Central America (Geographic Keyword)
126-150 (239 Records)
Themes involving spiritual transformation have long been noted in the material culture of pre-Columbian Greater Nicoya, with standardized ritual imagery appearing in local Sapoá period (AD 800-1250) ceramic type-classes such as Papagayo and Pataky Polychromes. A recent iconographic re-evaluation suggests that at least some varieties from these ‘independent types’ were designed to work together, to complement one another in both ritual messaging and formal function. Here we focus explicitly on...
Maya Archaeology: Research & Interpretations with Dr. Scarborough (2016)
More than 25 years of collaborative research with Dr. Scarborough has provided for interesting ups & downs in understanding prehistoric Maya activities. Beginning at Cerros, intervening distant research, rejoining at Kinal (Guatemala), and culminating in NW Belize (for now) has allowed for a fascinating journey of archaeological investigations. Presented here are both scientific endeavors as well as events from field activities during nearly three decades of mutual research interests from...
Maya Lithic Economies at Piedras Negras, Guatemala: Production and Exchange in an Elite Architectural Complex (2017)
In recent years significant headway has been made to understand New World marketing systems. In contrast with the highly complex and easily identifiable market systems of the Mexican Highlands, ancient Maya systems of production and distribution have traditionally been assumed to have operated at the level of the household, and thus have been overlooked. However, recent work in the Maya area has shown the likely presence of production beyond the household at possible market areas. In this paper,...
Maya Wetlands: Natural and Anthropogenic (2015)
In our continuing endeavors to better understand Maya wetland formation and agricultural systems across the Maya Lowlands, we now compare natural and anthropogenic wetland field formation. Natural wetland processes can form patterned environments that may be similar visually to intensive, culturally modified, wetland systems. This paper will consider natural factors that can produce similar topography to Maya wetland fields. We will also present aerial photography, GIS, soil stratigraphy, and...
The Maya: Historic Archaeology and Archaeology of Historic Periods (2017)
The study of the ancient Maya has become complicated over the past 30 years. As the ancient Maya writing has been deciphered, these texts provide an historical record of parts of the ancient social and political systems. This development has moved the study of the Maya past into the realm of historic archaeology. In addition, the study of the colonial period in the Maya area has focused upon Spanish and indigenous texts to understand this historic period but additionally to create analogical...
MayaArch3D: System Architecture, Admin and Security Features, Attributes and Maya Calender Translation Services. (2015)
The MayaArch3D project is developing and investigating a bundle of different services and tools for the integration, analysis and presentation of archaeological datasets.The architecture of this system is designed in a scaleable, flexible and standarized way. Whenever possible, the system uses well known specifications, like OGC-WMS, OGC-WFS and W3DS. For not yet existing standarized service interfaces, the project investigates new suitable approaches. Such interfaces include for instance a...
Methods for Intensive Data Collection on Terminal Deposits in the Belize River Valley, Belize (2017)
Terminal deposits, defined here as dense midden-like assemblages that contain non-elite and elite paraphernalia (i.e. utilitarian and decorated ceramic vessels, faunal remains, obsidian blades, ground stone tools, and human remains) have been discovered at sites across central and northern Belize. Despite the research on these features, there is little consensus on what type of activities these deposits represent. In the past, archaeologists have labelled these deposits as de facto refuse,...
Mexico and Central America As the Principal Center of Origin of Cultivated Plants of the New World (1931)
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Mohammed’s Paradise: indigenous society and natural surroundings in southern Central America (2017)
Human-environment relations are a point of interest in the archaeology of indigenous southern Central America, defined here to encompass Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. As such, it does not seem to deviate from other world regions. This focus in past and contemporary research reflects the weight given to the idea of natural surroundings as resource endowments, following the cultural ecology approach. Elsewhere, such emphases on material, and indeed economic, sides of human...
The Monagrillo Ceramic Complex of Panama in Subsistence and Social Contexts (2017)
The Monagrlon ceramic complex has been identified at myriad archaeological sites around Parita Bay, Panama. These vary widely in geography from costal, to inland, to riverine places. In these different environments, there is disparate and varied evidence of agriculture, indications of hierarchical social structures, and relationships with the creation of pottery at Panamanian sites. I theorize that maritime resources as opposed to cultivation formed the basis of these sedentary or semi-sedentary...
Monuments Unmasked (2016)
Ometepe Island, Zapatera Island and Las Isletas of Lake Nicaragua are home to a distinctive group of monumental ground stone statues of up to two meters in height. Sometimes referred to as the "Alter-Ego" style, they depict humans with full animals on their back and shoulders, or elaborate headdresses with animalistic imagery. Well known throughout the country, they are featured prominently in murals and even currency. Yet their purpose and symbolism remains poorly understood due to challenges...
Mortuary Practices at Locus 3, El Rayo, Nicaragua (2016)
Excavations in 2009 and 2010 established the presence of mortuary remains at the El Rayo archaeological site, located on the Asese Peninsula near modern Granada, Nicaragua. In 2015 an additional field season expanded upon previous excavations in Locus 3, one of two known cemetery locations at the site, exposing several more burial urns, and further investigating previously known urn burials. This new data contributes to a greater understanding of mortuary practices at El Rayo, which at Locus 3...
Mortuary Theatrics and Chiefly Power in Panama and Costa Rica (2016)
This paper explores the mechanisms by which sumptuary art was deposited in mortuary contexts in parts of southern Central America. Rather than signal the existence of ”eliteness” or chiefly office, it is argued that the production and procurement of mortuary art was one feature of a factionalized political landscape. The burial of staggering quantities of this artwork may be interpreted as deflationary attempts to limit the capital available to rivals. Such practices may have promoted a...
Mountain Doorways: Caves, Shelters, and Rock Art in Past and Present Southwestern Honduras (2016)
Caves and shelters hold a special place among Mesoamerican cultures. Some of the earliest evidence of human occupation in this region is found inside these natural features, where well-preserved materials attest to the detailed knowledge past populations had of their surrounding landscapes and resources. In later time periods, caves were treated as the portals to the underworld and became an essential part of Mesoamerican ideology. The landscape of the Santa Elena highlands of southwestern...
Multiscale Diversity in Classic Decorated Pottery in the Hiix Witz kingdom of the Western Maya Lowlands (2017)
A political entity defined mainly on epigraphic evidence, the Hiix Witz kingdom includes at least three head centers, Zapote Bobal, El Pajaral and La Joyanca, all located south of the San Pedro Mártir river. The architecture, sculpture and ceramics of the three sites were subjected to extensive studies from 1999 to 2006, also in 2012, suggesting that this entity consisted of relatively heterogeneous components that must have entertained distinct relations with neighborring regions of the...
Music in the Court: An Analysis of the Status of Musicians in the Maya Court (2015)
Just as there was a formal class of scribes in Maya courts, there was also a class of formal musicians. This paper will focus primarily on analyzing the position and social status held by musicians in the Classic Maya area. To begin, the paper will discuss musicians as a formal class within the Maya courts. Musicians are frequently depicted in iconographic portrayals of political events, and based on the garb they are shown wearing, it appears they formed cohesive groups. By analyzing the role...
The Mystery of Managua Polychrome Part II (2015)
This presentation continues the discussion of Managua Polychrome I began in a paper presented at the 2014 SAA general meeting. While Part I of this paper focused on early attempts to describe and define Managua Polychrome (a distinctive Late Postclassic ceramic type characteristically found in the Managua-Masaya region of Pacific Nicaragua that has been largely neglected by archaeologists working in Greater Nicoya) and discussed the connections between the type and Nimbalari Trichrome (a ceramic...
Natural Springs: A Critical Life Force in ancient Costa Rica (2017)
Water is a life sustaining substance, sought after, fought over, and revered in both the past and present. The relationship between humans and water resources is an essential component of our human history that warrants archaeological focus. Natural springs have been identified as key locations of archaeological remains throughout the Americas – places inherently intermixed with practices of drinking, bathing, cooking, and worship of the divine. In Costa Rica, the documentation of Silencio Phase...
Navigating global and local attitudes toward heritage initiatives in Southern Costa Rica. (2017)
This paper explores the dynamic between local and foreign perceptions towards cultural and environmental exploitation and stewardship, presenting recent reactions to medium to long term initiatives that have been started by national and international institutions in southern Costa Rica. It reviews how researchers are attempting to better integrate themselves with local communities and national organizations in a more sustainable and responsible manner, presenting the current challenges...
Navigating Pre-Hispanic Central America: Discerning Aquatic Transportation Routes and Technologies (2015)
In the lowland tropics of southern Central America during the later pre-Hispanic periods, the oceans, lakes, and rivers were interregional highways that linked dispersed societies for purposes of trade and communication. Using ethnohistoric sources, archaeological finds, and ethnographic data, we review the types and varieties of indigenous watercraft that might have been used to navigate these natural transport networks. Along the way, we consider the lifeways of these pre-Hispanic boatmen and...
The Need for Practice Theory in Unusual Monumental Architecture: A Residential Comparative Analysis (2015)
The recognition of different activities through ceramic analysis is critical to understanding the uses of formal architecture, but little functional analysis has been done to date in the "guachimonton" architecture commonly interpreted as temples. A previous study of the ceramics from guachimonton Circle 5 at the site of Navajas, Jalisco, provided evidence for aggrandizing rituals, group feasting, and daily domestic activities and helped to develop a model relating ceramic wares and types to...
New approaches in archaeological research, heritage management and community engagement for the Copan Valley (2015)
Archaeological sites in the Copan Valley have benefited from a number of large-scale Honduran government-sponsored and international research projects over the past 80 years. Those efforts have contributed strongly to the broad dissemination of knowledge about the ancient city, and the conservation of many Copan monuments and residential sites. However, even before the global recession and the traumatic events of the coup in 2009, it was clear that the State was challenged in trying to address...
New Investigations on the Northeast Coast of Honduras (2017)
As part of the Central American Isthmus, Honduras adopted a special role in prehispanic America. Together with Nicaragua, the territory of modern Honduras functioned as a bridge between the culture areas of Mesoamerica and the Intermediate Area. In spite of that unique situation, archaeological investigations in Honduras have been focusing on the western, Mesoamerican part, especially on the Maya city of Copan. In contrast, cultural developments in the east remain largely unknown. With the goal...
"Nicoya Polychromes" Beyond Greater Nicoya (2016)
In the mid-20th century, Doris Stone described Las Vegas Polychrome, a brightly coloured ceramic ware found at sites in Honduras’ eastern highlands and the Comayagua Valley, as being “strongly reminiscent of western Nicaragua and the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica.” Meanwhile, contemporary archaeologists were happily classifying near-identical ceramics from eastern El Salvador as “Nicoya Polychromes”. More than a half century later, Las Vegas Polychrome remains only nominally defined, examples...
Notes from the Past: Identifying Communities of Practice within Musical Gestures and Production Techniques of Pre-Columbian Greater Nicoya Aerophones from the Tempisque Period (500 B.C. - A.D. 300) (2016)
Typically ephemeral aspects of material culture, such as musical gestures and sound, are often overlooked in the reconstruction of Greater Nicoya culture history. Musical instruments offer clues to our understanding of cultural practices and the kinds of interactions between groups of individuals. Developing from recent research based on both archaeological and museum collections, my research examines—from a music archaeology perspective—a variety of highly decorated and culturally imbued...