Disposal of the Dead at Point of Pines, Arizona

Abstract

The analysis of 975 burials indicates that the inhumations of the Point of Pines region conformed to the flexed Mogollon pattern prior to A.D. 1000. Subsequently, extended burials appeared concurrently with a complex of traits diffused from areas to the north. At the same time, cremation became established as a part of the mortuary complex as a result of contact with Hohokam peoples to the south. Additional evidence of this contact consists of Hohokam material culture items and a ball court. Ceremonial killing of the crematory vessels was extensively practiced and included a new method, notch-killing. The variability of forms and methods of disposal suggests rapidly changing patterns and alternatives in burial practices.

Cannibalism in the Prehistoric American Southwest. Occurrence, Taphonomy, Explanation, and Suggestions for Standardized World Definition.

“…In the American Southwest prehistoric human skeletal remains have been found in four contextual settings: (1) as formal burials (Carle, 1941;Hagberg, 1939;Robinson and Sprague, 1965), (2) as results of accident or trauma (Brues, 1946;Martin, 1929;Ravesloot, 1988), (3) as disturbed burials and isolated bones, and (4) as episodic events suggesting violence and/or cannibalism (see Table 1 for references). The vast majority of the many thousands of prehistoric Indian skeletons recovered during the 100 years of archeological activity in the American Southwest represent formal and considerate (mindful of the dead) burials.…”

Red Mountain: An Early Pioneer Period Hohokam Site in the Salt River Valley of Central Arizona

“…Stanislawski (1963) argued that the extended burial complex might possibly have been introduced into the Chaco Canyon region by Mesoamerican peoples about A.D. 1050 and then have spread to adjacent areas. Robinson and Sprague (1965) argue the priority or contemporaneity of extended inhumation in the Point of Pines region with the Chaco region and that diffusion was north to south rather than south to north. Now it seems that extended inhumations appeared earlier in, of all places, the desert of southern Arizona, among people whom we thought cremated their dead, and that the trait, arguing on the basis of priority in time, did spread from south to north.…”

A Comparison of Mortuary Practices among the Tucson Basin Hohokam and Trincheras Traditions

“…For example, cremation practices were relatively widespread among early Eastern and Midwestern groups (e.g., Baby 1954; Binford 1963; Goldstein and Meyers 2014; Robinson 1996; Sanger et al 2019; Schurr and Cook 2014; Webb and Snow 1945) and among various groups in California (Hull et al 2013). In the southwest United States, cremation customs have also been explored among various archaeological groups (e.g., Beck 2005; Brunson-Hadley 1994; Creel 1989; Merbs 1967; Reinhard and Fink 1982, 1994; Reinhard and Shipman 1978; Rice 2016; Robinson and Sprague 1965; Toulouse 1944).…”