Guerrero (State / Territory) (Geographic Keyword)
1-25 (52 Records)
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...
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.
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...
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...
Beans of Power: Phaseolus and Late Preclassic Rulership on the Pacific Coast (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Beyond Maize and Cacao: Reflections on Visual and Textual Representation and Archaeological Evidence of Other Plants in Precolumbian Mesoamerica" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Rulership in Mesoamerican societies was inextricably tied to generative aspects of agriculture. Becoming a focal point for the maintenance of cosmological order provided a pathway for asserting control of aspects of the natural world, like...
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...
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...
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...
Coastlines, Mountains, Linguistic Diversity, or Subaltern Trade Networks: Hypothesizing Sources of Language Isolates in the Isthmus of Oaxaca (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Bringing the Past to Life, Part 1: Papers in Honor of John M. D. Pohl" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As a linguist and specialist in the languages and cultures of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and Oaxaca, I have long considered that one of the most intriguing hypotheses Dr. Pohl has presented has been on potential maritime networks which might explain the presence of language isolates (Chontal and Huave) in the Isthmus...
Cotzumalguapa's Lithic Industry: Procurement, Production, and Distribution of Obsidian Artifacts of a Late Classic Mesoamerican Polity (2018)
Procurement, production, and distribution of raw materials loom large in discussions of prehistoric economies. Over the past three decades surface survey and excavations in and around the Late Classic polity of Cotzumalguapa revealed the presence of several obsidian dumps, the result of a large-scale lithic industry. These deposits contain production debitage from most phases of blade-core reduction but no nodules and relatively very little cortex, suggesting that obsidian came into...
The Curious Pacific Coast Distribution of Tightly Wrapped Bundle Burials in the Middle Formative (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Coastal Connections: Pacific Coastal Links from Mexico to Ecuador" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Highly unusual tightly wrapped bundle burials of previously cleaned and carefully arranged disarticulated human bones dating to the Middle Formative have been discovered by archaeologists at three sites in western Jalisco, Mexico, one site on the Pacific coastal plain in far northern Sinaloa, Mexico and eroding out of the...
Early Postclassic Copper Objects from the Lower Rio Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Some of the earliest examples of metallurgy in Mesoamerica come from sites in the West Mexican region where metalworking, especially of copper objects, was introduced by Ecuadorian traders in the 600s-700s C.E. The recent discovery of copper items including bells and hammered copper sheets from Early Postclassic contexts (800-1100 C.E.) in the Lower Rio Verde...
Feline Pedestal Sculptures, Cacao, and the Late Formative Landscape of Mesoamerica (2018)
Pedestal sculptures featuring supernatural felines with cacao drupes projecting from their foreheads dotted the Late Formative landscape of the Pacific slope and adjacent Guatemalan Highlands. In this paper we consider the implications of the replication of this sculptural form, its role in articulating an elite agenda linked to the production of cacao, and its pertinence to sites of varying scale and relative regional authority. A similar suite of meanings engaged with cacao and supernatural...
Flower Worlds of the Pacific Coast (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The Flower World: Religion, Aesthetics, and Ideology in Mesoamerica and the American Southwest" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. One of the richest repertoires of Mesoamerican flower imagery comes from the Pacific coast of Guatemala. In this paper, I trace the temporal variations in religious beliefs and imagery related to portentous places of beauty known that modern scholars designated as "flower worlds." Lush...
Formative Ceramic and Obsidian Transitions at Salinas La Blanca (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Salinas La Blanca, located within the coastal estuary of the Soconusco region of Guatemala, was occupied from the Early to Middle Formative periods. This was a period of considerable cultural change, as Olmec influence on the Pacific Coast waned and regional centers developed more centralized power. This paper presents the results of a chemical compositional...
Full-Coverage Survey in the Lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico: Broad-Scale Insights on Human-Environment Relations (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Regional and Intensive Site Survey: Case Studies from Mesoamerica" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Regional survey in the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico has been ongoing since 1994. Our full-coverage approach resulted in extensive spatial coverage (224 km2) spanning the valley’s major physiographic zones (e.g., floodplain, piedmont, etc.). The coarse-grained data produced via this methodology is ideal for...
Informe técnico 2012 — Imágenes de Oxtotitlán y Cahuaziziqui (2012)
Imágenes fotográficas, computacionales, y compuestas adjuntas al informe técnico Proyecto sobre la escritura temprana. Arte, cosmovisión y símbolo en la evolución de la complejidad mesoaméricana. Estudios de las cuevas de Oxtotitlán y Cahuaziziqui,Guerrero, México, Primera temporada (Enero 2012). Christopher L. von Nagy y Mary D. Pohl.
Is the Study of Ancient Money Really So Difficult? (2018)
The difficulty that many economists and anthropologists have with studying ancient money lies with inadequate understanding of modern monetary systems. I briefly review the establishment of two currencies: the British pound in the 18th century and the US dollar in the 19th and why the establishment both currencies were political (not economic) constructs. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) economists analyze the current fiat currencies as political constructs and David Graber’s Debt: The First 5000...
Jade, Scepters, and Seats of Power: Symbols of Authority on the Central American Coast, 300 BC-AD 300 (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Coastal Connections: Pacific Coastal Links from Mexico to Ecuador" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper documents a widespread shift during the period from 300 BC-AD 300 toward symbolism associated with authority and rulership along the Pacific coast, throughout the region spanning between southern Chiapas and the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica. During this period, several notable changes in burial patterns,...
La excavación monumental en Yaxchilán e Iglesia Vieja, Chiapas, México (2019)
This is an abstract from the "La Restauración de Monumentos Prehispánicos en México: Principios, Práctica, y Visión al Futuro" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. La liberación por el medio de excavación y consolidación de los monumentos prehispánicos tiene una larga historia en la arqueología mexicana. Los métodos de las excavaciones de los conjuntos arquitectónicos de los sitios arqueológicos a cual definimos como la excavación monumental....
Los Horcones and Teotihuacan: Agency, Art, and Interaction (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Teotihuacan: Multidisciplinary Research on Mesoamerica's Classic Metropolis" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Artistic representations are often the most salient indices of interaction between Teotihuacan and other communities throughout Mesoamerica. Interpretation of this artistic evidence, however, is complicated and often quite contested in the archaeological literature. In this paper, we would like to explore...
Los Horcones, Offering 1: 3D Imaging, Analysis, and Reconstruction (2018)
The three dimensional imaging of artifacts discovered at the Los Horcones site in Southern Chiapas Mexico has enabled archaeologists to approach artifacts in a brand new way. With the use of a 3D scanner hardware and 3D program software, objects and features of various sizes are scanned to create a proportional and scale digital version. The scanning of artifacts allows for minimal handling of the objects decreasing the likelihood of wear, damage, deterioration, and contamination, effectively...
Los Horcones, Offering 1: The Archaeology of Music and Ritual on the Pacific Coast of Chiapas (2018)
Offering 1 from Los Horcones is an assemblage of figurine masks, whistles, rattles and vessels that offers an interesting opportunity for analysis that provides information of the auditory, olfactory, and visual experience of this small ritual. The offering, initially thought to be simply a collection of figurines and masks, were later discovered to be whistles—small musical instruments whose simplicity belies the importance of the meanings they encoded. Experimental archaeological analysis...
Material Culture and Technological Innovation in Colonial Soconusco, Chiapas, Mexico (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 Soconusco region of Chiapas, Mexico, quickly attracted the attention of the Spanish invaders in the Early Colonial period because of the valuable cacao produced in the area. Intensive trade brought long-distance merchants to Soconusco bringing trade goods to exchange for cacao, as had been the case in the...