A Biocultural Approach to Human Burials From Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

The study of human remains offers a unique perspective on prehistory. Environmental reconstructions can approximate the constraints of life in a particular area, but the examination of the human remains can measure the success of a population's adaptation to those conditions. Mortuary practices are a part of the cultural system that has seldom been studied by Southwestern archeologists. Too often biological and cultural aspects are treated as independent topics. The biological analyses do not take cultural and environmental aspects into consideration, and the archeologists' interpretations of biological and paleopathological information are superficial. Fortunately, such oversight is dwindling, as we come to realize that adaptation is both biological and cultural. This report uses both perspectives, augmented by the recent research on Chaco Canyon.