Mortuary representations of the noble house

Abstract

Seventy years of archaeological research in the Maya area have brought to light a series of tombs and crypts that hold more than one individual. The patterns regarding age, completeness and articulation of skeletons and sequence of deposition in some of these tombs suggest different burial traditions. These traditions include the placing of sacrificial victims with a deceased tomb principal, sequential burial of family members, or reburial of curated or exhumed ancestral remains. In medieval and post-medieval Europe, collective tomb burial was also very common. The investigation of tomb formation in the Habsburg dynasty shows that similar patterns can result from mortality, mobility and territorial shifts in a noble house. Maya multiple tombs and crypts simply may have been the final resting-places for the deceased members of noble houses who were deposited and redeposited in both simultaneous and sequential fashion.