This   study of prehistoric violence, homicide, and cannibalism explodes the myth   that the Anasazi and other Southwest Indians were simple, peaceful   farmers.         Until quite recently, Southwest prehistory studies have largely missed or   ignored evidence of violent competition. Christy and Jacqueline Turner’s   study of prehistoric violence, homicide, and cannibalism explodes the myth   that the Anasazi and other Southwest Indians were simple, peaceful farmers.   Using detailed osteological analyses and other lines of evidence the Turners   show that warfare, violence, and their concomitant horrors were as common in   the ancient Southwest as anywhere else in the world.         The special feature of this massively documented study is its   multi-regional assessment of episodic human bones assemblages (scattered   floor deposits or charnel pits) by taphonomic analysis, which considers what   happens to bones from the time of death to the time of recovery. During the   past thirty years, the authors and other analysts have identified a minimal   perimortem taphonomic signature of burning, pot polishing, anvil abrasions,   bone breakage, cut marks, and missing vertebrae that closely match the   signatures of animal butchering and is frequently associated with additional   evidence of violence. More than seventy-five archaeological sited containing   several hundred individuals are carefully examined for the cannibalism   signature. Because this signature has not been reported for any sites north   of Mexico, other than those in the Southwest, the authors also present   detailed comparisons with Mesoamerican skeletal collections where human   sacrifice and cannibalism were known to have been practiced. The authors   review several hypotheses for Southwest cannibalism: starvation, social pathology,   and institutionalized violence and cannibalism. In the latter case, they   present evidence for a potential Mexican connection and demonstrate that most   of the known cannibalized series are located temporally and spatially near   Chaco great houses.

Man corn: cannibalism and violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest PDF

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