Mesoamerica (Geographic Keyword)
1,576-1,600 (2,459 Records)
Societies, present and past, consume particular foods at certain times of the day, and these foods often symbolize quotidian practices. Even in American culture, certain foods are taboo at certain times and in certain contexts, such as desert after breakfast or the increasing concern of healthy eating with respect to bedtime snacking. Food functions as a social vehicle beyond its nutritional value, and mealtimes or food events serve as occasions to reinforce culturally appropriate behaviors....
Non-Invasive Analyses of Metal Artifacts from The Milpillas Site, Zacapu, Michoacán. (2017)
The West Mexican region of Zacapu (today Michoacan, Mexico) is known to have witnessed the rise and development of the Tarascan Empire during middle Postclassic period. Archaeological evidence indicates that this area underwent major spatial and social reorganization around 1200 AD, events that indicate socio-political and ideological changes generated by the centralization of power in Tarascan society. Tarascan metallurgy represents a valuable reference for understanding the cultural context in...
Non-mounded Architecture, Invisible Housemounds, and the Problem of Settlement Identification and Demographics in the Mirador Basin (2015)
In a landscape distinguished archaeologically by elite-dominated, often massive architecture, the small and unobtrusive is easily overlooked. Since its inception as a discipline, Maya archaeology’s principal focus has been cities and the buildings that comprise them. These buildings, often of extraordinary scale, are typically represented in the archaeological record by mounds. This phenomenon of architectural "moundedness" has conditioned Mayanists’ perception of settlement as a whole. Indeed,...
Not All Distance Is Kilometric… Obsidian Procurement and Exchange at Salinas de los Nueve Cerros and Cancuen (2018)
During the Classic period most lowlands cities imported obsidian from the El Chayal source, the other two major high quality outcrops (SMJ and Ixtepeque), being in the minority by comparison. Despite the fact that much has yet to be understood about the way this material was transported from the Highlands to the Lowlands, the recent discoveries at Cancuen of a single cache containing hundreds of complete prismatic cores demonstrated that this site played a major role in the production and export...
Not so Strange Strangers in a Strange Land? (2017)
Ceramic evidence combined with obsidian and sculptural data from the archaeological site of Matacanela are beginning to paint an unexpected picture of intra- and inter-regional dynamics in the Early and Middle Classic Tuxtlas region of the southern Gulf lowlands. These data point to an unexpectedly independent political-economic relationship with the nearby center Matacapan, but one that may have been created through elite-alliance networks that differently incorporated Teotihuacan-style symbols...
Not That Stable, Not That Durable, But Very Dynamic: Political Geography and Geopolitical Dynamics in the Río Champotón Drainage, Campeche, Mexico (2015)
The nature, plasticity, and durability of states as geographical and territorial entities has been a topic of longstanding debate in the study of Classic Maya political geography. One of the central tenets of Joyce Marcus’ highly influential ‘Dynamic Model’ is a view of states as comprised of relatively durable small-scale polities that were sometimes incorporated into more volatile larger scale hegemonic states. However, recent research in Central Campeche suggests that local and regional...
Notas para el estudio de la niñez en el antiguo occidente de México II: El caso de Chupícuaro (2015)
En esta ponencia se presenta un análisis del trato que se dio a individuos pre adultos en el sitio arqueológico de Chupícuaro, Guanajuato, México. A partir de la recuperación y análisis de la información disponible y publicada, se observan las características de la población pre adulta y utilizando los marcos teóricos para el estudio de la niñez se ofrecen conclusiones que abordan las particularidades que se dieron a estos individuos según pasaban por las distintas edades. El estudio se enmarca...
Notes On Mexico Spear-Throwers (1958)
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.
Now You See Her, Now You Don’t: Female Gender and Its Contexts at Teotihuacan (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper explores the confounding issue of female-gendered images at Teotihuacan. Figures clad in female-gendered clothing appear within Teotihuacan’s most prominent and luxurious arts. Some of the largest sculptures and most precious stone figures are female, and these sculptural images were recovered from highly symbolic, civic spaces. Similarly,...
Oaxaca and its Eastern Neighbors in Prehispanic Times: Population Movements from the Perspective of Dental Morphological Traits (2015)
The dynamic interaction among human groups in Prehispanic Mesoamerica led to population exchange and migrations that have began to be untangled from a bioarchaeological perspective. Still, little is known about the demic biological exchange between Southern Sierra Madre populations and their coeval Eastern neighbors along the isthmic and Maya corridors. The present paper focuses on dental morphology and affinities among Prehispanic settlers that inhabited the present state of Oaxaca (Mexico)...
Observations Concerning Ash-Tempered Pottery from the Archaeological Site of Los Soldados (2015)
The use of volcanic ash as temper in Olmec pottery is generally known, unfortunately its temporal and spatial distribution at the site and regional levels remains poorly understood in the Gulf lowland regions. This paper presents the results of conventional microscopy and thin section petrographic analysis identifying the distribution of ash temper within the Los Soldados' pottery assemblage. This is done with an attempt to illustrate the relationship of ash temper in proportion to other paste...
Obsidian Artifacts and Community Interactions at Tayasal (2016)
Lithic artifacts represent a major aspect of the archaeological record, and they are found in a wide variety of cultural settings. For the Maya lowlands, lithic analysis is particularly insightful for studying relationships between economics and society because stone was the dominant raw material used to produce tools at differing levels of social organization. The purpose of this presentation is to examine community connections at Tayasal using an interactionalist perspective. Through this...
Obsidian blade production and husbandry in the Nejapa/Tavela region of Oaxaca, Mexico (2017)
Studies of obsidian tool manufacture in Mesoamerica typically focus on workshops located at source areas or at the major sites controlling them. In this paper, we explore production at the periphery, from the Nejapa/Tavela region of Oaxaca located roughly midway between the sources in Central Mexico and those in the Highlands of Guatemala. Rather than the thousands of artifacts representing the byproducts and errors of a single workshop, we are forced to rely upon the handful that found their...
Obsidian craft production at Teotihuacan: A view from Tlajinga 17 (2016)
In 1986 John Clark published a seminal article that questioned the scale of obsidian craft production at Teotihuacan as reconstructed by the Teotihuacan Mapping Project (TMP). Clark argued that many of the areas identified as obsidian workshops from surface materials were concentrations of production refuse deposited as fill and eroding out of residential and public architecture. Excavations by the Projecto Arqueologico Teotihuacan-Tlajinga (PATT) in 2013 explored the stratigraphic relationships...
Obsidian Data for Terrace S25 (2015)
This file contains all of the data for the nearly 1200 pieces collected during the 2051 excavations on Terrace S25, Cerro Danush, Dainzú-Macuilxóchitl. Including material categories (prismatic blade, flake, point, etc.), measurements, color assignments, provenience, etc.
Obsidian Debitage Sequence in Three Sites in West Mexico during the Late Classic Period: A Proposal (2018)
During the years A.D. 550/600 to A.D. 900/1000 there was a significant emergence of sites with large populations who at one point were subjected to Teotihuacan’s control. This period is known in Mesoamerica as the Late Classic or Epiclassic period. At this time emerging groups sought to control specific resources that would give them power over other groups. One of the most sought after and exploited resources was obsidian. It is known that some deposits were not exploited as intensively and...
Obsidian Hydration Dating Using SIMS and the LEXT Laser-Microscope (2016)
Obsidian hydration dating (OHD) is based on the premise that when an obsidian artifact is manufactured, the fresh surface exposed immediately begins to hydrate. A state-of-the-art obsidian hydration dating technique utilizes secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) to measure H diffusion profiles in obsidian artifacts and the depths of the resulting sputter pits by a stylus-type profilometer. The pit depths are matched with the SIMS H diffusion profiles, which are compared to diffusion profiles of...
Obsidian Industries and Cultural Evolution of the Basin of Mexico Before 500 B.C (1987)
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 Obsidian Industries of Altica, Mexico (2015)
Preliminary analysis of obsidian artifacts recovered from survey and excavation at the Early/Middle Formative site of Altica in the Teotihuacan Valley indicate the presence of several distinct modes of raw material acquisition, reduction, and utilization. These various modes are described from a technological perspective and possible logistical, social, economic, and political correlates are considered. SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology...
The Obsidian of Matacanela (2015)
The Matacanela Archaeological Project (MAP) seeks to add to the greater understanding of the Classic to Postclassic transition, within the Gulf lowlands of Mesoamerica. Within the surface obsidian assemblage analyzed from the first season of this two-year project, distribution patterns and source frequencies delineate a definite Classic presence, reflecting certain hallmarks of surrounding established Classic period sites. In this paper, we present the obsidian recovered, and further consider...
The Obsidian Order at Copan: A Discussion of Science, Education, and Institutions in Late Classic Statecraft (2017)
This paper investigates an order of ranked specialists marked by title Taaj ("obsidian"), as they occur at Late Classic Copan. This "obsidian order" was first identified on a mural at the site of Xultun, Guatemala, where archaeological evidence revealed that its members held expertise in indigenous Maya sciences, ritual practice and codex book production. Since then, the Taaj have been identified at several Classic Maya centers besides Xultun—with the texts of Copan providing the most detailed...
Obsidian Procurement, Reduction Technology, and Utilization at Altica (2017)
Technological classification of nearly 30,000 pieces of obsidian recovered from survey and excavation followed by attribute analysis of stratified random samples of some 3,400 specimens reveal several distinct modes of raw material acquisition, reduction technology, and utilization at Altica. The various modes are described from a technological perspective and their various logistical, social, economic, and political implications are considered.
Obsidian Reflections: Symbolic Dimensions of Obsidian in Mesoamerica (2014)
Departing from the political economy perspective taken by the vast majority of volumes devoted to Mesoamerican obsidian, Obsidian Reflections is an examination of obsidian's sociocultural dimensions—particularly in regard to Mesoamerican world view, religion, and belief systems. Exploring the materiality of this volcanic glass rather than only its functionality, this book considers the interplay among people, obsidian, and meaning and how these relationships shaped patterns of procurement,...
Obsidian Sources and Elemental Analyses of Artifacts in Southern Mesoamerica and the Northern Intermediate Area (1990)
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 Obsidian Trail: A GIS model for obsidian trade routes in the West Mexican Aztatlán Tradition (AD 900-1350) (2017)
The Postclassic Aztatlán Tradition of Western Mexico is well known for its expansive trade networks. Aztatlán merchants traded ceramics, shell, copper, and obsidian across vast distances. Obsidian provides us with a particularly unique opportunity to trace trade networks due to the compositional homogeneity of obsidian sources. Recent studies have identified the source of thousands of obsidian artifacts from numerous Aztatlán centers, allowing for an elaboration on themes such as access to...