University of Virginia Library

Burial Customs of Mounds 50 and 51

Of the sixteen burials (fig. 6) removed from the two mounds, six
were oriented north-south, and two east-west; the others were too disturbed
for observations. All of the five Pueblo I burials were infants,
three found in Room 3 and one in Room 7, Mound 50, and the other
beneath the Pueblo II west wall of the same pueblo. All were disturbed:
hence their body position is unknown. Remains of twilled grass mats
which wrapped two were evident; three had never been wrapped in
matting or the matting had disappeared through decay. Two were
accompanied by one Red Mesa bowl apiece; three burials yielded no
grave goods, but the femur from one of these was encircled with six
stripes of dark paint.

These Pueblo I burials were given period identification by their
accompaniment of Red Mesa Black on White bowls and by their position
in the Pueblo I fill of Room 3 and, in one case, location beneath the
wall of a Pueblo II room.

Seven burials representing Pueblo II were found in Mound 50 and
four in Mound 51. Of the former, four were adults, two males, one
female, and one undetermined. Three were flexed; one was disturbed.
Of the whole group, two were found in Room 6, four in Room 22, and
one in Room 11. Two of the adults were wrapped with matting, one section
showing its twilled weave. One infant was wrapped in a twilled
mat. Morris found most of the Aztec Ruin burials similarly wrapped.[24]

All were accompanied with pottery offerings. One adult had only
a crude undecorated jar, one had a vessel of McElmo Black on White
and one of Escavada Black on White, one had a vessel of Gallup Black
on White, and one had a vessel each of Tusayan polychrome, of Wingate
Black on Red, of Escavada Black on White, and of Gallup Black
on White. With the body were also one bone awl and two small
malachite balls.

Of the infants, one was accompanied by a large shard of Wingate
Black on Red, one with a small shell earplug, and one with a McElmo
bowl, fourteen bone beads, and some walnuts which appear to have
been beads.

Four burials were removed from the single room opened in
Mound 51. Three were adults, one an adolescent, one male, one female,
and two unidentified. Two were flexed, two disturbed. One was lying
on coarse yucca cord matting. One showed a clump of grass adhering
to his left parietal, perhaps having been placed beneath the head as a
cushion. One adult was accompanied with vessels of McElmo Black
on White, of Kana-a Gray, and of Exuberant Corrugated. The others
were without pottery except for shards.

Table IV
MEASUREMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS ON BURIALS FROM MOUNDS 50 AND 51
Cranial Observations

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

	Bc50 60/5	Bc50 60/9	Bc50 60/10	Bc51 60/1	Bc51 60/4
Sex	Male	Female	Female	Female	Male
Condition	frag.	frag.	frag.	frag.	frag.
Sex Criteria	certain	certain			uncertain
Muscularity	large	small			medium
Age	56-75	18-20			21-35
Weight	light	light
Deformation	lambdoid	lambdoid			lambdoid r.
Degree	pron.				medium
Cause	artificial	artificial			artificial
Frontal Region
Brow Ridges
Type	divided	median			median
Size	medium	small			small
Glabella	medium	small
Height	medium	medium			medium
Slope	medium	slight			slight
Metopism	traces	traces
Postorbital Costr.	medium	medium			small
Bosses	medium	small			medium
Median Crest	abs.	abs.
Breadth	large	large
Parietal Region
Saggital Elevation	small	small			small
Postcoronal Dep.	small	small			medium
Bosses					small
Foramina	small				small
Temporal Region
Fullness	large
Mastoids	medium	small			medium
Supramastoid Crest	large	small			medium
Sphenoid Depression	medium
Occipital Region
Curve	pron.	small			pronounced
Inion	none	none			none
Torus size	medium	small			medium
Torus shape	mound	mound			mound
Lambdoid Flattening	pron.	medium			pron.
Transverse Suture	trace	absent			absent
Serration
Lambdoid	medium	medium			submedium
Coronal	simple	simple			simple
Saggital	?	simple			submedium
External Occlusion
Coronal	complete	open			open
Saggital	complete	open			open
Lambdoid	advanced	open			open
Os Incae	absent	absent			absent
Wormian Bones	few	few			few
Pterion Form	H
Median Occipital Fossa	absent	absent
Condyles Elevation					large
Basion
Styloids	small				small
Pharyngeal Tubercle	absent				small
Pharyngeal Fossa	absent				absent
Lacerate Foramina					small
Glenoid Fossa Depth	small	small			medium
Postglenoid Process	small	small			absent
Tympanic Plate	medium				thin
Auditory Meatus	oval				oval
Petrous Depression
External Pterygoid Plate	small
Internal Pterygoid Plate	medium
Pterygo-basal Foramina	indicated
Orbits Shape	rhomboid
Inclination	medium
Lacrimo-ethmoid Art.	medium
Infra-orbital Suture	none
Suborbital Fossa	absent	slight
Os Japonicum		absent
Malar
Size	medium	small
Lateral Projection	large
Anterior Projection	medium
Marginal Process	absent	absent
Zygomatic Process
Nasion Depression	medium	small
Nasal Root Height	medium	low
Breadth	medium	large
Nasal Bridge Height	medium
Breadth	large
Nasal Profile	concavo-conv.
Nasal Sills	dull	sharp			sharp
Nasal Spine	medium	small
Subnasal Grooves	small	absent			absent
Mid-facial Prognathism	absent
Alveolar Prognathism	slight
Total Prognathism	slight
Alveolar Border Absorb.	pron.	none
Preservation	poor
Palate Shape	parabolic
Palate Height	low	low
Palatine Torus Form	absent	absent
Size
Transverse Suture	anterior
Postnasal Spine	medium
Mandible
Size	medium	medium
Chin Form				median
Chin Projection	medium
Alveolar Prognathism	slight
Genial Tubercles	small			slight
Mylo-hyoid Ridge	pron.			medium
Gonial Angles
Pterygoid Attachment	medium			medium
Eversion	small
Tooth Eruption	complete
Lost	29-32
Mandibular Torus	none			absent
Teeth Wear		slight		pron.
Quality		good
Accessory Cusps
Caries		none		pres.
Abscess	4-X			4-X
Size	medium			small
Pyorrhea	present	none
Shovel Incisors
Bite		edge
Crowding
Molar Cusps

Measurements, Indices, and Observations

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

	Bc50 60/5	Bc50 60/9	Bc50 60/10	Bc51 60/1	Bc51 60/4
Cranial Index
Height-Length
Height-Breadth
Fronto-parietal
Auricular Height-Length
Cranial Module
Facial
Upper Facial
Cranio-facial
Nasal	53
Left Orbital	79.4
Nasalia-Transverse	65.
Interorbital	22.2
External Palatal
Mandibular
Zygo-gonial
Fronto-gonial
Zygo-frontal
Horizontal Circumference
Nasion-Opisthion
Transverse Arc
Glabello-occipital Length
Maximum Width
Basion-Bregma Height
Mean Thickness L. Parietal	5
Minimum Frontal Diameter	92
Auricular Height
Frontal Height
Frontal Angle
Total Facial Angle
Mid-facial Angle
Alveolar Angle
Bizygomatic Diameter
Nasion-Menton Height
Nasion-Prosthion Height	71
Basion-Nasion Length
Basion-Prosthion Length
Nasal Height	51
Nasal Breadth	27
Orbital Height—Left	31
Orbital Breadth—Left	39
Orbital Height—Right	31
Orbital Breadth—Right	40
Nasalia—Upper Breadth	13
Nasalia—Lower Breadth	20
Interorbital Breadth	22
Biorbital Breadth	99
Palate—External Length
Palate—External Width
Condylo-symphysial Length					103
Bicondylar Width					117
Height of Symphysis
Bigonial					89
Minimum Br. Ascending
Ramus		35			39
Mean Angle Mandible		118			113
Stature (Pearson Formula)
Cranial Capacity
Right Humerus
Shape of Shaft	Plano-convex
Perf. of Olecranion Fossa	absent
Supracondyloid Process	absent
Maximum Length
Maximum Middle	22
Minimum Middle	15
Max. Diam. Head
Middle Index	68
Humero-fem. Index.
Left Humerus
Shape of Shaft	Plano-convex			Prismatic
Perf. of Olecranion Fossa	absent			present
Supracondyloid Process	absent			absent
Maximum Length				322
Maximum Middle	22			18
Minimum Middle	15			14
Max. Diam. Head				42
Middle Index	68			33
Humero-fem. Ind.
Right Radius
Bowing
Shaft Shape
Interosseous Crest
Maximum Length
Humero-rad. Ind.
Left Radius
Bowing	slight
Shaft Shape	prism
Interosseous Crest	medium
Maximum Length
Humero-rad. Ind.
Right Ulna—Max. Length
Left Ulna—Max. Length
Right Scapula
Superior Border	concave
Notch	submedium
Vertebral Border	straight
Teres Insertion	small
Shape of Acromion
Clavicular Facet
Age Plaque
Glenoid Shape
Glenoid Lipping				beginning
Pleating				medium
Buckling				present
Atrophic Patches				pronounced
Left Scapula
Superior Border	concave
Notch	submedium
Vertebral Border	convex
Teres Insertion	small
Shape of Acromion	interm.
Clavicular Facet	lipped
Age Plaque	pron.
Glenoid Shape	oval
Glenoid Lipping	beginning
Pleating	medium
Buckling	present
Atrophic Patches	pron.
Right Scapula
Total Height	152
Inferior Height	119
Breadth	103
Total Index	67.7
Inferior Ind.	86.5
Left Scapula
Total Height	152
Inferior Ht.	118
Breadth	100
Total Index	65.3
Inferior Ind.	84.7
Right Clavicle
Maximum Length
Left Clavicle
Maximum Length
Claviculo-Humeral Ind.
Right
Left
Sternum
Fusion
Foramen
Suprasternal Ossif.
Sternal Ribs
Right Femur
Third Trochanter	absent			medium
Crista	medium			medium
Fossa	absent			absent
Torsion
Poirier's Facet	present
Bowing				medium
Shaft Section	oval			oval
Bicondylar Length
Maximum Length
Max. Diam. Hd.	44
Subtrochanter AP.	26			29
Subtrochanter Lat.	30			34
Middle AP	30			27
Middle Lateral	24			28
Platymeric Index	86.6			55.8
Middle Index	80			96
Left Femur
Third Trochanter	absent
Crista	medium
Fossa	absent
Torsion
Poirier's Facet	present
Bowing
Shaft Section	oval
Bicondylar Length
Maximum Length
Max. Diam. Hd.	44
Subtrochanter AP.
Subtrochanter Lat.
Middle AP.
Middle Lateral
Platymeric Index
Middle Index
Right Tibia
Proximal Retroversion	medium
Shape of Shaft (Hrd.)	III
Squatting Facets	absent
Maximum Length (l. s.)
Middle AP.
Middle Lat.
Nutrient For. AP.
Nutrient For. Lat.
Middle Index
Platycnemia Ind.
Left Tibia
Proximal Retroversion	medium
Shape of Shaft (Hrd.)	III
Squatting Facets	present
Maximum Length (l. s.)
Middle AP.
Middle Lat.
Nutrient For. AP.	36
Nutrient For. Lat.	20
Middle Index
Platycnemic Ind.	55.5
Right Fibula
Max. Length
Left Fibula
Max. Length
Tibio-Femoral Indices
Right
Left
Right Innominate
Phases of Symphysis	IX
Bony Outgrowths	absent
Ischiatic Notch
Preauricular Sulcus
Ilium
Ischiatic Spine
Innominate Height	209
Innominate Breadth
Innominate Index
Left Innominate
Phases of Symphysis	IX		IX
Ischiatic Notch
Preauricular Sulcus	absent		large
Ilium	flaring
Ischiatic Spine	broken
Innominate Height	211
Innominate Breadth	152
Innominate Index	72
Pelvis as a Whole
Subpubic Angle	narrow		large
Brim Shape	heart
Pubic Rami	lipped
Total Brd. (bi-iliac)
Max. Brd. (superior str.)	133
AP. Diam (sup. strait)	103
Bi-ischiatic Brd.
Interspinous Diam.	93
Brim Index	77
Total Pelvic Index
Sacrum
Segments	5
Sacral Curve	pron.
Curve Begins	three
Simian Notch
Sacral Type	homobasal
Spinal Closure Begins	five
Hiatus
Arthritic Changes	present
Height	117
Breadth	117
Index	100
Lumbars
Centra Hts. (ant.)	132
Centra Hts. (post.)	150
Lumbar Vert. Ind.	88.8
Right Calcaneum
Axis of Tuberosity
Tendon Attachment
Lateral Process
Astragalar Facets					separate
Max. Length			64
Max. (s. t.) Brd.			33
Length-Brd. Ind.			51.5
Left Calcaneum
Axis of Tuberosity	medium
Tendon Attachment	medium
Lateral Process	submed.
Astragalar Facets	fused
Max. Length	74		64
Max. (s. t.) Brd.	39		34
Length-Brd. Ind.	52.7		53
Right Astragalus
Angle of Diversion					small
Squatting Facets					absent
Obliquity External Facet
Torsion Head
Max. Length
Max. Breadth
Height
Length-Ht. Ind.
Left Astragalus
Angle of Diversion	small				small
Squatting Facets	absent				absent
Obliq. Ext. Facet	medium				small
Torsion Head	medium				large
Max. Length	51
Max. Breadth	39
Height	30
Length-Ht. Ind.	58.7

The Pueblo II burials were distinguished for period by their
accompanying pottery types and complexes, by their position in Pueblo
II fill in rooms (which probably places them as late rather than as
early Pueblo II in these ruins) and by the obvious high levels of origin
of the graves.