Animal, Human, and Crafted Bone from the S-Sector of Piedras Negras

Summary

Excavations within the S-Sector at Piedras Negras in 2016 yielded an assemblage of lithic and bone artifacts consistent with evidence of craft production. The Proyecto Paisaje Piedras Negras – Yaxchilan returned to the S-Sector during the 2017 field season to conduct more extensive excavations in an attempt to understand production and exchange at this Maya polity capital. Between the 2016 and 2017 seasons, over 4,300 fragments of worked and unworked bone, both human and animal, were excavated from the S-Sector. Here we present the preliminary results of an integrated bioarchaeological and zooarchaeological analysis of the materials. The significance of this assemblage lies in its composition, consisting of both human and animal bone, including finished tools, ornaments, and production debris. Especially notable are large quantities of bone objects used in the working of textiles. Among the human remains are a sizeable quantity of isolated, pathological teeth that we believe may be the remains of tooth extractions.

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): 20921