Transformed by Fire: Body Perception in Cremation Burial Practices in Middle Balsas River Basin, Michoacán Tierra Caliente, during the Postclassic Period

This article explores the cremation burial practices of a pre-Tarascan community at Los Tamarindos, focusing on the perceptions of the bodies of those cremated. To reconstruct this element of mortuary practices in the Middle Balsas River basin during the Postclassic period, we analyzed the thermal alterations, anatomical arrangements, and spatial distribution of cremains within funerary urns. Our findings shed light on the low efficiency of cremation processes, which affect the resistance of cremains to mechanical damage and influences the spatial distribution of cremains in the burials. As a result, we were able to register only one case of an intentional distribution of human remains within a funerary urn: skull fragments were dominant in the upper part of the funerary vessel, with a gradual reduction in favor of the lower limb fragments toward the bottom. We also explored the potential presence of intentional manipulation of human remains in the majority of adult burials, offering new perspectives on cremation mortuary rites during the Middle and Late Postclassic period in the Middle Balsas region.