Metamorphoses of Human and Non-Human Agents Within the Shaft Tomb Burials in Ancient West Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper will contextualize the diverse range of materials found in several shaft tombs throughout West Mexico. I argue that there are examples of ontological ecologies connected to animals and the seasons by understanding the connections between the landscape and the materials found in the tombs. I explore how the metamorphoses of several animals such as frogs and flies, and the contributions they play in the landscape relate to the mortuary practices of the tombs. I believe that human and non-human agents, such as animals and plants, are entangled in a relationship of consumption and transference and that the people of this region were intentional with establishing a space where an infinite cycle of giving and taking was established. By contextualizing materials associated with mortuary practices, iconography, ethnographies, and Mesoamerican codexes, we can understand why the specific materials in the shaft tombs were built in the first place, which can also get us closer to understanding their broader networks.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39995.0