United Mexican States (Country) (Geographic Keyword)

DOCUMENT Citation Only John Henderson. Kathryn Hudson.

Framing the lower Ulúa valley and adjacent regions as part of a southeastern Mesoamerican frontier has always entailed an interest in external relationships, especially those connecting frontier regions with the Maya world to which they were supposedly peripheral. The belief that the periphery was occupied by simple non-Maya societies, lightly "influenced" by their more civilized western neighbors, appeared early in the development of orthodox frameworks and continues to influence archaeological...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Seth Quintus. Jeffrey Clark.

Star mounds, named for their star-like shape, have been an enigmatic feature class in the Samoan Archipelago. Researchers have posited several potential functions for these monumental architectural features, including grave and territorial markers, but their primary function appears to have been as surfaces for pigeon catching. But, excavations of these features have been few and data limited. Here, we review old as well as recent data on star mounds relating to their physical attributes (size,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Claudia Garcia-Des Lauriers.

Artistic evidence of interactions is among the most salient and most debated in terms of the relationships that it represents between different polities and regions. Traditionally, the focus of analysis is on stylistic and iconographic influences and a discussion of retention of original meanings or evidences of disjunctions. Based on my research on the topic of Classic Period interactions from the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, I have come to the conclusion that our perspectives are much too...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Robert Warden. Benjamin Baaske.

This is an abstract from the "Ancient Maya Landscapes in Northwestern Belize, Part II" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Large collections of culturally significant material are often at a heightened risk of destruction simply due to their collective proximity. Organizations and individuals have begun to recognize the vulnerability of the artifact. The artifact is not something that can be easily copied and reprinted. Artifacts often possess a highly...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Mallory Melton.

This paper uses macrobotanical and microbotanical remains to investigate the impacts of developing sociopolitical complexity on the foodways of Middle Preclassic inhabitants of the Pacific coast of Guatemala. I use these datasets to explore how urbanization affected food-related practices of residents of La Blanca (900-600 BCE). Macrobotanical remains from house floors facilitate comparisons between elite and commoner foodways, while starch grains and phytoliths extracted from grinding...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Andrew Lorey.

Archaeologists and researchers in heritage-based disciplines frequently study the complex interactions between human societies and natural environments. All too often, however, research proceeds from the premise that natural patterns, stressors and events promote direct cultural changes or adaptations on the part of human societies. Instead of perpetuating this linear and causal understanding of the relationships between nature and culture, this paper develops a new, holistic framework that...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Andrew Mark. Justin Holcomb. David Carballo.

The diffusion and spread of material culture is a cornerstone of archaeological research, particularly understanding the variables which dictate the structure of dispersal. Recent evolutionary approaches have sought to address technological spread through mathematical modeling. One model, the reaction-diffusion model, suggests diffusion occurs at the population scale as a wave-of-dispersal. While previous researchers demonstrated the efficacy of this approach regarding the peopling of a...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Damon Mullen.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Peopling of the Americas remains a provocative topic in both North and South American Archaeology. Speculation about who the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas were, where they came from, and how they got here, began the moment European explorers first encountered them. Current archaeological data and theory indicate humans had reached the landmass...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jessica MacLellan. Daniela Triadan.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. We analyze 253 Late and Terminal Classic (c. AD 600-950) Maya ceramic figurine whistles (ocarinas) and fragments excavated at Ceibal, Guatemala, as materials of socialization. The figurines are mold-made and represent repeating characters. Based on mortuary contexts and other evidence, we argue they were used in household performances and associated with...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Ramiro Aguayo Haro. Mijaely Castañón-Suárez.

This is an abstract from the "Ways to Do, Ways to Inhabit, Ways to Interact: An Archaeological View of Communities and Daily Life" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A partir de un nuevo análisis de los ajuares funerarios excavados en la década de los ochenta en el sitio de La Nopalera, se lleva a cabo un replanteamiento tanto de la temporalidad como los alcances sociales de este tipo de contextos funerarios en la región de la cuenca de Cuitzeo. Se...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Ben Nelson. Vincent Schiavitti.

Fieldwork from the 1989-90 seasons at La Quemada

DOCUMENT Citation Only Julio Ibarra.

La conservación del patrimonio arqueológico en la región de la Sierra Norte del estado de Oaxaca, representa un gran reto debido entre otros aspectos a su entorno geográfico, a cuestiones del ámbito social que se relacionan con el arraigo a sus costumbres y tradiciones; y más aún, a la falta total de antecedentes sobre trabajos previos de conservación sobre el patrimonio cultural local. En esta ponencia se presentarán los trabajos de intervención para la conservación y restauración de los...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Alberto Frutos. María Vasquez.

This is an abstract from the "Aproximaciones arqueológicas y paleontológicas en Santa Lucía, México" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Se hará una revisión de los antecedentes arqueológicos en la zona, dónde el principal asentamiento corresponde al islote artificial de Xaltocan, de filiación otomí, y cuya fundación data del periodo Posclásico temprano y se reconoce por la presencia de cerámica azteca I y II, sin embargo, en el Proyecto de Salvamento...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Judith Ruiz. Viridiana Guzmán Torres. Emiliano Melgar Tísoc.

This is an abstract from the "Sacrificial and Autosacrifice Instruments in Mesoamerica: Symbolism and Technology" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. El sacrificio humano por medio del acceso de toracotomía bilateral transversa es una práctica ritual poco documentada a nivel osteológico en el área maya. En el presente trabajo se muestra a nivel microscópico y macroscópico tal evidencia, así como el tratamiento que se les dio a las victimas posterior al...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Claudia Ávila. Yalilich Miranda. Emilio Aguayo. Alfonso Gastelum.

This is an abstract from the "Tzintzuntzan, Capital of the Tarascan Empire: New Perspectives" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The capital of the Tarascan empire was located in Tzintzuntzan (Michoacán, Mexico), which reached its peak during the Late Postclassic (AD 1350–1525). At the time of contact, there was an almost unique continuous transition, showing a historical process of long duration, where different traditions converged. Among the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Diana Patricia Castro Montes. Blanca Maldonado.

This is an abstract from the "Technological Transitions in Prehispanic and Colonial Metallurgy: Recent and Ongoing Research at the Archaeological Site of Jicalán Viejo, in Central Michoacán, West Mexico" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Tarascan Empire had become the most important prehispanic metallurgical center in Mesoamerica by around 1450 CE, with copper being the most commonly used metal to manufacture a variety of sumptuary objects. These...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Olof Olafardottir-Hamilton. Rebecca Barzilai.

This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Before repatriation, NAGPRA practitioners need to track down all components of a collection to prevent their tribal partners from having to repatriate the same collections multiple times. This involves tracing often labyrinthine collection histories...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Virginie Renson. Marx Navarro Castillo. Andrea Cucina. Brendan J. Culleton. Hector Neff.

This study presents the strontium isotopic analysis of enamel, dentine and bones of four individuals recovered from two sites (Miguel Aleman and PIN7), dating respectively from the Early and Late Classic period, both located the Pacific coast of Chiapas. The enamel samples of the four individuals have a Sr isotopic composition that varies between 0.70540 and 0.70631 for the 87Sr/86Sr ratio. The results were compared to data available for human bones and teeth, as well as rock, plant, water, and...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Cameron McNeil. Edy Barrios. Bryce Brown. Richard Terry. Shanti Morell-Hart.

During the Late Classic period, the ancient community of Río Amarillo was actively engaged in the politics of the city of Copan, whether willingly or not. Some have suggested that the fertile bajos of the Río Amarillo East Pocket may have produced food for the city to its west, ameliorating shortages that could have arisen due to its rising population. Archaeological research conducted by the Proyecto Arqueológico Río Amarillo, Copan (PARAC) since 2011 has recovered information regarding both...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Erlend Johnson. Ellen Bell. Marcello Canuto.

In this paper we contend that Copan fundamentally transformed the political structures and social institutions of centers in outlying areas as it expanded and integrated these regions. Evidence from our areas of study, the Cucuyagua and El Paraiso valleys, suggest that these regions had long lived autocthonous populations prior to Copan’s expansion into these regions in the Late Classic period. Using evidence from other non-Maya sites in Western and Central Honduras we contend that while varied...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Margherita Zona. Edouard Masson-MacLean. Carly Ameen. Camilla Speller. Keith Dobney.

This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pacific salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) are important economic and subsistence resources for contemporary and past indigenous peoples of the Pacific coast of North America. The seven recognised Oncorhynchus species each occupy different ecological niches and exhibit diversity in seasonal spawning and migratory behaviours. Although salmonid remains are ubiquitous at...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Borislava Simova.

This is an abstract from the "The Preclassic Landscape in the Mopan Valley, Belize" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. One of the earliest known examples of permanent architecture in the Maya Lowlands, a distinctive plaza-structure complex known as an E Group, is also one of the most commonly encountered architectural groups present within Preclassic sites throughout the region. The rapid adoption of permanent architecture and widespread...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Paul Gerard. Matthew Napolitano. Geoffrey Clark. Scott Fitzpatrick.

The initial human settlement of Yap, Western Caroline Islands (northwest tropical Pacific), is one of the least understood in Pacific prehistory, although new archaeological research is beginning to address this issue. Excavations at the southern site of Pemrang in Yap, western Caroline Islands (northwest tropical Pacific) have revealed multiple rich, well-stratified deposits of shell and pottery spanning the known occupation sequence of Yap and extended the date of early human activity by ca....

DOCUMENT Citation Only Karen Greig. Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith. Richard Walter.

Dogs were introduced to the islands of Australasia and the Pacific during human migrations and colonisations, but the timing and dispersal routes are unclear. To investigate these Oceanic dog introductions and movements, we generated complete or near complete ancient mitochondrial genomes from archaeological dog specimens from Thailand, Island Southeast Asia and Pacific islands, and from modern dingoes. When combined with additional published complete mitogenome sequences from modern dogs from...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Lorena Becerra-Valdivia. Katerina Douka. Thomas Higham.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The timing of early human presence in the Americas is a debated topic in First Americans research. The variable of time is, after all, fundamental in the study of human dispersal; it forms a base with which to elucidate spatio-temporal patterns, study applicable bio-cultural processes, and frame environmental data. As such, this investigation analyses current...