The bioarchaeology of ritual violence in Postclassic El Peten, Guatemala (AD 950--1524)

During the 17th century two ethnic groups dominated the political geography around the Peten lakes in northern Guatemala: the Kowoj to the east and north; the Itza to the west and south. Recent excavations in the area identified three types of interments around the lakes: mass graves, skull rows, and skull pairs. This dissertation asked three questions about these interments. Who made the interments? Do the interments represent attempts to venerate or violate the deceased? Who, biologically, was selected for inclusion in the interments?; The first question was addressed by considering correlations between the interments and other archaeological classes of data. Specifically the mass graves are found in conjunction with Mayapan style temple assemblages (Pugh 2001), which were created by the Kowoj. The skull rows and pairs were found in association with ceramics that were minimally non-Kowoj, and likely Itza. The second question was answered by considering ethnographic and ethnohistorical data from the Maya area in light of ethnographic models of ritual violence and cross-cultural variables that tend to reflect attempts to venerate and violate the soul of the deceased. The mass graves reflect an attempt to violate the deceased and were likely created when a new ethnic group (the Kowoj) moved into the lakes region. The skull rows and pairs appear to be an attempt to appropriate the souls of the deceased, who were likely enemies, to ensoul architecture. An interindividual biodistance analysis using dental traits among the individuals in the skull rows and pairs found little overall structure. However three individuals in the skull rows and pairs at Ixlu did have a rare dental trait (supernumerary teeth), suggesting that at least three of the individuals were closely related. The project's implications are discussed on three levels: our understanding of Postclassic ethnic conflict; how we discern veneration and violation in the material record; and how an emically informed theory of embodiment influences our ability to understand the manner and degree to which skeletal series reflect biological populations.