The View from Honduras: The Emergence and Importance of the Study of Human Skeletal Remains
Author(s): Katie Miller Wolf
Year: 2025
Summary
This is an abstract from the "Ethical Dilemmas in the Study and Care of Human Remains beyond North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
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Archaeological investigations in Honduras began in the mid 19<sup>th</sup> century, with projects led by foreign institutions with hierarchical relationships toward local colleagues. Recently, archaeology has been transformed by those committed to strengthening the discipline in-country through projects and the anthropology bachelor’s at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras. Efforts ensure practice and theory reach local and descendent communities to foster education and professionalization of bio/archaeologists. Projects are now Honduran-led and include local and descendent communities, a pattern often absent in North America. Ancient Mesoamericans buried their dead in residential and public spaces, so archaeologists regularly encounter skeletal remains, but the story of the dead is not viewed as profane or problematic. There exists profound interest in the stories of the dead, viewed as essential to reconstructing the past to connect with ancestors. Honduran archaeologists are devoted to the holistic, contextualized study of past experiences through skeletal remains as sociocultural attitudes toward the dead are markedly different. Concerns about cultural imperialism from the US or elsewhere that could limit within-community decision-making related to Honduran bio/archaeology exist. Even so, bio/archaeology is complex as it relates to education, academic silos, and resources for the study and curation of remains deeply valued by Hondurans.
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Cite this Record
The View from Honduras: The Emergence and Importance of the Study of Human Skeletal Remains. Katie Miller Wolf. Presented at The 90th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2025 ( tDAR id: 509222)
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Abstract Id(s): 53472