Assemblages of the Dead: Interpreting the Biocultural and Taphonomic Signature of Afro-Cuban Palo Practice in Florida

Anthropologists encounter what are commonly called “Santería skulls” in United States cities with large populations of Caribbean immigrants. These human skulls are frequently found within cauldrons, stained with wax, soil, or animal blood, and associated with mercury, beads, sticks, and faunal remains. To interpret these assemblages, anthropologists should consider them within the African diaspora cultural and religious contexts in which they were created and deposited. These contexts include not only the belief system of Ocha (Santería) but also the less well-known Palo. These Afro-Cuban religious formations can result in different material cultural signatures, and the patterns exhibited by the so-called Santería skulls are more consistent with Palo than Ocha. Informed by data from Florida forensic anthropology cases (n = 42), we synthesize a regional biocultural and taphonomic signature of related Palo practices. This study informs both anthropological investigations, and the cultural treatment of these extraordinary assemblages. There is, in reality, no such thing as a Santería skull, but it is only by incorporating diverse data that anthropologists can reach this conclusion.