Work

Dearly De-Parted: Ancestors, body partibility, and making place at Dos Hombres, Belize

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: • The Maya conceptualize the body as being divided into four separate components, one of which resides in the mouth and is called ‘Ik. • Co-burials with teeth and mandibles of secondary deposits may reflect body partibility and Ancestors, rather than sacrifice. • Strontium ratios and δ 18 O values of the secondary individuals included here suggest they were not local, while the primary individual was local. • This burial may be evidence of body partibility as a means of placemaking in a commoner household. Interments of Ancestors linked past peoples with the living. However, less attention has been given to secondary burials and their role in social memory and placemaking. Given these ties between Ancestors, the living, and the landscape, Ancestors may have been brought when descendants moved from place to place. I applied biogeochemical methods to address questions about movement, placemaking, and ancestry. In this paper I present isotopic data from a non-elite Late Preclassic (300 BCE – 250 CE), simple, co-burial from the archaeological site of Dos Hombres, Belize. Archaeological evidence indicates multiple ancestral veneration practices were associated with this burial. I measured oxygen and strontium isotopes to assess whether individuals were born where they were buried and to gauge how bodies may have been used to make and claim place. Strontium isotope ratios and δ 18 O values suggest the primary individual was local to Dos Hombres; however, the secondary individuals have strontium isotope ratios which fall outside the local range, indicating these individuals were non-local. In this paper, I argue that the practice of removing and reburying pieces of Ancestors’ bodies was used by the ancient Maya at Dos Hombres to claim and make place.

Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2025.101681

Author: Angelina J. Locker

Institutions: George Mason University, Vanderbilt University

Language: English

Topic: Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies

Subfield: Archeology

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,370

Funders: National Geographic Society, University of Texas at Austin, Rust Family Foundation