TAPHONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ANASAZI SKELETAL REMAINS FROM LARGO-GALLINA SITES IN NORTHWESTERN NEW-MEXICO

In 1979 Mackey and Green used the condition of Anasazi skeletal remains from five Largo-Gallina phase sites in northwestern New Mexico to aid in their argument that large masonry towers were primarily defensive structures. As part of an ongoing and long-term study of Southwestern violence and cannibalism, the skeletons from their five sites have been reexamined. Evidence for violence, in the form of perimortem bone damage, most often involving males, was present, but none of the sites meet the minimal criteria test for proposing cannibalism.