Man Corn ─ Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest

Christy and Jacqueline Turner's study of prehistoric violence, homicide, and cannibalism explodes the myth that the Anasazi and other Southwest Indians were simple, peaceful farmers. Using detailed osteological and forensic analyses, plus other lines of evidence, the Turners show that warfare, violence, and their concomitant horrors were as common in the ancient Southwest as anywhere eke in the world. During a thirty-year period, the authors and other analysts identified a minimal perimortem taphonomic signature of burning, pot polishing, anvil abrasions, bone breakage, cut marks, and missing vertebrae that closely matches the signatures of animal butchering and is frequently associated with additional evidence of violence. More than seventy-five archaeological sites containing the remains of several hundred individuals were carefully examined for the cannibalism signature.

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