Epi-Classic Cultural Dynamics in the Mezquital Valley

Associated Human Remains

Provided a burial is actually found, one distinction would be relevant. This may happen to be the burial of an individual, in whose honor the pieces were deposited (probably his belongings, like Proskouriakoff points out), or on the contrary, the bone remains may have been aggregated to the objects offered. This important distinction is hard to establish.

The answer doesn’t seem to lie in the position of the bones, as the arrangement of a secondary burial does not necessarily represent human sacrifice, but it can be motivated by an ideological pattern of post mortem treatment of the corpse as a part of the burial ritual.²⁷  In single interments, the secondary burials seem to be a frequent case in Oaxaca, as expressed by Alfonso Caso in a summary on Zapotecan burial patterns (Caso, 1933:645). There he notes: "[…] in some collective tombs, primary and secondary burials coexist, but in this case, the secondary is the richest and most important one" (idem). In turn, Chase and Chase specify that primary burials do not represent the prevailing burial practice in El Caracol, and they add that the same situation had been reported by Diego de Landa (1996:76-77).

On the other hand, the relationship between the bone remains and the architectural features suggests that the individual was sacrificed as a part of an architectural renovation, but at least for what is known from the Late Post Classic and through historical accounts, such was not always the case. Some individuals were buried, according to their status, in buildings with which they somehow had been related during their lifetime (López de Gómara, 1985:122, 302);²⁸  much before that, the alteration of floors, walls and steps with the purpose of depositing burials might have been the consequence of a similar habit.

Both aspects (the treatment of the corpse and its relationship with the architectural structures) may be the result of regional traditions and the aggregate of local traits, so that the universe now at hand is limited. If contexts are separately analyzed, great divergences will come up. In the cases of Palenque and Xochicalco, Sáenz notes the advanced state of deterioration in which the bones were found. Not only the anatomical relation between them was no longer discernible, but apparently some limbs were missing, probably suggesting that they had been removed from elsewhere before being deposited in the structures, although this is only an assumption. At El Caracol, whether the dismembering was ritual, or it was during the desecration that the bones were withdrawn from their original matrix and crammed together with the offerings at the bottom of the chamber, is uncertain. Barrio de la Cruz has shown, as a part of one and the same depositional event, one complete individual and three mutilated infants (in addition to a mammal).

Therefore, the analysis of the relationship that may have existed between the materials and the individuals could provide some clue. Almost as a rule, whenever human remains exist, the objects seem to be complemented with garments. It is true that other separate objects such as strings, pendants or earflares are also found, but in some cases, the ornaments were found right in the place they would have occupied should they have been exhibited by the owners (this has been specified for Burial 3 in San Juan del Río and for the Sabina context); regarding earflares, only two have been recovered (as is the case in Palenque’s Tomb 2, Burial 2 from Xochicalco, again in Sabina Grande and presumably in El Caracol, as opposed for example to Cerro de las Mesas, where dozens of them were recovered, or Tula and Chichén, where they were not present).

Previous Page  |  Table of Contents  |  Next Page

Endnotes

27. Mary Helms describes the abandonment of corpses in the open as a common practice in the chiefdomships of Panama. After wild animals cleaned the bones, the remains were recovered and duly buried with the corresponding offerings (Helms 1979:17, 186, note 16). In turn, when analyzing the marks in the bone remains recovered at the Hall of Columns, La Quemada, Faulhaber (1960, in Darling, 1998:387) concludes that they were secondary burials, where the cleaning of bones had taken place long after the decomposing process had begun, and following a first interment episode. Nelson et al., (1998, in Darling, idem) concur with this interpretation, and they add that a number of structures, tombs and premises where such processes of multiple bone manipulation took place, may have been used to house the remains of venerated ancestors before their final burial.

28. "Countless temples are in México, in every parish and neighborhood, with towers, with chapels and altars, where the idols and images of their gods are present, that serve as tombs to the lords that own them, while all others are buried in the surrounding grounds and patios." (López de Gómara, 1985:122).

Return to top of page