Message #159673

[Bianca]

Theory No Longer Out on a Limb



The Zapotec often kept their dead relatives close to home—sometimes even at home.

At a dig earlier this year at a fortress near the ancient town of San Pablo Villa de Mitla (map), Feinman and colleagues discovered an adobe-lined storage pit underneath an excavated house.

Inside was an adult male skeleton that was virtually intact, save for a missing right femur.

"This find is fantastic—it corroborates what was inferred before," said archaeologist Javier Urcid of Brandeis University, who did not participate in the new study.