Before Kukulkán

Vera Tiesler is a research professor for the College of Anthropological Sciences at the Autonomous University of YucatÁn. She is the co-editor of Janaab’ Pakal of Palenque: Reconstructing the Life and Death of a Maya Ruler and New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in Ancient Maya Society, and author of The Bioarchaeology of Artificial Cranial Modification: New Approaches to Head Shaping and Its Meanings in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and Beyond.Andrea Cucina is an associate professor at the Autonomous University of YucatÁn. He is the co-editor of Janaab’ Pakal of Palenque: Reconstructing the Life and Death of a Maya Ruler and New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in Ancient Maya Society.Travis W. Stanton is an associate professor and department chair at the University of California, Riverside, where he co-directs the PIPCY project currently ongoing at the site of YaxunÁ. He is co-editor of Ruins of the Past: The Use and Perception of Abandoned Structures in the Maya Lowlands and Ancient Mesoamerican Warfare.David A. Freidel is a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. He was the principal investigator of the Selz Foundation YaxunÁ Project.

• Foreword by Traci ArdrenPreface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Bioarchaeology of YaxunÁPart I. Living at YaxunÁ1 YaxunÁ in Context2 Individual Movement, Migration, and Population Dynamics in the Northern Maya Lowlands3 Growing Up in YaxunÁ: Demography, Lifestyle, and Health in a Classic Period Capital4 Foodways, Diet, and Nutrition5 Physical Embodiment and Social Identities at YaxunÁPart II. YaxunÁ’s Dead6 Passing, Mourning, and Procuring Permanence7 Eternal Performance: The Royal Tombs8 Feeding the Gods in YaxunÁ: Sacrifice and Human Caches9 The Cycling of an Era: ChichÉn ItzÁ and the Decline of YaxunÁNotesReferencesIndex

“Provides solid bioarchaeological evidence and modern laboratory analysis to improve our understanding of Classic Maya migration, diet, health, and social identity.”—Joel W. Palka, author of Unconquered Lacandon Maya“With its highly detailed and technical analysis of the skeletal remains from YaxunÁ, this pioneering volume will illuminate new paths for future Maya research.”—Walter R. T. Witschey, editor of Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya