A Burden to Others? Burial 39-C from Iximche’, Guatemala

Summary

This is an abstract from the "(De)Pathologizing the Past: New Perspectives on Intervention and Modification as Care in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

An adult female from the elite part of the Late Postclassic Highland Maya site of Iximche', Guatemala had a jade pendant buried with her and was near another person buried with a gold necklace. She had extensive osteoporosis, a collapsed thoracic vertebra, a healed periosteal reaction, osteoarthritis throughout her body, and septic arthritis of her elbow, scapula, and hip. Her dentition featured caries, an abscess, heavy calculus deposits, alveolar resorption, and tooth trauma. Other potentially significant aspects include that her cranium was artificially modified, she had congenital absence of a tooth, and some of her bones had been exposed to fire. It is unlikely that this elite woman could have survived to her estimated age of 45-59 years old without significant intervention and care by others. This presentation will include images of human remains.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• (De)Pathologizing the Past: New Perspectives on Intervention and Modification as Care in the Americas

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50464