Mesoamerica (Geographic Keyword)
1,826-1,850 (2,459 Records)
Project Report to the Consejo de Arqueología of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Project covers extensive site mapping of the entire site, as well as comprehensive excavations on Cerro Danush. The file is large, so it has been divided up into four .pdf files. Project supported by the National Science Foundation (BCS 1353793)
Proper Names and the Development of Early Writing Systems (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Decipherment, Digs, and Discourse: Honoring Stephen Houston's Contributions to Maya Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The 1980s saw dramatic new insights into the decipherment of ancient Maya writing, much of it spurred by collaborations with my friend and colleague Steve Houston. One of these was the recognition of inscribed "name-tags" on various types of portable objects and monuments, serving to specify...
Proposed reconstruction of Palaeoenvironmental dynamics in the region of Naachtun (Péten, Guatemala) during the late Holocene: contribution of several Bioindicators in a multi‐proxy study. (2016)
The city of Naachtun was an important maya Center in Southern Lowland (Guatemala). It was occupied from the early Classic (250 AD) to the end of Late Classic period (950 AD). Its inhabitants developed agriculture and a water management, as attested by geo‐archaeological evidences (palaeo‐soils, terraces, water reservoirs and canal). Our study focuses on the palaeoenvironments in and around Naachtun during the last 3500 years. We develop a multi‐proxy approach based on bioindicators study to...
Prospering in Place: Cerro Maya and the Late Preclassic Exchange Networks (2015)
Cerro Maya, located on Lowry’s Point at the southern edge of Chetumal Bay in northern Belize, sits at a strategic intersection between riverine and coastal transportation routes used by the Maya from Preclassic times onward. Evidence suggests a major dock facility was the first monumental construction undertaken during the initial Late Preclassic occupation, indicating the site was intentionally founded to mediate access to interior sites on the two principal river drainages in the region for...
Protection of Cultural Heritage: The Case of Yaxcabá and Yaxunah, Yucatán (2017)
The objective of the paper is to present and compare the notions held by the contemporary residents of the town of Yaxcabá, the municipality’s head, and the village of Yaxunah in Central Yucatán, about the protection and conservation of the archaeological sites on their lands. Even though Yaxcabá and Yaxunah are less than 20 km apart, these two population centers display social, political, and economic differences and have been influenced by varying amounts of exposure to archaeological...
Proto-Tarascan Uacusecha Metallurgy: Issues about tecnological transition and lost techniques (2017)
Within the large and rich vein of archaeological studies on Western Mesoamerican metallurgy (ca. 800-1500 a.C.), a large body of literature is devoted to the metal production of the Tarasco Kingdom (1420-1522 a.C.), since by 1450 a.C. this became the most important centre of Pre-Columbian metalworking. Indeed many scientific studies have focused on the material and the technological aspects of Tarascan metal artefacts, particularly of copper and copper alloy bells. In comparison, little in known...
Proyecto Encrucijada-Pajonal
Digital images and supporting documents related to the Encrucijada-Pajonal Project (von Nagy 2003) along the Pajonal and Arenal paleodistributaries of the Grijalva delta. The project focused on Early and Middle Formative (Preclassic) Olmec settlements in western Tabasco. Pottery data acquired through excavation of Pajonal sites and from the site of San Andrés near La Venta form the basis for the Early and Middle Formative pottery chronology for the region of the Tabasco Olmec.
Proyecto Laguna Costera Catalógo ● Muestras de Cerámica (2003)
Catalog of ceramic type collections on file with the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). This is part of the Proyecto Laguna Costera document set.
Public or Private: Adaptations in the Use of Public Space During the Maya Late Classic Period (2015)
Are all open spaces public spaces? What factors influence how ‘public’ a space is? How did the population increase during the Late Classic period impact the use and design of open spaces in the Maya lowlands? To understand how the Maya adapted their built environment in response to high populations, I examine the architectural features of plazas and patios in a ritual-residential group at Xultun. In the Late Classic period, residents erected additional buildings within patios, reducing the...
Public or Private? Archaeology in Modern Guatemalan Museums (2016)
Recent decades have witnessed a veritable explosion in the number of museums in Guatemala. Most of the new museums are small, focused on specific collections or sites. Some emerged from governmental initiatives, but many are private endeavors. In this paper, I trace the historical development of museums, going back to earlier, nineteenth and early twentieth-century precedents. I also offer comments on modern Guatemalan museums, including questions of institutional development, funding,...
Punto de referencia en la movilización de los olmecas de la costa del Golfo de México (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Dentro y fuera de Mesoamérica, se encuentran varios objetos portátiles con la iconografía olmeca. Pero ¿este fenómeno está mostrando la movilidad de los olmecas? Es difícil de responder esta pregunta porque los objetos pequeños se pueden trasladar de distintas maneras. Sin embargo, también hay otros objetos no portátiles con la iconografía olmeca para...
Pushing the Limits of Power: Copan Expansionist Strategies in the El Paraíso Valley, Western Honduras (2017)
The reign of K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil, Copan Ruler 12, has been rightly hailed as a pivotal time in Copan's political history. Given that no monumental constructions on the Copan Acropolis have as yet been securely attributed to his patronage, this long-lived ruler appears to have turned his focus outward, expanding the Copan kingdom into a multi-ethnic polity with a long geographic reach. In this paper we explore Ruler 12's administrative strategy in one region of the Copan kingdom, the El...
Putting El Pilar Back on the Middle Preclassic Map: Assessment and synthesis of the architectural data (2017)
Analyses of early settlement in the eastern Maya Lowlands have benefited from nearly thirty years of research targeting Middle Preclassic (900 – 350 B.C.) occupations in the Belize Valley. Frequently overlooked in these settlement pattern reconstructions is the site of El Pilar, which is situated in the limestone hills to the northwest of the Belize River headwaters. Excavations at El Pilar have primarily focused on the impressive Classic-period architectural remains that comprise the site...
Putting the Pieces Together: Maax Na in Its Regional Context (2017)
Twenty years of research at the large prehispanic Maya site of Maax Na in northwestern Belize have yielded insights not only into site organization and function, but also into its role in the Three Rivers Region. Ongoing investigations of a marketplace and of local caves indicate that Maax Na, while probably not the political capital that its neighbor La Milpa was, nonetheless had a distinct and important regional function as a religious and marketing center. Investigation of water management...
Putting the Pieces Together: Paleogenomics and Bioarchaeology at Midnight Terror Cave (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Subterranean" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since 2014, the Midnight Terror Cave (MTC) osteological assemblage has been subjected to archaeological, skeletal, isotopic, and paleogenomic analyses generating new insights regarding the use of the cave space as well as the individuals found within it. The thousands of human remains, animal bones, ceramics, and artifacts, have pushed us...
Putting Xultun on the Map (2015)
This poster shall illustrate the several different mapping phases of the archaeological site of Xultun, Guatemala in order to demonstrate how the mapping process has significantly altered our understanding of the site. Xultun was first surveyed by Sylvanus Morely in the 1920’s whose maps included a handful of structures and stelae. The site remained largely uninvestigated for the next 50 years until Von Euw expanded the map, through his epigraphic work for the Peabody Museum. Xultun’s map did...
pXRF Chemical Signatures for Obsidian Sample from Terrace S19, Cerro Danush (2013)
These are the raw data recorded for particular trace metals from the pXRF detector. The provenience of each piece is reported. For further information on provenience or the sample, consult the project report 2010
pXRF Obsidian Sample Data from Terrace S25, Cerro Danush (2015)
These are the provenience, description, and measurement data for the obsidian pieces analyzed through pXRF from Terrace S25 on Cerro Danush. See Project Report 2015 for further information on proveniences and such.
pXRF Results for Obsidian Sample from Terrace S19, Cerro Danush (2013)
These are the results from the pXRF analysis of just under 300 pieces, mostly prismatic blades, collected on Terrace S19, Cerro Danush during the 2009-2010 field season. For more specific information on the project, please consult the Project Report from 2010.
pXRF Results for Obsidian Sample from Terrace S25, Cerro Danush (2015)
This file contains the results of pXRF analysis from the obsidian collected during excavations of the residences on Terrace S25, Cerro Danush, Dainzú-Macuilxóchitl
The Pyramid 12H3 Xultun Archaeological Site, Peten. Transition from the Preclassic to Classic (2015)
The pyramid 12H3 is located on the east of the B group and is the largest pyramid at the site of Xultun, measuring 50.0m x 20.0 m, and approximately 26.0m tall, with a north south axis orientation. he pyramid has at least 5 construction phases. he early work on the structure and documentation consisted of cleaning reach looting tunnels with the intention of knowing the phases of construction, obtaining relevant data on the early occupation of Xultun. Research conducted within Sub-1, showed...
Pyramids and Temple Mounds: Mesoamerican Ceremonial Architecture in Eastern North America (1965)
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.
Pyramids, Plazas, and Walls: Hilltop Settlements at the Periphery of El Zotz, Guatemala (2016)
Landscape studies provide new insights into the ways communities manipulated and used their environments. Among the ancient Maya, settlements at the outskirts of important centers varied greatly in design, elevation, and function, pointing to a unique and complementary form of urbanism. Among these, hilltop groups are key to understanding some of the social and political dynamics taking place in the Maya lowlands. Serving as strategic locales in the landscape, hilltop settlements served varying...
Pyrotechnology in the Ethnohistoric and Archaeological Record of Prehispanic Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In pre-Hispanic Mexico the use and the importance of fire are demonstrated by materials and objects that, without the use of high temperature processes, or pyrotechnology in general terms, would not exist. As examples it will be sufficient to mention ceramics, metals and lime production. The processes that do not qualify as industrial and that employ lower...
Quantifying obsidian extraction at the Zaragoza-Oyameles source area of Puebla, Mexico and what this means for understanding ancient Mesoamerican economies (2017)
Typically overlooked in economic models of commodity production, distribution and consumption in Mesoamerica, is some discussion on the initial procurement of the materials that form the basis of the ancient economies we study. Significant cultural issues, such as labor coordination, territoriality, group identity, knowledge transmission and wealth, which are all wrapped up in a dynamic political and ideological milieu, are at play in the discrete geographical loci where material procurement...