Abstract
We explore the evidence for population mobility at the Classic Maya center of Tikal, Guatemala through the analysis of dental morphometric and strontium isotope ratios measured in human remains excavated at the site. Both lines of investigation are concerned with mobility and immigration yet rely on significantly different methodologies. As we will demonstrate here, both approaches have their limitations in the assessment of ancient migration. However, we suggest that when the two methods are integrated a more robust understanding of population mobility emerges. Our results have implications for not only our understanding of population history at Tikal, but also for the application of biological distance analysis to the Classic Maya. This research originated in the late 1990s as part of Wright’s large-scale bioarchaeological study of the ancient skeletons of Tikal. Aspects of the migratory isotope and dental morphometric research have been published previously (Dental analysis of Classic period population variability in the Maya area, Doctoral Dissertation, Texas A&M University, 2004; American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 132, 367–380, 2007; Journal of Archaeological Science, 32(4), 555–566, 2005; Ancient Mesoamerica, 16, 89–100, 2005; Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 31(3), 334–352, 2012). This publication integrates these data in a combined analysis of population mobility at Classic period Tikal.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Andrea Cucina for the invitation to participate in both the symposium and edited volume. Wright’s strontium analysis was funded by the Ahau Foundation and her bioarchaeological work at Tikal was supported by the National Science Foundation (BCS-9870351) and the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. Scherer’s research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation (BCS-0234006) and the Wenner-Gren Foundation (Gr. 7014).
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Scherer, A.K., Wright, L.E. (2015). Dental Morphometric and Strontium Isotope Evidence for Population History at Tikal, Guatemala. In: Cucina, A. (eds) Archaeology and Bioarchaeology of Population Movement among the Prehispanic Maya. SpringerBriefs in Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10858-2_10
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