PHEMOR: PostHumous Exhumation and Movement of Osteological Remains - An iso-histological approach to Prehispanic Maya mortuary practices and migration

PHEMOR：腐尸后遗骸的挖掘和移动 - 西班牙前玛雅太平间实践和迁移的等组织学方法

• 批准号: EP/Y02396X/1
• 负责人: Asta Rand
• 金额: $ 23.84万
• 依托单位: CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FY02396X%2F1
• 关键词: PHEMOR; PostHumous; Exhumation; Movement; Osteological

The aim of the PHEMOR project is to reconstruct the posthumous movement of human osteological remains from prehispanic (250 BCE to 1525 CE) Maya archaeological sites in Central America using a novel iso-histological approach. The results will transform understandings of mortuary practices and refine reconstructions of migration in prehispanic Maya communities. PHEMOR is the first project to integrate two well established methods in archaeological science - isotopic and histological analyses - to address postmortem movement of human remains in archaeology globally. A narrative of the role of posthumous movement in Maya mortuary behaviour will be developed by applying the iso-histological method to 199 individuals of both sexes from primary and secondary contexts at nine prehispanic Maya sites in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Differentiating nonlocal individuals that moved during life from those who were moved following death is also vital for accurate reconstructions of past migratory processes, as the sociocultural factors influencing each differed. The results will contribute to ongoing and emerging research themes in Maya archaeology, including the significance of deceased ancestors in the formation of identity and community and the implications of nonlocal individuals in non-funerary deposits, framing future studies of Maya mortuary practices and migration. This study further focuses on a untapped archaeological dataset - samples that have been altered after burial by diagenesis. PHEMOR's methodological advancements also provide a framework for unleashing the potential of underutilized datasets and for applying the cutting-edge iso-histological method to identify exhumed and transported human remains other archaeological and forensic contexts. PHEMOR therefore has important legacy benefits for archaeologists working in Europe and elsewhere in the world, end users in related fields such as criminal justice, and for local Central American communities.

PHEMOR 项目的目的是使用一种新颖的同组织学方法重建中美洲前西班牙时期（公元前 250 年至公元 1525 年）玛雅考古遗址的人类骨骸遗骸的死后运动。研究结果将改变对太平间做法的理解，并完善西班牙裔前玛雅社区移民的重建。 PHEMOR 是第一个整合考古科学中两种成熟方法（同位素分析和组织学分析）的项目，以解决全球考古学中人类遗骸的死后移动问题。将通过对来自伯利兹、危地马拉、洪都拉斯和墨西哥的九个前西班牙玛雅遗址的主要和次要背景的 199 名男女个体应用同组织学方法，对死后运动在玛雅太平间行为中的作用进行叙述。区分生前迁移的非本地个体和死后迁移的个体对于准确重建过去的迁徙过程也至关重要，因为影响每个人的社会文化因素不同。研究结果将有助于玛雅考古学中正在进行的和新兴的研究主题，包括已故祖先在身份和社区形成中的重要性，以及非本地个体在非陪葬沉积物中的影响，为玛雅太平间实践和移民的未来研究奠定基础。这项研究进一步关注未开发的考古数据集——在埋藏后因成岩作用而改变的样本。 PHEMOR 的方法论进步还提供了一个框架，用于释放未充分利用的数据集的潜力，并应用尖端的同组织学方法来识别其他考古和法医环境中挖掘和运输的人类遗骸。因此，PHEMOR 对于在欧洲和世界其他地方工作的考古学家、刑事司法等相关领域的最终用户以及中美洲当地社区具有重要的遗产效益。