Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Cultural vs. Natural Taphonomic Agents in the Reconstruction of Ritualized Postmortem Events on the North Coast of Peru

博士论文改进补助金：秘鲁北海岸仪式化死后事件重建中的文化与自然埋藏剂

• 批准号: 0718026
• 负责人: John Verano
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Tulane University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-07-15 至 2009-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0718026&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Cultural

Recent excavations of Pre-Inca sacrificial sites along Northern Coastal Peru has revealed a complex form of postmortem treatment for human remains. These discoveries have lent support to the argument that scenes of manipulation and display of remains in Moche art depict actual events, but accurate interpretation of the evidence requires the ability to reliably discriminate between human and natural agents among remains influenced by both environmental and ritual activity. Human activity can leave recognizable signatures in the burial record, but these are easily masked by non-human disturbances such as environmental and faunal activity. The scientific study of these postmortem processes is referred to as taphonomy. Under the supervision of Dr. John Verano, Heather Backo will use the remains of sacrificial victims at three Moche (AD 100-800), Chimu (AD 1100-1550), and Lambayeque (AD 800-1350) period sites from Peru, to reconstruct the sequence of events leading from death of individual to deposition and recovery, with a specific focus on differentiating between postmortem cultural and natural events. Taphonomy is an increasingly important field of study with a wide range of applications. Traditionally, taphonomic studies focus upon the slow incorporation of remains into the fossil record. More recently, however, the application of these techniques has expanded to more recent events, making a substantial contribution toward advancing the understanding of past and present human behavior. The definition of taphonomy can therefore be expanded to include research issues in paleopathology, the study of ancient disease and trauma, and forensic anthropology. The proposed research builds upon and expands this base by studying the patterns of distribution, preservation, and placement of skeletal elements to develop methods for distinguishing between intentional dismemberment, and ritualistic positioning of remains, as opposed to natural disarticulation and dispersal by carnivore activity, wind or water. In addition, patterns of missing elements will be examined for what they may reveal about postmortem treatment and intentional curation or use. The results will have value for multiple subfields of both archaeology and anthropology, and collections both ancient and modern. In addition, the excellent preservation of remains and associated artifacts of coastal Peru make this region an invaluable resource by providing a unique opportunity to greatly expand our knowledge of prehistoric cultural practices, as well as provide multiple case study environments with which to test and expand our knowledge of taphonomic and forensic processes that affect the subsequent interpretation of recovered remains.All results will be submitted for publication through peer-reviewed journals, as well as academic conferences. Relevant journals include subjects in both paleopathology, forensic anthropology, archaeology and Latin American studies. However, this research has broader impacts as well. A local student with interest in anthropology is included in the budget for assistance with collecting and re-curating the skeletal remains. This is to encourage participation and research into Peruvian prehistory, with the end result of promoting preservation and opportunity for people local to the area. In addition, the doctoral research grant will lead to training and experience in the methods of taphonomic analysis for the author.

秘鲁北部沿海地区沿岸的Inca前牺牲地点的最新发掘揭示了对人类遗体的死后治疗的复杂形式。 这些发现支持这样的论点：摩切艺术中的操纵和遗体展示的场景描绘了实际事件，但是对证据的准确解释需要能够可靠地区分人类和自然药物之间的人与环境活动和仪式活动的影响。 人类活动可以在埋葬记录中留下可识别的签名，但是这些障碍很容易被环境和动物活动等非人类干扰所掩盖。这些验尸过程的科学研究称为taphonomy。在约翰·维拉诺（John Verano）博士的监督下，希瑟·贝托（Heather Backo）将在三摩尔（AD 100-800），chimu（AD 1100-1550）和Lambayeque（AD 800-1350）的牺牲受害者的遗体中，从秘鲁（AD 800-1350）期间，重建了从个人死亡到居民恢复和自然之间的事件的序列，并在特定的范围内进行了划分，并在彼此之间进行了不同的群体群体，并进行了划分。 Taphonomy是一个越来越重要的研究领域，具有广泛的应用。 传统上，Taphonomic研究集中于将遗体缓慢纳入化石记录。 然而，最近，这些技术的应用已扩展到最近的事件，为促进对过去和现在人类行为的理解做出了重大贡献。 因此，可以扩展Taphonomy的定义，包括古病理学，古代疾病和创伤研究以及法医人类学的研究问题。 拟议的研究通过研究骨骼元素的分布，保存和放置模式来建立并扩展了这一基础，以开发出有意肢解的方法，而不是自然的拆分和通过Carnivore活动，风能或水来区分遗体的仪式定位。 此外，将检查缺失元素的模式，以了解它们可能揭示的有关死后治疗以及故意策划或使用的情况。结果将对考古学和人类学的多个子领域以及古代和现代收藏具有价值。此外，通过提供了一个独特的机会，可以极大地扩大我们对史前文化实践的了解，并提供多个案例研究环境，并提供多种案例研究环境，以测试和扩展我们对Tapholanic and Forensic过程的知识，这些案例的出版物将在恢复的过程中逐步解释，并提供了多种案例研究环境，并提供了多种案例研究环境。会议。相关期刊包括古病理学，法医人类学，考古学和拉丁美洲研究的主题。 但是，这项研究也具有更大的影响。预算中包括对人类学兴趣的当地学生，以帮助收集和重新烧毁骨骼遗体。 这是为了鼓励参与和研究秘鲁史前史，最终促进了该地区当地人的保存和机会。此外，博士研究赠款将为作者提供taphonomic分析方法的培训和经验。