Award Date

5-15-2026

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Anthropology

First Committee Member

Jennifer Byrnes

Second Committee Member

Lisa Johnson

Third Committee Member

Debra Martin

Fourth Committee Member

Jenny Kent

Number of Pages

265

Abstract

The application of disability theory to the past is of growing interest among bioarchaeologists, both nationally and internationally. However, its application poses greater challenges when considering ancient contexts, such as Mesoamerica. Nonetheless, engagement with disability studies has led to the development of various theoretical frameworks in bioarchaeology, including dis/ability. This model views physical impairment as a fluid state that may exhibit adaptability and resilience rather than a biological deficit. Importantly, it views ability on a spectrum and does not make assumptions about social and cultural perceptions of ability where there is a lack of contextual data. Thus, it is a viable model to apply in Mesoamerica, where important cultural narratives of specific social processes are often missing.

Following this model, the incidence of physical impairment among a cemetery sample from the Late Classic period (600 - 800 CE) Maya city of Palenque, located in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico, is explored via osteological analyses. The Group IV cemetery, most recently excavated by the Proyecto Regional de Palenque (PREP) team, consists of 41 exhumed burials with 95 individuals, both juveniles and adults. Each individual was evaluated to confirm previously collected demographic data, estimate stature, and record all observable pathological conditions. Furthermore, physical impairment was assessed for each individual following steps 1 and 2 of the Index of Care. The social significance of these observations is then interpreted using the dis/ability framework with particular consideration of how physical difference may have interacted with other aspects of daily life in Maya society, including subsistence and food production, household and domestic activities, manual labor, ritual practices, warfare, other gendered roles, and mortuary treatment. Finally, spatial analysis of the burials was performed to detect any patterns correlated with physical impairment.

As a leading residential household, Group IV served as a shared space where the neighboring community would gather for a variety of cultural practices, including burying and celebrating the dead. To date, this is the only known cemetery of Palenque, one of two identified across the Maya region, providing a unique opportunity to explore the embodied experiences of the Maya of Palenque. While there is no specific term for disability among this cultural group, an understanding of bodily difference is evident in the abundant iconographic representations observed throughout the city. These representations serve an important cultural significance, directly related to their cosmology −the way the Maya understood their relationship with the natural and supernatural worlds.

This analysis found few instances of physical impairment across the sample. Among the observed impairments, all but one individual with an axial developmental defect presented with acquired conditions, primarily antemortem fractures. The cervical vertebrae were the most frequently affected region. There were no differences in the presence of impairment between osteological sex; however, females had a higher frequency of impairments in the upper extremity, and males had a higher frequency of impairments in the lower extremity. Other observations included osteoarthritis, metabolic disease, dental pathology, and subperiosteal new bone formations. Finally, while no spatial patterns were detected, about half of the individuals with physical impairments were found to have non-normative mortuary treatments.

The dis/ability framework utilized in this study allows for inclusive interpretations of physical impairment that allude to the resiliency of this cultural group, centering their narrative and aligning with Maya cosmology.

Keywords

Dis/ability; Disability; Impairment; Maya; Mesoamerica

Disciplines

Archaeological Anthropology | Biological and Physical Anthropology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

File Format

PDF

File Size

7400 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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