Power and Pressure: Frailty as a Measure of Cumulative Stress Among Ancient Maya Royals from Belize
type: CreativeWork
description: Health is a reflection of total physical, mental, and social well-being that can be disrupted by stressors (environmental, nutritional, social). Frailty is an accumulation of this stress and leaves skeletal biomarkers which provides evidence of ongoing stress and survived stress event at time of death. The thought that elite status in ancient Maya buffers individuals from physiological stress due to better access to resources has been challenged in recent years. Skeletal age and sex were estimated following standard techniques. Six skeletal and dental frailty biomarkers were scored according to the Skeletal Frailty Index (SFI). Kaplan-Meier and Cox hazard analyses were used for statistical analysis. Hazard analyses demonstrated that higher number if skeletal biomarkers present is associated with higher survival probability. These results suggest that the royals, despite having access to food and resources, were not completely buffered from the accumulation of physiological stressors. However, no individual expressed a high frailty index, suggesting that stress loads in this group did not include all six biomarkers. Overall, these results suggest that individuals who survived longer had more time to accumulate skeletal stress markers.
abstract: Health is a reflection of total physical, mental, and social well-being that can be disrupted by stressors (environmental, nutritional, social). Frailty is an accumulation of this stress and leaves skeletal biomarkers which provides evidence of ongoing stress and survived stress event at time of death. The thought that elite status in ancient Maya buffers individuals from physiological stress due to better access to resources has been challenged in recent years. Skeletal age and sex were estimated following standard techniques. Six skeletal and dental frailty biomarkers were scored according to the Skeletal Frailty Index (SFI). Kaplan-Meier and Cox hazard analyses were used for statistical analysis. Hazard analyses demonstrated that higher number if skeletal biomarkers present is associated with higher survival probability. These results suggest that the royals, despite having access to food and resources, were not completely buffered from the accumulation of physiological stressors. However, no individual expressed a high frailty index, suggesting that stress loads in this group did not include all six biomarkers. Overall, these results suggest that individuals who survived longer had more time to accumulate skeletal stress markers.
author: Werven, Olivia
language: en_US
keywords: Ancient Maya, Buenavista del Cayo, Cahal Pech, Frailty, Skeletal Stress Markers
date published: 2026
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:50:35Z
provider: Creighton University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Creighton University