Cross-Cultural Examination of Mortuary Practices of the Southern Sinagua and Prescott Culture

Summary

The burials from the Oak Creek Valley Pueblo and the Dewey Archaeological sites provide data for interpreting the mortuary practices and burial rituals of the Southern Sinagua and Prescott cultures. The variability exhibited in the burials uncovered at these sites, which include the remains of an adult male, two adult females, infant burials, and one dog, allows for an examination of mortuary practices as they relate to social structure and the role of children, symbolism, environmental influences on ritual, and the utilization of space. This presentation addresses the methods used for documenting the skeletal remains and practices of interment, a discussion concerning examination of associated funerary objects, and the locations of these burials as related to site layout and overall spatial context. Studying these sites will yield data important to the mortuary rituals of these cultures and allow for a review and comparison of the cultural behaviors between the loci.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage