With National Science Foundation support Dr. Lori Wright will conduct a preliminary analysis of skeletal material collected from the Tikal, a Mayan archaeological site. Located in the lowlands of the northern Guatemalan Department of Peten, the city of Tikal has been a critical source of information about the development and demise of ancient Maya civilization. Occupied from ca. 600 BC through AD 1,000, Tikal grew to be among the largest cities of ancient Mesoamerica. Like other Maya polities, Tikal's fortunes waxed and waned. During the earlier part of its existence, the population is thought to have been divided into only two social tiers. During the following Late Classic period, Tikal grew to become the center of a centralized state, encompassing as many as 62,000 people, with greater socioeconomic diversity and a proliferation of status levels. Archaeological reconstruction's of prehistoric social systems have emphasized material symbols of wealth and energy expenditure. However these data provide only limited information and do not reflect the direct impact of these distinctions on individuals. Physical anthropological techniques can address the biological implications of social inequality through the identification of patterns of differential food consumption, differences in morbidity and childhood growth and through study of genetic structure. Such trends are commonly assumed to have pertained in prehistoric Mayan states but have yet to be fully explored. Excavations at Tikal have recovered several series of human skeletal remains and preliminary analyses by other investigators suggest that reconstructed height differences reflect, in fact, status differences. Dr. Wright wishes to do a detailed analysis of the entire sample. A variety of biological and chemical techniques can be applied to determine growth patterns, degree of physical stress and diet. However the materials are stored in three locations and none are well inventoried. Skeletal preservation is often poor in tropical conditions and many of the materials are incomplete. With this NSF award, Dr. Wright will travel to Guatemala, conduct a complete inventory and assess the state of each skeleton. These data will provide the basis to assess the feasibility of a full scale research project.
