Recent ucr_chass_anthro_oapolicydeposits items

Jaguar and puma captivity and trade among the Maya: Stable isotope data from Copan, Honduras.

Fri, 3 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

From Moctezumas zoo to animals kept in captivity at Teotihuacan, there is increasing evidence that Mesoamericans managed wild animals for a myriad of purposes. The present study situates ritualized animal management of highly symbolic fauna in the broader context of Classic Mesoamerica by examining another core site, the Maya center of Copan, Honduras (A.D. 426-822). In this study, we identify two animal populations among the faunal remains from public and private rituals spanning the Copan dynasty. One population, with diets heavily composed of atypically sourced C4 inputs indicative of artificial feeding, corresponds with the felids interred in Altar Q and Motmot caches. The second population is composed of felids and felid products bearing a predominance of C3 signatures indicative of a more natural dietary regime. As with Copan deer, species-specific δ18O variations within these felid populations further substantiates the postulation that an expansive faunal trade network...

Exploring Space‐Time Interactions in Fatal Opioid Overdoses

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ABSTRACT This study investigates fatal opioid overdoses in Riverside County, California, between January 2020 and March 2023, employing advanced spatial‐temporal analysis methods to uncover significant clusters and their underlying contexts. By integrating global and local Knox tests, the research identifies both broad trends and specific hotspots of fatal overdoses. The findings reveal substantial spatial disparities, with higher overdose rates in rural areas and neighborhoods characterized by lower socioeconomic status and larger Hispanic populations. Despite a lower overall overdose risk among Hispanics, their neighborhoods exhibit a higher occurrence of fatal overdoses, highlighting complex interactions between individual and environmental factors. These insights underscore the need for targeted, contextually informed public health interventions and policies to effectively address the opioid crisis.

Living with others' pasts: Monumentality and everyday heritage in Rhodes

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Living with others' pasts: Monumentality and everyday heritage in Rhodes

Expert Craftswomen: A Multidisciplinary Experimental Bioarchaeological Look at Past Tiwanaku (AD 500–1100) Labor and Present Andean Expertise

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

To acquire a robust picture of Andean labor, this research used the skeletal evidence of labor (i.e. osteoarthritis (OA) and entheseal changes (EC)) during Tiwanaku times, modern ethnographic interviews with Indigenous Aymara people, and computer-aided motion capture (mocap). The focus was on understanding patterns of activity and comparing these deceased individuals’ labors to modern Aymara traditional tasks. The skeletal remains, ethnographic evidence, and mocap of traditional activities showed that intense labors, such as farming or craft production, begin in pre-teen years. Results also revealed that many of the modern tools used are the same as those used over a thousand years ago. EC “chopping” motion was also correlated to drop spindle yarn production. Back pain was discussed in regards to spinal OA, linked to both performing strenuous tasks and advancing age. Laborers from the past and present can answer questions about gendered labor and the importance of Indigenous expert...

Cooperative Bodies: Bioarchaeologists Address Nonranked Societies

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Cooperative Bodies: Bioarchaeologists Address Nonranked Societies

Why Heterarchy? A View from the Tiwanaku State's (AD 500–1100) Labor Force

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Why Heterarchy? A View from the Tiwanaku State's (AD 500–1100) Labor Force

A case study of multiple individuals with a supernumerary vertebra and sacralization in the prehistoric Rio Muerto Tiwanaku cemetery (AD 700-900), Moquegua, Peru

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A case study of multiple individuals with a supernumerary vertebra and sacralization in the prehistoric Rio Muerto Tiwanaku cemetery (AD 700-900), Moquegua, Peru

Historical Osteobiographies from Ming-Period China

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract: The Ming-period (1368−1644 C.E.) tombs at Upper Xuwucun, Shaanxi, yielded 23 skeletons and 4 carved stone epitaphs detailing the lives of those interred at the site. This is a rare case of linked skeletal, mortuary, and newly unearthed written records of individuals—the Zhang family—not previously known to history. Details of the epitaphs are presented, including age at death, gender, and life story, along with osteobiographies and trends in the skeletal population, including indications of antemortem trauma, benign neoplasms, and foot binding. Dimensions of gender and class specific to this historical context are inscribed in the epitaphs and in the skeletons, and together they constitute a more complete picture of the construction of social roles among Ming landowners in the rural Guanzhong Basin.

“Violence and love and drugs…it all goes hand in hand”: A mixed methods analysis of the substance abuse, violence, and HIV/AIDS syndemic among women who use methamphetamine

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Background: The synergistic epidemics of substance use, violence, and HIV/AIDS, also known as the SAVA syndemic, disproportionately affects vulnerable women in the United States. Methamphetamine use is closely linked with physical and sexual violence, including intimate partner violence (IPV), which heightens women's vulnerability to HIV. This mixed methods study examined the prevalence and correlates of violence among women who use methamphetamine, (n = 209) enrolled in an HIV intervention study in San Diego, California. Methods: At baseline, 209 women completed an interviewer-administered computer-assisted survey. A sub set of women who reported lifetime IPV (n = 18) also participated in qualitative interviews to contextualize our understanding of patterns of violence over time. Results: In the overall cohort, reports of lifetime (66.0%) and past 2-month (19.6%) IPV were prevalent. Moreover, women reported lifetime physical only (27.3%), sexual...

Carious lesions as evidence for different adaptation strategies during the middle-late Holocene in the Gansu region, northwest China

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The natural environment of the Gansu-Qinghai region in northwest China exhibits spatial variation, resulting in distinct adaptive strategies among populations in different geographical areas. In this study, we analyzed the diachronic trend and regional variations in caries prevalence among 10 different middle and late-Holocene groups by examining dental caries data to explore the correlation between different adaptation strategies and caries frequency. Frequency data was used to compare dental caries between populations, and the Chi-square test was employed to detect statistical differences. A multidisciplinary approach was employed to investigate the relationship between these changes and the adaptive strategies adopted by the populations in this region. The result shows that there was a gradual increase in caries prevalence over time in eastern Gansu, which corresponded with development of millet farming and social hierarchy. In the Hexi Corridor, caries prevalence exhibited...

Oral health and nonmolar dental attrition in the Siwa‐period individuals from the Bronze Age Mogou cemetery, Northwest China

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract: Dental data can reveal evidence for a past population's oral health, nutrition, and certain cultural activities. This study aims to explore oral health and dental attrition during the late Bronze Age in order to explore health outcomes in different subgroups as well as aspects of foodways and changes in subsistence strategies during the second millennium BCE in northwest China. To do this, the skeletal remains of adult individuals associated with the Siwa material culture (1400–1100 BC) from the Mogou site (n = 28) were macroscopically assessed and compared with previously published data derived from a subsample of individuals associated with Qijia period material culture complex (1750–1400 BC) from the same site. The results show that the Siwa‐period population experienced a high frequency of carious lesions and antemortem tooth loss associated with advanced attrition (of both molars and nonmolar teeth), which did not vary significantly by sex. Females had a higher...

Two cases of skeletal fluorosis from the historic cemetery at Zhangwan, Henan Province, China

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract: Skeletal fluorosis is a systemic chronic disease caused by long‐term intake of excessive fluoride, which accumulates in bone tissue and causes changes to the bone and periosteal tissue. Skeletal fluorosis is rarely considered in paleopathological analyses, but in areas with relatively high fluoride in the environment, it may be an important cause of bone hyperplasia. In this study, we observed pathological lesions consistent with fluorosis on two human skeletons from the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 CE) excavated from a cemetery in western Henan Province. By using an electron microprobe to measure the fluoride content in the teeth, and by considering the living conditions in the area during the Ming Dynasty, we conclude that the remains show evidence of skeletal fluorosis. We also consider the content of fluoride in the local groundwater, the local way of life, and other factors, to identify potential causes of skeletal fluorosis in this population and demonstrate that environmental...

STI/HIV test result disclosure between female sex workers and their primary, non-commercial male partners in two Mexico-US border cities: a prospective study

Sun, 24 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

OBJECTIVES: Disclosure of sexually transmitted infections (STI)/HIV diagnoses to sexual partners is not mandated by public health guidelines in Mexico. To assess the feasibility of couples-based STI/HIV testing with facilitated disclosure as a risk-reduction strategy within female sex workers' (FSW) primary partnerships, we examined STI/HIV test result disclosure patterns between FSWs and their primary, non-commercial male partners in two Mexico-US border cities. METHODS: From 2010 to 2013, 335 participants (181 FSWs and 154 primary male partners) were followed for 24 months. At semiannual visits, participants were tested for STIs/HIV and reported on their disclosure of test results from the previous visit. Multilevel logistic regression was used to identify individual-level and partnership-level predictors of cumulative (1) non-disclosure of ≥1 STI test result and (2) non-disclosure of ≥1 HIV test result within couples during follow-up. RESULTS: Eighty-seven percent of participants...

Unintentional Injury, Supervision, and Discourses on Childproofing Devices

Mon, 27 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Unintentional injury prevention research focuses on parental supervision as critical to reducing toddler injury. We examine how the promotion of childproofing-as a mode of supervision-sells mothers "peace of mind" while also increasing "intensive mothering" and the "privatization of risk." Drawing on the childproofing literature and meaning centered interviews with mothers of toddlers and childproofing business owners, we argue that the connection made by these groups between childproofing and "good parenting" ultimately obscures how this form of harm reduction economically and socially individualizes responsibility for child care.

Community Engagement Practices at Research Centers in U.S. Minority Institutions: Priority Populations and Innovative Approaches to Advancing Health Disparities Research

Mon, 27 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper details U.S. Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Community Engagement Cores (CECs): (1) unique and cross-cutting components, focus areas, specific aims, and target populations; and (2) approaches utilized to build or sustain trust towards community participation in research. A mixed-method data collection approach was employed for this cross-sectional study of current or previously funded RCMIs. A total of 18 of the 25 institutions spanning 13 U.S. states and territories participated. CEC specific aims were to support community engaged research (94%); to translate and disseminate research findings (88%); to develop partnerships (82%); and to build capacity around community research (71%). Four open-ended questions, qualitative analysis, and comparison of the categories led to the emergence of two supporting themes: (1) establishing trust between the community-academic collaborators and within the community and (2) building collaborative relationships. An...

Historical Wisdom: Data Analysis and Reimagining in Anti-Oppressive Research Methodologies

Mon, 6 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Using anti-oppressive methodologies, the Chihuum Piiuywmk Inach/Gathering of Good Minds (CPI/GoGM) project reimagined inclusive pathways for data analysis in health equity Community Engaged Research (CER). Transformations in CER methodologies that decenter colonial and institutional systems of oppression and center Indigenous epistemologies are on the rise. There is, however, a paucity of guidance on data analysis in CER. The CPI/GoGM’s historical trauma project is a grounded demonstration of inclusion and building relational research spaces that support Indigenous epistemologies. Community inclusion in data analysis is an intervention and next step for equity in CER and a call for epistemic justice.

Continuum of Trauma: Fear and Mistrust of Institutions in Communities of Color During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Historical, cultural, and social trauma, along with social determinants of health (SDOH), shape health outcomes, attitudes toward medicine, government, and health behaviors among communities of color in the United States (U.S.). This study explores how trauma and fear influence COVID-19 testing and vaccination among Black/African American, Latinx/Indigenous Latin American, and Native American/Indigenous communities. Leveraging community-based participatory research methods, we conducted 11 virtual focus groups from January to March of 2021 with Black/African American (n = 4), Latinx/Indigenous Latin American (n = 4), and Native American/Indigenous (n = 3) identifying community members in Inland Southern California. Our team employed rapid analytic approaches (e.g., template and matrix analysis) to summarize data and identify themes across focus groups and used theories of intersectionality and trauma to meaningfully interpret study findings. Historical,...

Perspectives on biomedical HIV prevention options among women who inject drugs in Kenya

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Due to heightened vulnerability to HIV from frequent engagement in sex work and overlapping drug-using and sexual networks, women who inject drugs should be a high priority population for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and other biomedical HIV prevention tools. Kenya is one of the first African countries to approve oral PrEP for HIV prevention among "key populations," including people who inject drugs and sex workers. The objective of this study was to explore preferences and perceived challenges to PrEP adoption among women who inject drugs in Kisumu, Kenya. We conducted qualitative interviews with nine HIV-uninfected women who inject drugs to assess their perceptions of biomedical HIV interventions, including oral PrEP, microbicide gels, and intravaginal rings. Despite their high risk and multiple biomedical studies in the region, only two women had ever heard of any of these methods. All women were interested in trying at least one biomedical prevention method, primarily to...

Syringe access and health harms: Characterizing “landscapes of antagonism” in California's Central Valley

Fri, 2 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Sterile syringe access reduces injection-related health harms, yet access in the U.S. remains grossly inadequate. In California, syringe services programs (SSPs) are authorized mainly at the local level, and many communities remain underserved. State law also allows, but does not require, non-prescription syringe sales at pharmacies, but participation is low. We draw on the theoretical concept of "landscapes of antagonism" to examine how discordance between state and local decision-making contributes to uneven syringe access and health harms in California's Central Valley, where injection rates are high. METHODS: Our study took place in Fresno and Kern counties. We draw on participant observation and qualitative interviews with individuals who inject drugs and key informants to examine issues around syringe access. RESULTS: Overall, 8 key informants represented harm reduction, medical, and faith-based organizations. Among 46 people who inject drugs, mean age was 39...

You can’t do this job when you are sober: Heroin use among female sex workers and the need for comprehensive drug treatment programming in Kenya

Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

AIMS: Globally, women who use drugs often practice sex work and experience multiple health and social harms that complicate their drug treatment needs. In East Africa, understanding the emergence of heroin use among women is critical in efforts to build effective drug treatment programming, including the ongoing scale-up of medication-assisted treatment (MAT). We explored heroin use among women engaged in sex work in Kenya to inform services. METHODS: In a qualitative study of 45 female sex workers reporting substance use in Kisumu, Kenya, 32 reported lifetime heroin use and comprise the focus of this analysis. Semi-structured interviews explored histories of substance use and sex work and health programming needs. Thematic analysis focused on the contexts and meanings of heroin use. RESULTS: Among 32 women, median age was 28 (range: 18-37). Women commonly smoked cocktails containing heroin while using alcohol and other drugs prior to sex work. Most women perceived heroin to engender...

Stigma at every turn: Health services experiences among people who inject drugs

Fri, 19 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: People who inject drugs (PWID) encounter varying forms of stigma in health services contexts, which can contribute to adverse outcomes. We explored the lived experience of stigma among PWID to elucidate pathways by which stigma influences health care access and utilization. METHODS: We conducted 46 qualitative interviews with PWID in California's Central Valley between March and December 2015, as part of a multi-phase, multi-method study examining implementation of a new pharmacy syringe access law. A "risk environment" framework guided our data collection and we used a deductive/inductive approach to analyze the qualitative data. RESULTS: Participants repeatedly cited the impact of stigma on syringe access, particularly in the context of meso-level pharmacist interactions. They described being denied syringe purchase as stigmatizing and embarrassing, and these experiences discouraged them from attempting to purchase syringes under the new pharmacy access law. Participants...

A Qualitative Study of Substance use during Pregnancy: Implications for Reproductive Healthcare in Western Kenya.

Thu, 18 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Women who use alcohol and drugs are often in their childbearing years, creating a need for integrated substance abuse and reproductive health services. However, our understanding of the social context and drivers of substance use during pregnancy, particularly in developing countries, is limited and largely unaddressed in clinical care. Our qualitative research explored the reproductive health of women of childbearing age who inject drugs and its implications for healthcare in Kisumu, Kenya. We used in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews with 17 women who inject drugs to explore reproductive health topics including knowledge, practices, and clinical interactions related to substance use during pregnancy. All but one woman had a prior pregnancy and two were pregnant during our study. Alcohol and drug use was prevalent throughout pregnancy, often described as a coping mechanism for stress. Women received mixed advice from family and social contacts regarding alcohol use...

Hope Amidst Horror: Documenting the Effects of the “War On Drugs” Among Female Sex Workers and Their Intimate Partners in Tijuana, Mexico

Sat, 13 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Sensationalistic media coverage has fueled stereotypes of the Mexican border city of Tijuana as a violent battleground of the global drug war. While the drug war shapes health and social harms in profoundly public ways, less visible are the experiences and practices of hope that forge communities of care and represent more private responses to this crisis. In this article, we draw on ethnographic fieldwork and photo elicitation with female sex workers who inject drugs and their intimate, non-commercial partners in Tijuana to examine the personal effects of the drug war. Drawing on a critical phenomenology framework, which links political economy with phenomenological concern for subjective experience, we explore the ways in which couples try to find hope amidst the horrors of the drug war. Critical visual scholarship may provide a powerful alternative to dominant media depictions of violence, and ultimately clarify why this drug war must end.

Sex Work, Heroin Injection, and HIV Risk in Tijuana: A Love Story

Sat, 13 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The relationships between female sex workers and their non-commercial male partners are typically viewed as sites of HIV risk rather than meaningful unions. This ethnographic case study presents a nuanced portrayal of the relationship between Cindy and Beto, a female sex worker who injects drugs and her intimate, non-commercial partner who live in Tijuana, Mexico. Based on ethnographic research in Tijuana and our long term involvement in a public health study, we suggest that emotions play a central role in sex workers' relationships and contribute in complex ways to each partner's health. We conceptualize Cindy and Beto's relationship as a "dangerous safe haven" in which HIV risk behaviors such as unprotected sex and syringe sharing convey notions of love and trust and help sustain emotional unity amidst broader uncertainties, but nevertheless carry very real health risks. Further attention to how emotions shape vulnerable couples' health remains a task for anthropology.

Negotiating sexual safety in the era of biomedical HIV prevention: relationship dynamics among male couples using pre-exposure prophylaxis

Sat, 13 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Up to two-thirds of new cases of HIV transmission between gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in the USA are attributed to primary relationships. Understanding the relationship dynamics and sexual agreements of male-male couples can provide insight into HIV transmission patterns and prevention needs in this population. The daily use of antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective in preventing HIV, but its negotiation and use within social and intimate relationship contexts remain understudied. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 male couples (n = 40 men) in which at least one partner was either using or in the process of initiating PrEP. Congruent with a theoretical focus on social theories of relationships and negotiated risk, couples were interviewed about relationship dynamics, trust, communication and sexual health practices, including their perception and use of PrEP. Overall, we found that couples showed heightened...

Down in the valley: Trajectories of injection initiation among young injectors in California’s Central Valley

Sat, 13 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Injection drug use initiation represents a critical point of public health intervention, as injection increases risk for blood borne infections including Hepatitis C and HIV. In this paper, we explore pathways to injection initiation among youth (≤30) in the rural context of California's Central Valley, where rates of injection drug use are among the highest in the nation. METHODS: We draw on semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 young injectors to examine drug use histories, including the factors that participants associated with their transition to injection drug use. RESULTS: The average age was 24.7 years (range: 20-30), 45% were female (n=9), and 30% were Latino (n=6). Participants described a variety of pathways to injection, culminating in a first injection that involved either opioids (n=12) or methamphetamine (n=8). Among the opioid group, the majority used prescription opioids before transitioning to injection, while a smaller number transitioned...

An ethnographic exploration of drug markets in Kisumu, Kenya

Sat, 13 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Illegal drug markets are shaped by multiple forces, including local actors and broader economic, political, social, and criminal justice systems that intertwine to impact health and social wellbeing. Ethnographic analyses that interrogate multiple dimensions of drug markets may offer both applied and theoretical insights into drug use, particularly in developing nations where new markets and local patterns of use traditionally have not been well understood. This paper explores the emergent drug market in Kisumu, western Kenya, where our research team recently documented evidence of injection drug use. METHODS: Our exploratory study of injection drug use was conducted in Kisumu from 2013 to 2014. We draw on 151 surveys, 29 in-depth interviews, and 8 months of ethnographic fieldwork to describe the drug market from the perspective of injectors, focusing on their perceptions of the market and reports of drug use therein. RESULTS: Injectors described a dynamic market in...

Women's Perspectives on Female-Initiated Barrier Methods for the Prevention of HIV in the Context of Methamphetamine Use and Partner Violence

Mon, 1 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Female-initiated barrier methods for the prevention of HIV may be an effective alternative for drug-using women who are unable to negotiate safe sex, often as a result of physical and/or sexual partner violence. METHODS: Utilizing a SAVA (substance abuse, violence, and AIDS) syndemic framework, we qualitatively examined perspectives on female condoms and vaginal microbicides among 18 women with histories of methamphetamine abuse and partner violence in San Diego, California. FINDINGS: Most women were not interested in female condoms owing to perceived discomfort, difficulty of insertion, time-intensive effort, and unappealing appearance. Alternatively, most women viewed vaginal microbicides as a useful method. Positive aspects included convenience, ability to disguise as a lubricant, and a sense of control and empowerment. Concerns included possible side effects, timing of application, and unfavorable characteristics of the gel. Acceptability of female-initiated barrier...

Live to tell: Narratives of methamphetamine-using women taken hostage by their intimate partners in San Diego, CA

Mon, 1 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

BACKGROUND: Hostage-taking, an overlooked phenomenon in public health, constitutes a severe form of intimate partner violence and may be a precursor to female homicide within relationships characterized by substance use. Criminal justice studies indicate that most hostage incidents are male-driven events with more than half of all cases associated with a prior history of violence and substance use. Methamphetamine use increases a woman's risk of partner violence, with methamphetamine-using individuals being up to nine times more likely to commit homicide. As homicide is the most lethal outcome of partner violence and methamphetamine use, this study aims to characterize the potential role of hostage-taking within these intersecting epidemics. METHODS: Methamphetamine-using women enrolled in an HIV behavioural intervention trial (FASTLANE-II) who reported experiences of partner violence were purposively selected to participate in qualitative sub-studies (Women's Study I & II)....

Designing databases and using generalized estimating equations for entheseal datasets: An example from the Tiwanaku culture (AD 500–1100)

Thu, 13 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Designing databases and using generalized estimating equations for entheseal datasets: An example from the Tiwanaku culture (AD 500–1100)

Native Lives in Colonial Times: Insights from the Skeletal Remains of Susquehannocks, A.D. 1575–1675

Thu, 13 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Native Lives in Colonial Times: Insights from the Skeletal Remains of Susquehannocks, A.D. 1575–1675

The Mogou Bioarchaeology Project: exploring health in the Chinese Bronze Age

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract: Bioarchaeological research provides unique insights on human adaptation, diet, lifestyle and epidemiology. The Mogou Bioarchaeology Project explores how health was affected by the Bronze Age transition in north-west China. Preliminary results reveal that the inhabitants experienced substantial physiological stress, infectious disease and lethal trauma.

Climate change, human health, and resilience in the Holocene

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Climate change is an indisputable threat to human health, especially for societies already confronted with rising social inequality, political and economic uncertainty, and a cascade of concurrent environmental challenges. Archaeological data about past climate and environment provide an important source of evidence about the potential challenges humans face and the long-term outcomes of alternative short-term adaptive strategies. Evidence from well-dated archaeological human skeletons and mummified remains speaks directly to patterns of human health over time through changing circumstances. Here, we describe variation in human epidemiological patterns in the context of past rapid climate change (RCC) events and other periods of past environmental change. Case studies confirm that human communities responded to environmental changes in diverse ways depending on historical, sociocultural, and biological contingencies. Certain factors, such as social inequality and disproportionate...

Vietnamese in Central Europe: An Unintended Diaspora INTRODUCTION

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Vietnamese in Central Europe: An Unintended Diaspora INTRODUCTION

Catholic-Confucian Mortuary Practices in a Rural Manchurian Cemetery

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Catholic-Confucian Mortuary Practices in a Rural Manchurian Cemetery

Human adaptation to Holocene environments: Perspectives and promise from China

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Human adaptation to Holocene environments: Perspectives and promise from China

Socio-Environmental Dynamics along the Historical Silk Road

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Socio-Environmental Dynamics along the Historical Silk Road

Twenty‐first century bioarchaeology: Taking stock and moving forward

Thu, 4 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This article presents outcomes from a Workshop entitled "Bioarchaeology: Taking Stock and Moving Forward," which was held at Arizona State University (ASU) on March 6-8, 2020. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the School of Human Evolution and Social Change (ASU), and the Center for Bioarchaeological Research (CBR, ASU), the Workshop's overall goal was to explore reasons why research proposals submitted by bioarchaeologists, both graduate students and established scholars, fared disproportionately poorly within recent NSF Anthropology Program competitions and to offer advice for increasing success. Therefore, this Workshop comprised 43 international scholars and four advanced graduate students with a history of successful grant acquisition, primarily from the United States. Ultimately, we focused on two related aims: (1) best practices for improving research designs and training and (2) evaluating topics of contemporary significance that reverberate through history...

Medical Students’ Creation of Original Poetry, Comics, and Masks to Explore Professional Identity Formation

Fri, 3 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction. This study examines differences in students’ perceived value of three artmaking modalities (poetry, comics, masks) and whether the resulting creative projects offer similar or different insights into medical students’ professional identity formation. Methods. Mixed-methods design using a student survey, student narrative comments and qualitative analysis of students’ original work. Results. Poetry and comics stimulated insight, but masks were more enjoyable and stress-reducing. All three art modalities expressed tension between personal and professional identities. Discussion. Regardless of type of artmaking, students express concern about encroachments of training on personal identity but hoped that personal and professional selves could be integrated.

Large variation in availability of Maya food plant sources during ancient droughts

Mon, 7 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Paleoclimatic evidence indicating a series of droughts in the Yucatan Peninsula during the Terminal Classic period suggests that climate change may have contributed to the disruption or collapse of Classic Maya polities. Although climate change cannot fully account for the multifaceted, political turmoil of the period, it is clear that droughts of strong magnitude could have limited food availability, potentially causing famine, migration, and societal decline. Maize was undoubtedly an important staple food of the ancient Maya, but a complete analysis of other food resources that would have been available during drought remains unresolved. Here, we assess drought resistance of all 497 indigenous food plant species documented in ethnographic, ethnobotanical, and botanical studies as having been used by the lowland Maya and classify the availability of these plant species and their edible components under various drought scenarios. Our analysis indicates availability of 83% of food...

3 Water and Landscape: Ancient Maya Settlement Decisions

Wed, 2 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In this chapter we present the major transitions in Maya history from the Late Preclassic through Terminal Classic periods in the Maya Lowlands, focusing first on major settlement and subsistence systems, followed by major social and environmental costs. We particularly focus on how the Maya built and relied on increasingly complex water and agricultural systems to adapt in the humid tropics where everything in life was rainfall dependent. The seasonality of rainfall required innovative strategies to contain water throughout the long dry season in the face of growing population and socio-political complexity. Drastic changes occurred when several prolonged droughts struck the Maya area, resulting in them exploring new areas and subsistence practices. The chapter concludes with a few thoughts on how understanding ancient Maya water and land use is relevant for today's issues regarding sustainable land and water use.

Commentary: feeding Teotihuacan in the context of commodities research

Wed, 2 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Commentary: feeding Teotihuacan in the context of commodities research

2 Tropical Landscapes and the Ancient Maya: Diversity in Time and Space

Wed, 2 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Archaeologists have begun to understand that many of the challenges facing our technologically sophisticated, resource dependent, urban systems were also destabilizing factors in ancient complex societies. The focus of IHOPE-Maya is to identify how humans living in the tropical Maya Lowlands in present-day Central America responded to and impacted their environments over the past three millennia, and to relate knowledge of those processes to modern and future coupled human-environment systems. To better frame variability in ancient lowland Maya development and decline, the area that they once occupied may be subdivided into a series of geographical regions in which the collected archaeological data can be correlated with environmental differences. Although beginning as small agricultural communities occupying a variety of ecological niches in the humid tropics of Mesoamerica, the ancient Maya became an increasingly complex set of societies involved in intensive and extensive resource...

Temporal, spatial and gender-based dietary differences in middle period San Pedro de Atacama, Chile: A model-based approach

Thu, 19 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

To explore the possible emergence and lived consequences of social inequality in the Atacama, we analyzed a large set (n = 288) of incredibly well preserved and contextualized human skeletons from the broad Middle Period (AD 500-1000) of the San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) oases. In this work, we explore model-based paleodietary reconstruction of the results of stable isotope analysis of human bone collagen and hydroxyapatite. The results of this modeling are used to explore local phenomena, the nature of the Middle Period, and the interaction between local situations and the larger world in which the oases were enmeshed by identifying the temporal, spatial, and biocultural correlates and dimensions of dietary difference. Our analyses revealed that: 1) over the 600-year period represented by our sample, there were significant changes in consumption patterns that may evince broad diachronic changes in the structure of Atacameño society, and 2) at/near 600 calAD, there was a possible...

The Life and Death of a Child: Mortuary and Bodily Manifestations of Coast–Interior Interactions during the Late Formative Period (AD 100–400), Northern Chile

Thu, 19 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Camelid pastoralism, agriculture, sedentism, surplus production, increasing cultural complexity, and interregional interaction during northern Chile's Late Formative period (AD 100–400) are seen in the flow of goods and people over expanses of desert. Consolidating evidence of material culture from these interactions with a bioarchaeological dimension allows us to provide details about individual lives and patterns in the Late Formative more generally. Here, we integrate a variety of skeletal, chemical, and archaeological data to explore the life and death of a small child (Calate-3N.7). By taking a multiscalar approach, we present a narrative that considers not only the varied materiality that accompanies this child but also what the child's life experience was and how this reflects and shapes our understanding of the Late Formative period in northern Chile. This evidence hints at the profound mobility of their youth. The complex mortuary context reflects numerous interactions...

A probable case of multiple myeloma from Bronze Age China

Wed, 7 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

OBJECTIVE: Paleopathological evidence of cancer from past populations is rare, especially outside of Europe and North Africa. This study expands upon the current temporal and spatial distribution of cancer by presenting a probable case of multiple myeloma from Bronze Age China. MATERIAL: The human skeletal remains of an adult male from the Qijia culture horizon (1750-1400 BCE) of the Bronze Age cemetery of Mogou (), located in Gansu Province, Northwest China. METHODS: The human skeletal remains were assessed macroscopically and radiographically using plain x-rays. RESULTS: Multiple ovoid-shaped osteolytic lesions with sharply demarcated margins were observed. The axial skeletal had the greatest involvement, specifically the vertebrae, ribs, and sternum. Radiographic imaging revealed more extensive destruction of cancellous than cortical bone, indicating that the marrow was the focal point of the disease. CONCLUSION: Based on the nature, distribution, and radiographic appearance...

Perspectives on biomedical HIV prevention options among women who inject drugs in Kenya.

Wed, 12 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Building a high‐resolution chronology at the Maya archaeological site of El Palmar, Mexico

Thu, 9 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Building a high‐resolution chronology at the Maya archaeological site of El Palmar, Mexico

Anthropological contributions to historical ecology: 50 questions, infinite prospects

Wed, 27 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This paper presents the results of a consensus-driven process identifying 50 priority research questions for historical ecology obtained through crowdsourcing, literature reviews, and in-person workshopping. A deliberative approach was designed to maximize discussion and debate with defined outcomes. Two in-person workshops (in Sweden and Canada) over the course of two years and online discussions were peer facilitated to define specific key questions for historical ecology from anthropological and archaeological perspectives. The aim of this research is to showcase the variety of questions that reflect the broad scope for historical-ecological research trajectories across scientific disciplines. Historical ecology encompasses research concerned with decadal, centennial, and millennial human-environmental interactions, and the consequences that those relationships have in the formation of contemporary landscapes. Six interrelated themes arose from our consensus-building workshop...

Paleopathological research in continental China: Introduction to the Special Issue

Tue, 26 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

We set out to assemble this Special Issue of IJPP with three goals in mind: (1) to familiarize Anglophone readers with research on paleopathology conducted by Chinese scholars; (2) to enhance interest in paleopathological research among Chinese scholars, and to foster the use of differential diagnosis as the key mode of paleopathological analysis; and (3) to initiate integration of pathological analysis of human skeletal collections with historical records documenting early medical practices, epidemics, development and age-related diseases, and demographic records. The collection of papers that follows presents new data, from a range of time periods and geographic and social contexts, that we feel reflect the diversity, dynamism, and enormous scope of archaeology in China today. Themes such as infectious disease history, interpersonal violence, and comorbidity as a methodological issue are addressed by multiple papers. However, as the special issue developed, we also came to a...

Osteoarthritis, entheses, and long bone cross-sectional geometry in the Andes: Usage, history, and future directions

Tue, 26 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Akin to approaches encouraged by Verano (1997) in the Andes, and Ortner (2011, 2012) for general paleopathological studies, this article focuses on accurate descriptions and definitions of osteoarthritis, entheses, and long bone cross-sectional geometry. By evaluating these conditions as part of biological responses to abnormal skeletal changes and biomechanical stress, this research discusses each condition's pathogenesis. Further, this article emphasizes a "small data" approach to evaluating these conditions in ancient culturally and biologically related human populations, where the study samples must have good skeletal preservation, where estimates of age and sex need to be included as major factors, and where abnormalities need to be described and evaluated. This article also discusses global clinical and osteological research on ways scholars are currently trying to establish industry-wide methods to evaluate osteoarthritis, entheses, and long bone cross-sectional geometry....

Evaluating elbow osteoarthritis within the prehistoric Tiwanaku state using generalized estimating equations (GEE)

Tue, 26 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

OBJECTIVES: Studies of osteoarthritis (OA) in human skeletal remains can come with scalar problems. If OA measurement is noted as present or absent in one joint, like the elbow, results may not identify specific articular pathology data and the sample size may be insufficient to address research questions. If calculated on a per data point basis (i.e., each articular surface within a joint), results may prove too data heavy to comprehensively understand arthritic changes, or one individual with multiple positive scores may skew results and violate the data independence required for statistical tests. The objective of this article is to show that the statistical methodology Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) can solve scalar issues in bioarchaeological studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using GEE, a population-averaged statistical model, 1,195 adults from the core and one colony of the prehistoric Tiwanaku state (AD 500-1,100) were evaluated bilaterally for OA on the seven articular...

Precarious hope and reframing risk behavior from the ground up: insight from ethnographic research with Rwandan urban refugees in Yaoundé, Cameroon

Wed, 20 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

BackgroundTheoretical and methodological research on risk-taking practices often frames risk as an individual choice. While risk does occur at individual level, it is determined by aspirations which are connected to others and society. For many displaced women globally, these aspirations are often linked to the well-being of their children and other household members. This article explores the links between aspirations for the future, gendered household dynamics, and health risk-taking behavior among the Rwandan urban refugee community.MethodsThis analysis drew from participant observation, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews with 49 male and 42 female household members from 36 Rwandan refugee households in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The fieldwork was conducted over 12 months between May–August 2016, May–August 2017, and February–August 2018.ResultsWe observed that while there was considerable convergence among household members in aspirations, there was considerable difference...

Research priorities to inform “Treat All” policy implementation for people living with HIV in sub‐Saharan Africa: a consensus statement from the International epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA)

Wed, 20 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

INTRODUCTION: "Treat All" - the treatment of all people with HIV, irrespective of disease stage or CD4 cell count - represents a paradigm shift in HIV care that has the potential to end AIDS as a public health threat. With accelerating implementation of Treat All in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), there is a need for a focused agenda and research to identify and inform strategies for promoting timely uptake of HIV treatment, retention in care, and sustained viral suppression and addressing bottlenecks impeding implementation. METHODS: The Delphi approach was used to develop consensus around research priorities for Treat All implementation in SSA. Through an iterative process (June 2017 to March 2018), a set of research priorities was collectively formulated and refined by a technical working group and shared for review, deliberation and prioritization by more than 200 researchers, implementation experts, policy/decision-makers, and HIV community representatives in East, Central, Southern...

PrEP and the syndemic of substance use, violence, and HIV among female and male sex workers: a qualitative study in Kisumu, Kenya

Wed, 20 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

INTRODUCTION: Female and male sex workers experience heightened vulnerability to HIV and other health harms that are compounded by substance use, physical and sexual violence, and limited access to health services. In Kisumu, Kenya, where sex work is widespread and substance use is a growing public health concern, offering pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention could help curtail the HIV epidemic. Our study examines "syndemics," or mutually reinforcing epidemics of substance use, violence and HIV, in relation to PrEP acceptability and feasibility among female and male sex workers in Kenya, one of the first African countries to approve PrEP for HIV prevention. METHODS: From 2016 to 2017, sex workers in Kisumu reporting recent alcohol or drug use and experiences of violence participated in qualitative interviews on HIV risk and perspectives on health service needs, including PrEP programming. Content analysis identified themes relating to PrEP knowledge, acceptability,...

From Particularities to Context: Refining Our Thinking on Illness Narratives

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines how illness narratives are used in medical education and their implications for clinicians' thinking and care of patients. Ideally, collecting and reading illness narratives can enhance clinicians' sensitivity and contextual thinking. And yet these narratives have become part of institutionalizing cultural competency requirements in ways that tend to favor standardization. Stereotyping and reductionistic thinking can result from these pedagogic approaches and obscure structural inequities. We end by asking how we might best teach and read illness narratives to fulfill the ethical obligations of listening and asking more informative clinical interview questions that can better meet the needs of patients and the community.

After restitution: Community, litigation and governance in South African land reform

Mon, 9 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

After restitution: Community, litigation and governance in South African land reform

Deactivation of field cultivation in communal areas of South Africa: Patterns, drivers and socio-economic and ecological consequences

Mon, 9 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Smallholder production is a significant contributor to rural livelihoods and rural economies in much of the developing world. Yet, there is evidence of increasing disengagement in some regions, including southern Africa. However, there has been little consideration of the rates and the livelihood, ecological and policy implications of such. In this paper we examine previous studies on rates of deactivation of crop fields by smallholders in the communal areas of South Africa, supported by repeat photo images and case study material. Together these various methods show that it is a widespread phenomenon occurring at variable rates. Over short periods deactivation of crop fields can be balanced through some reactivation or intensification of homegardens. But over longer periods there is a net decline in the area of fields cultivated in many areas, with corresponding increases in the area of fallow land which, through time, may undergo changes towards more natural vegetation. We review...

Studying up after studying down: dilemmas of research on South African conservation professionals

Sun, 8 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

‘Studying up’ after one has ‘studied down’ poses a unique set of challenges, heightened by contexts of unequal power relations between different sets of informants. These are illustrated with the author’s experience moving from ethnographic fieldwork in a community adjoining a protected area to preliminary explorations of fieldwork among conservation professionals. Because of the intrinsically personal nature of ethnographic research, aspects of social position, personal history, and reflexive self-monitoring shape these encounters, which–depending upon the situations–result in informal restrictions on access, collaboration and an interest in the ‘expert’ anthropologist, and attempts to shift the loyalties of the anthropologist. While the details of the encounters are specific to the particular cases described, they highlight issues that are endemic to the fraught terrain of conservation in contemporary Africa, and which are likely to confront other researchers who attempt a similar...

‘Keeping Land for Their Children’: Generation, Migration and Land in South Africa’s Transkei*

Sun, 8 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Even as they cultivate less land, residents of Hobeni, in the former Transkei homeland, describe increasing concerns over land shortage, explaining that disused land has its owners who ‘are keeping that land for their children’. This paper examines the social practices that shape rural land tenure, in a setting where traditional authorities bear little relevance to customary tenure. Land in this context holds value not only for agricultural and residential use; it is a resource for rural residents to persuade migrants to maintain their rural ties, in a political-economic context in which migration has become more unstable and insecure. Attention to the attractive value of land as a resource situated in relations between migrants and rural kin also highlights the limits of a narrowly economic perspective on apparently ‘underutilised’ land: land may be materially ‘unproductive’ but socially valuable.

Foot binding in a Ming dynasty cemetery near Xi’an, China

Wed, 6 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This paper describes the morphology of the feet of a population of elite women from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 CE) in Shaanxi province. This is a social stratum, time, and place in which foot binding was practiced. Among a group of 31 skeletons exhumed from the cemetery, eight were women with well-preserved foot bones. Macroscopic examination revealed that half these women (4/8) had clearly altered foot bones: the metatarsal bones, and the few observable phalanges, were gracile and small, while the tarsal bones exhibited a slight reduction in size but no dramatic change in morphology. The other half of the women (4/8) had apparently unmodified metatarsal bones. T-tests comparing linear measurements of the foot bones between the two groups revealed that metatarsal bones were the most affected by binding, and among the tarsal bones, the talar trochlea and calcaneal dimensions were most impacted. This small group of skeletons reveals that some elite women in Shaanxi apparently still...

Skeletal evidence for violent trauma from the bronze age Qijia culture (2,300-1,500 BCE), Gansu Province, China

Wed, 6 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This research explores how social and environmental factors may have contributed to conflict during the early Bronze Age in Northwest China by analyzing violent trauma on human skeletal remains from a cemetery of the Qijia culture (2300-1500 BCE). The Qijia culture existed during a period of dramatic social, technological, and environmental change, though minimal research has been conducted on how these factors may have contributed to violence within the area of the Qijia and other contemporaneous material cultures. An osteological assessment was conducted on 361 individuals (n = 241 adults, n = 120 non-adults) that were excavated from the Mogou site, Lintan County, Gansu, China. Injuries indicative of violence, including sharp- and blunt-force trauma that was sustained ante- or peri-mortem, were identified, and the patterns of trauma were analysed. Violent injuries were found on 8.58% (n = 31/361) of individuals, primarily adult males. No evidence of trauma was found on infants...

Cranial modification and the shapes of heads across the Andes

Tue, 3 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This broad literature review considers advances in the study of cranial vault modification with an emphasis on investigations of Andean skeletal remains over the last two decades. I delimit three broad categories of research, building on Verano's synthesis of the state of Andean paleopathology in 1997. These are associations with skeletal pathological conditions, classification and morphology, and social identity. Progress is noted in each of these areas with a particular emphasis on methodological advances in studying morphology as well as the growth of contextualized bioarchaeology and the incorporation of social theory in the consideration of cranial modification as a cultural practice. The article concludes with avenues for future research on head shaping in the Andes specifically and paleopathology more broadly.

Integrating Identities: An Innovative Bioarchaeological and Biogeochemical Approach to Analyzing the Multiplicity of Identities in the Mortuary Record Reply

Tue, 3 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Integrating Identities: An Innovative Bioarchaeological and Biogeochemical Approach to Analyzing the Multiplicity of Identities in the Mortuary Record Reply

The Sequence of Human Occupation in the Atacama Oases, Chile: A Radiocarbon Chronology Based on Human Skeletal Remains

Tue, 3 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The San Pedro de Atacama oases have been permanently occupied since ca. 2500 B.P. and over this time developed a rich culture that was intertwined with social developments in the south-central Andes. However, despite decades of archaeological research, the region still lacks a strong chronological framework based on absolute dates. Here we present 53 new AMS ,14C dates from osteological remains from San Pedro de Atacama, in order to contribute to an understanding of the Atacameno cultural sequence. These dates suggest that some cemeteries were occupied for long periods, frequently transcending cultural phases, and that in fact a number of cemeteries within the same ayllu were in use concurrently. We also show that, not surprisingly, population displacement through time primarily follows oscillations in the sources of water. The new information presented here suggests that future work in the region should emphasize detailed analyses that consider intra-ayllu variability, given...

CALATE: DE LUGAR DESNUDO A LABORATORIO ARQUEOLGICO DE LA MOVILIDAD Y EL TRFICO INTERCULTURAL PREHISPNICO EN EL DESIERTO DE ATACAMA (CA. 7OOO AP-55O AP)

Tue, 3 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Calate is one of the spaces in the Atacama desert that has passed unnoticed in archaeological research, most likely because it appears to be a wasteland, devoid of basic resources and therefore of no apparent interest for humans. However, as we elaborate here, this view is very far removed from the actual archaeological potential afforded by the zone, which has revealed itself as a privileged place to study human mobility and pre-Hispanic social relations. We have chosen it as a case study following a research strategy that initially hypothesized Calate as a space of socially dense mobility and today stands out as a true archaeological laboratory for understanding the archaeology of internodal movement in the southern Andes.

The Precarious State of Subsistence: Reevaluating Dental Pathological Lesions Associated with Agricultural and Hunter-Gatherer Lifeways

Tue, 3 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Numerous bioarchaeological studies emphasize an increase in dental lesions associated with the transition to agricultural subsistence. Over the years, this diachronic trend has led to the conflation and oversimplification of specific dental indicators of oral health with broad subsistence strategies, emphasizing intergroup variation at the expense of intragroup variation. In order to explore such hidden variation, this metastudy uses published data from 185 archaeological sites to test the hypothesis that the prevalence of dental lesions (carious lesions, antemortem tooth loss, and periapical abscesses) among classified agricultural groups is higher than among hunter-gatherers. As a secondary hypothesis, this study also tests the association between climatic variables (temperature variation, altitude, and precipitation) and dental lesion prevalence. Our results show that, despite significant differences in the average prevalence of carious lesions between agricultural and hunter-gatherer...

An isotopic study of dietary diversity in formative period Ancachi/Quillagua, Atacama Desert, northern Chile

Tue, 3 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

OBJECTIVES: To characterize the paleodiet of individuals from Formative Period (1500 B.C.-A.D. 400) Atacama Desert sites of Ancachi and Quillagua as a means of understanding the dietary and cultural impacts of regional systems of exchange. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-one bone samples recovered from the cemetery of Ancachi (02QU175) and in/around the nearby town of Quillagua were the subject of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of bone collagen and hydroxyapatite and multisource mixture modeling (FRUITS, food reconstruction using isotopic transferred signals) of paleodiet. These individuals were compared with nearly 200 other Formative Period individuals from throughout the region to identify differences in dietary behaviors. RESULTS: 80.6% (25/31) of the samples yielded sufficient well-preserved collagen and were included in the multisource mixture model. The FRUITS model, which compared individuals with a robust database of available foods from the region, identified...

Political Interactions among Social Actors: Spatial Organization at the Classic Maya Polity of El Palmar, Campeche, Mexicó

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This article examines the significance of outlying groups in the spatial organization of Classic Maya settlements. The relative scarcity of textual records concerning outlying groups has often made it difficult for researchers to analyze in detail the political interactions between individuals associated with these groups and the royal authority. The recent discovery of a hieroglyphic stairway at the Guzmán Group, an outlying group of El Palmar, Campeche, Mexico, provides an exceptional opportunity for understanding the constitutive process of spatial organization during the Late and Terminal Classic periods (ca. A.D. 600-900). Epigraphic studies of the Guzmán Group stairway have identified a main individual who emphasized his genealogical ties to lakam (banner-bearer) officials and his political relationship with foreign rulers of Copán and Calakmul. The results of archaeological and epigraphic studies suggest that the Guzmán Group was a locus for negotiating power and ideology...

Social and Structural Challenges to Drug Cessation Among Couples in Northern Mexico: Implications for Drug Treatment in Underserved Communities