Death on the Early Formative Oaxaca Coast: The Human Remains of La Consentida

Summary

The initial Early Formative period site of La Consentida was occupied between 1950 and 1550 calBC. This early village community on the western Oaxaca coast has produced evidence of some of Mesoamerica’s oldest known ceramics, mounded earthen architecture, and musical instruments but the site’s human remains have received little attention thus far. The people of La Consentida lived and died during a period of social and economic transformations, including the establishment of sedentary villages, a gradual shift toward agriculture, and reorganization of communal interactions that ultimately produced hierarchical social complexity. In this paper, we present information regarding the archaeological context, bioarchaeological analysis, and isotopic dietary indicators offered by these early Mesoamerican burials. Skeletal analyses indicate variations in health, pathology, and dietary practices. Isotopic indicators are still under analysis, but may indicate significant early maize consumption. Features associated with the human remains, including a ritual cache containing faunal remains, ceramics, and a musical instrument indicate some of La Consentida’s mortuary practices, as do offerings interred with individual burials. As some of Oaxaca’s earliest known human remains, the burials of La Consentida offer a rare opportunity for multidisciplinary investigation of the mortuary practices, diet, and lifestyles of initial Early Formative period Mesoamerica.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Bioarchaeology of Oaxaca: Talking with the Dead from Southern Mexico   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage