Central America (Geographic Keyword)
51-75 (242 Records)
The Caste War left an indelible mark of the Yucatan Peninsula including helping to perpetuate abusive labor system that continued until the Mexican Revolution. This paper explores the living conditions at sugar productions facilities near the north coast of Quintana Roo, Mexico through comparison to a similarly-aged site in western Belize, San Pedro Siris. San Pedro Siris was a free village of primarily Maya families that were pushed south into Belize by refugees as the Caste War ended. ...
Defining a Late Classic Maya Granite Workshop at the Tzib Group, Pacbitun, Belize (2015)
The ancient Maya site of Pacbitun is centrally located between the major ecozones of the Belize River Valley and the Mountain Pine Ridge of West-Central Belize. Investigations in 2012 and 2013 began on a group of mounds, known as the Tzib Group, located outside of the core zone of Pacbitun in order to investigate what is now believed to be a ground stone tool workshop. The workshop produced grinding implements made from granite. Excavations in 2014 into the main mound of the group uncovered more...
Developing a New Methodology for Sourcing Calcite and Quartz Crystals (2016)
Quarts and calcite crystals are used by shamans throughout Mesoamerica for divination. Ethnographic accounts mention shamans who, lacking actual crystals, use pieces of broken glass. This suggests that crystals may not occur in all areas so that crystals could have been actively traded in Pre-Columbian times. Testing this hypothesis requires developing a methodology for sourcing quarts and calcite crystals using trace elements incorporated into the crystal matrix during growth. So far as we...
The Development and Modification of a Hydraulic Urban Space at the Classic Maya site of Xultun, Guatemla. (2015)
In order to better understand the use history of the central reservoir at Xultun an investigation was performed during the 2012 and 2014 field seasons. ArcGIS 10.1 was used to model the site’s hydrology and excavations were performed both within the reservoir and on architecture within the catchment area to the north. The reservoir was built from a modified quarry and in use since the late Preclassic. The larger architecture associated with collection and management of this resource was not...
Development of Cultures in Nuclear America (1953)
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The Development of Techniques and Methods Used to Record Hoyo Negro: A Submerged Cave Site on the Yucatan Peninsula (2015)
The Underwater Caves of the Yucatan Peninsula have become central to understanding the climate, paleontological and anthropological records from the Late Pleistocene in Central America. Archeological recording of those hostile environments is extremely complex and requires innovative techniques. In Hoyo Negro, remains of a human, gomphotheres, two giant ground sloths, cave bears, and, sabertooths have been found directly associated by depth and/or position, all in unburied contexts. Over the...
Dietary variability through isotopic analysis of modern human hair from Nicaragua: exploring significant differences in diet between and among demographic groups in a single population (2017)
Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of modern human hair from Nicaragua was used to explore what constitutes significant differences in gross diet between and among demographic groups within the same population. Our results show that the absolute differences between isotopic central tendencies of demographic groups are small, but some are significant. Socioeconomic categories that were found to have significantly different isotopic signatures between or among groups included age groups...
Distribution Patterns and Production Technology of Ancient Maya Ceramics in the Three Rivers Region (2015)
Since 2009, investigative research for the Dos Hombres to Gran Cacao (DH2GC) project has focused on an unsurveyed area in the immediate northeastern periphery of Dos Hombres and has expanded to include an area located two kilometers southeast from the La Milpa site core. The incorporation of a broad multiregional comparative dataset will facilitate a greater understanding of the sociopolitical dynamicity on multiple social and economic levels within the Three Rivers Region in Northwestern...
Ecological and Paleoethnobotanical Research at the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project (2017)
Archaeological research requires interdisciplinary scholarship to answer broad questions relating to resilience, social complexity, climate, and environmental impacts in Mesoamerica throughout ancient Maya times and into the present. RBCMA, PfBAP, plant ecology, and paleoethnobotany have provided a platform to reconstruct ancient Maya landscapes, which delves into the nuances of human-environmental relationships in northwestern Belize. Ecological studies of the impacts of ancient Maya on soils,...
Economic benefits of hunting dogs in the context of tropical horticulture (2015)
We provide evidence useful to ethnoarchaeological research on the behavioral coordination of hunting movements among humans and dogs. The domestication of dogs (~15000 y BP) is hypothesized to have benefited humans by increasing the food supply, saving human energy, and guarding camps or agricultural fields. Drawing on a year of fieldwork in Santa Cruz, Toledo District, Belize, we analyze the economics of hunting and the extent to which dogs could have helped humans to protect cultivated fields...
Economic Interaction and the Rise of Socio-Political Complexity in the Maya Lowlands: The Case from the Mirador Basin (2016)
Investigations in 51 ancient cities of varying sizes in the Mirador Basin of northern Guatemala have revealed a variety of data relevant to the economic catalysts that were involved in the rise of social, political, and economic sophistication among the Preclassic Maya. The real "business" of the early Maya dealt with agricultural productivity and a powerful distribution mechanism to distribute and facilitate unification among a web of sites in the Mirador Basin. However, a variety of other...
The effects in a Maya community of school enrollment on young adult time allocation to activities dependent on traditional ecological knowledge (2017)
School enrollment in traditional communities potentially compromises young peoples’ participation in agro-ecological subsistence activities that encourage the development and practice of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Drawing on data from a Maya community located in Toledo District, Belize, we compared the time allocated to agro-ecological activities for school going (SG) or non-school going (NSG) male and female youth between the ages of 13 and 18 years. We find that SG males spend...
El sitio megalítico de Ahuacatlán, ejemplo de erupciones volcánicas y de cambio cultural (2015)
Al pié del volcán Ceboruco se encuentra el sitio prehispánico de Ahuacatlán con una amplia distribución en el paisaje, así como una larga secuencia cultural de más de mil años representada por materiales Capacha, Tumbas de Tiro y de la época Aztatlán, procedentes de su rico sementerio. Las excavaciones arqueológicas permitieron conocer el depósito estratigráfico del sitio, que muestra varias erupciones de baja intensidad y 2 eventos catastróficos que impactaron la región, una erupción pliniana...
The Emergence of the Kaqchikel Polity: Ethnogenesis in the Postclassic Guatemalan Highlands (2017)
In this paper I will explore how the western Kaqchikel managed from being military auxiliaries to the K’iche’ kingdom to become and independent and expansionist polity, and how this transition was reflected in the material culture of their two last settlements. I will use ethnohistorical documentation to inform how the western Kaqchikel conceived their auto determination, and how they reached it after they abandoned their first capital Chi Awar after breaking their political alliances with the...
En Las Vías: Suffering and Triage on the Central American Trail (2016)
Undocumented Central Americans migrating to the United States must first cross the entire country of Mexico. In order to make this clandestine crossing the majority of people ride on the tops of deadly freight trains and walk along train tracks that traverse hundreds of miles of remote Mexican wilderness. This perilous journey can last anywhere from weeks to several months. During this stage of migration people suffer from a variety of injuries and ailments including (but not limited to)...
Establishing the Acropolis: Two Seasons of Excavation at Chan Chich (2015)
Open plaza spaces are a commonality among Maya sites. Excavating through the sealed contexts of these plaza surfaces can yield reliable data on the construction history of the site and how the space may have changed over time. This paper details the results from two seasons of excavations, which took place in May-June of 2012 and 2013 at the Maya site of Chan Chich in Northwestern Belize. Our investigations focused on the Upper Plaza, located at the acropolis of the site. Our investigations...
Ethnic Identities in Central Nicaragua: Perspectives from a Habitational Site (2015)
Archaeological research in Central Nicaragua has traditionally focused on the recognition of different ethnic groups in pre-Hispanic times and their interaction through the evidence of trade wares. However, a reconsideration of the available data has revealed that there is an absence of knowledge on the habitus of these groups, a central concept in the recent discussion on ethnicities. Therefore, over the next four years a pre-Hispanic habitational site in Central Nicaragua will be investigated...
Ethnoarchaeology of natural solution cavities as water sources affecting settlement and economic activities in a Yucatec Maya community, Mexico (2017)
Ethnoarchaeological investigations in the Yucatec Maya community of Xculoc recently included inventorying the location and uses of a range of small-large water sources. This karst landscape has no surface rivers, ponds, or lakes. Currently, the community uses a deep well at the former hacienda in this location. However, at least 60 years ago most families that coalesced into this village were distributed in relation to smaller reliable water sources near the current community location. Field...
The Evolution of Anthropomorphic Imagery at Cahal Pech, Belize and its Implications for the Rise of Kingship in the Middle Preclassic Maya Lowlands. (2015)
In a series of articles published in the 1980’s, and in the subsequent volume "A Forest of Kings", David Freidel, and Linda Schele and Freidel demonstrated that the institution of kingship had been firmly established in the Maya lowlands by the Late Preclassic period. Twenty five years later, ongoing research in Belize and the Peten now suggests that this level of cultural complexity may have actually arisen by the Middle Preclassic period. One line of evidence that strongly supports this...
The evolution of Classic Maya ceramic shape-classes through time; new evidence from El Peru-Waka, Guatemal (2015)
This paper present new work from the analysis of recovered ceramic vessels from the Classic Maya site of El Peru-Waka'. The research focuses on the development and evolution of four shape-classes from AD 300 to AD 1000. These include presentation platters, cacao vessels, small drinking cups, and bowls. These were serving vessels, designed not only to hold foodstuffs, but as social and political currency in their own right. They were to be present at Classic feasting events to display the...
The Evolving Nature of Landscape: An Example from La Milpa, Belize (2016)
In 2014, the California State University, Los Angeles Sacred Landscapes Archaeology Project took over the investigation of what appeared to be a sinkhole with a small cave chamber at its northern end. In 2015, excavation was continued to bedrock. Lying on bedrock, was a chultun capstone and examination of the ceiling directly above it disclosed the remains of what had been the entry tube into the feature. The lack of deposition between the ceiling collapse and the floor suggests that the...
Examination of Mortuary Ritual Associated with Construction Events in peripheral sites of the Motul de San Jose polity, Peten, Guatemala (2015)
This poster presents preliminary mortuary and human osteological data from the Proyecto Arqueologico Periferia de Motul de San Jose 2013 and 2014 field seasons, examining several aspects of mortuary ritual associated with periods of construction and site expansion at the sites of Kante’t’u’ul and Chachaklu’um, located approximately 2 and 5km from the core of the Motul de San Jose polity, respectively. Occupation at Kante’t’u’ul ranged from the Late Preclassic to the Early Post-Classic, while...
Examining the Environment: Pollen Data from Cara Blanca, Belize Pools 1 and 6 (2016)
Teetering on the edge of a 60-meter deep cenote, or karstic sinkhole, partially consumed by the pool and constantly threatened by erosion, is an Ancient Maya Water Temple. This particular cenote, Cara Blanca Pool 1, is one of 25 pools (cenotes and lakes) in the Cara Blanca region. Exploratory diving from the pool and excavations from several of its associated structures suggest the temple was a pilgrimage site for Terminal Classic (AD 750-900) Maya. Seeking reprieve from the Terminal Classic...
Exchange and the economy over time (2016)
Exchange drove Maya economy at many levels, yet the political landscape changed dramatically from the Preclassic to early colonial period. How did exchange networks respond to these changes? Or, we might ask instead if political change or upheaval was instigated by fluctuations or upsets in what might be called the market economy and those who sought to manage or control networks of supply? Did the ability to exact tax/tribute provide rulers and nobles with the economic power to invest and...
Exchange, production and consumption of exotic and exclusive goods in the delta of Diquís, Costa Rica. (2015)
Exchange and consumption of various goods in late prehistoric period chiefdom societies of the Diquís Delta, southern Costa Rica is discussed. Because of its geographical position and socio-economic development the Diquís region had a major role in exchange and regional relations, in Greater Chiriquí (southeastern Costa Rica and western Panama), and at the extra regional level (southern Central America). Various goods (metal objects, statuary, polychrome and biscuit pottery, polished axes, stone...