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There is very little published literature regarding pre-Columbian burial practices that include human skeletal remains of the Napo culture (A.D. 1188-1480) in the western Amazon. Due to poor bone preservation and a history of looting practices, bioarchaeologists have rarely been able to collect, analyze, and interpret skeletal remains. Here, we provide the initial publication of a human skeleton from the Ecuadorian Amazon elonging to the Napo culture, preserved in a funerary urn acquired by the Museo de Arte Precolombino Casa del Alabado in Quito, Ecuador. This partial adult skeleton, radiocarbon dated to cal A.D. 1021-1155, consists primarily of broken long bones that indicate a robust individual with a height range of 160-170 cm. Although no trauma was observed, pathological conditions including cysts and likely Osgood-Schlatter's disease were present and robust muscle insertions were noted. Taphonomic damage from termite osteophagy was inferred by the presence of round bore holes, cavities, tunneling, and cortical etching on the humerus, femur, and tibia. The urn itself is an anthropomorphic polychrome vessel that opens at the bottom, with six equally spaced holes to facilitate closure. The urn burial is similar to those of other Amazonian Polychrome Tradition cultures located to the east in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Death, necropolis and the objects buried togetherwith the deceased, represented an attraction to the first archaeologists that dug up -with little but an undoubted scientific interest- these valuable treasures in countless sites for two centuries. After words, this antiquarist vision of Archaeology has been abandoned to adopt other reference frames that did not take precedence over the object itself but also to the societywhichmanufactured it. In the present communication, Iwill dealwith theoretical positions that mark a historical milestone in the historiography along the XX century, taking samples fromexcavated sites, putting special emphasis on howscientific interest accent different aspects in each period. Finally, Iwill achieve a notice about themost vanguardist frameworkswhich explore the rational horizons of past people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]