Morphological Variation Among the Historic Period Maya at Tipu, Belize

Results

Comparisons of the measurements of individuals grouped by the presence or absence of grave goods showed no significant differences for either sex. This result is not unexpected given the scarcity of burials with grave goods. Furthermore, grave furnishings at Colonial Tipu were fairly functional and mundane, consisting mostly of copper needles, rings, pins, and clothing fasteners, and thus likely do not segregate adequately the population into social tiers (Graham and Bennett 1989).

The results of the comparisons of grave location, however, were much more informative and show different patterns for males and for females (Table 7). In general, females did not differ between areas. Comparisons of females placed inside and outside of the cemetery showed no significant differences for any of the long bone robusticity or length measurements. When divided further into specific areas in and around the church, most groups of females still do not seem to display many significant differences from one another. The exception is the group buried north of the church, whose distinction from all other groups is likely due to its small sample of only four females. In all of the comparisons of measurements that showed a significant difference between groups of females, at least one of the two groups being compared was represented by fewer than ten individuals, and usually by fewer than five. Therefore, sampling error likely can be blamed for most, if not all, of these differences.

Comparisons of males, in general, are not significant between the two groups inside of the church or between the three groups outside of the church. However, both of the male groups inside the church do show many significant differences when compared to those buried outside the church. Though many of the male groups in these comparisons also are comprised of fewer than ten individuals, the sample sizes are generally larger than those of the females. Furthermore, the fairly consistent patterns of morphological differences between these subdivided groups are supported by the comparisons of the two larger groupings of individuals. Males buried inside the church are significantly larger than those buried outside for 9 of the 22 robusticity measurements, including the following:

• Femoral subtrochanteric a-p diameter

• Femoral subtrochanteric m-l diameter

• Femoral midshaft m-l diameter

• Femoral midshaft circumference

• Femoral head diameter

• Tibia nutrient foramen m-l diameter

• Humeral midshaft minimum diameter

• Humeral midshaft circumference

Of the three length measurements, only the humerus showed any significant difference between males, with the outside group having the larger values. However, this difference may be the result of the smaller sample size for this measurement. Tibia and femur lengths did not show significant differences between the groups. Despite the lack of discrimination observed between female groups, comparisons of each measurement between females and males using ANOVA found no significant F-values, suggesting that the variability of male and female values is not significantly different within the cemetery population.

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