Occupational Stress on Oaxaca’s Pacific Coast: Bioarchaeological Evidence for Specialized Task Activity at Rio Viejo

Summary

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

This paper provides a micro-scale consideration of the broader social processes under way during the Early Classic to the Postclassic periods in the Río Verde drainage basin of Oaxaca, Mexico. Through a detailed bioarchaeological analysis, we examine individuals from Río Viejo for evidence of occupational stress, with an emphasis on select individuals who lived throughout this period, including defined periods of transition. At Río Viejo burials showed osteological changes due to activities exhibiting identifiable signatures of specific task-related activities. Here, we focus on a suite of dental and skeletal changes that, elsewhere, have been attributed to weaving. Additionally, items known to support specific task activities were associated with the individuals described, in varying type and quantity. Taken together, the pathologies and burial features suggest individuals potentially engaged in two distinct forms of fiber-working: spinning and weaving, as well as basketry and/or cord.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37656.0