Olmec Obituary

by L. J. M. Owen

  Once inside the lab, Elizabeth found she had to open the windows despite the cold. The room had apparently been used for a wet anatomy class the day before and it really needed airing. The smell of pungent formaldehyde mixed with rotting flesh created a lingering, cloying sweetness that invaded the sinuses. Ugh. Elizabeth didn’t like wet anatomy. Just the bones, thank you very much.

  Wrapped tightly against the frosty air, her scarf wound so thick about her neck she had difficulty turning her head, Elizabeth reverentially opened the cupboard containing the skeletal remains. It was almost like a ceremony from her own personal religion.

  Ffwrdd a ni! Let’s go!

  Elizabeth had some difficulty switching on her laptop because of her thick woollen gloves. Despite the smell she would have to close the windows to make the room warm enough to work in. She managed to open the spreadsheet she had prepared for recording her data: a basic skeletal description, sex and age of each individual, then more detailed metric and non-metric aspects of the remains. By combining that with scaled photographs, she’d be off to a flying start on her report.

  She decided to browse the Juluwik site records while the room warmed up. They confirmed what Carl and Juan had told her. There were seventeen skeletons from sixteen burials – thirteen juveniles and infants of various ages, and four adults. That was a strange mix for a royal cemetery, wasn’t it?

  Elizabeth decided to start her examination with the juveniles. She searched the shelves for the stiff brown cardboard boxes containing the two smallest individuals. The first box slipped between her hands as she tried to pick it up; she definitely had to take off her woollen gloves.

  As the temperature slowly climbed above freezing, Elizabeth laid out her navy blue felted sheet. It would protect the bones and help keep them still as she worked.

  She donned latex gloves and, almost vibrating with excitement, began with the second-smallest set of remains, and the smallest individual burial. The gloves would maintain the integrity of the bones for possible future DNA analysis. Worryingly, she could see grease marks on some of the smoother parts of the infant’s long bones. That made her angry – someone who worked on these bones previously hadn’t shown the appropriate level of care.

  Elizabeth painstakingly laid out the tiny bones to form a rough skeleton. As Juan said, it was remarkably well preserved given the climate in the jungles of Mexico. The bones appeared to be that of a fully formed neonate, an infant who had died at or near the time of birth. There were no signs of the artificial cranial deformation that she had seen in the ballplayer, but that was to be expected if this were a stillborn or perinatal death.

  Elizabeth measured, described and photographed the skeleton, then packed its remains away and brought out the box containing the smallest set of remains. This child was found between the ballplayer’s legs, indicating that she may have been its mother. Elizabeth estimated that the remains were of an individual with a gestational age of around seven to eight months. Again, they were in excellent condition. She wondered what had happened to facilitate such exceptional preservation at the site.

  The room was beginning to warm up now. Elizabeth noticed the sun had risen as she put the infant away and brought out the first of the juveniles. There were eleven in total. Over the course of the next few hours, stopping only for sandwiches and a cup of tea, Elizabeth examined them one by one. As she observed the juvenile bones, a picture of what they might represent started to form.

  Five sets of remains seemed to be from children aged somewhere around five or six years, another four seemed to be around eight to ten years old, and two were perhaps around thirteen or fourteen. Given their youth, none of them bore any signs of the sexual dimorphism that developed in later teenage years, meaning there were no clues as to gender.

  The most striking aspect of the remains was that they fell into two distinct groups of artificial cranial deformation. The eldest two children, two of the middle group and three of the youngest had the same flat, elongated head as the ballplayer. The other four skulls were square, almost cube-like.

  Both groups had indications of differing health problems. The four square-headed children had an unusually enlarged parietal foramen – a hole on the side of the temple that allowed blood vessels through, which had grown far too large. These four probably suffered from headaches, even seizures, as a result.

  The children with the elongated crania seemed to have suffered from worse overall health than the square-headed ones, though. While their dentition indicated they were of similar ages to the square-headed children, their skeletal growth was not as advanced. Elizabeth would ask if the team’s funding could stretch to x-rays to look for Harris lines, which might confirm her suspicion of poorer nutrition among the long-headed children.

  Despite the two types of cranial deformation, and the enlarged parietal foramen in one set, overall the group of eleven juveniles seemed remarkably homogenous. What was Elizabeth seeing here? Two lineages within the one extended family, one that was royal, one that was less favoured but still noble? Or was she reaching?

  Annoyingly, there were no clues pointing to cause of death for any of the children. Whether they died from accident, disease or congenital problems, Elizabeth couldn’t tell. Unfortunately, humans across the globe had demonstrated a propensity to murder children for political or financial advantage, so homicide was a possibility as well.

  It crossed Elizabeth’s mind that these children may have been religious sacrifices, some form of bargaining with other­worldly powers. Was child sacrifice known among the Olmecs? Bloodletting, certainly: numerous ceremonial thorns, used to pierce flesh to free the blood of prayer, had been uncovered. And there was reason to suspect Olmec ballplayers might be sacrificed after high-stakes games. But what of the child sacrifice practised by later Mesoamerican cultures? Did it begin in Olmec times? More to research!

  Packing away the boxes, Elizabeth realised it was early afternoon. She had best get going on the adults. At least there were only four of them.

  She started with the ballplayer. This woman had been around thirty years of age at death. She had the same elongated artificial cranial deformation as seven of the eleven juveniles and, as expected, her post-cranial remains showed evidence of the severe injuries associated with the iconic and violent Mesoamerican ballgame.

  At different times she had broken both arms, both collar­bones, some ribs, and she had chipped shards of bone from her hips. Ouch! All of the injuries had healed, though, meaning it was unlikely any of them related to her death. There was some pitting of the bones in her knees, hands and hips, indicating a fair amount of time spent grinding corn. And she had signifi­cant pitting within her pelvic girdle, signifying multiple pregnancies.

  Finishing her notes on the ballplayer, Elizabeth returned the bones to their shelf and brought out the next adult. Juan’s notes indicated a seventy-year-old male – quite an age for someone back then.

  Hang on, there must be a mistake. This wasn’t a male. It was clearly a female: a small mastoid process, the ballooning of bone behind the ear; no discernible brow ridge; light muscle markings on the skull and long bones. What had gone wrong? A mix-up with the boxes?

  Elizabeth crosschecked the numbers on the boxes against this particular skeleton’s femurs. This was the correct skeleton. But it was a female. And – she checked for pitting inside the female-shaped pelvis – this person had probably given birth at least once or twice. How could Juan have been so wrong?

  Elizabeth completed her assessment of the skeleton, just as she had for the ballplayer. Again, no obvious signs of trauma associated with death. She seemed to have been around sixty years of age when she died, not seventy. She showed only minor pitting of her hands, knees and hips, indicating minimal time spent grinding corn. Her head was a third, new shape of artificial cranial deformation – more conical, but with the same enlarged parietal foramen as the square-headed children. Curiouser and curiouser.

  Laying out the next skeleton, Elizabeth coul
d see something was wrong again. Juan had assessed it as a fifty-year-old male. He was probably close on the age, but again not the sex. This was clearly another female. What was going on here? Juan hadn’t been great at skeletal analysis during their undergraduate degree, but he wasn’t as incompetent as this.

  Elizabeth thought back to her conversation with Juan and Carl last week. Juan had mentioned the grave goods and that the skeletons were male and royal. He couldn’t have been that lazy, surely? Had he simply sexed the skeletons based on their grave goods?

  That made no sense. Juan knew how thorough Elizabeth was. Surely he realised she would uncover the truth. Then again, Juan didn’t think like that. He didn’t conceive of himself as someone who made mistakes.

  Elizabeth returned her focus to the remains in front of her. This woman had the same elongated cranium as the ballplayer. A lifetime of grinding corn, as well as at least one or two pregnancies, had left their marks.

  Packing the remains away in the cupboard, Elizabeth shivered. She was amazed to see it was dark outside. She had been here the whole day, yet it felt like only five minutes.

  As she laid out the final Juluwik skeleton, Elizabeth cautioned herself not to make any assumptions. Juan said this was a mid-thirties male, but who knew? As she examined the cranium, though, Elizabeth thought she had made a mistake herself. Surely this was the first adult she examined, the ballplayer? She retrieved the box that should have contained the skull of the ballplayer and opened it…No, there she was. And now that Elizabeth looked closely, she could see there were minor differences between the two crania.

  Scanning the rest of the fourth adult’s remains, Elizabeth could see this woman was quite different to the ballplayer post-cranially. She had no injuries consistent with playing the ballgame, but plenty of pitting in the knees and hands, indicating a life of daily corn grinding. How strange. The skulls were almost a pair, but the bodies weren’t.

  Before Elizabeth could start a detailed examination of this last woman, a key turned in the lab door. Carl poked his head around the door, grinning.

  ‘How goes it?’ he asked. ‘Ready to publish next week?’ His eyes danced excitedly and a teasing grin played across his handsome face.

  ‘Oh, hello,’ Elizabeth said, not sure where to begin. She had already discovered so much, surely Carl would be impressed? ‘I’ve looked over all seventeen sets of remains today, and I’ve recorded good high-level observations for all of them, except this last one.’ Elizabeth indicated the remains in front of her.

  ‘Excellent.’

  ‘It’s very exciting!’ she continued, encouraged by Carl’s smile. ‘I think, for some reason, Juan missed some of the age and sex markers on these adults. There aren’t any males here. As far as I can tell, all the adults are female. There’s a remarkable level of preservation…’

  Elizabeth was just warming to her subject when Carl cut her short, his eyes small and cold.

  ‘What do you mean, there aren’t any adult males here? Of course there are! Juan said there were. That’s what the grave goods and the writing in the cemetery say. Maybe you’re not very good at this after all.’

  Elizabeth’s stomach dropped like a stone.

  ‘Do you honestly think I’m going to let an unpaid volunteer, who already abandoned a career in archaeology, bring down my theories? I will publish this, whether you like it or not. You’d better get on board with what we’re doing here, Elizabeth. The funding for this site, and the careers of many people, depend on it.’

  Elizabeth’s heartbeat thumped in her ears.

  ‘I’ll see you back here at nine o’clock next Saturday,’ Carl snapped. ‘Make sure you have a good think this week about whether you want to belong to this team or not.’

  Carl turned and strode out of the lab. The door shut softly behind him.

  Elizabeth sank onto the nearest stool, numb.

  Chapter Six

  Olmec date 4.15.9.0.18 4 Etznab 11 Pax (5 April 1231 BCE)

  Sacred Women’s Cave, Lord Ajaw’s lands, ancient Olmec (Juluwik, modern Mexico)

  Gasping for air, Ix emerged from a smoke-filled sweatbath into the torchlit Sacred Women’s Cave. Stumbling blindly towards Kimi’s voice, she wiped rivulets of eye-burning water from her forehead.

  Ix’s breathing began to ease as Kimi, dressed as Midwife- Lake, guided her through the cave’s tunnels. Kimi murmured prayers and invocations to Lady Midwife and the Divine Twins as they went.

  Edging through the twisting shadows of the cave’s main chamber, Ix groped towards the sandy bank beside the under­ground lake. She eased herself onto her back along the shore. Kimi first placed, then lit, a series of small fire vessels on both sides of Ix’s body.

  Ix’s mother, Imox, crouched next to her head. Kimi settled at her feet. ‘Ready?’ she asked.

  Ix knew this fertility ritual was dangerous, but she was determined to make her husband A Man Who Has Fathered Sons. ‘Yes,’ she said, then held her breath.

  Pain tore through Ix’s right thigh as Kimi slowly forced a maguey thorn deep into the flesh. Ix clamped her teeth together to ensure she didn’t scream and scare the spirits away. Imox stroked her forehead and begged the Divine Twins to grant Ix a son.

  Blood poured freely from the soft flesh of Ix’s inner thigh. Kimi caught it in a small ceramic bowl, stirring the blood with her finger. When the flow had eased, Kimi sprinkled a powder into the container and continued to stir. Ix knew the ash was the dried, ground bodies of tiny foetuses and male babies birthed by their mothers before they were fully formed.

  ‘You must ask,’ Kimi said, prodding Ix to begin the Words. Hot, slippery blood congealing on her thigh, the roof of the cave spinning, Ix sucked in her breath and began.

  ‘Divine Twins, hear my prayers,’ she hissed.

  ‘Hear her prayers,’ Kimi and Mother intoned.

  ‘Lady Midwife, hear my prayers.’

  ‘Hear her prayers.’

  Ix’s lungs burned. ‘Lords of Maize, hear my prayers.’

  ‘Hear her prayers.’

  ‘Divine Twins, I offer my blood,’ Ix whispered. ‘Blood that has seen combat on the Great Ballcourt, blood that has prevailed, in exchange for a son of my own.’

  Kimi pierced Ix’s other thigh, triggering an involuntary scream in Ix’s throat. She turned it into a groan, and then a hum.

  ‘Lady Midwife, I offer the bodies of the unformed.’ Ix’s voice had dropped to a drone. ‘May the potential of these returned Children of Maize nourish you in exchange for a son of my own.’

  Kimi shifted in the sand. Ix was aware of, rather than saw, Kimi pour more of the powder into the basin of blood.

  Ix sucked in another breath. ‘Lords of Maize, I offer you the sacred maize, which forms the bodies of all people, in exchange for a son of my own.’

  Ix could hear Kimi glopping clumps of wet maize into the mixture of blood and desiccated foetuses.

  ‘Lords of Maize, Lady Midwife, Divine Twins,’ Kimi chanted. ‘We implore you. Give Ix a son. She brings you blood, she brings you maize, she returns to you your unborn sons.’ Kimi shifted towards the fire vessel closest to her and held the bowl over it, still stirring. ‘And we bring you fire!’

  ‘We bring you fire,’ Ix and her mother repeated.

  ‘Bring Ix a son.’

  ‘Hear our prayers!’

  The cave echoed with the pleading of the three women, who begged the spirit world to make Aqabal’s fire hot and Ix’s womb cave receptive. In the haze Ix was certain she saw the Divine Twins run across the flickering shadows that played on the cave’s walls.

  Kimi moved the fire-hot bowl to Ix’s side, and began to smear the scalding mixture over Ix’s face, into her mouth, over her stomach and down her legs.

  Please, please let this work, Ix begged silently, just before she passed out.

  Chapter Seven

  Now

  Canberra, Australia

  Elizabeth screeched the car to a halt in the garage, then ran up the house’s ex
ternal stairs to her balcony. Clumsy with tears she struggled to open the French doors to her bedroom. She dropped her satchel and flung herself onto the bed. First Egypt, now this. How had she ended up here – again! – after only one day?

  Staring at the ceiling, lost in a sea of painful questions, Elizabeth heard a soft knock on her bedroom door. She quickly wiped her face.

  ‘Lizbet, we heard you come home. Grandmère said to fetch you for dinner.’ Matty stuck his head around the door. ‘Everyone’s waiting.’

  Food was the last thing on Elizabeth’s mind.

  ‘Oh, sorry Matty,’ said Elizabeth, hoping her voice betrayed no emotion. ‘Please go ahead without me. I’m not very hungry.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll tell the others,’ he said, turning to limp back down the stairs.

  Unfortunately, her distress was apparent even to her little brother. Five minutes later a grandparental delegation arrived. Gods, not now.

  As Grandmère and Taid settled on the chaise longue beside Elizabeth’s fireplace, Nainai placed a dinner tray in front of her and sat on the bed. A waft of spicy stir-fry turned Elizabeth’s stomach.

  ‘Bùxiè. No, thank you, Nainai,’ Elizabeth said, ‘I’m not hungry. I’m quite tired, actually.’ Her voice faded. ‘Would you mind if I just go to sleep?’

  Grandmère Maddie harrumphed as she turned on the gas fireplace. Elizabeth knew how much her grandparents loved her, and that they only wanted to help, but couldn’t they leave her alone just this once? As she searched for polite words to ask them to leave, tears started leaking from the corners of her eyes. Not again! Stop blubbering woman, pull yourself together.

  ‘What’s happened?’ Taid asked. ‘You were so excited this morning. We’ve been waiting for you to come home and tell us all about it.’

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘How about you walk us through your day?’ Taid suggested. Nainai and Grandmère both nodded. ‘What happened when you got to the lab this morning?’