Indicators of Skeletal Stress in a Small Skeletal Sample Spanning the Holocene in the Maya Mountains of Belize

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Bladen Paleoindian and Archaic archaeological Project (BPAAP) is an ongoing research endeavor focused on excavations from two rock shelters in the Maya Mountains of southern Belize: Maya Hak Cab Pek, and Saki Tzul. Continued use of these rocks shelters from the Late Pleistocene to the collapse of Mayan civilization has resulted in a unique perspective on biological variation in Mesoamerica during this time. This study examines differential stress experiences in a small sample (n=16) of human skeletal remains dating between 8270–2265 years B.P. Here, we examine prevalence of non-specific indicators of stress (cribra orbitalia(CO) and porotic hyperostosis(PH)) in conjunction with aDNA to better understand stress differentials between individuals from different migratory waves and with different subsistence strategies. Of these, 9.09% have CO and 50% have PH; this higher incidence of PH is a result in keeping with other studies. Overall, few individuals exhibit stress indicators despite reflecting ~6000 years of ecological and social change. Despite the small sample size, these remains represent an important avenue for the exploration of differences in stress and diet in members of various haplogroups throughout the Holocene.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26081