Mesoamerica (Geographic Keyword)
1,126-1,150 (2,459 Records)
Peri-urban zones of settlement are unique localities among the urban-rural continuum that form due to dispersed urban growth, creating hybrid landscapes of fragmented urban and rural characteristics. Within these zones, domestic-scale reservoirs that the ancient Maya modified and maintained to manage their seasonally-scarce water resources are an important component. This study focuses on processes of multiple nuclei urban development and associated peri-urban formation at the site of Yaxnohcah...
Ireta and Vapatzequa – Applications of the Alteptl Model to the pre-Hispanic P'urépecha (2015)
At the time of Spanish contact, Michoacan was under the control of a large empire centered at the capital of Tzintzuntzan in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin. Prior to the rise of the Postclassic empire, the P'urepecha were organized into a series of small- to mid-scale polities known as ireta, which could be considered roughly analagous to the Nahua altepetl. These polities consisted of of a series of nested territorial divisions composed first of named barrio-level units called vapatzequa followed by...
Irrigation Systems and Other Forms of Intensive Agriculture at the Ancient Maya City of Tikal (2016)
In addition to an extensive short fallow system and the intensive cultivation of dooryard gardens and orchards that probably produced a major portion of the food supply at Tikal, other forms of primary food production were being utilized, as well. Significantly, the Maya seem to have developed intensive hydraulic agriculture in the lands south of the Perdido Reservoir. Stratigraphic profiles, δ13C data, and other forms of archaeological evidence clearly indicate that maize was being cultivated...
Is It Hot Enough Yet? Reconstructing Firing Temperatures for Prehistoric Honduran Ceramics through Re-Firing Experiments (2015)
Investigations conducted in the Naco valley and its environs within NW Honduras from 1975-2008 have revealed multiple facilities in which ceramic containers were fired. The vast majority of these date to the Late (AD 600-800) and Terminal Classic periods (AD 800-1000). Their diverse forms and dimensions hint at variations in aspects of production including the temperatures at which the vessels were heated and the degree of control artisans exercised over the manufacturing process. One line of...
Is This Democracy? Consensus Decision-Making and Collective Self-Governance in Mesoamerica (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Misinformation and Misrepresentation Part 1: Reconsidering “Human Sacrifice,” Religion, Slavery, Modernity, and Other European-Derived Concepts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The term “democracy,” with its roots in the Greek word demokratia, originally referred to the capacity of “the people” to make collective decisions regarding wider society and to effect change in the public sphere. As republicanism emerged in...
The Island and the Mainland: Connections between Maya Communities on Ambergris Caye and North-Central Belize (2015)
Ancient Maya occupation on Ambergris Caye has been documented from Preclassic through Postclassic times. Work at the site of Marco Gonzalez has concentrated on several structures in which we have found solid evidence for connections to Maya polities in northern Belize and beyond. Nonetheless, relationships with mainland communities changed substantially over time. Although the northern location of the caye makes it seem logical that its closest connections were with north-central Belize...
Isotope report (1) from Corina (2017)
First isotope data report from Corina
Isotopic Evidence of Animal Management and Long-Distance Exchange at the Maya Site of Ceibal, Guatemala (2016)
Animal management and resource exchange are essential to the development of state-level societies. Archaeological evidence for these activities has been particularly difficult to track in the Maya area, but recent advances in isotopic research may allow a novel opportunity to observe these practices. This study reviews new evidence for animal management and long-distance exchange at the lowland site of Ceibal, Guatemala, a large Maya community occupied throughout the Preclassic and Classic...
It's Alive: Gambling, Animatism, and Divination Among the Aztecs (2015)
Gambling and divination both pit the hopes of the petitioner against an uncertain future outcome. Popular for millennia, they seem to inhabit distinct spheres of interest, secular and spiritual, but overlap as the individual tries to assess the odds and garner available forces of knowledge, luck, or patronage of the spirits. In Aztec culture, this overlap linked the spiritual realm of divination and the base entertainment presented by gambling (which they regarded as dissolute, though common). ...
It’s the Journey not the Destination: Maya New Years Pilgrimage as Circumambulatory Movement and Regenerative Power (2017)
Maya ethnohistory suggests that burning incense, erecting monuments, penis bloodletting, and pilgrimage were all activities associated with New Year ceremonies. These annual rites were calendrically-linked and aimed at ensuring agricultural renewal and earthly regeneration. Today, Maya New Year ceremonies involve initiation of young men prior to marriage and sexual relations, requiring self-sacrifice and long-distance pilgrimage with male elders. Cross-examining these data along side...
Ixlú: A Postclassic Entrepôt on Lake Petén Itzá (2015)
Ixlú, occupied from pre-Mamom times through the late seventeenth century, is a relatively small site on the isthmus between Lakes Petén Itzá and Salpetén. This siting conferred a strategic advantage for monitoring movements of goods and people. Just southwest of Ixlú, pairs of raised jetties or wharfs modified the lower courses of the Ríos Ixlú and Ixpop and extended into the eastern end of the main body of Lake Petén Itzá. These large, wide channels likely served as port facilities and could...
Izapa and Highland El Salvador: Terminal Formative and Classic Period Ties (2017)
This paper explores coastal and highland interaction in southern Mesoamerica between coastal Chiapas and highland El Salvador. Published accounts of Salvadoran excavations have reported that ties between highland Salvadoran sites and Mesoamerica declined at the close of the Formative period with the eruption of the Ilopango volcano. The dating of the Ilopango eruption has since been updated, and an renewed look at interaction between these zones is necessary. This paper reviews archaeological...
Izapa and the iconography of water and economics (2015)
The stelae of Izapa have long been analyzed within a mythic framework, drawing heavily on longstanding interpretations of mythological narratives like those of the Maya maize god. Such interpretations, while fundamental to understanding the complex meanings of such imagery, nevertheless often neglect other salient aspects of the scenes, including elements that speak to more economic concerns, particularly those that revolved around water transport. This paper argues that a re-analysis of the...
The Izapa Polity (2016)
Long-known as an important Late Formative political center, Izapa was one of a string of early states extending down the Pacific coast from Chiapas to El Salvador. Izapa’s extensive sculpture, part of a pan-regional public art style, demonstrates ties with both the Guatemalan Highlands and Isthmian traditions. Philip Drucker first brought Izapa to world attention during the 1940s in the pages of National Geographic Magazine. In the 1960s, the New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF)...
Izapa's Place in the Discourse on Early Hieroglyphic Writing (2015)
Izapa occupies a curious place in the study of Mesoamerican writing and semiotic practice. Although the linguistic affiliation of ancient Izapa is unknown, glottochronological estimates suggest that Izapa stood at a multilingual crossroads between proto-Mihe-Sokean and proto-Mayan speaking populations. The blended visual vocabulary of Izapa-style monuments, coupled with the site’s location and chronology, further prompted early scholars to place Izapa on a transitional, regional continuum...
Izapa’s Hinterland: the use of Lidar mapping to examine the layout and spatial orientation of secondary centers in the Soconusco region, Chiapas, Mexico (2015)
We analyze the settlement layout patterns and orientations of major buildings at eight Middle and Late Formative period sites that fall within Izapa’s hinterland. Our previous examination of Izapa’s layout, using high-resolution Lidar maps, confirmed the observations of earlier researchers that the site had a dual orientation: N-S aligned to the volcano Tacaná and E-W to winter solstice sunrise. This dual orientation led to an off-square (97degrees) layout of the site during the Late Formative...
Izapa’s industrial hinterland: the eastern Soconusco mangrove zone during Archaic and Formative times (2015)
LiDAR coverage of a portion of the eastern Soconusco mangrove zone due south of Izapa has identified nearly 300 archaeological mounds within an area of 56 sq km. The vast majority of these mounds contain Formative period deposits. Surface and subsurface investigation indicate a major movement of people into the zone around 1600 BC, followed by population growth through the Late Early Formative (Cuadros phase). Middle through Terminal Formative (900 BC through AD 200) deposits consist of...
Jade Faces: Heirlooms and Emulations in Olmec and Maya Art (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Dancing through Iconographic Corpora: A Symposium in Honor of F. Kent Reilly III" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. From the colossal heads of the Olmec to the severed head of the Maya Maize God in the Popol Vuh, the head and face have been of singular importance in Mesoamerican art and thought. If the human body is an axis mundi, the head and face give that axis a physical manifestation of individuality. A nexus of...
Jadeite and Exotic Greenstones in the Huastec: The Mayan Style Lapidary Prestige Goods at Rancho Aserradero and Tamtoc (2017)
The archaeologist of INAH recovered hundreds of lapidary items at Tamtoc and Rancho Aserradero. Among these pieces, there are glossy greenstone objects restricted to the burials of both sites. The chemical composition and mineralogical characteristics of them with Micro-Raman, XRF, and FTIR, allowed us to identify two exotic raw materials, jadeite and green quartz from the Motagua Valley in Guatemala. Also, with the technological analysis of their manufacturing traces with Experimental...
Jaguar in North America (1974)
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Jaina Figurines: a text without a text? (2016)
Most Maya figurines have traditionally been evaluated on the basis of style and facture, and more recently, on the basis of archaeological context, where possible, as at Motul de San José, Guatemala. But what about the dozens of Jaina figurines in the Mexican national collections? Is there a way to examine the figurines typically considered to be mothers, lovers, weavers, wanderers, or warriors, almost none of which bear inscriptions, in such a way as to reevaluate the sort of assumptions made...
Jerry Sent Me to Mesoamerica and All I Got Was a Shirt... (2016)
I was a returning (older) student, a market segment many universities have trouble relating to, fortunate to arrive at Florida Atlantic University with a number of other returning students. Dr. Kennedy let us run with our ideas, working CRM jobs, starting a lab on campus, and exploring our interests. Then one day, he comes to me and says, “I know this person who might need your skills” and I was off to Belize and Guatemala on the start of what has been both a great adventure and a rewarding...
THE JEWELERS OF THE PALACE CRAFTING FOR THE GODS: THE LAPIDARY OBJECTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMPERIAL TECHNOLOGICAL STYLE (2015)
After the defeat of Azcapotzalco in AD 1428, the rulers of Tenochtitlan employed different strategies to recreate and reinforce their identity during the Triple Alliance. One of them was the regional request of master artisans, called tolteca, for working at the Aztec capital. Some of these craftsmen and their workshops were located inside the palaces of the tlatoque. Among them were the jewelers that crafted sacred objects for the gods and prestige goods for the elites. The technological...
Jewels, Flowers, and Paper Bows: Ornaments on Instruments for Sacrifice and Self-Sacrifice in Nahua Prehispanic Art (2024)
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. By analyzing the codices, ceramics, and pre-Hispanic sculpture, it is possible to identify different instruments employed both for the extraction of blood itself and for the sacrifice of victims. In these sources, maguey spines, bone awls, flint knives, and even the quadrangular stones where the victims...
The Jovel Valley of Highland Chiapas from the Classic Period to the Postclassic Period (2017)
In contrast to the sociopolitical instability and depopulation observed at many sites in the Southern Maya Lowlands during the Classic to Postclassic transition, Highland Chiapas was characterized by stability and demographic expansion, as suggested by our excavations in the Jovel Valley, where small cities and towns maintained their roles as political and economic centers throughout this period. In this paper, we examine patterns of continuity and change evidenced by recent excavations at the...