At death, it appears that the dead will never again converse with the living to tell the story of their lives and that it may stay secret, particularly in a world with no writing to record their tales.  Yet, through the study of death  -- the how, when, where, why, and who – it is possible to learn about the living.  A person’s place of death, type of burial, and bodily remains give clues to how they lived and why they died.  People really do take their life stories with them to the grave and these stories often can be read through the analysis of their remains. 

Human skeletal remains are a unique portion of the archaeological record and represent the only window into how disease, diet, violence, and migration actually affected those who came before us.  The bones actually record incidences and events of a person’s life and through visual observations and the application of modern technology, such as chemical analyses, CT scans, radiographs, and DNA testing of human remains, conditions such as malnutrition, disease, family relations, physical activity, injury, violent death, diet, and even the history of where one lived can be ascertained.  Through the use of examples from the Rio Grande del Rancho Valley, south of Taos, N.M., Catrina Whitley will discuss the modern techniques used to analyze human skeletal remains, explore the problems and issues that arise when studying skeletal remains from archaeological contexts, and tell tales of the lives of those residing in the valley between A.D. 1050 and 1320. 

Catrina Whitley is a Senior Teaching Fellow and Ph.D. candidate in the Anthropology Department, Southern Methodist University.  She is a Philanthropic Education Organization Scholar and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.  Her research focuses on the health, disease, occupation, violence, and mortuary practices of the American Southwest

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Last updated June 28, 2007.