Serious Seriation: Age-at-Death Assessment of Skeletons from Caves Branch Rockshelter, Belize

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Caves Branch Rockshelter (CBR) is a large cemetery site in Central Belize used for burial by a rural Maya community during the Late Preclassic and Early Classic periods (~300 BC–AD 400). The CBR skeletal series is unusual in the region as it is large and appears to comprise a relatively complete mortality profile. However, due to poor preservation, different aspects of the biological profile have been difficult to assess. In this study, we explore age-at-death estimation by seriating individuals based on the extent of dental attrition and using standard mortality profiles to place individuals into age groupings. Additionally, for each individual, we calculate rate of wear by comparing attrition between first, second, and third molars.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36517.0