Mesoamerica (Geographic Keyword)
101-125 (2,459 Records)
The Formative period site of Chalcatzingo in Morelos, Mexico (1150-450 BCE) represents a socially complex society and contains the only Olmec-style monumental architecture in the region. Evidence for social stratification at Chalcatzingo includes differences in burial location and unequal distribution of rare artifacts. Significant debate surrounds the potential Olmec cultural influence on status formation and social stratification throughout Formative period Mesoamerica. Some scholars...
Application of the Canonical Theory to Origin and Development of Social Complexity at Tak'alik Ab'aj, Guatemala (2017)
This paper presents the Canonical Theory of the origin and early development of social complexity, which has previously been successfully applied to other formative polities in the Near East, early China, Inner Asia, Aspero-Caral, and Oaxaca, among others. The theory explains how and why sociopolitical complexity emerges following repeated instances of challenges and opportunities that are successfully or unsuccessfully resolved by the local community, based on extant lines of evidence. This...
The Application of X-Ray Diffraction to the Characterization of Clay Samples from the Tuxtla Mountains, México (2015)
In this project I applied X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques to characterize the mineralogical composition of 11 clay samples collected from the Tuxtla Mountains, in the vicinity of Matacapan, Veracruz, México. These samples had already been analyzed through X-ray fluorescence (Pool 1990), and the data generated by XRD was compared to the already existing elemental analyses of these clays and of ceramics from the region. In this way, I attempt to distinguish minerals added to these clays in the...
Applications of Photogrammetry in Understanding Spatial and Ritual Contexts of Caves in the La Montaña Region, Eastern Guerrero (2017)
Mapping caves has always been a daunting task, given the complexity of its forms and the usually difficult access for surveyors and their equipment. 3D modeling of the exterior and interior of some caves is now possible using photogrammetry. Here, we present how we captured the complexity of the Mesoamerican underworld using both drones and digital photography in the caves of Guerrero.
Applied Digital Technologies and GIS Spatial Statistics at Tzak Naab, Northwestern Belize (2017)
The ceremonial center of Tzak Naab, located in the northern hinterlands of the major Maya city of La Milpa, displays many idiosyncratic and unique elements in its built environment that speak to the relationship of the site with the natural landscapes it inhabits. The site core is constructed on three large tiers which overlook the Dumbbell Bajo, a large seasonally inundated wetland. Within this area, aspects of (in)visibility are employed to control movement through—and perception of—space. We...
Applying Adaptive Cycles to the Life History of Ancient Maya Agricultural Systems (2015)
Archaeologists often struggled with understanding the life-cycles of relic agricultural field systems. By incorporating the multi-variable approach of the adaptive cycle, complex relationship dynamics can be identified and applied to understanding the historical sequences of specific cases studies. Demonstrating this is the intensive terrace systems and settlement within the Contreras Valley and the associated ancient Maya center of Minanha, Belize. The variables identified include the...
Applying Digital Technologies to Older Sets of Data: A Study of the Spatio-Temporal Distribution, Design and Function of the Carved Stone Altars at Copán (2015)
The term "altar" is a western concept which has been used in the study of the ancient Maya to describe a plethora of carved stone artifacts, ranging from small pedestals, to carved boulders, to three-dimensional, multi-component, carved sculptures. In many cases, it seems unlikely that the only purpose of these altars was to serve as a place to deposit sacrifices. After spending two field seasons cataloguing the carved stone altars at Copán, Honduras, the chronological trends in shape and style...
Aprovechamiento de la obsidiana por la población prehispánica del valle de Maltrata, Veracruz (2018)
El valle de Maltrata se ubica en un punto intermedio de una importante ruta de comunicación, comercio e intercambio entre la Costa del Golfo y el Altiplano Central. Esto permitió que los asentamientos prehispánicos asentados en el valle contaran con la posibilidad de disponer de algunos tipos de artefactos y materiales que no se encontraban en la región cercana. En cuanto a la obsidiana se refiere, la cercanía con los yacimientos del Pico de Orizaba permiten suponer que durante todo el...
Archaeobotanical Realities at Yaxnohkah: A Pollen Grain of Truth on Preclassic Land Use (2017)
Examination of sediments from several reservoirs at the Preclassic site of Yaxnohkah Campeche, Mexico reveals less that stellar pollen preservation, but still useful botanical data. Thus far, pollen grains show varying degrees of degradation, requiring the use of exacting extraction methods. Cultigens and economic taxa are abundant in the samples demonstrating that we are sampling in the right place, but cyclic wetting and drying has resulted in the loss of fragile taxa, skewing the botanical...
The Archaeobotany of Ritual: The Role of Palm (Arecaceae) in Ancient Maya Caves (2017)
The past several decades of research have identified caves as important loci for Precolumbian and historic Maya ritual activity. To the ancient Maya, caves served as portals to the underworld, functioning as sites where ritual practitioners could be in closer contact with important deities and enact rites associated with natural forces. The Belize River Valley has been a significant area for cave exploration and excavation, and Stela Cave in particular, located in the Cayo District in western...
Archaeological and Epigraphic Indices of the Political Domination: A View from the Northwestern Periphery of the Kaanu’l Hegemonic State (2016)
The past decade has witnessed a revolution in our understanding of Classic Maya geopolitics, particularly in reconstructing asymmetrical interpolity relationships dominated by expansionist states. Employing variable political strategies, including both direct and indirect rulership, the Kaanu’l Dynasty dominated a large network of kingdoms across the Maya Lowlands. This paper examines the impacts of the expansion and dissolution of the Kaanu’l state in western Campeche, within the northwestern...
Archaeological Approaches to Market Exchange in Ancient Societies (2010)
Ancient market activities are dynamic in the economies of most ancient states, yet they have received little research from the archaeological community. Archaeological Approaches to Market Exchange in Ancient Societies is the first book to address the development, change, and organizational complexity of ancient markets from a comparative archaeological perspective. Drawing from historical documents and archaeological records from Mesoamerica, the U.S. Southwest, East Africa, and the Andes, this...
The archaeological ceramics of Yucatan (1950)
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 National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R 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 at comments@tdar.org.
The archaeological collections of the Gulf Coast cultures at the National Museum of Anthropology (2017)
The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City holds the largest collection of archaeological artifacts in the country. A recent survey and inventory of the objects that form the Gulf Coast cultures section has revealed a more comprehensive and detailed view of the composition of it. This paper will present an overview of this collection providing information on the site provenience of the artifacts; what private collections were incorporated into it; the types of artifacts, as well as their...
Archaeological Commitment to Participation: Discovering the Local to International El Pilar Community (2016)
The El Pilar community is dynamic and includes the most proximal villages, the general communities of Cayo and Peten, the nations of Belize and Guatemala, and from there the greater international community interested in the culture and nature of the tropics. From its first archaeological recognition in the 1980s, El Pilar was destined to be play a role in the conservation and development of the Maya forest. Large and imposing, with monuments straddling the political line that separates Belize...
Archaeological Evidence for Occupational Specialization Among the Classic Period Maya at Tikal, Guatemala (1973)
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 National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R 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 at comments@tdar.org.
Archaeological Evidence for the Use of Maize in Cave Ritual (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Defining Perishables: The How, What, and Why of Perishables and Their Importance in Understanding the Past" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Variations in the deposition of maize remains have been noted in different Maya caves. These vary from the discovery of small immature cobbs, 3 to 5 cm in length, which appear to represent first fruit rituals to large deposits of mature cobbs in ritual contexts that appear to have...
Archaeological Heritage Management in Mexico: Current Panorama (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This poster examines the innovations of different finance mechanisms for cultural heritage management (FMCRM) in support of open archaeological sites at the subnational level in Mexico in the last few years. The federal states (subnational level) that have implemented these policies for at least ten years have had diverse designs, implementations, and results....
Archaeological Mollusks from Xalla (2021)
This is an abstract from the "The Palace of Xalla in Teotihuacan: A Possible Seat of Power in the Ancient Metropolis" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Project “Teotihuacan, élite y gobierno” (Teotihuacan elite and government) has excavated 420 artifacts made of mollusk shells. Ninety-one of them are objects and 166 are valves or fragments that present traces of human modification; 163 are fragments with no traces of human work. In this paper the...
Archaeological Project Amacuzac, Morelos and Guerrero Mexico. (2015)
Since 2003 the archaeological project of Chimalacatlán have research the south section of the state of Morelos, along the region known as the Huautla highlands. This archaeological site was excavated by Florencia Müller in 1943, who show to the academic community the importance of the area. So the first activities of the Chimalacalan archaeological project focused on the conservation of various architectural structures of the site, focusing on those buildings that were extremely damage. Then...
ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROPERTY "BIENES MUEBLES" REGISTRY IN PARTICULAR CUSTODY SUCH AS HERITAGE CULTURAL PROTECTION MECHANISM. (2017)
In this presentation I’ll review the public relevance concerning archaeological property "Bienes muebles", in particular custody. I’ll describe the registry procedures and its scope as a cultural heritage legal instrument. Additionally, my objective is to present the way by which "Ley Federal sobre Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicos, Artísticos e Históricos" enactment proclaimed the monuments as national properties, this way the law obligates the owners to register their monuments. We can...
Archaeological Prospecting using Remote Sensing Techniques in Quiechapa, Oaxaca, Mexico (2016)
While aerial photography is still widely used for the "brute force" identification of archaeological sites, multispectral remote sensing approaches hold the greatest potential for archaeological surveys because of their ability to detect hidden or subsurface archaeological remains. This poster examines Quiechapa, a small rural municipality located in the foliage covered mountains in the southwestern state of Oaxaca, Mexico, which has never before been studied by archaeologists and likely...
Archaeological Reconnaissance at Fracción Mujular: A Small Site with Big Connections (2016)
Located on the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, the site of Fracción Mujular is best known for three carved stela bearing Teotihuacan associated stylistic elements, first identified by Carlos Navarrete in the 1960s. The relatively modest architecture of the site, combined with evidence for long-distance connections, makes Fracción Mujular an interesting place to investigate the impact that inter-regional political and trade relationships during the Early Classic had on the lives of common people. ...
The archaeological site of Presa de la Luz: New Insights on the relationship between the Altos of Jalisco, the Bajio and the Mexico Basin (2015)
During the years of 2012 and 2013 draft surface survey was conducted to record more than 600 petroglyphs of the archaeological site known as Presa de la Luz in southern highlands of Jalisco, Mexico. This site drew attention from the beginning due to the high number of pecked cross or solar markers, we recorded nine of these, could be the site with the largest number in any Western Mexico. Solar markers are very similar to those recorded in first instance in Teotihuacan and Mexico Basin. Also,...
Archaeological Survey through the use of Remote Sensing (LiDAR, Photogrammetry and Satelital Imagery) and GIS (2015)
The aim of this paper is to show how remote sensing (LiDAR, photogrammetry and satellite imagery), along with GIS are changing the ways in which archaeological resources are being identified, recorded, and researched. Traditional methods and techniques are not enough to prevent the potential risks that these resources face due to the accelerated pace of growth of a globalized world. Thanks to the development of Information and communications technologies (ICT), archaeologists now have a...