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Mixtec nobles are depicted in codices and other proto-historic documentation taking part in funerary rites involving cremation. The time depth for this practice was unknown, but excavations at the early village site of Tayata, in the southern state of Oaxaca, Mexico, recovered undisturbed cremation burials in contexts dating from the eleventh century B.C. These are the earliest examples of a burial practice that in later times was reserved for Mixtec kings and Aztec emperors. This article describes the burial contexts and human remains, linking Formative period archaeology with ethnohistorical descriptions of Mixtec mortuary practices. The use of cremation to mark elevated social status among the Mixtec was established by 3,000 years ago, when hereditary differences in rank were first emerging across Mesoamerica.archaeology ͉ Mixtec ͉ bioarchaeology ͉ mortuary practices ͉ Mesoamerica

Beginning with Kathleen Deagan’s description of the St. Augustine Pattern, in which domestic relations between Spanish men and Native American women contributed to a pattern of mestizaje in Spanish colonies, gender has assumed a central role in archaeological perspectives on colonial encounters. This is especially true for those encounters that accompanied colonialism in the Americas during the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Gender relations were essential to the creation of new cultural identities during this time, as indigenous communities encountered immigrant, European settler groups often comprised mostly or entirely of adult men. Yet as significant as gender is for understanding how an encounter unfolded in time and space, it can be a challenge to identify and evaluate the archaeological correlates of such relations through material culture patterns. In this article, we use the related domains of food and foodways, particularly in the social context of provisioning, to evaluate how gender relations changed during the occupation of Fort San Juan de Joara (1566–1568), located at the Berry site in western North Carolina. Our research contributes to reappraisals of the St. Augustine Pattern, which posits well-defined roles for Native American women and Spanish men, by likewise situating the agency of Native American men.

The commercial pelt trade between Native Americans and Europeans flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries. However, the impact of this economic change and increased hide processing efforts on Native American upper limb morphology is unknown. The hide scraping hypothesis, tested in living subjects, suggests that hide processing efforts may lead to significant changes in humeral morphology. Two modern human Native North American skeletal collections from south‐western Virginia, USA, were studied to test if intensive hide processing led to changes in humeral morphology. At the earlier Late Woodland Crab Orchard site, animal skins and furs were prepared for household use. During the occupation of the later early historic Trigg site, processing activities intensified to produce surplus hides for the commercial pelt trade. In this study, the cross‐sectional geometric properties at the mid‐distal humerus (35% of length) of Crab Orchard and Trigg adult males and females were examined. We assessed whether Trigg site individuals had increased humeral symmetry, changes to diaphyseal shape, and increased robusticity. Additionally, humerus morphological properties were compared between males and females to assess if there were sex‐based differences. Trigg site males had greater humeral robusticity than Crab Orchard males. The humeri of females from the Trigg and Crab Orchard sites were both relatively anteroposterior strengthened and displayed quite low levels of bilateral asymmetry. This pattern suggests that females at both sites may have employed techniques that involved bimanual hide processing tools. The differences between the morphologies predicted and those observed in these Native American populations may indicate (a) adaptation to bimanual hide processing techniques or (b) adaptation to osteogenic tasks not involved in hide processing but associated with postcontact economic changes.

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