A Massacre at Hopi

Turner, Christy G.; Morris, Nancy T.

doi:10.2307/278342

Cited by 49 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 4 publications

(3 reference statements)

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“…Turner and Morris (1970) are among the earliest published papers to illustrate cut human bone. Cut marks are usually v-shaped in cross-section, and within a cut mark, shelfing or irregularities can be recognized with a dissecting microscope.…”

Section: Taphonomic Identification Of Cannibalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure 6 shows that missing or highly damaged vertebrae make up another part of the taphonomic signature of cannibalism. Missing vertebrae were a mystery from the very beginning of Southwest human taphonomy studies (Turner and Morris, 1970). As with the long bones, which seemingly had been cracked open to extract the marrow, so too were the vertebrae smashed to extract their oily content by boiling (Turner and Turner, 1992).…”

Section: Taphonomic Identification Of Cannibalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cannibalism in the Prehistoric American Southwest. Occurrence, Taphonomy, Explanation, and Suggestions for Standardized World Definition.

Turner

Turner²

1995

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Section: Taphonomic Identification Of Cannibalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Taphonomic Identification Of Cannibalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cannibalism in the Prehistoric American Southwest. Occurrence, Taphonomy, Explanation, and Suggestions for Standardized World Definition.

Turner

Turner²

1995

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“…The first analysis of a Southwest Indian "burial" employing taphonomic, forensic, and other methods (quantitative, comparative, chronometric, and ethnohistoric) was conducted by Turner and Morris (1970). That study was based on the excavation of a minimum (MNI) of 30 highly fragmented and disarticulated individuals deposited at an isolated locality south of the Hopi villages on Polacca Wash, northeastern Arizona, by the late Museum of Northern Arizona archeologist, A.P.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cannibalism in Chaco Canyon: The charnel pit excavated in 1926 at Small House ruin by Frank H.H. Roberts, Jr.

Turner

1993

American J Phys Anthropol

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A charnel pit that contained the disarticulated and intentionally damaged remains of eight incomplete adult and subadult Anasazi skeletons was found and excavated in 1926 by F.H.H. Roberts, Jr., at an AD 900 ruin he named Small House, located in Chaco Canyon, northwestern New Mexico. Damage includes extensive perimortem cranial and postcranial bone breakage, cut marks, anvil-hammerstone abrasions, burning, many missing vertebrae, and fragment end-polishing. Together, these six types of perimortem damage are believed to be the taphonomic signature of prehistoric Anasazi cannibalism. The possible cause of the Small House episode is discussed within the framework of two explanatory models--random social pathology and institutionalized social control by violent means.

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“…For example, in the Sambrito Village case (refer to Dittert et al 1966), one may speculate that certain previously abandoned pit structures may have witnessed several isolated depositional events resulting in concentrations of human bone at different levels in the structure fill above the floor. Finally, as previously noted, die Polacca Wash site in northeastern Arizona, given its potential association with the destruction of Awatovi Pueblo, may have also been located in an area dedicated to the execution and disposal of witches (Fewkes 1893(Fewkes ,1898Turner and Morris 1970).…”

Section: Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ashes are also instrumental in ceremonial protection and purification. As previously pointed out, structure abandonment may include burning, hi cases of mass inhumation, human bone may exhibitpatterned burning often indicative of heat treatment with flesh still present (Turner and Morris 1970;White 1992).…”

Section: Burningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass Inhumation and the Execution of Witches in the American Southwest

Darling

1998

American Anthropologist

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Recent analyses of prehistoric multiple inhumations in Anasazi sites in the American Southwest have argued that cannibalism best explains evidence of defleshing, cutting, and bone breakage. The validity of this explanation is questioned in a review of ethnohistoric and ethnographic literature on Pueblo witchcraft and witch execution. A model based on Puebloan procedures for witch destruction is offered which accounts for osteological patterning in the archaeological record as well as contextual and artifactual evidence not considered previously. [Anasazi, Pueblo Indians, cannibalism, witchcraft] I n the late 1960s, the publication of a "secondary burial" from the Polacca Wash site in northeastern Arizona initiated a series of studies arguing that cannibalism was practiced by the prehistoric Puebloan cultures of the American Southwest (Olson 1966; Turner 1983; White 1992). Except for a few responses (Baker 1990; Bullock 1994; Walker 1993), the evidence for cannibalism has rarely been questioned or seriously tested, and few alternatives have been proposed. This paper presents an alternative argument to the assertion that cannibalism was practiced. I intend to demonstrate that Pueblo and Navajo beliefs about witches include an intimate and specific association between cannibalistic acts and becoming a witch. This association and the negative connotations and fear of becoming a witch may preclude anthropophagy even under extreme dietary stress. In fact, Pueblo aggression against witches classified as cannibals includes complex rituals of execution involving systematic dismemberment and burning. These behaviors better explain the material remains found archaeologically and provide a strong argument against cannibalism as a dietary practice. Southwestern Mass InhumationsMore than 30 mass inhumations have been identified in the American Southwest in Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. These cases are typically classified as Anasazi because they generally occur in the Four Corners region from the early Pueblo II to Pueblo IH periods, approximately AD. 950-1300 (see Figure 1 and Table 1). While the term Anasazi covers a very broad geographic area marked by numerous distinct subtraditions or cultures, the archaeological cases of human dismemberment and mass internment span these subregions and also occur in the protohistoric or post-Anasazi period.Reviews of many of the better-known cases of human dismemberment and defleshing are provided in studies by Turner (1983), Baker (1990), and White (1992). A detailed summary of the osteological patterning is unnecessary given the thoroughness of White's work, and it is the osteological patterning that is generally accepted by both critics and supporters of the "cannibalism theory." In brief, inhumations of the sort listed in Table 1 contain from 1 to 30 individuals, including both sexes ranging in age from juvenile to adult. Osteological analyses indicate a high degree of perimortem bone modification, which includes some or all of the following characteristics: perimort...

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A Massacre at Hopi

Cited by 49 publications

References 4 publications

Cannibalism in the Prehistoric American Southwest. Occurrence, Taphonomy, Explanation, and Suggestions for Standardized World Definition.

Cannibalism in the Prehistoric American Southwest. Occurrence, Taphonomy, Explanation, and Suggestions for Standardized World Definition.

Cannibalism in Chaco Canyon: The charnel pit excavated in 1926 at Small House ruin by Frank H.H. Roberts, Jr.

Mass Inhumation and the Execution of Witches in the American Southwest

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