The Teeth Tell All: Dentition, Demography, and Paleopathology at Early Classical Mayan Site of Tulix Muul, Belize

Summary

In 2013 a rescue mission to salvage and preserve details of the shrine complex at Tulix Muul, a Classic Maya site in northwestern Belize, yielded a Maya mural. While the arrangement of the mural at the shrine echoes notions of nobility, this rare landmark discovery lies in contrast to what we can infer about the social status of exhumed remains from the Tulix Muul archaeological site. This poster will address the multifaceted insights we can glean from certain aspects of the past life histories and social identities of the residents of Tulix Muul. An analysis of the dentition from thirteen burials illustrates how non-specific indicators of health (NSIH) relate to the varying tiers of class among Early Classic Maya communities in northwestern Belize. Subsequently, comparing these results alongside contemporaneous finds from the neighboring site of Blue Creek will emphasize the biocultural impact of class-based dietary disparities reflected in the bioarchaeological record of two communities a mere 30 kilometers apart.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22339