Mesoamerica (Geographic Keyword)
526-550 (2,459 Records)
In the mid-nineteenth century Maya refugees fleeing the violence of the Caste War of Yucatan (1857-1901) briefly reoccupied the ancient Maya ruins of Tikal, Guatemala. These Yucatec speaking refugees combined with Lacandon Maya, and later Ladinos from Lake Petén Itza to form a small, multi-ethnic village in the sparsely occupied Petén jungle of northern Guatemala. The following paper will discuss the recent archaeological investigation of the historic refugee village at Tikal, with a focus on...
Consuming in Empire: The Materiality of Household Consumption at Postclassic and Colonial Xaltocan, Mexico (2015)
Consumption, as Paul Mullins explains, "revolves around the acquisition of things to confirm, display, accent, mask, and imagine who we are and who we wish to be." Consumer choices of goods in the marketplace relate to the desire to connect oneself with particular networks of people and places on the landscape, and these connections play a role in the formation of personal and household identity. Here, I present research on the social dimensions inherent in economic practices, which are notably...
Consumo de bienes de prestigio y estrategias políticas: una propuesta diacrónica para el noroeste de Yucatán en el Preclásico (2017)
Durante el Preclásico, el noroeste de Yucatán atestiguo el desarrollo de grupos sociales complejos tempranos evidenciados por la aparición de una jerarquía de asentamientos y una arquitectura de función cívico-ritual. La evidencia arqueológica indica que estos grupos tenían acceso a bienes de intercambio a larga distancia de productos elaborados con diversas materias primas: obsidiana, jade y basalto, por mencionar los que aparecen con mayor frecuencia en contextos arqueológicos. En contraste,...
Consumption and Construction: Art, Sacra, and the Place of Empire in Postclassic Mexico (2017)
In the pre-Columbian era of Mexico, devotional objects served to reinforce existing cultural systems while simultaneously shaping the overarching aesthetic narrative. This presentation will explore the manner by which ixiptla (lit. representation), a type of central Mexican cult effigy, functioned to form the visual rhetoric that is illustrative and formative of conceptions of space, place, and cultural identity in the late Postclassic Period. Within the category of devotional images, ixiptla...
The Contents, Roles and Meanings of "Tribute" among the Classic Maya (2016)
Ethnohistorical accounts of tribute among the Yukatek Maya provide an impressive list of commodities in circulation at the time of Spanish contact while also affording a glimpse of the interwoven layers of socio-economic relationships underlying these acts of tribute and tax payments. This paper compares the Yukatekan configurations, both recorded and implied, with those intimated from the patterns of production and distribution of Classic period decorated ceramics. The study employs a...
Contextos Funerarios Posclásicos en San Pedro Nexicho Oaxaca, Análisis Preliminares de un Sitio de la Sierra Juárez (2017)
Recientes trabajos de exploración llevados a cabo en la población de San Pedro Nexicho, ubicado en la Sierra Norte de Oaxaca, se han enfocado en el registro y análisis de cinco tumbas ubicadas en un sitio posclásico zapoteca. Las investigaciones en esta región han sido someras, por lo que encontrar contextos tan complejos y explorarlos con una metodología controlada nos ha ofrecido uno de los conjuntos de materiales arqueológicos más importantes para la comprensión integral de las relaciones de...
A Contextual Analysis of Special Finds from the Medicinal Trail site in Northwestern Belize (2016)
This poster details the findings from a contextual analysis of “special finds” artifacts collected at Medicinal Trail from 2004-2014. Medicinal Trail is a hinterland community in the Maya lowlands of Northwestern Belize, 5 km east of the large urban center of La Milpa. The special finds collected at Medicinal Trail include an assemblage of artifacts from a variety of non-perishable raw materials including clay, shell, and stone that do not belong to standard categories of ceramic, lithic, and...
A Contextual and Iconographic Analysis of Precolumbian Stamps from the Lower Rio Verde Valley (2017)
Known as estampias, pintaderas, or sellos, ceramic stamps are known from Precolumbian sites throughout Mexico although very little research has been done on this group of artifacts. Previously published examples depict a wide range of iconographic themes, including geometric, floral, and faunal designs. This paper presents an analysis of 19 ceramic stamps recovered from excavations in the lower Río Verde valley. This group of artifacts spans nearly the entire Precolumbian period, from the Late...
Contextualizing the Art: Excavations at Oxtotitlán Cave, Guerrero, Mexico (2016)
This paper presents findings from the 2014-2015 field seasons of the Urban Origins Project at Oxtotitlán cave in Guerrero, Mexico. Collaborative archaeological methods at the Quiotepec-Oxtotitlán site resulted in extensive survey, preliminary mapping, and excavations at the cave and in the surrounding area. Excavation units were placed in association with the murals, at the mouth of the rockshelter in the northern part of the cave complex, and in the botanical garden within the protected...
Contribuciones científicas de un coleccionista. Francisco Plancarte y Navarrete y el Preclásico (2017)
Las colecciones arqueológicas del Preclásico del Altiplano Central que se encuentran depositadas en el Museo Nacional de Antropología son una fuente de información fundamental para el conocimiento de este periodo, además de ser las más numerosas y completas en su tipo, ya que incluyen tanto las que proceden de las grandes excavaciones realizadas hace décadas (aunque desafortunadamente constituyen un porcentaje menor), como aquellas colecciones que llegaron al museo por adquisiciones diversas...
Controlling the Flow: Interregional Interaction, Community Prosperity, and Politics at the Highland/Pacific Frontier of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala (2017)
Lake Atitlan sits within the Sierra Madre mountain chain which represents the physical divide between the Guatemalan highlands and the Pacific lowlands. It was thus ideally situated to act as a hub for cultural and economic exchanges between these two contrasting ecological zones. The three imposing volcanoes that line its southern shore, however, severely limited options for travel between these areas and commerce and settlement thus concentrated around obvious natural corridors such as those...
Copal Offering Objects: Manufactured in Tenochtitlan (2015)
In our days, is a general known the amazing offering ritual made by the mexica people in the late Posclassic period. The studies show a high diversity of organic and inorganic material, some local, some brought from foreign lands, like the resin of copal case, as was verified by historical documents and ethnographic studies, so, the copal resin was imported as crude feedstock. The resin was brought to Tenochtitlan where it was transformed into different objects like bars, spheres,...
Copan reloaded: a new look at the Ante step and its context (2017)
This presentation reassesses the chronology and meaning of the inscription on the hieroglyphic step of the Ante structure at Copan, Honduras. The analysis was made possible by a high-resolution 3D scan of the step produced in 2011. The new interpretation indicates that the city of Copan underwent a re-foundation event upon the accession of its eighth ruler, Wi’ Ohl K’inich. The known contexts of similar statements are discussed along with the implications of several possible translations for our...
Copper Back Mirrors (Tezcacuitlapilli) as Objects of Political and Religious Authority in the Casas Grandes World (A.D. 1200-1450) (2015)
The rise of the Casas Grandes culture (AD 1200-1450) in Chihuahua, Mexico and the adoption of a new religion centered upon the Mesoamerican solar deity Xochipilli prefigured many of the social transformations that occurred among Pueblo cultures across the American Southwest by the fourteenth century. The appearance of new architecture of clear Mesoamerican derivation (e.g., I-shaped ballcourts) and imported finished objects of shell and copper in the Casas Grandes world indicates heightened...
Copper bells from the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan - imports or local production? (2015)
The studies of the offerings of the Templo Mayor of the late postclassic Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan have shown that these concentrate objects of many different materials, styles and origins. The question of how these objects reached the offerings has probably more than one answer, reflecting the complexity of the postclassic economic system. However, recent research has shown that several artifact groups that were thought to be imports were probably produced in strictly regulated workshops...
Copyright Permission for Resources ingested into tDAR (The Archaeology of Highland Chiriqui, Panama Project) (2010)
This database contains the information about all permissions gained for by Karen Holmberg (author of the article for which the project is named). For The Archaeology of Highland Chiriqui, Panama Project
Copán’s Preclassic Pioneers: New Evidence from the San Lucas Neighborhood (2016)
Recent work in the San Lucas neighborhood outside of Copán’s urban core discovered significant human occupation in the Late Preclassic period—centuries before the first king came to power. Construction materials, ceramic styles, obsidian tools, human remains, and radiocarbon dates from three households attest to the early and continuous settlement of this area in the foothills south of the Copán River. This paper reviews the evidence for San Lucas’s Preclassic population, and its significance...
Cosmic Ventures of the Olmec Dwarf: An Analysis of the Dispersal and Transformation of Dwarf Imagery within Olmec Iconography (2017)
The formative period dwarf imagery in Mesoamerica offers an exemplary opportunity to further our understanding of the Olmec cosmovision and how their ideology spread throughout the region. This study specifically compares the three monumental sandstone dwarfs at La Venta to the portable dwarfs carved in stone and sculpted from clay found elsewhere within the Olmec exchange network. I discuss the origin of Dwarf imagery within the Olmec artistic style through an analysis of stylistic trends and...
Cosmic Vision: Queering Ancient Maya Scared Landscapes (2016)
As a method of deconstructing and disrupting what is normative, archaeologists have used queer theory to explore aspects of the formation and intersection of identities. In this paper I illustrate how queer theory can be used beyond the study of identity by exploring the relationships between people and places. Comprising 25 cenotes, or karstic sinkholes, Cara Blanca, Belize represents one of the highest concentrations of cenotes in the Southern Maya Lowlands. A highly sacred landscape, Cara...
Cosmogenesis in the Mixtec Codices: Visual Narratives of Place, Emergence, and Movement (2017)
In the Postclassic Mixtec codices, the integral and integrative themes of place, emergence, and movement converge. Neglected in much of the scholarly literature on the sacred books of the Mixtec, the visual representation of supernatural and historical figures’ emergence and movement from place to place is an integral component of the codical narratives. Emergence and movement are tethered to and integrative with Mixtec portrayals of place, of various kingdoms through a standardized glyphic sign...
Cosmogonía y ritualidad en contextos funerarios de Tamtoc, SLP, México (2017)
En antropología, la muerte es considerada un hecho natural universal con expresiones socioculturales fundamentadas en la cosmogonía de cada grupo humano, y es a través de los rituales funerarios que se marca la conexión simbólica entre la vida y la muerte, que se expresa tanto en el plano material-biológico (cadáver y lugar de destino final) como en el espiritual (trascendencias, creencias y escatología); en tanto que, la muerte, como hecho objetivo y como hecho cultural ritualizado, delimita el...
Cosmology at Home: Ritual Caching within the Residences of Late Preclassic Noh K’uh, Chiapas Mexico (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Late Preclassic (400 BC - A.D. 200) site of Noh K'uh is located in the Mensäbäk basin, 30 kilometers west of the Usumacinta River. Noh K'uh was a small ceremonial center composed of several residential groups centered around a ceremonial plaza. Noh K’uh’s location near the western edge of the Maya lowlands placed the residents near contemporary...
Cosmology, Calendars and Horizon-Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica (2015)
Cosmology, Calendars, and Horizon-Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica is an interdisciplinary tour de force that establishes the critical role astronomy played in the religious and civic lives of the ancient peoples of Mesoamerica. Providing extraordinary examples of how Precolumbian peoples merged ideas about the cosmos with those concerning calendar and astronomy, the volume showcases the value of detailed examinations of astronomical data for understanding ancient cultures. The volume...
Cosmopolitanism: New Theoretical Considerations of the Mesoamerican Epiclassic (2015)
Previous theoretical considerations of the Mesoamerican Epiclassic period have situated social change as part of social evolutionary processes of state collapse, the networking of a few religious and political-elites (e.g., cult of Quetzalcoatl), the proliferation of market economies, and the beginning of an "International Style". This paper considers notions of cosmopolitanism as a new theoretical framework for thinking about Epiclassic processes. It has long been suggested that Epiclassic...
Costly Signaling, Cost Masking, and the Classic-Postclassic Transition: Slipped Ceramics and other Media in the Context of the Petén Lakes Region, Guatemala. (2016)
Costly signaling theory indicates that highly visible acts of public generosity and display, which exact costs not easily recouped, however, can provide social benefits to those engaged in such acts. Such signaling is associated with the strength or fitness of the provider. Analyzing slipped and fineware ceramics in display contexts, and obsidian use and architecture, this presentation explores how Maya elites and rural sub-elites engaged in costly signaling and modified their actions by cost...