Republic of Guatemala (Country) (Geographic Keyword)
2,051-2,075 (2,898 Records)
This is an abstract from the "Transformations in Professional Archaeology" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In August 2023, the SAA Government Affairs Committee sponsored the organization of a survey of archaeologists on the Secretary of the Interior Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and Historic Preservation (SOIS). This was done in response to a post by the US Department of the Interior announcing their intent to review and update the SOIS....
Possible Maya Analogs and Antecedents for the Pyramid B Atlantid Columns, Tula (2018)
Classic Maya stelae have been proposed as precursors for the Early Postclassic stelae at Tula and the relief pillars of Pyramid B at the site in previous scholarship. While suggested Maya connections for the Tula stelae are often overstated, and local central Mexican stela traditions as well as ideas from Oaxaca and Guerrero also probably contributed to the genesis of these monuments, the role of Maya contacts remains plausible. Here I explore possible Maya analogs, including stelae, for the...
Possible Prehistoric Translocation of Non-human Primates to Remote Oceania (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. New archaeological excavation at the Ucheliungs site, located in the Rock Islands region of Palau (northwest tropical Pacific), has yielded evidence of mortuary activity and small-scale marine foraging dating to the earliest period of human settlement in the Palauan archipelago, ca. 3000 BP. The assemblage includes a small number of artifacts consisting of...
Post-Classic Canal Excavations at Yaxnohcah, Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Yaxnohcah is a large site in Campeche, Mexico with evidence of continual occupation from the early Middle Preclassic into the Postclassic. In 2014, the Yaxnohcah Archaeological Project commissioned a high resolution lidar scan of the region, which has allowed for accurate modeling of surface hydrology and significantly contributed to our understanding of...
Postclassic City Size Metadata (2017)
Metadata for the associated excel file containing settled area, epicenter area, and population estimates for Postclassic Mesoamerican cities.
A Postclassic City with No Blade Workshops: How did the Calixtlahuacan’s get their Stone Tools? (2017)
Analysis of the obsidian artifacts recovered from households in the city of Calixtlahuaca (AD 1130–1530) indicates that prismatic blade production was not a domestic affair. Furthermore, intensive survey did not reveal evidence of onsite blade workshops anywhere in the city. This finding is at odds with what has been reported for many other Postclassic urban centers. This paper discusses why the blade-core data are not consistent with onsite blade production. It then evaluates three models for...
Postclassic Obsidian Trade at Arvin’s Landing, Belize: A pXRF Analysis (2017)
Arvin’s Landing is a Postclassic (A.D. 900-1500) settlement located on Joe Taylor Creek near Punta Gorda in southern Belize. The abundance of obsidian in the artifact assemblage at Arvin’s Landing indicates trade from the Maya highland sources of obsidian. During the Classic period (A.D. 300-900), obsidian was transported along the coast and by inland routes to the Maya in the lowlands. There was a shift from a dominance on El Chayal obsidian in the Classic to Ixtepeque obsidian in the...
The Postcolonial Imperative (2018)
Formal dissolution of European empires following WW II, as they transformed into transnational financial powers, allowed subaltern standpoints and "traditional knowledge" (TEK) to be voiced. American archaeology shifted into CRM becoming the dominant field, reflecting in part the rise of tourism as a principal global industry, with local histories a selling tool. Then NAGPRA put American archaeology into a postcolonial position. While much of NAGPRA negotiations still falls into colonialist...
Pot Luck: Building Community and Feasting amongst the Middle Preclassic Maya (2017)
Ritual feasting as a practice by which sponsors create uneven social relations with other participants has been suggested to play an important role in establishing social hierarchies in many ancient societies including the ancient Maya. Feasting activities may have also been an important part of Preclassic communal building projects in the Maya lowlands. In this paper, we present data from Middle Preclassic special deposits associated with a series of early public platforms at the site of...
The Potential for Using Long Bone Measurements to Determine Breed of Gallus gallus domesticus and its Implications for the Archaeological Record (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Poultry remains are often found in archaeological excavations and while the species can usually be identified, there has been little research on breed identification or purpose (egg production vs. meat production). This research aims to determine if differences exist between the long bone measurements of modern chicken breeds which can be useful for the...
Potential Method for Structure Alignment by the Ancient Maya (2018)
It is well established that the ancient Maya favored certain orientations for the buildings in their major urban centers. In the southern Maya lowlands, an orientation of 14° clockwise from the cardinal directions is particularly common. How did the ancient Maya find this orientation? What was their surveying technique? Lidar from many sites shows that this orientation was not limited to major constructions. The smallest residential structures and patio groups, structures spread throughout the...
The Potential of Games, Gamefication, and Virtual Reality in Public Archaeology (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Social-cultural changes and the growth of digital media have lead to new broadcasting methods in archaeology and public archaeology, using computer games, gamefication and virtual reality, as these encourage the user to solve problems and construct social relations that enable personal development and reflections on the past. The purpose of this paper is to...
Potentials and Pitfalls for ZooMS Analysis in the Pacific: A Case Study from Ofu Island (Manu‘a Group, American Samoa) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Zooarchaeology and Technology: Case Studies and Applications" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Zooarchaeological analysis in the Pacific is often limited by the large proportion of small, highly fragmented, non-diagnostic remains recovered from archaeological sites. Recent advances in biomolecular methods, including collagen peptide mass fingerprinting (a.k.a. ZooMS) enable increased taxonomic identifications and refine...
Pots and people in Los Pueblos: the social and economic organization of pottery (1984)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the EXARC Bibliography, originally compiled by Roeland Paardekooper, and updated. Most of these records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us using the...
Pots, People and Pacific Nicaragua: Misconceptions about Migrant Mesoamericans and Material Culture (2017)
The production of polychrome pottery in Pacific Nicaragua during the Sapoá and Ometepe Periods (AD 800-contact) has traditionally been attributed to various migrant cultural groups of vague Mesoamerican origin who were living in the region at the time of Spanish contact and who are usually assumed to have displaced the autochthonous inhabitants of Greater Nicoya. Supposed links between specific ceramic types and specific Mesoamerican groups that were originally based more on speculation than on...
"Pots, Potters, …and Polities": Classic Period Ceramic Spheres and Systems at Aventura, Northern Belize, and the Legacy of Joe Ball (2018)
Early work in the 1970’s by Joe Ball on Northern Belize ceramics from the site of Aventura highlighted its geopolitical location between multiple spheres of interaction. These spheres, reflected in the ceramics of the Classic Period, demonstrate that Aventura’s intermediary position between the cities of the Petén to the west, and the Yucatan to the north no doubt contributed to its success and long occupation. My own research on the Aventura ceramics, begun in 2015 as part of the Aventura...
Pottery ethnoarchaeology among the Tzeital Maya (Ph.D. Dissertation) (1983)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the EXARC Bibliography, originally compiled by Roeland Paardekooper, and updated. Most of these records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us using the...
Pottery ethnoarchaeology in the Central Maya highlands (1998)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the EXARC Bibliography, originally compiled by Roeland Paardekooper, and updated. Most of these records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us using the...
Pottery Production and Social Complexity: Ceramic Paste Analysis at the Site of El Campanario, Huarmey Valley, Peru (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The analysis of ceramic pastes can be used to study exchange networks, social identities, and technologies. The variations in the composition of ceramic pastes are related to the selection of clay, and non-plastic materials from ancient ceramists. The choice of these procurement areas is often influenced by technological traditions, social complexities,...
Poultry in Motion: The Translocation of Turkeys (Meleagris spp.) in Ancient Greater Nicoya, Costa Rica (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Materials in Movement in the Isthmo-Colombian Area" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The trade and movement of animals and animal-derived artifacts was widespread and varied significantly throughout the ancient Americas, often requiring substantial efforts comparable to that employed in acquiring other material resources or prestige items. Originally native to parts of modern-day Mexico and the United States, turkeys...
Power and Practice, Trauma and Resilience: Exploring the Experiences of Canadian Archaeologists (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Presidential Session: What Is at Stake? The Impacts of Inequity and Harassment on the Practice of Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. How do different archaeological practitioners experience and navigate the power inequities built into our disciplinary institutions? Our 2019 online survey of Canadian archaeologists gathered information from over 550 students and practitioners. It explored experiences of sexual...
Power and Settlement in Prehispanic and Early Spanish Colonial Yucundaa-Pueblo Viejo de Teposcolula, Oaxaca (2017)
Yucundaa-Pueblo Viejo de Teposcolula, Oaxaca, Mexico, is the urban capital and power center of a Prehispanic and Early Colonial Mixtec state, occupying four square kilometers from AD 1000 to 1550. This research utilizes a convergent archaeological, ethnohistoric, and biological methodology, and focuses on the evolution and transformation of the city and its surroundings until the time of its relocation to the adjacent lowlands in 1550. Of particular concern was identification and analysis of...
Power from the Periphery: 40 Years of Insight on the Maya Lowlands from Southeast Mesoamerica (2019)
This is an abstract from the "I Love Sherds and Parasites: A Festschrift in Honor of Pat Urban and Ed Schortman" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. For more than 40 years, Pat Urban, Ed Schortman, and their student-colleagues have toiled long and hard in the blazing heat of Northwestern Honduras to understand the "non-Maya" populations resident in Southeast Mesoamerica. Their work stretches from the beginnings of complexity in the Middle Preclassic...
The Power of Monuments in Ruin in Prehispanic Oaxaca (2023)
This is an abstract from the "The Vibrancy of Ruins: Ruination Studies in Ancient Mesoamerica" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper examines the materiality of two ruined monumental architectural complexes in prehispanic Oaxaca: the Main Plaza of the mountaintop city of Monte Albán in the Oaxaca Valley and the acropolis of Río Viejo located on the Río Verde’s coastal floodplain. Both of these impressive complexes were important political and...
Power, Space, and Place in the Heart of La Milpa (2017)
La Milpa was one of the largest ancient Maya urban centers in the eastern Maya Lowlands during the second half of the Late Classic to the Terminal Classic periods, its influence extending over communities throughout the Three Rivers Region of northwestern Belize. La Milpa’s rise to regional prominence is associated with a series of upheavals during this period, including increased political dynamism following the decline of Tikal at the end of the Early Classic period, and a dramatic rise in the...