Anthropol.

Sci.

103(1),

1-22,

1995

Cannibalism

in

the

Prehistoric

Occurrence,
and

Taphonomy,

Suggestions

for

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INTRODUCTION
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TURNER AND TURNER

other vertebrate species (Elgar and Crespi, 1993). Cannibalism has been legally
proven with circumstantial evidence or confession by some socially pathological
serial killers (McClain et al., 1986; Sloane, 1992). Cannibalism is now soundly
recognized by modern worldwide ethnographic work or by careful re-analysis of
older fieldwork (Barber, 1992; Brown and Tuzin, 1983; Freuchen and Salomonsen,
1958; Harris, 1987; Lumholtz, 1979; Sahlins, 1983; Sanday, 1986). Cannibalism has
been identified through historical studies of various civilizations (Chagng, 1990),
accounts of contemporary events (Burton and Chiang 1993; Liu, 1993; Sanchez,
1970); and bioarcheological research on prehistoric human remains from all over
the world (Brothwell, 1961; Suzuki, 1966; Villa, 1992a, 1992b; Villa et al., 1986,
1987, 1988; White, 1987; and many others). Despite an abundant literature on the
topic of cannibalism, it has most often been treated or exemplified by isolated
episodes. Regional treatment of the topic and standardized taphonomic tests for
proposing cannibalism have so far been developed only in the American Southwest.
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. Inhumation was the
major burial type among the plateau Anasazi, cremation characterized the desert
Hohokam, and both inhumation and cremation were practiced by the mountain
Mogollon people. Throughout the Southwest the most common burial type was a
single person interred in a flexed position with some form of grave offering
(Stanislawski, 1963). Multiple and secondary burials were extremely rare. In no
instances can the precise cause of death be determined. See Cordell (1984) for
Southwest culture area maps.
Much less common are skeletons where the bone or archeological context
indicates an accidental or violent death, such as an individual trapped in a burned
room, or individuals with weapon wounds (Turner et al., 1993). Until recently,
conflict and warfare were given little attention in the study of the evolution of South
westcultures
(Haas, 1990; Haas and Creamer, 1993; Hurst and Turner, 1993;
Mackey and Green, 1979). There are no clear-cut examples of Southwest skeletal re
mainsindicating human sacrifice, although decapitation and taking of trophy heads as
well as scalping were practiced as early as Basketmaker II times (200 B.C.to A.D.400),
presumably associated with conflict (Kidder and Gurnsey, 1919; Wilcox and Haas,
1989). Disturbed burials and isolated human bones and teeth are found in many
Southwest archeological sites. They are seldom studied from a taphonomic perspective.

Cannibalism

The fourth class of skeletons is very rare and has physical characteristics that
differ completely from skeletons associated with natural or traumatic death. These
characteristics are believed to have resulted from acts of cannibalism, the subject
of this paper.
TAPHONOMIC IDENTIFICATION OF CANNIBALISM
Southwest cannibalism has been hypothesized by several workers when a
minimum number of certain types of human-induced bone damage occur in a
skeletal series (Figs. 1-6). These features are breakage, cutting, anvil or hammerstone
abrasions, burning, missing vertebrae, and fragment polishing (Turner and Turner,
1992). Figure 1 shows the severely fragmented condition of a representative skeletal
series (Polacca Wash) thought to have been cannibalized. The perimortem (at or
around the time of death) bone breakage is intentional (Fig. 2), usually followed

Fig. 1. Completed exposure of the Polacca Wash charnel deposit, northeastern Arizona. There is no
indication of any articulation. The bone element distribution has a wholly random appearance.
The basal sands beneath the bone bed show no signs of fire or previous human activity. This
is one of the largest assemblages. (Museum of Northern Arizona Archive photograph by Roger
Kelley, March, 1964).

TURNER AND TURNER

Fig. 2. Tibial fragments from the Leroux Wash

characteristic appearance of perimortem bone
signature of cannibalism. Note that the more
long bone fragments are missing. Width of

charnel pit, northeastern Arizona. This is the

damage in Southwest sites having the taphonomic
easily crushed proximal and distal ends of these
figure is 63.5cm. (CGT neg. 7-15-93:20).

Fig. 3. Polacca Wash child's rib with perimortem cut marks. Length of rib fragment is 4.5cm.
neg. 7-16-93:35).

(CGT

Cannibalism

by butchering as indicated by cut marks in Fig. 3. Percussion breakage of animal

and human bone in archeological sites can almost always be identified by spiral or
non-stepped smooth fracture lines similar to those seen in broken glass or plastic.
Lyman (1994, pp. 315-338) discusses bone breakage in great detail. Much breakage
occurs after muscle and other tissues have been removed, otherwise, the anvil or
hammerstone abrasions shown in Fig. 4 could not occur, especially on the bones
of the heavily fleshed upper arms and legs, and of the back. Anvil abrasions were

Fig. 4. Anvil abrasions on isolated adolescent femur, Trench L, Wupatki Ruin, northeastern Arizona.
Bone breakage is post-mortem and unrelated to perimortem abrasions (CGT neg. 7-16-93:20).

first recognized for Southwest human taphonomy in 1983.

Perimortem cut marks made with stone knives or sharp stone flakes have long
been informally recognized on Southwest animal bones as indications of butchering.
Turner and Morris (1970) are among the earliest published papers to illustrate cut
human bone. Cut marks are usually v-shaped in cross-section, and within a cut mark,
shelfing or irregularities can be recognized with a dissecting microscope.
Burned bone is another key feature of Southwest cannibalism. Some of the
burning seems to represent roasting because overlying muscle prevented the burning
of the rest of the bone. In some cases, bone fragments were discarded in a nearby
fire, as the re-fitted pieces in Fig. 5 clearly show. Burning can be difficult to
recognize in the intial phase, but with time and heat, charring, charcoaling, and
eventually calcining occur and each is easy to identify by color changes alone.

TURNER AND TURNER

Fig. 5. Detail of perimortem midshaft break of House of Tragedy, Burial 1, left femur, reassembled
with burned shaft (lower) and unburned smaller fragment (upper) showing that breakage
occurred before burning. Width of bone showing in photograph is 3.8cm. House of Tragedy
is a few km from Wupatki Ruin (CGT neg. 7-16-93:31).

Fig. 6. Many missing and severely damaged vertebrae characterize the taphonomic signature of
cannibalism, as shown by these examples from Polacca Wash (CGT neg. 3-68:29).

Cannibalism

Figure 6 shows that missing or highly damaged vertebrae make up another part
of the taphonomic signature of cannibalism. Missing vertebrae were a mystery from
the very beginning of Southwest human taphonomy studies (Turner and Morris,
1970). As with the long bones, which seemingly had been cracked open to extract
the marrow, so too were the vertebrae smashed to extract their oily content by
boiling (Turner and Turner, 1992). Vertebrae crushing was finally identified when
one human vertebra from Canyon Butte 3 was found with anvil abrasions. Since
then, vertebrae crushing has been identified in several sites in Southwest Colorado
and New Mexico.
Southwest skeletal series believed to have been cannibalized may have an
additional taphonomic feature depending on the availability of cooking vessels.
Bone boiling for fat or oil extraction, a common practice with game animals, can
be further identified by minutely polished areas on the tips of bone fragments. White
(1992) calls this pot-polishing. He has shown by experimentation that polishing does
occur when bone fragments are stirred in pottery vessels.
These six minimal taphonomic features (perimortem breakage, cutting, anvil
abrasions, burning, missing vertebrae, and polishing) also occur in game animal
bone refuse, providing a powerful analogy for interpreting their occurrence in human
skeletal remains as due to the processing of humans for food (Dice, 1993; Turner
and Turner, 1990; Villa, 1992a; White, 1992). While it is obvious that the six
minimal features could not have occurred naturally, and must have resulted from
intentional human acts, there is no known Southwest ethnographic example of such
extensive human body processing for any reason, be it mortuary, ritual, socially
pathological, or cannibalistic. However, the ethnographic record should not be
considered definitive because it also lacks any account of a mass burial, a
phenomenon that has been discovered by archeological and physical anthropological
research. As will be shown, the distributional and contextual evidence rules out the
possibility that the perimortem damage resulted solely from an unknown form of
prehistoric mortuary behavior that was never documented ethnographically.
CAN THE APPARENT SOUTHWEST CANNIBALISM BE EXPLAINED?
The distribution of the well-studied American Southwest skeletal series indicating
cannibalism, and all of the less well- or unstudied skeletal series where cannibalism
was claimed to have occurred are found in the classic Four Corners region of the
American Southwest. This distribution reveals two important facts. First, sites with
cannibalized remains are not randomly distributed. They occur only in, or very near,
the Anasazi culture area. Second, there are too many of these cannibalized Anasazi
series to be the result of famine or social pathology when there are none known
for certain elsewhere in the prehistoric Southwest.
Table 1 provides some basic features for these sites. Thus, there are at least 32

TURNER AND TURNER

Cannibalism

10

TURNER AND TURNER

Cannibalism

11Table 1. (cont'd)

12

TURNER
ANDTURNER

sites evidencing cannibalism, and more when claims for violence are included. The
damaged bones have been found as deposits on room or kiva floors or buried in
charnel pits within rooms, outside of rooms, and away from habitation sites
altogether. In the 32 sites with probable cannibalism, the minimal number of
recognizable individuals ranges from 1 to 35, with the mean number of individuals
in these 32 sites being 9.2 per site. The total number of seemingly cannibalized
individuals is 295. All ages and both sexes are represented. The earliest grouping
of sites with the taphonomic signature of cannibalism date around A.D.900; the latest,
A.D. 1700. The average date for the 32 sites is around A.D. 1100.
Most of the sites with apparent cannibalism are small, isolated and defenseless.
Many are within a day's walk of large post-A.D. 900 Anasazi pueblos called Chaco
outliers, or are within Chaco Canyon itself, even in at least one of the Great Houses.
Thus, the distributional data indicate that what appears to be episodes of prehistoric
cannibalism were not randomly distributed in the Southwest as would be expected
for naturally-caused events such as famine or drought.
A few of these prehistoric episodes could be viewed as consequences of special
mortuary or ritual behavior since some skeletal series have been found in kivas,
those distinctive underground rooms presumably constructed for religious activities
like the kivas of contemporary Pueblo Indians. However, we doubt if the skeletal
remains represent any sort of mortuary or ritual behavior because the bones are
scattered on the kiva floors, there are many missing skeletal elements, cooking is
evident, and there are no associated offerings or other artifacts. These taphonomic
and contextual conditions are more suggestive that the kivas served as dumps for
the residue of body processing that occurred within or outside but nearby, instead
of as places for the ritual destruction of one or more individuals as in Mexico where
processed human remains are associated with skull racks or temples (Kelley, 1978;
Martinez and Gonzalez, 1991; Pijoan and Pastrana, 1985; Pijoan and Mansilla,
1990; Sugiyama, 1991).
If the taphonomic evidence for cannibalism is not enough to distinguish these
charnel deposits from ritualized mortuary practices, then certainly the context and
location are decisively in favor of cannibalism over ritual mortuary behavior. Rural
rather than urban is the feeling we get for the provenience of most of the
cannibalized series.
What might have caused these apparent acts of violence and cannibalism? Three
possibilities are most likely-famine,
social pathology, and institutionalized violent
social control. Since there is at present no sure signs of ceremonial treatment in the
Southwest skeletal remains, we are not able to propose ritual cannibalism, as was
practiced in the Valley of Mexico by the Toltecs and Aztecs (Broda and Matos,
1987; Brown, 1984; Demarest, 1984; Duran, 1964; Matos, 1984; Romain and
Alberto, 1987; Storey, 1992; Weaver, 1993; Wilkerson, 1984).

Cannibalism

13

Because no cannibalized human remains have been identified for the Mogollon
and Hohokam areas, we doubt that famine or drought was the sole cause of the
Southwest cannibalism. Likewise, social pathology looses some of its explanatory
appeal given the Chacoan linkage. Violent social control, possibly initiated by
socially pathological individuals, is an increasingly attractive idea, especially as
additional cases of Chaco-linked cannibalism claims are confirmed by taphonomic
analysis. For instance, Pepper (1920) suggested that burned and broken bones found
at the Chaco Canyon Great House called Penasco Blanco resulted from cannibalism.
We have recently located these bones excavated in the 1890s, studied them, and
agree with Pepper's cannibalism proposal.
Despite the lack of evidence for ritual in the Anasazi cannibalized remains, might
there still have been a Mesoamerican connection? Answering this depends on how
well the Chaco-cannibalism link holds up in future studies, and on whether it can
be demonstrated that the rapid growth of the Chaco system of Great Houses and
roads was triggered by Mesoamerican influences if not Mesoamerican colonists
(Cordell, 1984; Kelley and Kelley, 1975; Lekson,1986; Mathien, 1986; Riley, 1987,
1989; Vivian, 1990; Washburn, 1980; Wilcox, 1986; Windes, 1984; Woodbury,
1979). Few Southwesternists doubt that there was Mexican influence on the cultural
development in the Southwest. Maize was introduced early, and later there was trade
in turquoise, macaws, shell, copper bells, and probably slaves, cotton cloth, and
other valuables (Cordell, 1984; Harbottle and Weigand, 1992; Matson, 1991). With
these physical items must also have come a torrent of Mesoamerican ideas and
concepts. The Aztecs certainly used public displays of human sacrifice and
cannibalism to intimidate neighboring tribes (Hassig, 1988; Ortiz, 1978; Weaver,
1993), so what worked in the Valley of Mexico could just as well have enhanced
the amount and regularity of tribute in the Chacoan sphere of influence. There are
at least two sites between the Valley of Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico border that
have produced skeletal remains that may have been cannibalized-Alta
Vista in
Zacatecas (Pickering, 1985), and the Villa de Reyes, San Luis Potosi (Pijoan and
Mansilla, 1990).
MESOAMERICAN INFLUENCE
One of the most interesting models for suggesting Mesoamerican influence on
the development of Southwest culture has been the pochteca trader idea, advocated
by the late Charles C. Di Peso (1974). The idea has been difficult to demonstrate,
and while archeologists have searched for pochteca burials, until recently none has
been convincingly identified (Akins and Schelberg, 1984; Frisbie, 1978; Kelley,
1986; Nelson, 1986; Pepper, 1909; Reyman, 1978). Although the term pochteca is
strictly-speaking inappropriate because it refers to a specialized class within Aztec
society that traded exclusively to the south of the Valley of Mexico (P. Weigand,

14

TURNER AND TURNER

personal communication, Oct. 29, 1993), nevertheless, there must have been
prehistoric central Mexican traders, religious and military entrepreneurs, miners,
pilgrims, and other sorts of explorers and adventurers in and out of the religious
- military government circles who traveled and explored northward from central
Mexico. We propose that at least two such travelers have been found and unearthed
in prehistoric Arizona archeological sites. We identify these Mesoamericans on the
basis of their notched teeth (Fig. 7). Tooth modification is a well known Mesoamerican
culture element, but not a feature of prehistoric Southwest Indians. The prehistoric
Mexican cemetery at Guasave, Sinaloa, excavated by Gordon Ekholm (1942), is the
most northerly site in Mexico where crania regularly have dental modifications. The
oldest (1750 B.P.) known example of dental modification north of the Valley of
Mexico was found in Nuevo Leon (Powell and Powell, 1992). Modified teeth have
not been reported for crania of the large and Mesoamerican-like Chihuahua site of
Casas Grandes (Benfer, 1968), nor have they been reported in neighboring Sonora
(Pickering and Foster, 1994).
Moreover, tooth notching is absent in the U.S. culture areas adjacent to the
Southwest-California,
Great Basin, and Plains. Hence, the two examples of

Fig. 7. Notched upper anterior teeth of an adult male buried at the Grand Canal Hohokam site,
Phoenix, central Arizona. Dental modification is not a characteristic of prehistoric Southwest
Indians, suggesting this man originated in Mexico where tooth modification was practiced.
Cause of death could not be determined here or for any of the human remains in this report.
Courtesy of Soil Systems, Inc., Phoenix (CGT neg. 4-89:28).

Cannibalism

15

Southwest tooth notching can only represent individuals who were either from
Mesoamerica, or had been there during part of their lives and underwent the
operation for notching. Unfortunately, it is not possible to identify the exact
morphogenetic affinity of these individuals because of their incompleteness.
There are many other cultural features found in the Southwest that have been
attributed to Mesoamerican influences, pottery being the most obvious early trait.
Trade in marine shells from the Gulf of California was well developed between
northwestern Mexico and the Southwest, but shell, as with other trade items could
simply pass from community to community without necessarily requiring a long
distancecarrier
or trader. The occurrence of two individuals with notched teeth
suggests that long-distance traders or travelers on some sort of mission, were making
the journey from at least that region of the northern frontier of Mesoamerica where
dental modification was practiced. For the moment, that would appear to be in west
Mexico where prehistoric human sacrifice, cannibalism, and dental modification
have been identified (Pickering and Foster, 1994).
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we believe that the minimal six taphonomic features used to
identify Southwest cannibalism herein are as definitive as circumstantial evidence
can ever be. We emphasize that there are other qualities associated with the cannibal
signature, especially good preservation, but the key six must be present before
cannibalism can even be suggested. The relatively large number of Southwest sites
evidencing probable cannibalism, and the concentration of these sites in and
relatively near Chaco Great Houses and outliers, leads to the hypothesis that part
of the explanation for Anasazi cannibalism is tied to whatever explanation is finally
worked out for the development of the Chaco Great House, road, and outlier
sociopolitical system. Our identification of possible west Mexican travelers in
prehistoric Arizona burials leads us to agree with those scholars who favor a
measurable Mexican influence on the development of the Chacoan phenomena. The
Aztec and earlier Toltec use of ritual human sacrifice and cannibalism for social
control, as well as for religious and ideological functions, could have worked just
as well for the same duel purposes in the Anasazi area as they did in Mesoamerica.
To show that the Anasazi had been influenced by Mexican cannibalism practices,
more sets of perimortem-damaged human skeletal remains from prehistoric sites
between the Anasazi area and the Valley of Mexico need to be located, described,
compared and discussed.
In sum, minimal taphonomic criteria are herein identified that we feel must be
met before cannibalism can be proposed. These criteria are based on both inductive
and deductive considerations. In actuality, the taphonomic signature of human
cannibalism matches that of game animal food remains. Our approach emphasizes

16

TURNER
ANDTURNER

the need for contextual evaluation, not only within a site but within a region. This
regional approach is an attempt to recognize temporal and spatial patterning that
may help penetrate the barrier of proximate explanation. Ultimate explanations are
not presently on the theoretical horizon.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank Carmen Pijoan Aguade for inviting us to participate in the session Un
Enfoque Interdisciplinario de los Sacrificios Humanos y el Canibalismo, which she
excellently organized for the XIII International Congress of Anthropological and
Ethnological Sciences, Mexico City, July 29 to August 5, 1993. Data for this study
were collected over many years, most recently with aid from the Department of
Anthropology, Arizona State University; and the National Geographic Society.
Permission for our taphonomic examinations was granted by Ian Tattersall, Jaymie
L. Brauer, American Museum of Natural History; Donald Ortner and Dennis
Stanford, U.S. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution;
Alexander J. Lindsay, Jr., David Wilcox, Dana Hartman, Philip Thompson, Michael
J. Fox, Museum of Northern Arizona; David A. Breternitz, University of Colorado
(Dolores Project); Stanley Rhine, Maxwell Museum, University of New Mexico;
H. Walcott Toll, Museum of New Mexico; Jack Smith, Mesa Verde National Park;
San Juan County Museum Organization, New Mexico; Rose Tyson, San Diego
Museum of Man; and Laurence Hammock, CASAS, Cortez, Colorado. The
illustrated notched teeth were found by Gerald A. Bair in excavations directed by
Cory D. Breternitz, Soil Systems, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona.
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