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

Abstract

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.

Fijian cannibalism: Osteological evidence from Navatu

“…Bars are as in Fig. 10. mind, though, that there are considerable differences in modification frequencies between the various southwestern sites (see table one in Turner, 1993).…”

Cultural Modifications in an Adolescent Earth-Oven Interment from Fiji: Sorting out Mortuary Practice

“…In the Olo assemblage (BC 500 -BC 700), Rieth identified three of six criteria assembled from DeGusta (1999), Turner (1993), Turner and Turner (1992) and White (1992): (1) cut marks, (2) evidence of burning on some of the bones, and (3) dissimilarity between the human remains in the midden and a contemporaneous burial (Pietrusewsky et al 1997). Because the other three selected criteria for cannibalism (percussion marks, perimortem fracturing, and similarity between human bone and faunal bone assemblages) were not identified, Rieth (1998:66) concluded that cannibalism could only be suggested in the Olo midden remains.…”

“…Recently, identification of cannibalism in the archaeological record has been significantly enhanced by the development of specialized bioarchaeological methods, especially for the archaeological record in the American Southwest (e.g., Turner 1993;Turner and Turner 1995;White 1992). Although the number of accounts of cannibalism among the early inhabitants of Fiji is substantial, archaeological claims for cannibalism here remain sparse (DeGusta 1999;Rechtman 1992;Spennemann 1987).…”

Where are the witches of prehistory?

“…Many but not all of these human remains come from pit house and kiva contexts. On the basis of experimentation, taphonomic analyses of nonhuman predator behavior, and detailed studies of human skeletal remains, Turner andTurner (1990, 1992a), White (1992), and others have described six types of bone alteration to model the taphonomic signature of prehistoric cannibalism (see Flinn et al, 1976;Luebben and Nickens, 1982;Nass and Bellatoni, 1982;Nickens, 1975;Olson, 1966;Turner, 1961Turner, , 1983Turner, , 1988Turner, , 1989Turner and Morris, 1970;Turner andTurner, 1990, 1992a, b;White, , 1992. Initial research (Turner and Morris, 1970) highlighted three traits: intentional cutting, breaking, and burning.…”