The authors reconstruct biological stress patterns in pre-Hispanic urban settings at Teotihuacan ... more The authors reconstruct biological stress patterns in pre-Hispanic urban settings at Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico (ca. 150 B.C.–650 A.D.) and at Monte Alban in the Valley of Oaxaca (ca. 100 B.C.–A.D. 500). Archaeologically identified rank (via burial location, mortuary elaboration, and settlement pattern data) was reduced into two broad categories—high and low social status. Odds ratio analyses revealed no difference in overall health patterns by status or sex. In other comparisons, higher status individuals appear to have been buffered against various forms of stress. Overall, Storey and coauthors demonstrate potential expressions of “osteological paradox” outcomes, in that social status and health in urban societies is a complex affair: intervening factors (population density, nutrition, and hygiene) structured by an urban setting can crosscut social strata and exert more influence on health than social organization alone.
Altica is a rare first-farming village site in the Basin of Mexico that has survived to modern ti... more Altica is a rare first-farming village site in the Basin of Mexico that has survived to modern times. Thus, it provides a glimpse into life during the Early–Middle Formative period. While valuable archaeological information on the village was recovered in excavation, only four burials comprising four individuals were recovered, a very small sample. Two individuals are older-aged females; the third, a middle-aged male, was accompanied by prestigious nonperishable goods and indicates that there are status differences even at this early date. The final individual was a young male buried in a deviant manner, suggesting possible foul play. While all individuals have indicators of periods of poor health, stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen paint a more complete picture of the types of foods these individuals consumed over their lifetime. Radiogenic strontium isotopes of tooth enamel identify one individual, the young male buried in a deviant manner, as non-native to the Altica region. ...
Skeletal remains from Tlajinga 33 (33:S3W1) have been the focus of research in the southern secto... more Skeletal remains from Tlajinga 33 (33:S3W1) have been the focus of research in the southern sector of Teotihuacan since excavations took place in the 1980s. Recent excavations in Tlajinga Compounds 17 and 18 (17:S3E1 and 18:S3E1, respectively), located along the southern Street of the Dead, recovered nine additional skeletons. This article is a description of the burials from Compounds 17 and 18 and a comparative analysis of health, diet, and chronology across all three compounds (Compounds 17, 18, and 33). Here, we test the hypothesis that individuals between residential compounds at Tlajinga lived similar lives and that health and biogeochemical markers of individuals will reflect these similarities. Although the sample size is small, the paleopathological analysis of individuals at Compounds 17 and 18 indicates morbidity patterns similar to Tlajinga 33, but also that these residents were perhaps less susceptible to stressors during periods of juvenile growth. Stable carbon and ni...
Altica is a rare first-farming village site in the Basin of Mexico that has survived to modern ti... more Altica is a rare first-farming village site in the Basin of Mexico that has survived to modern times. Thus, it provides a glimpse into life during the Early–Middle Formative period. While valuable archaeological information on the village was recovered in excavation, only four burials comprising four individuals were recovered, a very small sample. Two individuals are older-aged females; the third, a middle-aged male, was accompanied by prestigious nonperishable goods and indicates that there are status differences even at this early date. The final individual was a young male buried in a deviant manner, suggesting possible foul play. While all individuals have indicators of periods of poor health, stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen paint a more complete picture of the types of foods these individuals consumed over their lifetime. Radiogenic strontium isotopes of tooth enamel identify one individual, the young male buried in a deviant manner, as non-native to the Altica region. ...
Altica is a rare first-farming village site in the Basin of Mexico that has survived to modern ti... more Altica is a rare first-farming village site in the Basin of Mexico that has survived to modern times. Thus, it provides a glimpse into life during the Early–Middle Formative period. While valuable archaeological information on the village was recovered in excavation, only four burials comprising four individuals were recovered, a very small sample. Two individuals are older-aged females; the third, a middle-aged male, was accompanied by prestigious nonperishable goods and indicates that there are status differences even at this early date. The final individual was a young male buried in a deviant manner, suggesting possible foul play. While all individuals have indicators of periods of poor health, stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen paint a more complete picture of the types of foods these individuals consumed over their lifetime. Radiogenic strontium isotopes of tooth enamel identify one individual, the young male buried in a deviant manner, as non-native to the Altica region. ...
The city of Teotihuacan (AD 1–550) was a major multiethnic urban center that attracted migrants f... more The city of Teotihuacan (AD 1–550) was a major multiethnic urban center that attracted migrants from as far away as west Mexico and the Maya region. Past research in the Tlajinga district at Teotihuacan using oxygen isotopes from human remains estimated that nearly 30% of the population of Tlajinga 33, a single apartment compound, were migrants. This study takes a dual-isotope approach (87Sr/86Sr and δ18Op) to reevaluate the proportion of in-migration at Tlajinga and includes data from two additional apartment compounds, Tlajinga 17 and 18 (n = 23). New results indicate that migrants comprised ~45% of the Tlajinga population. Previously acquired radiocarbon dates combined with mortuary and isotope data suggest that immigration to Tlajinga was highest during the first centuries of compound occupation. Nevertheless, migration was a continual process throughout its history. Additionally, a new finding suggests that residents of Tlajinga 33 ingested foods with higher 87Sr/86Sr ratios than did those of Tlajinga 17 and 18. We hypothesize that the incorporation of imported lime for the nixtamalization process skewed the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of human remains, a potentially important finding for future studies at Teotihuacan.
Skeletal remains from Tlajinga 33 (33:S3W1) have been the focus of research in the southern secto... more Skeletal remains from Tlajinga 33 (33:S3W1) have been the focus of research in the southern sector of Teotihuacan since excavations took place in the 1980s. Recent excavations in Tlajinga Compounds 17 and 18 (17:S3E1 and 18:S3E1, respectively), located along the southern Street of the Dead, recovered nine additional skeletons. This article is a description of the burials from Compounds 17 and 18 and a comparative analysis of health, diet, and chronology across all three compounds (Compounds 17, 18, and 33). Here, we test the hypothesis that individuals between residential compounds at Tlajinga lived similar lives and that health and biogeochemical markers of individuals will reflect these similarities. Although the sample size is small, the paleopathological analysis of individuals at Compounds 17 and 18 indicates morbidity patterns similar to Tlajinga 33, but also that these residents were perhaps less susceptible to stressors during periods of juvenile growth. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes suggest that, overall, diets were analogous across compounds, but Compounds 17 and 18 were able to supplement their diet with a greater variety of plant resources. There were no clear dietary differences between higher and lower status individuals, however. Finally, accelerated mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dates indicate that residential living may have occurred later at Compound 18 than at Compound 17 and Tlajinga 33.
Landmark research underrepresented in the study of Maya civilization. This volume, which includes... more Landmark research underrepresented in the study of Maya civilization. This volume, which includes an indexed bibliography of the first 150 years of Maya osteology, pulls together for the first time a broad spectrum of bioarchaeologists that reveal remarkable data on Maya genetic relationship, demographic, and diseases. Stephen L. Whittington is Director of the Museum of Anthropology at Wake Forest University. David M. Reed is a research scientist at the University of Michigan. Contribuors: Carl Armstrong, Jane E. Buikstra, Diane Z. Chase, ...
The authors reconstruct biological stress patterns in pre-Hispanic urban settings at Teotihuacan ... more The authors reconstruct biological stress patterns in pre-Hispanic urban settings at Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico (ca. 150 B.C.–650 A.D.) and at Monte Alban in the Valley of Oaxaca (ca. 100 B.C.–A.D. 500). Archaeologically identified rank (via burial location, mortuary elaboration, and settlement pattern data) was reduced into two broad categories—high and low social status. Odds ratio analyses revealed no difference in overall health patterns by status or sex. In other comparisons, higher status individuals appear to have been buffered against various forms of stress. Overall, Storey and coauthors demonstrate potential expressions of “osteological paradox” outcomes, in that social status and health in urban societies is a complex affair: intervening factors (population density, nutrition, and hygiene) structured by an urban setting can crosscut social strata and exert more influence on health than social organization alone.
Altica is a rare first-farming village site in the Basin of Mexico that has survived to modern ti... more Altica is a rare first-farming village site in the Basin of Mexico that has survived to modern times. Thus, it provides a glimpse into life during the Early–Middle Formative period. While valuable archaeological information on the village was recovered in excavation, only four burials comprising four individuals were recovered, a very small sample. Two individuals are older-aged females; the third, a middle-aged male, was accompanied by prestigious nonperishable goods and indicates that there are status differences even at this early date. The final individual was a young male buried in a deviant manner, suggesting possible foul play. While all individuals have indicators of periods of poor health, stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen paint a more complete picture of the types of foods these individuals consumed over their lifetime. Radiogenic strontium isotopes of tooth enamel identify one individual, the young male buried in a deviant manner, as non-native to the Altica region. ...
Skeletal remains from Tlajinga 33 (33:S3W1) have been the focus of research in the southern secto... more Skeletal remains from Tlajinga 33 (33:S3W1) have been the focus of research in the southern sector of Teotihuacan since excavations took place in the 1980s. Recent excavations in Tlajinga Compounds 17 and 18 (17:S3E1 and 18:S3E1, respectively), located along the southern Street of the Dead, recovered nine additional skeletons. This article is a description of the burials from Compounds 17 and 18 and a comparative analysis of health, diet, and chronology across all three compounds (Compounds 17, 18, and 33). Here, we test the hypothesis that individuals between residential compounds at Tlajinga lived similar lives and that health and biogeochemical markers of individuals will reflect these similarities. Although the sample size is small, the paleopathological analysis of individuals at Compounds 17 and 18 indicates morbidity patterns similar to Tlajinga 33, but also that these residents were perhaps less susceptible to stressors during periods of juvenile growth. Stable carbon and ni...
Altica is a rare first-farming village site in the Basin of Mexico that has survived to modern ti... more Altica is a rare first-farming village site in the Basin of Mexico that has survived to modern times. Thus, it provides a glimpse into life during the Early–Middle Formative period. While valuable archaeological information on the village was recovered in excavation, only four burials comprising four individuals were recovered, a very small sample. Two individuals are older-aged females; the third, a middle-aged male, was accompanied by prestigious nonperishable goods and indicates that there are status differences even at this early date. The final individual was a young male buried in a deviant manner, suggesting possible foul play. While all individuals have indicators of periods of poor health, stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen paint a more complete picture of the types of foods these individuals consumed over their lifetime. Radiogenic strontium isotopes of tooth enamel identify one individual, the young male buried in a deviant manner, as non-native to the Altica region. ...
Altica is a rare first-farming village site in the Basin of Mexico that has survived to modern ti... more Altica is a rare first-farming village site in the Basin of Mexico that has survived to modern times. Thus, it provides a glimpse into life during the Early–Middle Formative period. While valuable archaeological information on the village was recovered in excavation, only four burials comprising four individuals were recovered, a very small sample. Two individuals are older-aged females; the third, a middle-aged male, was accompanied by prestigious nonperishable goods and indicates that there are status differences even at this early date. The final individual was a young male buried in a deviant manner, suggesting possible foul play. While all individuals have indicators of periods of poor health, stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen paint a more complete picture of the types of foods these individuals consumed over their lifetime. Radiogenic strontium isotopes of tooth enamel identify one individual, the young male buried in a deviant manner, as non-native to the Altica region. ...
The city of Teotihuacan (AD 1–550) was a major multiethnic urban center that attracted migrants f... more The city of Teotihuacan (AD 1–550) was a major multiethnic urban center that attracted migrants from as far away as west Mexico and the Maya region. Past research in the Tlajinga district at Teotihuacan using oxygen isotopes from human remains estimated that nearly 30% of the population of Tlajinga 33, a single apartment compound, were migrants. This study takes a dual-isotope approach (87Sr/86Sr and δ18Op) to reevaluate the proportion of in-migration at Tlajinga and includes data from two additional apartment compounds, Tlajinga 17 and 18 (n = 23). New results indicate that migrants comprised ~45% of the Tlajinga population. Previously acquired radiocarbon dates combined with mortuary and isotope data suggest that immigration to Tlajinga was highest during the first centuries of compound occupation. Nevertheless, migration was a continual process throughout its history. Additionally, a new finding suggests that residents of Tlajinga 33 ingested foods with higher 87Sr/86Sr ratios than did those of Tlajinga 17 and 18. We hypothesize that the incorporation of imported lime for the nixtamalization process skewed the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of human remains, a potentially important finding for future studies at Teotihuacan.
Skeletal remains from Tlajinga 33 (33:S3W1) have been the focus of research in the southern secto... more Skeletal remains from Tlajinga 33 (33:S3W1) have been the focus of research in the southern sector of Teotihuacan since excavations took place in the 1980s. Recent excavations in Tlajinga Compounds 17 and 18 (17:S3E1 and 18:S3E1, respectively), located along the southern Street of the Dead, recovered nine additional skeletons. This article is a description of the burials from Compounds 17 and 18 and a comparative analysis of health, diet, and chronology across all three compounds (Compounds 17, 18, and 33). Here, we test the hypothesis that individuals between residential compounds at Tlajinga lived similar lives and that health and biogeochemical markers of individuals will reflect these similarities. Although the sample size is small, the paleopathological analysis of individuals at Compounds 17 and 18 indicates morbidity patterns similar to Tlajinga 33, but also that these residents were perhaps less susceptible to stressors during periods of juvenile growth. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes suggest that, overall, diets were analogous across compounds, but Compounds 17 and 18 were able to supplement their diet with a greater variety of plant resources. There were no clear dietary differences between higher and lower status individuals, however. Finally, accelerated mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dates indicate that residential living may have occurred later at Compound 18 than at Compound 17 and Tlajinga 33.
Landmark research underrepresented in the study of Maya civilization. This volume, which includes... more Landmark research underrepresented in the study of Maya civilization. This volume, which includes an indexed bibliography of the first 150 years of Maya osteology, pulls together for the first time a broad spectrum of bioarchaeologists that reveal remarkable data on Maya genetic relationship, demographic, and diseases. Stephen L. Whittington is Director of the Museum of Anthropology at Wake Forest University. David M. Reed is a research scientist at the University of Michigan. Contribuors: Carl Armstrong, Jane E. Buikstra, Diane Z. Chase, ...
This book addresses most of the burials found in Teotihuacan until 1999: funerary practices, sex ... more This book addresses most of the burials found in Teotihuacan until 1999: funerary practices, sex and age, paleopathologies, etc.
The last several decades have seen the publication of a considerable amount of scholarly and popu... more The last several decades have seen the publication of a considerable amount of scholarly and popular literature concerning the collapse of complex societies, yielding a fair amount of comparative data and hypotheses regarding this phenomenon. More recently, scholars have begun to challenge these works, rejecting the notion of collapse altogether in favor of focusing on concepts such as resilience and transformation. Driven by these developments, archaeologists have turned their attention to what occurs in the aftermath of sociopolitical decline, attempting to identify factors that contribute to the regeneration, transformation, or reorganization of complex sociopolitical institutions. Subsequent research has provided important data shedding light on political environments that were once characterized as “dark ages.” In that time, general theoretical approaches have transformed as well, and recent frameworks reconsider collapse and reorganization not as unrelated or sequential phenomena but as integral components in a cyclical understanding of the evolution of complex societies. The most recent of these approaches incorporates the tenets of Resilience Theory, as developed by environmental scientists.
In March 2013, an international conference held at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale brought together scholars with diverse theoretical perspectives to present and synthesize new data and approaches to understanding the collapse and reorganization of complex societies. No restrictions were imposed regarding chronological periods, geographical regions or material specialties, resulting in a wide-ranging potential for comparative analysis. This publication is the outcome of that meeting. It is not organized merely as a collection of diverse case studies, but rather a collaborative effort incorporating various data sets to evaluate and expand on theoretical approaches to this important subject. The works contained within this volume are organized into five sections: the first sets the stage with introductory papers by the editor and distinguished contributor, Joseph Tainter; the second contains works by distinguished scholars approaching collapse and reorganization from new theoretical perspectives; the third presents critical archaeological analyses of the effectiveness of Resilience Theory as a heuristic tool for modeling these phenomena; the fourth section presents long-term adaptive strategies employed by prehistoric societies to cope with stresses and avoid collapse; the final section highlights new research on post-decline contexts in a variety of temporal and geographic ranges and relates these data to the more comprehensive works on the subject.
The Tlajinga district was a possible southern entrance for visitors to the city of Teotihuacan. I... more The Tlajinga district was a possible southern entrance for visitors to the city of Teotihuacan. It was also a locus of craft specialization, especially of San Martin Orange ceramics in the later periods, yet was a cluster of common status neighborhoods. The Tlajinga 33 compound (33:S3W1) was extensively excavated 30 years ago, and recent excavations in two other compounds located along the southern Street of the Dead by the Tlajinga Teotihuacan Archaeological Project (PATT), have added to our knowledge about its residents. Oxygen (δ 18 O) isotope analysis in bone and tooth enamel was conducted on some Tlajinga 33 skeletons and revealed that about 30% were migrants to the city. Recent analyses of the tooth enamel from newly excavated burials and additional Tlajinga 33 skeletons using oxygen and strontium (87 Sr/ 86 Sr) isotope ratios have provided additional insights into the geographical origins of the residents of the Tlajinga barrio and the reconstruction of changes in residence since childhood. Implications of these new findings are examined in order to further understand the extent of migration into Tlajinga and the impact this had on maintaining its population.
Mortuary analysis allows archaeologists to establish intentionality in burial contexts through a ... more Mortuary analysis allows archaeologists to establish intentionality in burial contexts through a carefully crafted discussion of the life history of a buried individual. The purpose of this study is to investigate Classic Period (AD 250-900) remains from the ancient Maya site of K’axob, Belize. Examination of the relationship among burial elaboration, social identity, and the skeleton provides a pathway to knowing something of the myriad social roles and living conditions experienced by ancient inhabitants of K’axob.
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Papers by Rebecca Storey
In March 2013, an international conference held at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale brought together scholars with diverse theoretical perspectives to present and synthesize new data and approaches to understanding the collapse and reorganization of complex societies. No restrictions were imposed regarding chronological periods, geographical regions or material specialties, resulting in a wide-ranging potential for comparative analysis. This publication is the outcome of that meeting. It is not organized merely as a collection of diverse case studies, but rather a collaborative effort incorporating various data sets to evaluate and expand on theoretical approaches to this important subject. The works contained within this volume are organized into five sections: the first sets the stage with introductory papers by the editor and distinguished contributor, Joseph Tainter; the second contains works by distinguished scholars approaching collapse and reorganization from new theoretical perspectives; the third presents critical archaeological analyses of the effectiveness of Resilience Theory as a heuristic tool for modeling these phenomena; the fourth section presents long-term adaptive strategies employed by prehistoric societies to cope with stresses and avoid collapse; the final section highlights new research on post-decline contexts in a variety of temporal and geographic ranges and relates these data to the more comprehensive works on the subject.