Female Kiva Societies in the Taos Valley: Mortuary and Bioarchaeological Evidence

Female Kiva Societies in the Taos Valley:

Mortuary and Bioarchaeological Evidence

Presented in the Symposium

Bodies of Evidence: Integrating Mortuary and Osteological Analyses

Organizers: Ryan Harrod and Kyle Waller

Discussant: Gordon Rakita

78th Annual Society for American Archaeology Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii.

April 2013

Catrina Banks Whitley

Research Associate

Office of Archaeological Studies

Museum of New Mexico

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© Catrina Banks Whitley, 2013 DO NOT CITE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION OF AUTHOR

Abstract:

The incorporation of a wider range of bioarchaeological data with mortuary practices can

provide a clearer method for archaeologists to perceive social structure. In isolation, each can

provide an interpretation of an individual’s position within their community, but results from

each study may be contradictory. For example, evidence of egalitarianism in mortuary ritual may

not be a complete reflection of the complexity inherent within a group. Likewise, poor health

may not always indicate lower social position or lack of prestige. Only by merging the two lines

of evidence can a more complete understanding of social structure and how an individual’s social

position can affect their health and life expectancy be revealed. This paper presents a concrete

example of the need to combine mortuary and bioarchaeological data to garner a more complete

interpretation of health, risk, and social structure by using data from Pot Creek Pueblo (AD

1260-1320) in the Taos Valley. Inclusion of osteological datasets, beyond simple sex and age

divisions, with the mortuary datasets and architecture revealed a structured division of labor

among the females, resulting in one labor group potentially having ritual prestige. However, the

prestige and status of these females did not buffer them from poorer health.

Introduction

“Context is everything. . . .context is key in interpretation”

Goldstein (2006:377)

In many bioarchaeological studies, the individual has been taken out of the context of the

archaeological site. Studies focus on topics such as health, disease, indicators of diet and

entheseal changes that elucidate important information about the lives of those in the past, but a

more robust interpretation of how the community was structured and social position can be

ascertained when the bioarchaeological interpretations are incorporated into site and mortuary

contexts. Results from these studies in isolation can be contradictory. Analysis of mortuary

practices without bioarchaeological data may not reflect the complexity inherent within a group;

particularly if the mortuary data indicate egalitarianism. Poor health may not always indicate

lower social position or lack of prestige, particularly in a society not based on power through

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economic wealth. Prestige can come from knowledge, spiritual power or ritual duties, or special

access to tasks that may not economically benefit the individual. Thus, economic egalitarianism

does not always indicate social egalitarianism. Only by merging the two lines of evidence,

complex bioarchaeological analyses and complex understanding of site data and/or mortuary

behavior, can a more complete understanding of social structure and how an individual’s social

position can affect their health and life expectancy be revealed. To simplify, we need to place the

individual into the space and environment in which they lived - including interpretations of ritual

practices. This paper presents a concrete example of the need to combine mortuary and

bioarchaeological data to garner a more complete interpretation of health, risk, and social

structure by using data from Pot Creek Pueblo (AD 1260-1320) in the Taos Valley (Whitley

2009).

Materials

Pot Creek Pueblo was occupied approximately AD 1260-1320 (Figure 1). Construction of the

aggregated pueblo rooms began in the late 1260s with roomblocks 2, 3, and 6, and these

roomblocks were expanded from 1280 to 1300. A building surge in the 1310s created plaza

spaces surrounding an unfinished Great Kiva, dating to AD 1318, and the addition of roomblocks

1 and 4 (Crown 1991). Two mealing rooms are associated with roomblocks 2 and 3, and

Ramadas are only associated with roomblock 4. The northern portion of the site has not been

dated and only one room was excavated. It is blocked in grey in this last slide because we have

no construction dates. The site was excavated over a fifty-year period by Southern Methodist

University and burials were encountered between 1957 and 1984.

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Skeletal remains available for study included 47 individuals- 18 males, 21 females, and 8

children 0-5 years of age. All adult skeletal remains available for analysis were able to be sexed,

although not all remains were intact for hypoplasia or entheseal changes. Life expectancy was

24.47 years at birth (Whitley 2009). Average stature for males was 156.80 +/- 7.72 cm and

females was 150.92 +/- 5.19 cm (Whitley 2009).

All remains, excluding two buried on the second floor of roomblock two and a child excavated

from a D-shaped kiva in the north roomblock, were found with one or more stones, ash, and trash

covering the body and were in an extramural context (Whitley 2009). It is possible the

exclusionary burials are associated with the abandonment of the site. The child in the D-shaped

kiva is interpreted by Fowles (2004) to be part of a ritual deposit.

Methods

The bioarchaeological analysis discussed in this paper include entheseal changes,

musculoskeletal stress markers- which can indicate the muscles regularly subjected to stress,

presence and location of osteoarthritis, age-at-death, and dental hypoplasia. Since the average

age-at-death for the population is low, with life expectance at 24 year and few individuals

surviving past 50 - 77% of adults dying before an average age of 40- entheseal changes and

osteoarthritic changes are more likely to correlate with occupation than aging stressors.

Entheseal changes, or musculoskeletal stress markers (MSM), can indicate habitual use of a

muscle that is regularly subjected to minor stress. Patterns in muscle use, or the lack thereof, can

identify groups of individuals that habitually move their bodies in similar manners, particularly

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in groups that require heavy labor for subsistence (Capasso et al. 1999; Hawkey and Merbs

1995). i Initial changes were calculated looking for occupational differences between males and

females. No statistically significant differences were present between the sexes, suggesting

similar levels of occupational stress. However, I chose to also look within each sex to identify

whether hierarchical or occupational differences existed.

Additionally, elevated levels of osteoarthritis may indicate increased mechanical demand in areas

of the body subjected to higher mechanical loading(Larsen 1997), particularly related to habitual

corn grinding, carry heavy loads, heavy lifting, or habitual bending or stooping. Osteoarthritis

was analyzed to investigate whether incidence was similar in males and females as well as within

each sex.ii

The presence of dental hypoplasia is linked with dietary deficiencies, fevers, infectious disease,

or other childhood diseases (Hillson 2008). Dental hypoplasia were scored and the ages at which

they occurred were assessed (Reid and Dean 2006; Hillson 2008). All observable teeth were

scored.

Burials were mapped to identify potential group clusters. Maps were created based on age, sex,

and by female groups. Clustering of graves may indicate bounded disposal areas for certain

roomblocks with several inividuals buried before roomblock construction expanded over their

graves.

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Results

Entheseal Changes

Analysis indicated a correlation between sex and MSM changes (r=0.75, p=0.02). No

correlations existed between humeral size, MSM changes, and age in the males, but were

statistically significant in females. Simple comparisons of male and female MSMs obscured a

significant difference within the females and how they were using their muscles (Figure 2).

These females were placed into two Groups, one interpreted as corn grinders (Group 1) and the

other as non-corn grinders (Group 2).

• Statistically significant differences were present at the deltoid, pectoralis

major, and teres major sites between the Group 1 and Group 2 females.

• Females in group 2 exhibited no hypertrophy at these MSM site markers,

indicating they did not habitually use these muscles during biomechanical

stress .

Osteoarthritis

A similar pattern was found in the osteoarthritis analysis. Osteoarthritic changes indicates no

correlation between age and presence of OA in females (Weiss and Jurmain 2007). Arthritic

changes were analyzed to ascertain if certain osteoarthritic changes correlated with Groups 1 and

2.

• Group 1 females had higher rates of costovertebral osteoarthritis (p=0.041) than

Group 2 females (Figure 3).

• Costovertebral osteoarthritis, or arthritis at the junction of the rib and

vertebrae, is caused by elevation of the rib cage.1

• Group 2 females had greater incidences of thoracic and lumbar osteoarthritis.

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Dental Hypoplasia

Dental hypoplasia were calculated for all males and females. More females than males had

dental hypoplasia and only two Group 1 females had dental hypoplasia (Table 1). However, the

presence of dental hypoplasia correlated with a younger age-at-death; 9 of the 11 dying before

age 30 - five of those were under 20. Additionally, individuals with dental hypoplasia had

multiple hypoplasia, some exhibiting one to two per tooth. Age assessments indicate the

hypoplasia correlate with weaning ages, 1-3 years of age.

Age-at-Death

Females from Group 1 died an average of 5 years younger than those in Group 2 (Figure 4).

Though the sample size is small, there is a distinct difference in the age-at-death patterns for the

two groups. Discrepancies in health and longevity may simply be the result of their expending

greater amounts of energy performing more strenuous tasks than the group two females. Habitual

strenuous activities can have significant affects on health and longevity in individuals because

increased labor results in greater physiological stress on the body, resulting in higher morbidity

and mortality of those under greater physiological stress. Corn grinding for that many hours

would burn more calories than gathering or sitting to perform tasks. If each group of females

had access to similar foods and amounts of food, Group 1 corn grinders would need more

calories to stay healthy. Therefore, the females from Group 1 suffered the consequences of an

earlier death. In other words, they could have been an elite group of females in terms of power,

but they did not secure the benefit typically associated with privileged groups, who usually have

access to better or greater amounts food.

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Mortuary Practices

With this information, each individual was placed within the site to look for patterns in burial

location (Figure 5). Clusters in close proximity to each roomblock indicate a strong link between

habitation sites and burial placement and suggests bounded disposal areas. This assessment is

based upon the random pattern of individuals by age and sex buried near each roomblock.

Spatial patterning of Group 1 and 2 females indicates females from each group are also randomly

distributed at each roomblock. Mortuary context was consistent throughout the site as all

individual were buried in the exact same manner - buried on sterile ground, covered with ash and

"trash", pottery fragments etc., covered with cobbles or large stones, and no associated funerary

objects - suggesting egalitarianism among the population. If this was the only line of evidence

used, it would mask social distinctions within the population. Even the addition of age-at-death

or sex with spatial patterning, it appears that there are group areas for burials for each

roomblock, but still social egalitarianism. This data does not elucidate Fowles (2004) argument

that Pot Creek was a theocrocacy - that prestige was held through knowledge of ritual and

spiritual duties.

Discussion/Conclusions

Ethnographic evaluation of habitual activities by pueblo females generally includes grinding

corn for consumption and ritual use, food preparation, cooking, later stages of pottery

production, gathering wild foods, and making baskets, while men were responsible for farming,

occasional hunting, and religious ceremonies (Crown 2000; Hegmon et al. 2000; Harrington

1989; Martin 2000). Differences in muscle use between the female task groups indicates two

distinct occupational groups, one responsible for grinding corn, while the other performed less

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strenuous upper body tasks but require bending or sitting, such as plant gathering, pottery

production, or cooking (Whitley 2009). Corn grinding is of most interest because it is a

strenuous task that, as Martin (2000) indicates, required that females spend up to eight hours per

day grinding corn to make enough meal for consumption. In order to grind corn, one must

utilize the deltoid, pectoralis major, and teres major muscles - the arm muscles- and these

changes were not present in Group 2 females. This slide demonstrates that an individual

grinding corn at a metate and mealing bin will kneel in front of a bin, feet braced, and raised up

on the knees. During grinding, mechanical stress is placed on the upper limbs as the grinder

flexes and extends the arms below and above head to grind the corn. During this process, the

ribs are elevated in order to keep the arms in proper position, particularly at the point of the

greatest extension of the arms. The mechanical loading on the thoracic vertebrae and

costovertebral joint and muscles in the arms necessary to grind corn for such extended periods of

time indicate Group 2 females did not participate in corn grinding activities.

Yet, simply recognizing the existence of the two groups does not provide information regarding

the role these females had within society or the social organization of the site; only that they had

different tasks. This could be interpreted as a division of labor for efficiency in feeding a larger

group of people. However, "social integrative facilities of a more monumental nature tend to be

constructed and used almost exclusively for ritual activities" (Adler and Wilshusen 1990).

Hegmon, et. al. (2000) argues the presence of mealing rooms indicates the present of task

groups, or “grinding work groups” and that these task groups, if recognized with architecturally

defined gendered work spaces, may be an important source of power. Specialized mealing

rooms with multiple grinding bins built into the architecture were located in Roomblocks 2 and

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3. The presence of these specialized mealing rooms, which is not open to public view, can be

interpreted as female kivas, since difference in status and prestige can be created by excluding

certain individuals from spaces, resources, or information (Fowles 2004; Hegmon et al. (2000).

Differences in ritual participation in the Southwest are key to differentiation of social groups,

and task groups associated with restricted architectural spaces can be an important source of

power (Hegmon et al. 2000).

Random spatial patterning of Group 1 and 2 female burials may hold a key to the nature of

power and prestige held by the females. Coordination and cooperation with work groups are

important aspects of food processing in many societies as well and may be associated with

improved status of women. Hegmon (2000) argues that the presence of task groups and the

construction of facilities for women’s work, such as formal mealing rooms, suggest the

importance of corn grinding and the power of women over this separate realm. The spatial

patterning of females from Groups 1 and 2 throughout the site suggests that no single roomblock

was responsible for grinding corn for the entire village (Figure 6). Instead, females from each

roomblock were responsible for this task. There are no indications that control over certain

productive resources was concentrated in some households over others because of the dispersal

of females in the corn grinding society. Such distinctions in female labor and the presence of

mealing rooms also suggests that the knowledge associated with corn grinding, and access to

preparing corn for meals and ceremonies, was limited to specific females within the society. In

such circumstances, the division of labor may signal individuals with “high social honor”.

The presence of specialized mealing rooms may also link the corn grinding females with

specialized ritual knowledge forming a “corn grinding society”, indicating a more prominent role

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for female ritualism and gender specific roles in ritual. As the community aggregated to the

pueblo lifestyle, the move from family to community control may have been an attempt to

organize the community at a larger scale (Whitley 2009). Since women’s roles often center on

the preparation of food for use and consumption in rituals, and as the community increasingly

relied upon corn as a staple food source, the ritualization of corn grinding may have served as a

community based integrative activity. Thus, certain females from each kin group or roomblock

were given access to the specialized knowledge of grinding corn, had access to these specialized

spaces, and would have been responsible for grinding corn not only for mundane, everyday use

but also for rituals. As the kin groups aggregated into a single location, they may have needed a

mechanism for the increasing scalar stress of living within a larger population by dividing female

labor (Whitley 2009). Formal mealing rooms may represent a change from generalized, familial

ritual control to ritual control by external groups that cross-cut familial line, forming ritually

bounded spaces for females or “female kivas”. As a result, gender became an element defining

participation, but did not result in an increased in economic standing or greater access to foods.

Instead, the "corn grinding society" actually had a lower life expectancy even though they held

specialized ritual power and social prestige. Through altering the scale of analysis, analyzing

bioarchaeological differences within each sex, and integrating the data with mortuary practices,

obscured patterns of female labor and female access to power and prestige was identified;

creating a more robust interpretation on the female role within their society.

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References

Adler M.A., and R.H. Wilshusen

1990 Large-Scale Integrative Facilities in Tribal Societies: Cross-Cultural and Southwestern

US World Archaeology, Vol. 22, No. 2, Monuments and the Monumental (Oct., 1990),

pp. 133-146.

Capasso, L. et al.

1999 Atlas of Occupational Markers on Human Remains, First Edition. Journal of

Paleontology - Monographic Publication Edigrafital S.p.A., Teramo, Italy.

Crown, P.

1991 Evaluating the Construction Sequence and Population of Pot Creek Pueblo, Northern

New Mexico. Am. Antiquity 56(2):291-314.

2000 Women and Men in the Prehispanic Southwest: Labor, Power and Prestige. SAR

Advanced Seminar Series. SAR Press, Santa Fe, NM.

Fowles, S.

2004 The Making of Made People: The Prehistoric Evolution of Hierocracy Among the

Northern Tiwa of New Mexico. University of Michigan, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation.

Goldstein, Lynne

2006 Mortuary Analysis and Bioarchaeology. In Bioarchaeology: The Contextual Analysis of

Human Remains, edited by Buikstra, J. E. and Beck, L. A., pp. 375-388. Academic

Press, Burlington, MA.

Harrington, J.

1989 Indian Tales from Picuris Pueblo, edited by Marta Weigle. Ancient City Press, Santa Fe,

NM.

Hawkey, D. and Merbs, C.

1995 Activity-induced Musculoskeletal Stress Markers (MSM) and Subsistence Strategy

Changes Among Ancient Hudson Bay Eskimos. IJO 5:324-338.

Hegmon, M. et al.

2000 Women, Men, and the Organization of Space. In Women and Men in the Prehispanic

Southwest: Labor, Power and Prestige, Edited by Patricia L. Crown, 43-90. SAR

Advanced Seminar Series. SAR Press, Santa Fe, NM.

Hillson, S.

2008 Dental Pathology. In Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton 2nd ed., M.A.

Katzenberg and S.R Saunders, pp. 301-340. Wiley-Liss, Hoboken, NJ.

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Larsen, C.

1997 Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton. Cambridge

University Press, Cambridge.

Martin, D.

2000 Bodies and Lives: Biological Indicators of Health Differentials and Division of Labor by

Sex.. In Women and Men in the Prehispanic Southwest: Labor, Power and Prestige,

edited by Patricia L. Crown, 267-300. SAR Advanced Seminar Series. SAR Press,

Santa Fe, NM.

Molnar, P.

2006 Tracing Prehistoric Activities: Musculoskeletal Stress Marker Analysis of a Stone-Age

Population on the Island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. AJPA 129:12-23.

Reid, D.J. and M.C. Dean

2006 Variation in Modern Human Enamel Formation Times. Journal of Human Evolution

50:329-346.

Weiss, E.

2003 Understanding Muscle Markers: Aggregation and Construct Validity. AJPA 121:230–

240.

2007 Muscle Markers Revisited: Activity Pattern Reconstruction With Controls in a Central

California Amerind Population. AJPA 133:931–940.

Weiss E. and Jurmain, R.

2007 Osteoarthritis Revisited: A Contemporary Review of Aetiology. IJO 17: 437–450.

Whitley, CB.

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Practices of the Taos Valley. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Southern Methodist

University.

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Figure 1. Map of Pot Creek Pueblo

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Figure 2. Entheseal Changes

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Pectoralis Major (i)

Deltoid (i)

Flexor Policis Longus (o)

Teres Major (i)

Brachialis (i)

Biceps Brachii (i)

Gleuteus Maximus (i)

Linea Aspera

Costoclavicular Ligament

Extensor Carpi Radialis Longus (o)

Supinator (o)

Pronator Quadratus (o)

Common Extensors (o)

Mu

scle

or

lig

am

en

t att

ach

men

t

MSM mean score

Group 2

Group 1

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Figure 3. Osteoarthritis

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

Cervical Thoracic Lumbar Ribs Hip/Knee Shoulder/Elbow

Pe

rce

nt

of

Ind

ivid

ua

ls A

ffe

cte

d

Group 1

Group 2

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Figure 4. Female Age-at-Death Frequencies

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

15-20 20-29 30-39 40+

Num

ber

of

Indiv

iduals

Age-at-Death Groups

G1

G2

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Figure 5. Pot Creek Burials by sex and cluster.

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Figure 6. Burial Locations of Group 1 and 2 Females

M=Mealing Room, 1=Corn grinding females, 2=Non-corn grinding females

.

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Table 1. Hypoplasia

NA No Hypoplasia Hypoplasia

Male 7 10 3

Female 8 8 8

Total 15 18 11

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End Notes

i In order to ascertain the presence of task groups:

• Analysis of MSM sites were recorded in accordance with the scales devised by

Hawkey and Merbs (1995)7.

• Two-sample Wilcoxon rank sum (Mann-Whitney) tests and Wilcoxon matched-

pairs signed-rank tests were utilized to analyze the MSM data; following Molnar

(2006).

• Two sample t-test were utilized to check for variances in the observed frequencies

of specific MSMs between and within males and females, including lower and

upper limb scores.

• Spearmans rank correlations were calculated to control for age (defined into three

groups 15-24, 25-34, and 35+), humeral size and sex; following Weiss(2003;

2007).

• Some MSMs were excluded from analysis due to small sample size.

• Right and left MSM scores revealed no bilateral asymmetry.

ii In order to ascertain osteoarthritic changes:

• Analysis was based in the presence or absence

• Chi-square tests were used to control for age and test for differences within and

between males and females.

• Vertebral changes refer to the changes present on the anterior vertebral bodies

• Rib changes refer to costovertebral osteoarthritis.1

Female Kiva Societies in the Taos Valley: Mortuary and Bioarchaeological Evidence

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