Perimortem mutilation of human remains in an early village in the American Southwest: A case for ethnic violence

► Recent discovery of one of the earliest and largest deposits of processed human remains described and contextualized within the broader patterns in the American Southwest. ► The Sacred Ridge assemblage was similar to other EP event assemblages in the Southwest in that victims were heavily processed and reduced, were subject to scalping and trauma to the head and face, and were associated with pit structures. Yet, the Sacred Ridge site is unique in a number of ways and does not fit the expectations of any previous proposed models. ► Based on a lack of fit with previous models developed to account for Extreme Processing (EP) events, including starvation cannibalism, warfare and social intimidation, and witchcraft accusations, and biodistance data suggesting relatedness and distinctiveness among the victims it is proposed that the Sacred Ridge massacre was the result of ethnic conflict during the Pueblo I period.