Excavations at Valshni Village, Arizona |
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Burial |
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Evidence of burial was very scarce at Valshni Village. One inhumation was found (Fig. 23); no cremations.
Figure 23. Inhumation found under Mound 3 |
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| Location: | ||||
| Beneath the center of Mound 3. |
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| Position: | ||||
| Three-quarters flexed, lying on its right side. |
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| Condition of bones: | ||||
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Very poor; beyond saving. Vines and roots were growing through some of the bones; the jaw had disintegrated except for a small part of the maxilla. The teeth were in good condition and found under the rib cage.
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| Dating: | ||||
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The burial,took place before the rubbish in Mound 3 had begun to accumulate, as it was below the mound-desert contact and there was no evidence of disturbance in the mound fill. Mound 3 has been assigned to the later portion of the Vamori Phase. The burial is tentatively assigned to the earlier portion of the Vamori Phase.
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| Pre-inhumation treatment: | ||||
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The body had been wrapped in a reed mat prior to interment.
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| Associated Data: | ||||
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After having been placed in the ground,the body was covered with small branches and twigs, then covered with earth. Later, sand, river gravel, and mud washed in and filled the skull and rib cage.
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Discussion
The recovery of only one burial at Valshni Village is difficult to explain in view of the relatively extensive excavation on the site. The modern Papago bury their dead among rocks in the hills or in isolated cemeteries, often at some distance from the village. This may have been the practice in prehistoric times. The small number of burials (three) found at Jackrabbit Ruin and assigned to the Sells Phase, some 250 years after the Vamori Phase, would tend to support this hypothesis. [Ed. Note: An inhumation has been found under similar circumstances on the Santa Rosa Wash, north of Valshni Village. This inhumation was in the mound rather than below it; was extended rather than flexed; and associated with Tanque Verde Red-on-brown and Casa Grande Red-on-buff, thus dating it several hundred years later (Raab: personal communication).] |
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. Misc. ceramic objects