Cared for or Outcasts? The bioarchaeological analysis of two individuals with potential disabilities from Aztec Ruins

Summary

This project focuses on the assessment of individuals who appear to have held a lower status, worked harder, and been at more risk for trauma then other members of the same community. The West Ruin site of Aztec Ruins is an important site in the U.S. Southwest that came into prominence after the decline of Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon. Within this site there are two individuals who appear to have suffered significant traumatic injuries that healed. Both individuals were young adults; one appears to be a female while the other is likely a developing male. The question we had is what if any care in the form of treatment and provisioning were provided for these individuals. Using standard osteological methods and archaeological context the individuals were entered into the newly created web-based instrument known as the Index of Care. The data generated allowed us to assess if the injuries these individuals suffered during their lifetime were sufficient enough that they would have needed caregiving by other members of the community.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Building a Bioarchaeology of Care

Keywords

Spatial Coverage