Maternal death as a representation of the war with life in western mexico: analysis of tomb ii at tingambato, mexico, from the perspective of the bioarchaeology of care and the model of the palimpsest in health

This paper presents, from an approach of archaeothanatology, osteobiography, bioarchaeology of care and palimpsest, the analysis of one of the most important archaeological findings recently made in western Mexico. It is about a female person buried in a lavish tomb in the Tingambato archaeological site, Michoacan, Mexico, dated 1400 years ago, with more than 19,000 objects covering her body. This research presents the results of the work of almost a decade of studies carried out by different methods on this individual: morphophysical studies, taphonomy, dating, genetics, as well as various techniques of virtual archaeology among others. Through the Index of Care it was possible to systematize all the information obtained by different study methods and integrate it for analysis. The use of archaeothanatology and the Index of Care makes it possible to perform analyses on specific individuals from the past to establish their health conditions and the probable causes of death. The main limitation that arose was the poor state of preservation in which we received the bones, which unfortunately did not allow us to carry out some morphoscopic and taphonomic studies that would have been relevant.