Aging and Funerary Practices at Monte Alban, Mexico

Summary

In the past decades, new theoretical and methodological developments in bioarchaeology and archaeology of death have allowed the exploration of age categories that are very challenging to access archaeologically: infants and older adults. Although Mesoamerican archaeology has largely used evidence for representations of aging in different sources of information (textual and iconographic) to engage in a broader consideration of funerary practices, approaches of old age as an identity category has been neglected by archaeological inquiry. This article explores the funerary practices of the elderly at Monte Alban and how it contributes to an understanding of the longevity in the past and the attributions based on age in the context of the organization of the domestic labor in complex societies. Aged bodies were selected considering pathologies and markers of senescence that include, for example, joint diseases, osteoporosis, traces of wear and tooth loss (n=40; 12,1%). Some symbolic aspects of longevity were introduced in the funerary practices to give meanings to the preservation of the memory of the house. Equally, older people are engaged in occupational specializations of the residential group, as ceramic production and trade of prestige goods, throughout the time of occupation of the site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22605