Mesoamerica (Geographic Keyword)
826-850 (2,459 Records)
This is an abstract from the "Plant Exudates and Other Binders, Adhesives, and Coatings in the Americas" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Both the ancient and modern Maya have employed a broad range of plant exudates, gums, resins, and other natural products for many centuries. Numerous plant species indigenous to Mesoamerica possess bioactive compounds that have served as medicine, pesticides, fish poisons, dyes, adhesives, unguents, tanning...
Fabricating Political Constituencies, Artistic Production at the Templo Mayor (2015)
The excavation of the Templo Mayor yielded a plethora of objects that testify to the supreme ideological importance this edifice held for the Mexica confederacy. While the offerings unearthed within the foundations of this structure comprised a variety of portable objects placed in intimate settings, larger sculptures seem to have articulated more public iconographic programs. My analysis of both portable and monumental sculptures shows these works emphasized the bricolage of incorporated and...
Faked but Not Forgotten: The Enduring Appeal of the Crystal Skulls (2015)
Supposedly originating from pre-Columbian Mesoamerican sites, the crystal skulls are one of the most iconic sets of fake artifacts which have graced museum shelves and the public’s imagination. The first crystal skulls appeared in collections during the late 1800’s, and well-known specimens are housed today as modern fakes at the Smithsonian and British Museums. Most media coverage of the skulls has revolved around the privately owned, so-called "Skull of Doom", claimed to be of Mayan origin and...
Family Trees & Feathered Serpents at Chichén Itzá: Expanding H.B. Nicholson’s Understanding of Kukulcan (2017)
While H.B. Nicholson’s magnum opus about Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl concentrates on ethnohistory, he acknowledges that some imagery at Chichén Itzá may highlight the feathered serpent’s role as patron. I propose other readings for Kukulcan ("Feathered Serpent" in Yucatecan Maya) at Early Postclassic Chichén Itzá. Linguistic and ethnographic evidence indicates that the feathered serpent symbolizes lineage and ancestry and that rattlesnake physiognomy intersects with fertility. These readings...
Famine Foods and Food Security in Ancient and Modern Yaxuna (2017)
Food as an object of study can reveal relationships between biological necessity, culture, and oppression. The 1996 World Summit on Food Security declared that "food should not be used as an instrument for political and economic pressure," yet archaeology shows myriad ways in which food access was manipulated in the past, and the ramifications of those manipulations. In the Maya area, prestige foods have tended to be the focus of analysis. In this paper, we emphasize the importance of the...
Fang & Feather: The Origin of Avian-Serpent Imagery at Teotihuacan and Symbolic Interaction with Jaguar Iconography in Mesoamerica (2018)
The Central Mexican city of Teotihuacan rose to prominence in the last century BC and lasted for six centuries The civic plan was arranged around two main perpendicular avenues lined with temples and public monuments. By the third century AD, the population was housed in apartment compounds. On the walls were murals depicting ornately dressed administrators, armor-clad warriors, and fantastic creatures. These murals were the birthplace of the Feathered Serpent. My research proposes that the...
Fashioning Meaning through Ceramic Candeleros in the Terminal Classic Naco Valley, Northwestern Honduras (2015)
Candeleros are simply made ceramic artifacts that consist of one or more cylindrical chambers that are usually circularly arranged and often show signs of burning. These objects are found widely across Mesoamerica though they are rare in most locales. The 100 km2 Naco Valley in northwestern Honduras diverges from this pattern in that: candeleros are frequently found in Terminal Classic (800-1000 CE) assemblages here; they vary in size from items containing a single chamber to others with upwards...
Faunal Analysis Data for Terrace S25 (2015)
This file contains all of the data from Dr. Heather Laphams analysis of the animal bones collected during the 2015 excavation of Terrace S25 on Cerro Danush, Dainzú-Macuilxóchitl, Oaxaca, Mexico
Faunal Analysis Report for Terrace S25 (2015)
This is the report by Dr. Heather Lapham of the analysis of the faunal materials recovered during the 2015 excavations of Terrace S25 on Cerro Danush.
Feather headdresses among the offerings at Tenochtitlan’s Great Temple (2015)
The excavations conducted during the seventh field season of the Templo Mayor Project have uncovered a large quantity of organic matter, thus the conservation team has dedicated a large part of their efforts to the treatment of these rare materials. During the cleaning of these materials, feathers associated with heron bones were identified. In a level below them were found more remains of feathers belonging to the headdresses of Tlaloc masks. The degree of their deterioration required us to...
Feathered Serpents at Uxmal: Creation, Cosmos, Cosmopolitanism, and Kingship (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. At Uxmal, Yucatán, monumental plumed snakes appear in the sculptural program of the Main Ballcourt and Nunnery Quadrangle. These feathered serpents express complex concepts connected to their pan-Mesoamerican role as a demiurge associated with dawning light, life force, and cosmic order...
Feature Excavation Forms, Terrace S25, Cerro Danush (2015)
Excavation forms for features excavated on Terrace S25
Fedick-ian Approaches to Wetland Studies: Rock Alignments, Resilience, and the Pulse-Based Ecosystem (2015)
It was nearly ten years ago when Dr. Scott Fedick unleashed his graduate students Daniel Leonard and Jennifer Chmilar into the Yalahau wetlands. Upon their return, Scott asked what questions each had about the wetlands, and two projects were born. During the ensuing field seasons, and time in between, Scott helped to solidify and expand on background knowledge, encourage interdisciplinary collaborations, and offer much needed support. In time, both Dan and Jen emerged from the wetlands able to...
Fedickschrift: Notes on a Prominent Historical Figure in Ethnoecology, Ethnoarchaeology, and Landscape Studies (2015)
The legacy of Scott Fedick in ethnoecology, ethnoarchaeology, and landscape studies cannot be understated. Aside from years of active collaborative work and mentorship, the dissemination of his research has led to rich interpretations far beyond his immediate influence. In the first part of this paper, I follow impacts of Fedick's scholarship in several fields, as tracked through citations and students. I also trace his impacts on public policy and common understandings of Maya lifeways. In...
Feeding the Gods, Calling the Rains: Archaeobotanical Remains from a Monumental Fire Shrine at El Perú-Waka’, Guatemala (2015)
The discovery of a fire shrine atop the adosada of Structure M13-1 at El Perú-Waka’ supports the archaeological and epigraphic records which have at various places in the Maya region (including Waka’) made reference to the arrival in AD 378 of Siyaj K’ak’. This event resulted in the introduction of the fire shrine cult, glossed as Wite Naah in Mayan, from Teotihuacan to the Maya Lowlands. M13-1’s cal AD 7th century fire shrine is the final phase of the main temple’s fronting platform. Careful...
Feeding the Mountain: Plant Remains from Ritual Contexts On and Around Structure M13-1 at El Perú-Waka’ (2017)
Structure M13-1, a major civic-ceremonial building at the center of the Classic Maya city El Perú-Waka’ in northwestern Petén, Guatemala, held special significance to its citizenry. While it was likely ritually significant since the Early Classic period, evidence indicates it was the focus of sustained and repeated ceremonial acts of likely varying scales, accouterment, and practitioners throughout the Late and Terminal Classic periods (circa A.D. 600-900). In this paper, we explore data from...
A Few Considerations Regarding Jade Circulation during the Aztec Period (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Approaches to Cultural and Biological Complexity in Mexico at the Time of Spanish Conquest" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. It is well a known fact among researchers that the only confirmed jade deposits in Mesoamerica are found in the middle Motagua Valley in Guatemala. This gem’s brightest shades of green were the most appreciated among Mesoamerican people, yet, barely three hundred objects made with emerald green...
Field Conservation of Skeletal Remains: Techniques, Materials, and Implications for Future Analysis (2017)
The information potential of skeletal remains – as for any excavated material – is impacted by the conditions of archaeological burial, and the environments and actions encountered during subsequent excavation, laboratory processing, study, and storage. A conservation approach emphasizes the mitigation of threats to material stability and integrity, which for excavated collections are often most critical at the point of archaeological exposure and recovery. Techniques and materials in use by...
Field Schools and Gender in Archaeology (2019)
This is an abstract from the "I Love Sherds and Parasites: A Festschrift in Honor of Pat Urban and Ed Schortman" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper reflects on the singular importance of field school experiences, such as the semester abroad program of Kenyon College, for supporting students as they come to understand the social context of professional life in Latin American Archaeology and their ability to positively contribute to an...
Figurines, Households, and Social Identities at La Blanca during the Middle Preclassic Period (2016)
The development of social complexity in Ancient Mesoamerica during the Preclassic period is marked by ideological change, economic intensification, and increasing political and social inequality. Performing household rituals allowed the people of Ancient Mesoamerica to negotiate their social identities and to contest or conform to dominant public ideologies that emerged with increasing social complexity. In Pacific Guatemala, La Blanca was one of two major regional centers during the Middle...
Figurines, Households, and Social Identities at La Blanca during the Middle Preclassic Period (900-600 B.C.E.) (2017)
La Blanca was one of two major regional centers during the Conchas phase (900-600 B.C.E.) of the Middle Preclassic period in the Soconusco region of Pacific Guatemala. Household differentiation and social stratification at Preclassic sites in this region can be explored by analyzing the distribution of ceramic figurines across elite and commoner households at La Blanca. Through an analysis of typological distributions of figurines from La Blanca, I provide insight into the production and...
Filling in the Maya Mosaic of Northwestern Belize: Survey and Mapping at MRP (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Ancient Maya Landscapes in Northwestern Belize, Part I" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. For several decades, MRP (Maya Research Program) has been working to amass an enormous base of survey and mapping data from the Three Rivers (Blue Creek, Bravo, Booth’s) and upper La Lucha escarpment region of Belize. Over 50 archaeological sites have been precisely recorded using innovative technologies and techniques that...
Final Field Report of the Investigations at the Archaeological Zone of X-Kukican, Yucatan, Mexico (1966)
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.
Final Moments: Contextualizing On-Floor Archaeological Materials from Caracol, Belize (2018)
Excavations within various locales at Caracol, Belize have recovered artifactual materials on the floors of epicentral stone buildings that were associated with the latest occupation of the site epicenter. These deposits are the result of both "de facto" refuse and rapid short-term abandonment processes. In many cases, complete vessels and other artefactual remains were recovered from the floors of Caracol’s epicentral buildings. Other terminal deposits comprise thin sheet-like layers of broken...
Finding Class from the Glass: Obsidian source as a costly signal (2016)
Obsidian is abundant at nearly every Post-Classic Mesoamerican site. The obsidian typically is derived from multiple sources, including distant, "costly" sources. Given that the obsidians’ utility is similar regardless of source, one possible explanation for such "wasteful" consumption uses costly signaling theory. In this model, behavioral displays indicate a hidden quality. Here, use of distant obsidians reflects status by demonstrating access to trade networks and the ability to absorb the...