Mesoamerica (Geographic Keyword)
576-600 (2,459 Records)
In this paper, we present the results of our preliminary analysis of the application of LiDAR (light detection and ranging) imagery of the archaeological site of El Tintal in northern Guatemala. El Tintal is an extensive site with over 800 known buildings distributed in an area of about 12 square kilometers. From the Preclassic through the Late Classic Periods (ca. 400 B.C. to A.D. 850), the cultural settlement developed in direct association with the natural landscape marked by extensive bajos...
Cultural Dynamics and Influences in Jalisco’s Central Plateau during the Late Classic-Epiclassic Period: The Case of El Palacio de Ocomo (2016)
The El Grillo Complex (AD 300-600) of Jalisco’s central plateau, as defined by Galvan in the Atemajac Valley, is recognized as a dynamic and changing society that was integrated in the emergent Epiclassic cultural system of the Mesoamerican northwest. The excavations done in the last few years at El Palacio de Ocomo by the Oconahua Archaeological Project reveal a close relationship between this site and the El Grillo Complex. At the same time, ceramic analysis show elements that are considered...
Cultural Ecology of the Teotihuacan Valley (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.
Cultural Exchange in Times of Crisis: A Historical Perspective from Mexico of the 1930s and ‘40s (2018)
During the depths of the Great Depression and prior to and after World War II, Mexico’s Museo Nacional de Antropología undertook exchanges, or canjes, of archaeological pieces with a variety of museums, disseminating small portions of its collection across the nation and the world. Actual trades of archaeological works were completed in the early 1930s with museums in Yucatán, Mexico; Lima, Peru; and New York and Chicago in the United States. There were more limited exchanges of casts with...
Cultural Legacies of the Classic Maya: The Postclassic Northern Maya Lowlands and Beyond (2018)
Analysis of the iconography, hieroglyphic captions, and calendrical component of the Postclassic Maya codices, believed to derive from the Northern Maya Lowlands, provides important information about their possible antecedents. Portions of the Dresden Codex, for example, suggest clear links to the mural program painted on the interior of the Los Sabios structure from the site of Xultun, Guatemala, which includes a section with detailed calculations of a lunar cycle and another that may depict a...
Cultural Modification of Human Remains at Cerro Jazmín, Mixteca Alta (2016)
Bone modification in human remains is a common practice among ancient civilizations. In Mesoamerica important cultural modifications on human bone have been reported, such as cranial deformation, dental modification, groves in long bones, and mandibles used as ornaments. In Oaxaca, within the Valley of Oaxaca, some of these cultural modifications of human remains have been dated to the middle Formative period in the Rosario Phase (BC. 700/500). Meanwhile, cultural modifications, such as cranial...
Cultural practices and trade routes in the Sierra Norte of Puebla during the Middle Formative. Archaeology of the Teteles de Avila Region. (2017)
The first systematic excavations at the archaeological site of "Teteles de Avila Castillo", in the northeastern regional province of Puebla, Mexico, in 2015, resulted in the identification of elements and cultural practices that allow us to locate this settlement in an early chronological period for this region. Additionally we can understand the relationship between the central highlands of Mesoamerica and the northern Gulf of Mexico, previous to the Teotihuacan upswing.
Cultural Processes without Chronology: The Formative to Classic Period Transition (150 BC- AD 200) at the Early Urban Center of Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico (2016)
In southern Mesoamerica the transition from the Formative to Classic period (150 BC- AD 200) was a time of population decline, cessation of monumental construction, and abandonment of many sites. At the city of Izapa, located in the Soconusco region of Mexico, evidence for a dramatic shift has been presented for the Hato phase (ca. 150 BC- AD 50). The New World Archaeological Foundation archaeologists, working in the 1960s, noted that an urn burial custom and use of foreign pottery styles...
Culture Areas Final Map (2010)
The aim of the LEAP projects was to publish multi-layered e-publications and develop and link them to associated digital archives. The original LEAP project was funded by the AHRC while the LEAP II, A Trans-Atlantic LEAP, was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This final map project is part of a 2011 LEAP II project "Placing immateriality: situating the material of highland Chiriquí" by Karen Holberg. The files contained in this record include an .mxd map project and an image of the...
Culture_Bound Shapefile (2010)
The aim of the LEAP projects was to publish multi-layered e-publications and develop and link them to associated digital archives. The original LEAP project was funded by the AHRC while the LEAP II, A Trans-Atlantic LEAP, was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This shapefile is part of a 2011 LEAP II project "Placing immateriality: situating the material of highland Chiriquí" by Karen Holberg. All files associated with this record must be downloaded to ensure that the shapefile...
Culture_Boundaries Shapefile (2010)
The aim of the LEAP projects was to publish multi-layered e-publications and develop and link them to associated digital archives. The original LEAP project was funded by the AHRC while the LEAP II, A Trans-Atlantic LEAP, was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This shapefile is part of a 2011 LEAP II project "Placing immateriality: situating the material of highland Chiriquí" by Karen Holberg. All files associated with this record must be downloaded to ensure that the shapefile...
Curating Large Skeletal Collections: An Example from the Ancient Maya Site of Copan, Honduras (2017)
Bioarchaeologists draw data from the detailed study of human remains from archaeological contexts. The information embedded in the skeleton provides a powerful window into prehistory; informing us of past lifeways, health/disease, diet, kinship, migration, and conflict. The intimate relationship between the living and the dead is necessarily imbued with respect and an ethical responsibility to properly handle and curate the remains of those that we study. However, the conservation of skeletal...
Curation and Best Practice with Human Remains in Northwest Belize (2016)
As of the summer of 2015, approximately 135 burials have been recovered and investigated through the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project (PfBAP) in Northwest Belize. Within the 270,000 acres of land on which the PfBAP operates, approximately 60 archaeological sites have been recorded and investigated. As the number of burials increases with new site identification and investigation, a need for data consolidation and accessibility has arisen. We aim to make this data more attainable...
Current ritual materiality at Tak’alik Ab’aj (2015)
Tak’alik Ab’aj since its heyday in Preclassic and during its long history until Late Classic, was an important trade and cultural center of the southwestern Maya Periphery. After abandonment of 1700 years of long-lived and uninterrupted history in 900 AD, this ancient city apparently maintained its significance as ancestral sacred place and rituals were performed as inconspicuous as possible, in view that the site has passed into private properties. Since de beginnings of the creation of the...
The current work of "Sistema de Registro Público de Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicas e Históricos" in Mexico (2017)
Not long ago a public register of moveable and immovable goods of Mexican cultural heritage was implemented. This system has been changed and modified to improve it. In general terms, the "Sistema Único de Registro Público de Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicas e Históricas (SURPMZAH)" consists of an identification, description and finally the assignment of an official number to the piece to assist in the recovery of the object if stolen. I believe the system has unsuccessfully transformed and...
The Curse of Classic: Rethinking the Agency of Maya Ceramic Production (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. Rooted in the Eurocentric concept of Classical antiquity, the “Classic” period is considered to have epitomized Maya civilization, standing in contrast to the developments that characterize the periods that came before and after. This dichotomy...
The Cycle of the Living Dead: Ruins, Loss, and Preservation in Tihosuco, Quintana Roo (2017)
Why does the threat of loss strike fear into our hearts as heritage professionals and archaeologists? Why do we not understand the loss of cultural practices as part and parcel of being human, and accept that loss is not the opposite of heritage, but in fact and integral part of it? We need to transform the discourse surrounding loss, embracing it as an integral part of culture rather than avoiding it. This paper will demonstrate how such threats impact the decision making processes surrounding...
Dacite Slab Least Cost Path Final Map (2010)
The aim of the LEAP projects was to publish multi-layered e-publications and develop and link them to associated digital archives. The original LEAP project was funded by the AHRC while the LEAP II, A Trans-Atlantic LEAP, was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This final map project is part of a 2011 LEAP II project "Placing immateriality: situating the material of highland Chiriquí" by Karen Holberg. The files contained in this record include an .mxd map project and an image of the...
The Daily Experience of Space in Teotihuacan (2017)
This paper will explore the daily experience of space in one of ancient Mesoamerica’s quintessential urban environments, Teotihuacan. We often understand places like Teotihuacan through a consideration of its monumental structures and their relationship to the natural landscape, and emphasize the impact of specific burial events on social memory. Classic examples like the Street of the Dead’s geomantic procession in the heart of the city plan, or the Ciudadela’s stage-set quality, seemingly...
Dainzú-Macuilxóchitl Archaeological Project
This archive contains all of the data derived from field research at the site of Dainzú-Macuilxóchitl in the Oaxaca Valley of Mexico. This is a multi-year project consisting of intensive survey and mapping, as well as comprehensive excavations. The mapping and survey are designed to provide a detailed topographic map of the site and provide a basic temporal and spatial settlement description. Intensive excavations are focused on residential areas. This project has been financially supported...
Dance and Music in Maya Rituals: The Case of Tecum (2015)
According to the 16th-century Título K’oyoi, the K’iche’ captain Tecum participated in two elaborate ceremonies before leading his army into war against the Spanish conquerors. Both included dance and music and even though he later was killed in battle, Tecum somehow continued to dance until the present day, now taking part in the preparation and performance of the so-called Dance of the Conquest. This "fact" alone tells important things about the concepts and functions of dance and music in...
Darkness at Noon and a Whole Lot More: The Temazcal at Ceren (2017)
When people entered the temazcal at Cerén and shut the door, they created utter darkness at any time during the day. Their preparations were elaborate, involving obtaining permission from members of Household 2, who had a service relationship in maintaining the structure. They provided pine firewood and water in ollas for creating steam and as well as for ablutions after partaking. Creation of a fire in the domed firebox heated and smoked up the interior; then a plug was removed from the roof to...
Dating and Cultural Associations of the "Potbellied" Sculptural Style: New Evidence from Western El Salvador (1982)
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.
Dating Maya Classic Ceramics in Northwestern Belize via OSL (2016)
Twenty-four years of investigations conducted by the Maya Research Program at numerous Maya archaeological sites in northwestern Belize offers special opportunities for the investigation of the social and political dynamics at the end of the Classic period in this region. In this paper, we discuss the Late Classic time period, including rapidly increasing populations, political reorganization, declining soil quality, and expansion of agricultural systems. We discuss the specific responses that...
DDIG - Spatial Organization Within A Traditional Political System: ICPMS Raw Data (2017)
This spreadsheets contains the results of the ICP/MS analysis of the 328 samples of stucco floors collected at the Classic Maya Site of La Corona, Guatemala, in June 2016, by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, the co-PI of the NSF DDIG entitled Spatial Organization Within A Traditional Political System (Award ID: 1623787). The current dataset is uploaded to tDAR in compliance to the data management plan approved by the NSF. The stucco were sampled by the Laboratory for Anthropogenic Soils Research,...