Mortuary variability on the late Prehistoric Southern Plains
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Abstract
The Prehistoric Southern Plains has been subject of a large amount of archaeological investigation. Several groups of similar semi-sedentary people flourished from 1000 to 1500 AD. These groups employed a hybrid economy of hunting and gathering with varying levels of supplementary agricultural activities. One avenue of investigation that has not had widespread implementation is bioarchaeological and mortuary studies. Investigations of such data generally only included descriptions and discussion of single sites. This has been primarily due to problems in sample size of well documented skeletal collections as compared to other regions. The purpose of this paper is a presentation of mortuary data from five cultures spanning this time period on the southern plains. Mortuary data on associated funerary objects, grave deposition, position, orientation, location, and facility from the Antelope Creek Phase, Buried City Complex, and Henrietta Complex in Texas and the Washita River Phase and Zimms Complex in Oklahoma is presented in this thesis. Additionally a brief discussion of what this limited sample can tell us is presented.