante los 500 años de ocupación. De este modo, brindamos una nueva perspectiva metodológica aplicable a las dinámicas poblacionales mayas del Clásico.

Anchored in archaeological, bioarchaeological, and chemical research conducted at the coastal enclave of Xcambo, this paper examines Classic period Maya coastal saline economic production and exchange, along with the lifestyle, ethnicity, and mobility of the traders. Nestled in the coastal marshlands of the northern Yucatan, Mexico, Xcambo functioned as a salt production center and port during its occupation, maintaining long-reaching ties with other parts of the Maya world and Veracruz. Considered together, the different data sets document a reorientation in Xcambo's exchange routes and connections, which are echoed by increasingly diverse cultural affiliations and an increasing geographic mobility of Xcambo's merchants. This new information confirms the known pattern of gradually intensifying, though still relatively independent, trade dynamics along the Maya coast in the centuries leading up to the so-called “Maya collapse” and the rise of a new merchant league under the control of Chichen Itza. It was this new order that probably led to the swift end of Xcambo soon after a.d. 700.

The present study reports on the cultural marks encountered in three (possibly four) skeletons retrieved from primary deposits of the Maya Classic period at Palenque, Calakmul, and Becán, Mexico. We propose that the patterns of cut and stab lesions encountered in the trunks of these individuals stem from perimortem violence that accompanied heart removal from below the rib cage rather than from postmortem evisceration. We confirm the feasibility of this procedure by experimental replication in modern corpses. The interpretation of those procedures synthesizes information obtained from osteological, archaeological, and iconographic sources and leads to a broader discussion concerning the techniques, impact, and meanings of human heart sacrifice and associated body manipulations in Classic period Maya society. Methodologically, we conclude that direct skeletal evidence of heart sacrifice can be rare, imposing a cautionary caveat on the current discussion of mortuary remains in the Maya area.

This paper analyzes the biographical and related archaeological information of 10 artificially shaped skulls from the broader Maya area, which bear resemblance to the high and narrow head morphology depicted in Olmec art. The skeletal evidence of this head form, which was accomplished by combining compression cradleboards with constricting horizontal wraps (tabular erect type in its pseudo-circular variety), is rare and predates A.D. 250 in all cases. Here I compare the cranial vaults shaped in this fashion with that of 49 other Preclassic period Maya indivisuals from different parts of the Maya world. The discussion explores the possible evolving social and religious roles of this emblematic body modification. I argue that Olmecoid head modification was a syncretic cultural adoption, since it was just one of many expressions of a deeply embedded Preclassic tradition, still practiced centuries after the demise of Olman’s societies themselves. The visible effect of the artificial pear-shaped heads most likely reflected gradual shifting ideological schemes, probably emulating early versions of the Maya Maize God, given the resemblance to Preclassic period renderings of this supernatural force.

Chichen Itza stands as a monumental landmark of late Pre-Columbian Maya and Mesoamerican religious complexes. Among the enigmatic aspects of Chichen Itza's ceremonial innovations count skull racks (known as tzompantli in Nahuatl), where the heads of sacrificed victims would be exhibited. Here we combine the scrutiny of death imagery and human skeletal remains, including skulls with marks of bilateral or basal impalement and mandibles with perimortem decapitation from “New” Chichen, the Osario complex, and from Chichen's astronomical Caracol complex. Our combined skeletal and iconographic data confirm the increased practice of corpse processing and head exhibition at Chichen Itza when compared to Classic-period Maya centers. Most of these body treatments were not foreign introductions, as generally believed, but followed local practices, long carried out at the Yucatecan urban centers of Nohpat, Kabah, Uxmal, and Dzibilchaltun. Although on a minor scale compared to Chichen, these demonstrate the display of human body segments, not only skulls, which renders the term tzompantli problematic. In the context of the totalitarian rhetoric of Chichen's central spaces, the massified violence and corpse display herald late religious cults at the cadences of battles won, astronomical cycles, and the perpetual movement of the Feathered Serpent.

We analyzed strontium isotopes in more than 500 samples of shell, bone, and dental enamel from modern and archaeological contexts throughout Mesoamerica. The results correspond closely with expectations based upon the local geology and earlier measurements of geological materials. The results show that isotopic variation is significant across Mesoamerica. Thus strontium isotope ratios in dental enamel, which mark the place of childhood residence, can be used not only to document mobility but also in some cases to determine geographic origin. We present five archaeological case studies to illustrate the anthropological significance and range of applications for this technique: the origins of individuals in the “Oaxaca Barrio” at Teotihuacan, a northern origin for the founder of Copan, a local king at Tikal, the regional origin of two of Palenque's rulers, and individuals of African birth in a colonial cemetery in Campeche.

We are a group of archaeologists, anthropologists, curators and geneticists representing diverse global communities and 31 countries. All of us met in a virtual workshop dedicated to ethics in ancient DNA research held in November 2020. There was widespread agreement that globally applicable ethical guidelines are needed, but that recent recommendations grounded in discussion about research on human remains from North America are not always generalizable worldwide. Here we propose the following globally applicable guidelines, taking into consideration diverse contexts. These hold that: (1) researchers must ensure that all regulations were followed in the places where they work and from which the human remains derived; (2) researchers must prepare a detailed plan prior to beginning any study; (3) researchers must minimize damage to human remains; (4) researchers must ensure that data are made available following publication to allow critical re-examination of scientific findings; and (5) researchers must engage with other stakeholders from the beginning of a study and ensure respect and sensitivity to stakeholder perspectives. We commit to adhering to these guidelines and expect they will promote a high ethical standard in DNA research on human remains going forward. In this Perspective, a group representing a range of stakeholders makes the case for a set of five proposed globally applicable ethical guidelines for ancient human DNA research.