Hunter-Gatherer Mortuary Practices during the Central Texas Archaic

<p>Beginning over 10000 years ago and continuing until the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s hunter and gatherer societies occupied the Edwards Plateau of central Texas. Archaeological studies over the past eighty years have reconstructed their subsistence technology and settlement patterns but until now little information has been available on their burial practices due to the scarcity of known burial sites. This detailed archaeological report describes the human skeletal remains burial furnishings and fauna recovered from Bering Sinkhole in Kerr County the first carefully excavated hunter-gatherer burial site in central Texas.</p> <p>The remains in Bering Sinkhole were deposited from 7500 to 2000 years ago. Leland Bement's analysis reveals a growing elaboration in burial rituals during the period and also uncovers important data on the diet and health of the hunter-gatherers. He discusses climate change based on faunal remains and compares burial goods such as bone antler freshwater shell marine shell turtle and stone artifacts with those found at other Texas mortuary sites and with deposits at hunter-gatherer habitation sites in Central Texas.</p>