The Sum of Their Parts: Excavation and Inventory of Isolated Commingled Remains alongside Partially Articulated Individuals at Diablo Wasi, Peru

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Continued Advances in Method and Theory for Commingled Remains" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Funerary contexts of commingled remains generally fall into one of two categories: primary mass burials and secondary reinterments. Each of these commingled contexts has standards of documentation, collection, and inventory that have proven effective in the past. At Diablo Wasi, in the northern Peruvian Andes, the funerary contexts are a combination of primary depositions and taphonomic processes that replicate secondary deposits, requiring a new approach. The site consists of primary depositions of bundled individuals, but animal and human disturbances have destroyed many of the bundles and led to the degradation and disarticulation of the individuals placed inside the mausolea. Thus, partially articulated and bundled individuals can be found mixed with matrix and isolated skeletal elements. To more effectively excavate and inventory these contexts, we developed a mapping and numbering system that permitted us to enumerate all skeletal elements, regardless of their association or articulation, while maintaining the in situ relationships of individuals or skeletal elements that were articulated or in association. This system allowed us to calculate a minimum number of individuals using standard methods while simultaneously maintaining the contextual relationships that aid in laboratory analyses and the reassociation of individuals and isolated skeletal elements.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Continued Advances in Method and Theory for Commingled Remains

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38378.0