Victims of Violence?: A Methodological Case Study from Precolonial Northern Mexico

Bioarchaeology is significant for the study of violence as it provides direct evidence of violent acts in the past through the identification of lethal and non-lethal wounds. These data, combined with other evidence, may lead to the identification of patterns of violence. Recent research in bioarchaeology has demonstrated how human skeletal data may allow for the identification of victims as well as considerations about the perpetrators of violence (Martin and Harrod 2012). La Cueva de Dos Cuchillos (The Cave of the Two Knives) presents one example of how current methodology for investigating violence may be applied to reinterpret older skeletal collections, potentially leading to the identification of victims and perpetrators in the past.