Under the guidance of Dr. Jane Buikstra, Katherine Miller will conduct an analysis of biological and chemical data from human skeletal remains from the ancient city of Copan. The research site is located at the southeastern periphery of the ancient Maya world in western Honduras. Copan was a major social, political, and economic center that was occupied for nearly 3,000 years reaching its apogee during the Late Classic period (AD 600-820) when the population surpassed 20,000 inhabitants. Copan is ideal for this project because of its continuous occupation, its role as a major Maya urban center, and extensive excavations that have produced the largest skeletal collection in Mesoamerica. Ms. Miller's research explores kinship and residential patterns through an empirical and theoretically inclined methodology applicable to past societies by directly engaging individuals who were buried at Copan.
The factors that influence how people choose to associate and organize into social, political, and economic groups both in the past and present are long-standing research issues in anthropology as they are central to (re)constructions of the past. This project takes a novel approach to the problem of social organization by using new methods and a largely neglected source of data, the human body. The chemical and biological signatures found in the skeleton highlight the interplay of genealogy and culture and are well-suited to accurately document relationships and affiliations since these signatures cannot be seen, distorted, or misrepresented by the individual or society in life or death. This project will address the role that kinship and shared residence played in the formation and maintenance of social groups by employing (1) biodistance analysis to infer biological kinship relationships through the physical expressions of underlying genetic traits found in teeth, and (2) radiogenic strontium isotope analysis to extract samples of strontium from human teeth to infer ancient migration and residence patterns. This study will provide a necessary and timely addition to the body of knowledge on ancient Maya social organization by including data drawn from those who created and maintained society.
This research will have impacts that extend beyond the research topic. As part of an international collaboration with the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History and institutions from the United States, a major component of this research includes the conservation of the largest collection of archaeologically recovered ancient Maya human skeletal remains from a UNESCO World Heritage site. The intellectual merit of this project centers on the interdisciplinary nature of the research design that combines archaeology, biological and cultural anthropology, biogeochemistry, and statistics to address the long-standing problem of social organization. Results will be disseminated through a publicly available online database and in peer-reviewed publications. Public outreach will occur both in the United States and Honduras through public lectures, academic presentations, and workshops to improve the understanding of science and protection of archaeological collections. Finally, this project provides the foundation for long-term international scientific collaboration by training students and professionals from the United States and Honduras in bioarchaeological methodology, research design, conservation, and field analysis.
Ancient cities, like the Late Classic (AD 600-820) Maya center of Copan in western Honduras, were urban and cosmopolitan with ethnic diversity, a multiplicity of language and cultural groups, and many first generation migrants. The people of the past did not live in insular communities, society was not homogenous or static, and this study highlights that we must build new, fluid, and culturally specific models to understand the past. The intellectual merit of this interdisciplinary project centers on the long-standing research problem of social organization and builds upon social theory that is foundational to anthropological inquiry. Through an assessment of data drawn from skeletal remains, we can better understand the factors and mechanisms inherent in social structure in archaeological and contemporary contexts. By incorporating biological and biogeochemical physical evidence, our research serves to challenge well-founded archaeological constructs about past peoples. We found that Copan was as dynamic as many western cities which calls into question existing models of social organization. At a frontier city like Copan, the division between Maya and non-Maya may not be as polar as the archaeological evidence has previously suggested. The multicultural center was a diverse environment where affiliation, membership, kinship, and community were unique among Maya sites. The inclusion of ‘outsiders’ while maintaining social cohesion created a distinctive form of community at Copan and underscores that social organization in ancient settlements moves beyond proposed and popular lineage models. The broader impacts focus upon a globally important United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site and scientific research at the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH) by re-housing and conserving the largest assemblage of archaeologically recovered human skeletal remains in Mesoamerica. The sample studied here is composed of skeletal remains excavated over the past 120 years and was in dire need of curation and protection. A major achievement of this project was the conservation of the Copan collection. Previous to this work, the repository of human remains was stored in deteriorating materials absent of climate control and exhibited significant damage from pests and fluctuations in the environment. All of these problems have been corrected with the support of the National Science Foundation. The collection is no longer in a precarious state and is curated in such a way as to facilitate research by other scientists for generations to come. This enterprise had a strong focus on international collaboration with Honduran agencies and training of local students in human osteology, conservation techniques, and bioarchaeological laboratory and field methodology. A new generation of archaeologists is now trained in the study of human skeletal remains to protect their cultural heritage in long-term partnership with institutions from the United States.
