Hunter-Gatherer Mortuary Practices during the Central Texas Archaic

Bibliographic Data

ID19908488
AuthorsLeland C Bement (0000-0002-6032-6331, corresponding author)
Year1995
Publication date1995-12-31
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueHunter-Gatherer Mortuary Practices During the Central Texas Archaic (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherUniversity of Texas Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.7560/708174
OpenAlexW2008751831
Open LibraryOL34966381M
ISBN9780292767607
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited11

Beginning over 10,000 years ago and continuing until the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s, hunter and gatherer societies occupied the Edwards Plateau of central Texas. Archaeological studies over the past eighty years have reconstructed their subsistence, technology, and settlement patterns, but until now little information has been available on their burial practices, due to the scarcity of known burial sites. This detailed archaeological report describes the human skeletal remains, burial furnishings, and fauna recovered from Bering Sinkhole in Kerr County, the first carefully excavated hunter-gatherer burial site in central Texas. The remains in Bering Sinkhole were deposited from 7,500 to 2,000 years ago. Leland Bement's analysis reveals a growing elaboration in burial rituals during the period and also uncovers important data on the diet and health of the hunter-gatherers. He discusses climate change based on faunal remains and compares burial goods such as bone, antler, freshwater shell, marine shell, turtle, and stone artifacts with those found at other Texas mortuary sites and with deposits at hunter-gatherer habitation sites in Central Texas

Archaeology · Geography · Hunter-gatherer · Archaeology and Natural History · Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy Studies · Ecology and biodiversity studies · History · Animal remains (Archaeology) · Anthropometry · Antiquities · Bering Sinkhole Site (Tex.) · Burial · Edwards Plateau · Funeral customs and rites · Indians of North America · North American Indians · Plant remains (Archaeology) · rites and ceremonies · southwest, old · Texas