Puebla (State / Territory) (Geographic Keyword)
1-25 (158 Records)
El corredor costero al este de Los Tuxtlas delimitado por las lagunas de Sontecomapan, y del Ostión, los volcanes de Santa Marta y San Martín Pajapan y el mar del Golfo de México, fue el escenario prehispánico de una alta densidad poblacional que entre su desarrollo contó con el emplazamiento de un complejo sistema portuario. Los recursos naturales que ofrecen los cuerpos de agua en esta zona sin duda fueron explotados para su consumo y comercio desde el Formativo Medio hasta el Clásico Tardío....
Alligators, Serpents, Pirates, and a Wedding: Ritualized Political Landscapes of the Oaxacan Pacific Coast, Mexico (2018)
Straddling maritime, lowlands, and highland environments, the neighboring Chontal and Huave ethnic groups occupy one of the most diverse landscapes in southern Mexico. For over five centuries this resource-rich territory served as a junction for Indigenous and European colonial encounters, where interethnic and intercontinental political alliances and conflicts came forcefully into play. In addition to leaving material remains scattered throughout the landscape, this political history was...
The Archaeology of the Western Region of the National Park Service
WACC reports summarizing archaeological projects and management plans in the Western Region of the National Park Service.
Archaic Period Lifeways on the South Pacific Coast of Mexico (2018)
Insights concerning human lifeways during the Archaic Period on the South Pacific coast come principally from archaeological investigations in Chiapas and Guerrero. These data are supplemented by coring programs that permit independent reconstructions of human-plant interactions. We present an overview of what we know and what compelling questions remain.
An Archeological Survey Plan for the Western Region of the National Park Service: NPS Systemwide Archeological Inventory Program (1994)
The National Archeological Survey Initiative (NASI) was established to develop a System wide Archeological Inventory Program (SAIP) which in turn should improve the National Park Service's (NPS) accountability for cultural resources. Each region of NPS is required to produce a region wide survey plan. The Western Region of the National Park Service has 46 park units comprising more than 8,000,000 acres. Archeologically the region has a great deal of cultural diversity and a large number of...
Architectural Conservation at Cuetlajuchitlán, an Archaeological Site in Northern Guerrero, Mexico (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. One of the most successful ways in which we adapt to the environment is through the creation of architecture. This is the reflection of our aspirations and our achievements as a species; it is in architecture where we capture part of our cultural identity. In this sense, and as part of cultural identity, architecture can help us to observe and analyze the...
Arroyo Pesquero y su "otra" ofrenda (2018)
Desde el descubrimiento de una ofrenda masiva de objetos rituales hallada fortuitamente en un arroyo, el sitio Arqueológico de Arroyo Pesquero enclavado en el área nuclear olmeca ha generado una serie de discusiones acerca de la autenticidad de piezas dispersas en museos y colecciones privadas. Las piezas más representativas son máscaras y hachas de piedra verde con una iconografía propia de la cultura olmeca. Sin embargo, una parte del material del sitio se ha subestimado. Por Medellín Zenil...
Art, Archaeology, and Chronology Building: Recent Investigations at Fracción Mujular (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Located on the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, Mexico, the site of Fracción Mujular is best known for its corpus of carved stone monuments. First investigated by Carlos Navarrete in the 1960’s, the site is characterized by multiple stelae and carved altars. Several of Fracción Mujular’s stelae contain circular glyphs which seem to associate the site with the nearby...
Artisanal Diversification or “Multi-crafting” as Economic Strategy among Upper-Class Extra-household Groups at Cotzumalhuapa (2021)
This is an abstract from the "The Urban Question: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Investigating the Ancient Mesoamerican City" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Various contexts in the sector of El Baúl, at the site of Cotzumalhuapa have been the subject of recent excavations to better understand the lithic industries of this urban center. These sectors were chosen for excavation due to the large surface scatters of lithic material indicating areas...
Atributos y función de las deidades del Clásico en el Centro de Veracruz: una propuesta metodológica (2018)
Una constante en la Costa del Golfo es utilizar elementos de deidades del Altiplano (Tláloc por ejemplo) para interpretar las representaciones de seres con características sobrenaturales pertenecientes a esta área de estudio. Si bien, podrían existir rasgos iconográficos que justificaran esas semejanzas no podemos únicamente traslapar elementos similares entre unas imágenes y otras ya que sólo se obtiene una propuesta parcial sobre su interpretación y tal vez nos aleje de su significado...
Automated Detection of Gridded Canal Networks in Veracruz, Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The ancient peoples of Classic Period Veracruz employed a suite of strategies for agricultural intensification aimed at increasing agricultural yields and managing seasonal rainfall. One common strategy involved the construction of gridded canal networks with alternating raised field platforms which drained water in the wet season and retained it in the dry...
Becoming Divine: Stone Sculpture and Deity Impersonation in Classic Veracruz Visual Culture (2018)
Recent study of an hacha from Classic-period Veracruz in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art reveals that hachas and palmas may have been used as costume elements in ritual performances related to the ballgame. As costume elements, these sculptures would have allowed actors to assume the identity of captives, rulers, or deities. This accords well with iconographic evidence of ballgame-related ritual performances in Veracruz, and suggests comparisons with artworks from other...
The Beginnings of Archaeological Administration and Labor at El Tajín, Veracruz, 1900-1938 (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the history and ethnography of archaeology, only recently has archaeological labor – both administrative and physical – become an area of interest. In the Mexican context, recent historical research has dated the emergence of institutional archaeology to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz (1876-1911). However, there are few site-scale studies that explore...
Beyond First Encounters: Mechanisms of Social Transformation at the Colonial Port of Veracruz (2019)
This is an abstract from the "After Cortés: Archaeological Legacies of the European Invasion in Mesoamerica" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Port of Veracruz was significant not only as the landing site of Hernán Cortés, but also as a central gateway for European colonists and African slaves entering New Spain. First encounters between immigrants and natives had significant long-term consequences, but initial interactions were only a starting...
Bitumen as Stabilizer in Earthen Architecture of the Mesoamerican Gulf Coast (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Plant Exudates and Other Binders, Adhesives, and Coatings in the Americas" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Investigations on monumental earthen architecture in the Classic period La Joya site in Central Veracruz led to the hypothesis that a bitumen additive was used as a stabilizer in construction. The use of bitumen resulted in increased resistance to weathering in a humid tropical environment, as well as control of...
By the Sea Shore: Examining the Prehistoric Shell Industry of the Rio Grande Delta (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In North America the archaeologically defined prehistoric culture of the Rio Grande Delta is essentially unknown outside of the state of Texas. Even within Texas the culture of the Rio Grande Delta is poorly understood. Adding to this obscurity is the lack of cross-border communication or collaboration between researchers regarding the material culture of the...
Caminos a Los Horcones, Chiapas: An Least Cost Path Analysis of Early Classic Trade Routes (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the Early Classic Period (250-600 CE), the site of Los Horcones rose to become and important gateway community sitting strategically on the flanks of Cerro Bernal where it controlled the terrestrial trade route along Pacific Coast into the Soconusco region. Archaeological research of this important regional center has revealed a complex history of...
Captive Birds and Pet Keeping in Ancient Mesoamerica: The Case of Scarlet Macaws from Vista Hermosa (Tamaulipas, Mexico, 1300–1500 AD) (2018)
In Mesoamerica, the tropical colourful birds were highly valued for their feathers. Among them, the scarlet macaw (Ara macao) provided bright red, blue and yellow feathers that were traded to the Central Mexican Highlands and, beyond Mesoamerica, until the American Southwest. As suggested by ethnohistoric records, some birds may have been maintained in captivity and harvested to supply the demand in feathers. In spite of examples of large-scale macaw management in the American Southwest, there...
Carbonized Wood Remains from the Matacanela Site, Veracruz, Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Olmec Manifestations and Ongoing Societal Transformations in the Tuxtlas Uplands: A View from Matacanela" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper describes the carbonized wood remains recovered from fifty-five heavy fractions of flotation from seven units and fifty light fractions of flotation from six units collected during the excavations of the Matacanela Site in Veracruz, Mexico. Environmental comparisons are...
Casta, Class, or Race? Social Transformations at the Colonial Port of Veracruz (2018)
The social structure of colonial New Spain underwent large-scale transformations following the Spanish conquest. Changes in social categories of identification evolved through an interplay between religious and civil administrators -- who attempted to control colonial populations -- and local social relationships of interpersonal interaction. I examine social relations and changing categories of identification at the colonial Port of Veracruz. Throughout the colonial period, Veracruz served as a...
Ceramic Evidence of Normal and Anomalous Diffusion from Mesoamerica into Northwest Nicaragua (2018)
The ceramic record of Pacific Nicaragua can be interpreted as showing evidence of migration in the form of both normal and anomalous diffusion. Normal diffusion is seen in the Department of Chinandega through the ceramics of the early facet of the Late Preclassic Cosigüina complex, which derive from the Providencia Sphere. This ceramic sphere originates from the southern highlands of Guatemala and western El Salvador and now extends at least to northwest Nicaragua. The evidence of superdiffusion...
Cerro de las Mesas Monument 2 (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Sculpture of the Ancient Mexican Gulf Coast, Part 2" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Cerro de las Mesas Monument 2 is a colossal portrait head. Its flattened rear surface contains a relief-carved scene with a ruler in a broad-brimmed hat, vanquished captive with a calendric sign above his or her head, and a worn hieroglyphic text placed between them. In its entirety Monument 2 bridges the site’s Olmec heritage with...
Changes in Settlement, Resource Extraction, and Trade in the Lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico, between the Late Classic and Late Postclassic Periods (CE 500–1522) (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Cholula to Chachoapan: Celebrating the Career of Michael Lind" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Michael Lind investigated major sociopolitical changes between the Late Classic and Postclassic periods in Oaxaca, particularly involving Mixtec and Zapotec peoples. His interpretations integrated both ethnohistorical and archaeological evidence. In the lower Río Verde Valley, an ethnohistoric record provides insight into the...
Changing Patterns of Plant Use at Formative and Classic Period Matacanela (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Olmec Manifestations and Ongoing Societal Transformations in the Tuxtlas Uplands: A View from Matacanela" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Although there has been much speculation about the nature of agriculture along the Formative and Classic period Gulf Coast of Mexico, the local and regional subsistence economies of these periods remain poorly understood, particularly for Classic-period sites. In this paper, we...
Children of Privilege: Infant Mortuary Practices at Late Postclassical Tamtoc Society (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The Health and Welfare of Children in the Past" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Funerary practices identified in the Architectural Funerary Complex of La Noria in Tamtoc, SLP, have been interpreted as belonging to a space used to symbolize the social and possibly political importance of the individuals who were buried there during the Late Postclassical period (1350-1521 a. P.). Most of the burials correspond to...