Death and Community Identity in the Trincheras Cremation Cemetery, Sonora, Mexico

An urn-field cremation cemetery located on a small knob at the edge of the massive 'Cerro de Trincheras?, the primate centre of the Trincheras archaeological tradition (ca. 1300-1450 ad), contained the remains of 139 individuals (MNI) from 137 mortuary features within a confined space (approximately 5×6. m). Cremated remains were placed in a variety of mostly plainware ceramic vessels, tightly packed together in an assortment of orientations and stacked on top of and around each other. The sample includes 10 infants, 16 children, 7 adolescents and 103 adult individuals (33 males and 36 females). The few artifacts in vessel fill (40.7% of the sample) included burned fragments of marine shell beads and bracelets, animal bone (fragments and tools), ceramic shards and several unburned copper bells with one individual. Skeletal fragmentation and burn patterns indicate a homogeneous practice of cremation of fleshed individuals and minimal processing. Age, sex and degree of processing did not correlate across mortuary attributes. Limited vessel variety, uniform processing (posthumous body treatment) and limited and largely mundane associated artifacts suggest that mourners downplayed the expression of individual social identities in these mortuary contexts. Conversely, the location, organisation (placement and orientation) and delineation of the cemetery suggests an investment in a dedicated, and likely visible, community space devoted to celebrating the deceased ancestors in a public venue. We suggest that the urn-field cemetery at the Cerro de Trincheras served as a public memorial that emphasised and reinforced a shared community identity and downplayed individual social distinctions within a community that was the centre of an influential regional cultural tradition.