HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS OF THE ANCIENT MAYA IN THE ...

111which may resemble a particular depositional activity. For example, the excavatedremains from Cueva de El Duende rendered a skeletal deposit with high frequencies ofrib and vertebral material, as well as bones of the hands and feet. On the other hand, thesurface collection conducted in Cueva de Río El Duende produced a significant amountof commingled long bone material. If we disregard the possibility of smaller elementsburied in the muddy floors of CNP, this particular skeletal sample may reflect asecondarily buried/deposited bone assemblage or an ossuary. The absence of excavationin this cave surely factors into the possibility of a biased sample. Is a cave’s skeletalsample the result of a specific depositional activity or a particular recovery method? Iexamine other lines of evidence in an attempt to address this issue.DemographicsThe calculation of the minimum number of individuals (MNI) and the probablenumber of individuals (PNI) represents a quantitative means of establishing ademographic profile for each cave. These estimates provide important informationconcerning the type of depositional activity that may have occurred in these subterraneanspaces. In terms of the six caves of the Petexbatun, the MNI estimates for the skeletalmaterial I examined account for a total of 70 to 227 individuals. The more conservativePNI estimates account for 107 to 268 individuals (Table 12). These estimates representthe diverse population of individuals accounting for both sexes and various age groups.Adults of indeterminate age and sex constitute a significant proportion of thispopulation. This was largely due to incomplete and poorly preserved skeletal elements,which hindered accurate assessments of age and sex. The remains of adults of known