Hunter-Gatherer Mortuary Practices during the Central Texas Archaic [electronic resource] / Leland C. Bement.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bement, Leland C.

Series:

Texas Archaeology and Ethnohistory Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plant remains (Archaeology)--Texas--Edwards Plateau.

Plant remains (Archaeology).

Animal remains (Archaeology)--Texas--Edwards Plateau.

Animal remains (Archaeology).

Indians of North America--Texas--Edwards Plateau--Antiquities.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--Anthropometry--Texas--Edwards Plateau.

Indians of North America--Funeral customs and rites--Texas--Edwards Plateau.

Edwards Plateau (Tex.)--Antiquities.

Edwards Plateau (Tex.).

Bering Sinkhole Site (Tex.).

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (176 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 1994.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

1. Introduction

2. Site Setting

3. Cultural Background and Mortuary Studies

4. Field Techniques

5. Depositional Reconstruction and Dating

6. Faunal Analysis

7. Artifact Description and Analysis

8. Bioarchaeology

9. Summary and Conclusions

Appendix. Accounting of Species

References Cited

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [149]-159) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-292-76760-9

OCLC:

967523908