Mesoamerica (Geographic Keyword)
2,326-2,350 (2,387 Records)
Social life never proceeds in the absence of a spatial dimension that defines, brackets, segregates, alters or otherwise organizes interaction. The power to organize space emerges historically from the sweep of institutional arrangements across society and operates along many different dimensions and scales, at once establishing boundaries all the while insidiously permeating them. This historical process – this "social production of space" – is what we refer to as landscape. Landscape has been...
Wealth Inequality in the Late Classic Valley of Oaxaca: A Domestic Perspective (2016)
The Late Classic period in the Valley of Oaxaca is marked by shared practices in residential organization, design, the layout of houses, and domestic artifact assemblages both within and between sites throughout the region. This degree of homogeneity allows for cross-site comparison of excavated residences to examine household wealth inequality on a systemic and regional scale. In this paper, we employ different indices to explore multiple lines of evidence (e.g., patio size and other...
Wearing Culture: Dress and Regalia in Early Mesoamerica and Central America (2014)
Wearing Culture connects scholars of divergent geographical areas and academic fields-from archaeologists and anthropologists to art historians-to show the significance of articles of regalia and of dressing and ornamenting people and objects among the Formative period cultures of ancient Mesoamerica and Central America. Documenting the elaborate practices of costume, adornment, and body modification in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Oaxaca, the Soconusco region of southern...
Weaving Our Life: The Economy and Ideology of Cotton in Postclassic West Mexico (2016)
West Mexican archaeologists long have noted that around AD 900 the material culture record in this broad region exhibits a pronounced increase in the presence of modeled ceramic spindle whorls, particularly along the Pacific coastal plain of Nayarit and south-central Sinaloa. Although limited evidence of cotton in this region is present in the Classic period, the heightened cotton cultivation and consumption that seemed to accompany the dramatic social transformations in the Aztatlán culture...
Weaving Technologies and Textile Production: A Case Study from the Northern Maya Lowlands (2016)
Ethnohistoric sources point to the importance of textile production in the northern Maya lowlands in the years immediately preceding and following the Spanish conquest. Archaeological evidence of textiles and their creation comes from a variety of sources, including fragments of cloth recovered from the Sacred Cenote at Chichén Itzá; spindle whorls found in domestic and ceremonial contexts at Chichén Itzá, the nearby cave site of Balankanche’, and other archaeological sites in the vicinity; and...
Weeds, Seeds, and Other Maya Needs (2016)
Our understanding of the diet, subsistence, and agricultural practices of ancient Maya commoners has been remarkably enhanced thanks to many years of archaeological investigations at Cerén led by Payson Sheets. The recovery of paleoethnobotanical remains at the site has revealed not only the storage of various well-preserved foodstuffs, but also extensive house gardens and agricultural fields filled with lasting impressions and carbonized remains of a diverse set of plant species including...
The Weeping Eye Motif (1959)
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Western Mexico: Opening Act of the Mesoamerican Epiclassic (2015)
The Epiclassic has been described as a major watershed in Mesoamerican prehistory, but in different or even contradictory ways. The period has been claimed to usher in a shift from prestige to mercantile economies, religious to military political systems, territorial states to city-states, parochial to international art styles, and in the case of western Mexico, from non-Mesoamerican to Mesoamerican society. These metanarratives have privileged formal characteristics, which are in any case found...
What Did the Sacrificed Subjects Eat? A Stable Isotope Study of Individuals Sacrificed by the Aztecs during the Late Postclassic period (2016)
This poster introduces my doctoral research project which entails a stable isotope analysis of human sacrificial subjects recovered from the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan and its sister city Tlatelolco (present-day Mexico City) dating to the Late Postclassic period (A.D. 1400 — 1519). The collections include adult and subadult sacrificed individuals from the Templo Mayor and Templo R. This research focuses on expanding our knowledge about dietary and mobility patterns of sacrificial...
What does GIS + 3D equal for Landscape archaeology? (2016)
Until recently, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have held center stage in the archaeologist’s geospatial toolkit. GIS has moved archaeologists beyond the map—but into what? In the early years, criticisms voicing GIS as environmentally-deterministic were abundant. In the ensuing years what methods and tool have archaeologists used to overcome these criticisms? How successful have we been? What shortcomings continue? New geospatial technologies such as airborne lidar and aerial photogrammetry...
What does their Storage say about Them? An interpretation of domestic storage practices at the Classic Period Maya village of Ceren (2015)
Around A.D. 650 the Loma Caldera eruption entombed the Classic Period Maya village of Cerén in 4-6 meters of volcanic ash. This resulted in the exceptional preservation of structures, artifacts and botanical remains, providing archaeologists with a unique opportunity to study the household complexes and their related activities. However, much of the previous research concerning the households at Cerén has primarily focused on its economic activities. As a result, archaeologists have yet to...
What Does ‘Collapse’ Look Like for Hinterland Sites: Site Distribution and Settlement Pattern in the Valley of Puebla Tlaxcala during the Classic-Postclassic Transition (2017)
This study aims to identify patterns of resilience by distinguishing diachronic socio-economic processes through the measurement of change and continuity of multi-level sites in the Puebla-Tlaxcala valley. This will be done via demographic, political, and economic markers during the Classic-Postclassic transition. This project focuses on identifying specific processes that lead towards socio-economic resilience during times of stress. Based upon surveys conducted in the 1960s and 70s, presented...
What is Oxtotitlán Cave Communicating? (2016)
Cave murals, painted in Olmec style with iconographic links to the major Gulf coast center of La Venta, appear to communicate the dynamism of interregional relationships in an era of rising urbanism. The paintings seem to evoke the evolution of hierarchical positioning among political and religious actors. They might reveal the tools for local and long-distance power building. Yet the work that has clarified the nature of Oxtotitlán Cave and its associated site of Quiotepec has extended the...
What Lies Between Two Regions: Settlement and Landscape Archaeology at the Aguacate Sites, Belize (2017)
A series of exploratory surveys along the northern edge of the Belize River Valley in the area of the Aguacate lagoon has gradually revealed a surprisingly dense distribution of minor centers of the Classic Period Maya. These centers are situated in a zone of intersections, the nature of which shaped their presence in the landscape. Politically, the region lies at an interstice between the spheres of influence of several powerful, well-known polities. Geographically, the site complex is...
What the "Teuchitlan Tradition" is, and What the "Teuchitlan Tradition" is Not (2016)
Recent full coverage systematic surveys in the Tequila region have produced new and significant data to understand the nature of the well-known Teuchitlán tradition which has been variously described as a state-like society, a segmentary state, and a chiefdom. The evidence presented for these various models remains shaky and speculative. Here, I evaluate and test the current evidence, including the published literature, while providing empirical data from the region. Then, I interpret these data...
"What’s in a Name?": Questioning the Idea of Olmec Origins for Jade Spoons (2017)
Jade has been long recognized by archaeologists as an important trade item among ancient Mesoamerican cultures. This is particularly true for ancient Olmec and Maya cultures where it also is seen as an indicator of social status. Unfortunately, the precocious development of Olmec society, lead many early archaeologists to an over-emphasis of Olmec influence on the Maya during the Formative Period (ca. 1000-400 BC). This is particularly noteworthy in the attribution of jade "spoons" to the...
What’s in a Seed?: Identifying Archaeological Chili Pepper Remains from Mesoamerica (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The chili pepper (Capsicum spp.) has cemented its place in ancient and modern Mesoamerica as a fixture in medicine, ritual, and cuisine. The timing and context of its domestication which began around 10,000 years BP, however, remains unclear. To address this, we conducted morphometric analyses of a diverse array of modern seeds from multiple species of wild...
"What’s in that hole?" Engaging Subterranean Spaces in the Three Rivers Area of the Southern Maya Lowlands (2017)
The importance of subterranean space has been well established through studies of Maya sacred landscape. The Maya word "che’en" is used for any natural feature that penetrates the earth such as caves, cenotes, rock shelters, chultuns, sinkholes, springs and crevices, all spaces where the sacred nature of animate Earth are expressed. In the Three Rivers area of the southern Maya lowlands, non-cave Maya archaeologists appear to be at a loss on how to engage landscapes where sacred landmarks take...
When is Chert More Than Just Chert? Case studies of Elite Distribution of Utilitarian Goods in Northwestern Peten, Guatemala and Western Belize (2016)
At a basic level, the lowland Classic Maya economy was a complex web of prestige exchange, centralized distribution, and local market economies. In fact, while it is important not to consider the lowland Classic Maya economic system as monolithic, it is also as critical to understand how it articulated with the different levels of social hierarchy. Beyond this, we should also make a point of understanding the roles these specific economic systems played in the distribution of utilitarian goods...
When the Cat’s Away: Obsidian at Rio Amarillo Before and After the Collapse of Copan, Honduras (2016)
The architecturally diminutive, but economically robust, Classic Maya polity of Copan must have had an integral role in the production and exchange of Ixtepeque goods; perhaps even control of portions of the source itself. Indeed, after the collapse of the Copan state, Ixtepeque becomes one of the most heavily traded obsidians in the Maya world. This proverbial opening of the floodgates suggests that Copan used Ixtepeque materials primarily for local and regional exchanges, increasing its value...
When Trash Becomes Treasure: A Postclassic Maya Obsidian Core Cache from Nojpeten (2014)
This paper examines an obsidian cache offering excavated near the corner of a Postclassic Maya platform structure in Nojpeten, on the island of Flores, Guatemala. The cache consists of approximately 190 obsidian prismatic blade cores and core fragments, but the original number of cores placed in the cache likely fell between 173 and 182, with a best estimate of 177, 178, or 180. The cores were found about 20 cm southwest of the structure in a circular concentration measuring approximately 35 cm...
Where and How did the Maya Practice Agriculture in the Classic Period City of Naachtun, Guatemala? (2016)
Maya communities occupied and cultivated the tropical lowlands of Naachtun (Peten, Guatemala) for nearly a millennia (AD 150-950). Major goals of the Peten-Norte Naachtun project include understanding why the city was founded, the reasons for its development and why it was abandoned. Due to constraining environmental conditions (non-permanent water supply, shallow soils), the availability and management of water and soil resources in the city and around the bajo are closely tied to settlement...
Where did the Sacrificial Subjects Live? An Oxygen Isotope Study of Individuals Sacrificed by the Aztecs during the Late Postclassic Period (2017)
We present preliminary interpretations of the residential patterns of Aztec sacrificial subjects from the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan and the Templo R of Tlatelolco (present-day Mexico City) who died during the Late Postclassic period (A.D. 1400–1519). The study uses oxygen isotope analysis of bioapatite phosphate to assess whether these individuals lived in the Valley of Mexico during the last years of their lives or were brought in from distant Aztec provinces. Tissues analyzed also include...
Where Have All the Collections Gone? Mexican Archaeology in World Museums (2018)
In the second half of the nineteenth century, before the era of professional archaeology, those interested in the evidence of the past collected, and on an unprecedented scale. Most of these massive holdings have been since acquired by public museums around the world, where they have been co-mingled with other collections, and in the process, objects have been severed from their historic moorings. Focusing on Mexican collections, this talk looks back on a decade of work in museums and archives...
Where is Tak’alik Ab’aj Within the Fabric of Preclassic Interrelations? (2017)
Three decades of research at Tak’alik Ab’aj have repeatedly confirmed that this ancient site at the southwestern piedmont of Guatemala was an important link of the transcultural trade-network along the Pacific littoral of Mesoamerica. This presumes strong and functional interactions among the stronghold-players of this hanseatic system operating during a given timespan by means of a common shared concept proposed as "market of rituality", permeated in each case according their own local nature...