Studying human remains reveals unique information to archaeologists about a civilization’s customs and traditions.  In addition to cause of death, archaeologists can create a complete profile of the body’s lifestyle based on physiological features combined with intense critical thinking. Similarly, the remains of animals in the area can also provide great insight into a society’s culture by helping archaeologists gain a better understanding of the type of environment that the people lived in.  What kind of predators threatened their safety?  Did they domesticate animals and train them to perform actions to benefit the entire community?  A group of archaeologists used animal remains to analyze a unique aspect of Mayan culture—the interaction between different social and economic classes based on the distribution of animal resources.

This stone-carved depiction of a social-elite seizing resources from a lower class member of Mayan society serves as one of the few examples of art depicting social-class division.

Very little was known about the political and economic systems of Mayan society, as compared to archaeologists’ extensive knowledge of their advances in art and astronomy.  The way animal resources were distributed offered clues to the ways in which different social classes interacted, and archaeologists learned that their societies were not homogeneous by any means.  Instead, there were complicated systems in place to regulate trade relations, food distribution, and accessibility to species.  Because animals were used so widely for hides, tools, jewelry, and musical instruments, studying the geographic distribution of these resources revealed that there were elite classes that controlled a majority of the valuable resources.  But surprisingly, the middle classes used the widest variety of animals, as the wealthiest people only used exotic animals, such as jaguars and crocodiles, and the poorest could only afford to use inexpensive animals, such as a variety of fish and shellfish.

These animal bones, teeth and a cut jaw bone from a tapir, are an example of the ways Mayans used animal bones to create tools and instruments for daily use in society.

The study of animal bones has provided insight into the way Mayan cities interacted with surrounding villages through trade and commerce and has provided such extensive information because Mayan culture relies so heavily upon animal resources accomplish.  I am amazed by the amount of information that the archaeologists were able to infer about human cultures and tendencies from the examination of seemingly-unrelated artifacts.  Similar observations and critical thinking are applied when analyzing human remains as when uncovering truths about a society and their culture.  In the case of the Mayan civilization, the discovery of specific animal remains led archaeologists to believe that there were stricter class boundaries than previously thought.  The emergence of social hierarchy is an aspect of the “big picture” of Mayan civilization and social structure.  Without the creative approach to this investigative archaeology, they would be missing evidence of a significant aspect of Mayan culture which serves as further evidence of the often-overlooked sophistication of the ancient American civilizations.

Further Reading

http://phys.org/news/2015-10-temples-ancient-bones-reveal-mayan.html

http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/animal-bones-shed-light-lifestyle-citizens-ancient-maya-cities-004405

http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/fall-2015/article/beyond-the-temples-ancient-bones-reveal-the-lives-of-the-mayan-working-class

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/researchers-analyse-animal-bones-understand-how-working-class-mayan-civilisation-lived-1526449

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Forensic archeology, to my surprise, is not what we often see on television. Although it involves people who have already passed away, often times we only have remnants of them left – maybe only a bone or two or small pieces of different bones. However, this branch of archeology is much more important than we give it credit for. It serves as a means of bringing about closure to the immediate families of the deceased, whether it is through a proper burial or information regarding their passing. As such, this branch of archeology is much more humanitarian in nature and can be thought of as a way of giving back to society. As we have learned, respect for the dead (often times in terms of a proper burial) is something that we hold to be very important and this dates back to circa 60,000 years ago, so this need for closure is not something new and we finally have a way of obtaining it in cases such as the one written here.

Figure 1: An image of Charlie Armstrong.

In this article from 2010, we see that forensic archeology was used to find a member of the Disappeared, people who were killed and had their bodies hidden during The Troubles, a period of thirty years marked by violence in Ireland. Unlike in television, this is not an easy process. It involves working with many parties, such as ICLVR and the family of the deceased, using tools like LIDAR, and a painstaking amount of time (months to years) on the field and mapping possible locations of the bodies. However, this work does pay off. The primary archeologist in the article said the following about his experience finding the body of one of the Disappeared, Charlie Armstrong:

“I’ve got to know Charlie’s widow, Kathleen, and their children very well over the years and know how much it means to them to bring Charlie home and give him a proper burial in consecrated ground. I feel proud that the team has helped them bring their many years of waiting to an end.”

Figure 2: An image of Inniskeen, the region in which Charlie Armstrong’s remains were found.

While television often spreads misinformation on forensic archeology, it brings the field into the eyes of the public, much like The Big Bang Theory does. Personally, I would not be interested in physics if it weren’t for the introduction to The Big Bang Theory and Michio Kaku (a physicist and public advocate of science). And in both fields, we see an increase in enrollment of students.
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If you would like to know more about The Troubles, please take a look below:
BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015. .
There is also a newer article from the BBC that has pointed to the discovery of other members of the Disappeared below:
“The Disappeared: ‘More than One Body’ Found during Search for Joe Lynskey – BBC News.” BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015. .
The original article which I referenced is below (this is also the source of my images):
“Using Forensic Archaeology to Find the Disappeared – BBC News.” BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015. .

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