Republic of El Salvador (Country) (Geographic Keyword)
2,451-2,475 (2,860 Records)
This is an abstract from the "13,000 Years of Adaptation in the Sonoran Desert at La Playa, Sonora" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Covering an area of nearly 10 km2, La Playa (SON F:10:3) is one of the most important archaeological sites in northwest Mexico. Significantly, La Playa has one of the most extensive Early Agricultural period deposits in the Southwest United States/Northwest Mexico. It is also being impacted by severe sheet erosion that...
Spatial Analysis of Geoglyphs in the Sihuas Valley, Peru (2017)
Geoglyphs are large features frequently created by removing rocks and surface dirt in order to create a large scale designs. Although often studied in isolation, much can be learned from the position of geoglyphs relative to other features on the landscape. As part of the Quilcapampa Archaeological Project, a reconnaissance survey guided by remotely sensed imagery was performed in order to document and map geoglyph iconography found on the pampa of the Sihuas Valley, Peru. To date, over 100...
Spatial Analysis of Surface Locality 5 at Fin del Mundo, Sonora, Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Paleoindian presence south of the modern geo-political US-Mexico border is relatively poorly understood when compared to that of the rest of North America. A notable exception to this gap in knowledge surrounds the work at Fin del Mundo in Sonora, Mexico. This northern Mexican site is the subject of extensive survey and excavation, revealing the only known...
Spatial Analysis of the Preserved Wooden Architectural Remains of Eight Late Classic Maya Salt Works in Punta Ycacos Lagoon, Toledo District, Belize (2017)
In 2005, eight Late Classic Maya sites with the remains of wooden posts were found beneath the surface of Punta Ycacos Lagoon in southern Belize. The presence of briquetage on the surface and embedded among the clusters of wooden architectural features implies association with salt production activity. This research employed a rigorous field survey, combined with mapping, sampling, and building a GIS. Detailed analysis of the spatial distribution of wooden posts was conducted to determine if...
Spatial Association between Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Ahu and Freshwater Sources (2017)
The famous ahu and moai monuments of Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) are features associated with multiple relatively small-scale communities distributed around the island. These communities are marked archaeologically by repeated sets of domestic architectural classes surrounding ceremonial features (i.e., ahu and moai) that potentially served to functionally integrate local populations. Described in this fashion, this settlement pattern offers the potential to explain the substantial...
The Spatial Distribution of Pleistocene Archaeological Sites and Paleoenvironmental Records across North America (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Research into the timing and process of human migration to North America at the end of the Pleistocene relies heavily on accurate paleoenvironmental reconstruction to understand habitable locations at the time. However, Pleistocene-aged archaeological sites in North America are rare, and specific paleoenvironmental information for these sites is often...
Spatial Roles in Cacaxtla: A Delineation from the Study of Its Architecture (2017)
The archaeological site of Cacaxtla, in the central highlands of Mexico, had its heyday during the Mesoamerican Epiclassic period. Its architectural characteristics define it as a place for residential and government activities, in contrast with the neighboring hill Xochitecatl, where constructions typify ritual purposes. Excavations were not accompanied by scientific studies of materials for the understanding of functions of rooms, porches, and courtyards that make up the site. Therefore, it is...
Spatiotemporal Analysis of Regional and Sub-regional Dog Size Data in Pre-Columbian North America (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Frontiers in Animal Management: Unconventional Species, New Methods, and Understudied Regions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent genetic research (Lethlohair et al. 2018) showed that dogs were introduced into North America over as many as four migration events. The first two were by Native Americans and the third and fourth by Europeans. In light of these findings, our research seeks to describe and explain the...
Spirit Possession in the Chesapeake (2018)
Proletarian drug foods north of the Caribbean in the Chesapeake area include spirits. Spirits include bourbon. Spirits include those of the dead, as well as the Holy Ghost. This paper attempts to introduce the concept of altered states of consciousness produced by both kinds of spirits. Can these be called proletariat drug foods? The purpose of this paper is to ask whether spirits of either kind so dull the senses that an acute perception of reality escapes the exploited or merely produces the...
Spondylus Shells in Pre-Columbian Copan: Their Religious and Economic Significance (2018)
This work offers a brief discussion on the importance of Spondylus princeps and Spondylus calcifer in the ceremonial, and economic life of ancient Copan. Archaeological contexts at the site indicate that the uses of Spondylus, either as non-worked valves, or finished artifacts was restricted to a small high-status sphere of Copan society. Additionally, contextual data indicate that the Spondylus was used in a least three ritual activities: as offering in burials; caches; and canceling of...
Spondylus, Mounds and Pyramids: An Approach to Social Changes in the Northern Andes of Ecuador during the Late Period (2017)
During the Pre-Columbian period, the northern Andes hosted an intense cultural interaction that led to the emergence of chiefdoms with diverse forms of political administration, power strategies, and economic integration. For the northern Andes of Ecuador, the archaeological research typically assumes a gradual development of the Cara people during the Late Period between 600 and 1525 AD. New archaeological evidence of social and natural events suggests a transitional stage between 900 and 1200...
The Spurious Claim of “Human Sacrifice” (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Misinformation and Misrepresentation Part 2: Reconsidering “Human Sacrifice,” Religion, Slavery, Modernity, and Other European-Derived Concepts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Almost without question, “human sacrifice” is held as a legitimate concept by archaeologists—and the public. The concept is widely employed to explain aspects of Mesoamerican behavior. In this presentation, I argue that human sacrifice was never...
Squeaky Clean: An Experiment to Test the Usefulness of Cleaning Agents on Silicon Dental Impression Molds (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As surface texture analysis has become more popular in archaeology, various materials were adapted to gather data left by use and dental-wear. Silicon-based dental impression materials, such as President® Jet by Coltène Whaledent, are used to make negative molds of wear patterns. These techniques have been applied to examining the dental microwear of teeth...
Stable Isotope Analysis (δ13C/δ15N) of Archaeological Feathers from Corral Redondo, Arequipa, Peru (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Feathercrafts were vital to prestige economies of the ancient Americas. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms and sources of feathered textile production can illuminate the nature of the trade networks that supported elite socioeconomic pursuits. In the 1940s, local farmers discovered an unprecedented cache of feathered textile panels wrapped in...
Stable isotope analysis of animal diets at the Postclassic regional capital of Mayapan (2017)
Subsistence economies during the Postclassic Period (ca. AD 1000-1524) in the northern Maya lowlands were shaped by a range of strategies that included agriculture, the cultivation of wild plants, hunting, trade and market exchange, and the management of animals. Stable isotope data from archaeological faunal remains offer important dietary information to reconstruct the subsistence strategies during this period. In this paper, we present paleodietary data from faunal remains recovered from...
Stable Isotope Analysis of Human and Animal Remains from Trent’s Plantation, Barbados, 17th through 19th Centuries (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Zooarchaeology and Technology: Case Studies and Applications" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Geochemical studies of stable isotopes on archaeological skeletal material offer information on human and animal diet, mobility and migration, exchange, and climate. Here, we apply stable isotope studies to human and animal remains recovered from archaeological excavations at Trent’s Plantation in Barbados. Trent’s Plantation...
Stable Oxygen Isotope δ18O Analysis of Crocus Clam (Tridacna crocea) from Palau, Micronesia: Evaluating a Proxy for Sea-surface Temperature Reconstruction (2017)
For thousands of years and on a global scale, shellfish have been a key resource for peoples living in island and coastal environments. Not only were they critical food resources, but can act as records of paleoenvironmental conditions. In this study, we evaluated whether the crocus clam (Tridacna crocea) could satisfactorily record ambient water temperature via the incorporation of oxygen isotope ratios into the calcium carbonate matrix during shell growth. Modern Tridacna crocea were collected...
Standards for Crime Scene Investigation: An OSAC Update (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Forensic Archaeology: Research & Practice" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) is a federal effort coordinated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to create standards of best practice for all disciplines within forensic science. In 2015, NIST created an OSAC subcommittee to address the lack of standards within crime scene investigation. ...
Starfish in the offerings of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan (2017)
Recent excavations carried out by the Templo Mayor Project in Tenochtitlan’s sacred precinct uncovered a significant number of calcium carbonate plates, which, in spite of their advanced degree of deterioration, can be identified as consisting of the endoskeletons of sea stars. These organisms belong to the Asteroidea (from the Greek aster: "star" and eidos: "in the shape of") class, most of which exhibit radial symmetry and have thin, discernibly pentagonal bodies. Sea stars inhabit marine...
Stark Variation: New Insights into Dire Wolves and their Interactions with Humans (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Human Interactions with Extinct Fauna" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Dire wolves are an iconic extinct Pleistocene species in the Americas and their interactions with humans at Paleoindian sites has been largely unknown. Here we explore potential interactions between dire wolves and Paleoindians at sites in the San Pedro Valley, Arizona. We also present new radiocarbon dates and the results of our ancient DNA...
The State of State Archaeological Site Files (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Transformations in Professional Archaeology" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The North Carolina Office of State Archaeology (NCOSA) has spent several years digitizing its archive of reports and site records to improve access for cultural resource managers and researchers. As we work towards making those files available for professional archaeologists to search remotely, we have compiled data on how other states make...
The State of the Art in Stating Risk: Assessment of Climate Vulnerability Assessments for National Park Service Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Resources (2018)
Across America, the National Park Service has conducted an array of vulnerability assessments for climate change impacts for cultural heritage resources, including archaeology, historic structures, cultural landscapes, and others. A project is currently underway to analyze these assessments. This process is designed to improve the practice of vulnerability assessments as well as scientific understanding of cultural resources vulnerability to climate change. In this paper we share preliminary...
Statistically Comparing Demographic Distributions of Mortuary Assemblages (2017)
This analysis includes data from 50 archaeological mortuary assemblages variously attributed to sacrifice, warfare, and standard mortality processes. The research compares two sites, both attributed to sacrifice, to those produced by the two alternative processes of warfare and standard mortality and explores the question of whether these assemblages may be differentiated from them based on the age distribution of deaths. The analysis incorporates a novel feature in that preservation bias is...
Status and Identity at the Margins of Empire: Foodways in pre-Inka and Inka Cuzco (2017)
Diet and cuisine are key practices in the daily negotiation of status and identity, particularly when studied at the household level. In the Maras region of rural Cuzco, the developing Inka state and a rival polity known ethnohistorically as the Ayarmaka maintained autonomous economic, social, and political practices. While other groups in the Cuzco region exchanged goods and shared some cultural practices with the Inka, the Ayarmakas did not. In the 15th century, the Ayarmaka suddenly abandoned...
Steering through North American Archaeology: Reflections on the Effectiveness of an Open Textbook Steering Committee (2018)
As an open educational resource, this textbook has been designed to incorporate the perspectives and expertise of a variety of different scholars and stakeholders from across North America. Early in the process, a ‘steering committee’ was established to try and ensure balanced coverage, maintain a relatively consistent voice, and iron out any difficulties that may arise. The steering committee has also been responsible for some of the small but important details like hunting down copyrights,...