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

33modification. Photographs and microscopic analysis are utilized in this investigation. Iassess a number of possible agents and/or activities responsible for the cut marks. Thesedata will be used to evaluate several possible reasons that cut marks might occur: 1) theprimary burial of select individuals, e.g. war victims; 2) sacrificial acts involving thedismemberment and deposition of an individual; 3) secondary burial activity andassociated post-mortem cleaning/processing or disarticulation of the body; or 4) acts ofcannibalism. The type of bone and the anatomical location of the cut mark(s) are crucialelements in this analysis. For instance, a cut mark located on a specific part of the bonemay point to an activity that removed the soft tissue from a bone. A femur that wasconnected to a hipbone may have cut marks in the area of the joint articulation. Thismay be evidence for the dismemberment or disarticulation of a secondarily buriedperson or a sacrificial victim. Evidence of bone modification can present itself on anypart of the bone, thus necessitating careful analysis and interpretation.The archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographical documentation of themortuary and sacrificial practices of the Maya, past and present, is also a good source ofinformation that may compliment this examination of bone modification. Thisinformation is pertinent in the interpretation of who these individuals were and why theywere placed in these caves.Maya mortuary practicesThe ancient Maya did not physically sequester the dead from the rest of thecommunity, as is the case in modern-day western burial practices (McAnany 1995).Archaeological and ethnohistorical documentation on Maya mortuary practices