Bioarchaeology in Coastal Ecuador

Summary

Bioarcheology is slowly being integrated into research programs in Ecuador. Ubelaker’s 1981 groundbreaking excavation and analysis of the Ayalán Cemetery, along the southern coast, was the first attempt at incorporating bioarchaeology in this region; however, since then, relatively little work has been done. We seek to investigate human skeletal remains found at different archaeological sites in the Manabí province. The sample comprises diverse burial type, age, and contextual information. Some remains were previously excavated by professionals in the 1980’s, others have been recently excavated by our team, and some are the result of community efforts to salvage archaeological materials from modern constructions. Our project is two-fold: 1) to understand the paleodemography and burial practices as they relate to social belief systems; and 2) to continue to strengthen a decades old program of cooperation and education with local communities. In this poster, we present some preliminary bioarchaeological findings and our work with descendant peoples in coastal Ecuador.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage