Exploring Biological Affiliations and Cultural Perspectives through Dental Morphology at Cerro Juan Díaz, Panamá: A Preliminary Study of the Early Burials (30–650 CE)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Unraveling the Mysteries of the Isthmo-Colombian Area’s Past: A Symposium in Honor of Archaeologist Richard Cooke and His Contributions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Burial space reuse and prolonged interaction with the dead were common practices in the Isthmo-Colombian Area, dating back to at least the Early Ceramic period. However, it is unknown whether the individuals interred in disturbed, multiple burial contexts shared biological or social ties within their communities, or whether they pertained to multiple communities that transported their dead to a shared cemetery space. We explore possible intra-cemetery biological affiliations through a biological distance analysis at the site of Cerro Juan Díaz in Panamá, estimated via dental metric and non-metric traits present in individuals recovered from multiple burial contexts from the first mortuary horizon. Inter-individual differences compared across burial group, age, and sex showed broad similarities between the three burial contexts. Significant differences in biological distance were found only when the pooled data were compared by age (adults aged 15+ years to non-adults). Non-adults also showed a significantly higher intragroup phenotypic heterogeneity when compared to adults. Our results are largely consistent with previous notions of Cerro Juan Díaz’s function as a community burial ground. Infants and children may have been brought to the site for burial from nearby villages, perhaps following specific mortuary traditions governed by age group.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Unraveling the Mysteries of the Isthmo-Colombian Area’s Past: A Symposium in Honor of Archaeologist Richard Cooke and His Contributions   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38667.0