Central America and Northern South America (Geographic Keyword)
101-125 (214 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Eastern Honduras was and is a culturally diverse region on the southern periphery of Mesoamerica. Limited research has been conducted in this region, especially when compared to the Maya in western Honduras. We present isotopic data from individuals interred at two sites, Cueva del Río Talgua and Cueva de las Arañas, which were primarily used during the...
Investigación con sensores remotos en la colina piramidal de Tulcán, Popayán, Colombia (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. El Morro Tulcán es una colina de forma piramidal de 5 ha, modificada antrópicamente, que representa la estructura monumental prehispánica más grande del suroccidente colombiano. Las excavaciones arqueológicas realizadas hace 50 años en el sitio evidenciaron que se dispusieron centenares de adobes y rellenos de tierra de manera ordenada en un área mayor a 2...
Investigating Human Subsistence Strategies in Panamá during the Late Holocene (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Unraveling the Mysteries of the Isthmo-Colombian Area’s Past: A Symposium in Honor of Archaeologist Richard Cooke and His Contributions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Subsistence strategies and foodways were at the heart of Richard Cooke's and colleagues' pioneering work in Panamá. Early work found that shifting resource reliance (terrestrial and marine) had impacts on the evolution of these early peoples’ cultures...
It Was Not Always the Frontier: Multicultural Interaction between Isthmo-Colombian and Mesoamerican Peoples in Central Costa Rica (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Postclassic Mesoamerica: The View from the Southern Frontier" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Evidence for interregional exchange between Central Costa Rica and Greater Nicoya dates back to AD 300, and lasted until the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century. Previous scholarship postulates that these regions were located in a changing boundary between Mesoamerican and Isthmo-Colombian peoples. While this may be...
It's Complicated: Making Sense of Material Monoculture in Multicultural Societies (2018)
Ethnohistoric and colonial documents typically focus on detailing a socioeconomic and political landscape dominated by Chorotega and Nicarao groups for contact-period Pacific Nicaragua. Yet these texts simultaneously indicate that other groups living in isolated communities or urban barrios were also commonplace and included Maribios, Mazatec, Chondal, Matagalpans, Sumo-Ulwa, and possibly Lenca and/or Maya-speaking peoples, among others. As archaeologists, we are aware—many of us dutifully...
Jaguar Fur, Snake Skin, Woven Baskets, and the Milky Way: The Dot-Grid Pattern from Nicaragua to Ecuador (2021)
This is an abstract from the "The Precolumbian Dotted-Diamond-Grid Pattern: References and Techniques" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Dotted grids abound in art of Pacific Nicaragua southward through Costa Rica and Panama to Ecuador, whether on painted and incised ceramic vessels or chiseled stone sculptures. These images reflect ancient fiber arts now lost to the elements in these tropical lands. The designs, recorded on clay and stone, appear to...
Just a Matter of Time: Preliminary Ceramic Chronology Building in Central Nicaragua (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Reconstructing the Political Organization of Pre-Columbian Nicaragua" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The archaeology of central Nicaragua offers a challenging arena for the deconstruction of traditional ceramic chronology discourses in Southern Central America. The ‘anthropology of techniques’ approach and ethnoarchaeological research have determined that the most stable steps in ceramic manufacture are connected to...
La Obsidiana del Sitio Guadalupe, Colón, Honduras (2018)
El movimiento de obsidiana para el periodo Posclásico (1500- 1530d.C) en el noreste de Honduras, ha sido prácticamente desconocido para nosotros, por las pocas publicaciones científicas y naturaleza de los suelos en esta área del país, el hallazgo de este material puede considerarse poco probable, sin embargo existe un cambio marcado de la presencia de obsidiana para el periodo Posclásico. Mediante el estudio de las secuencias de producción lítica, tomando en consideración atributos tales como...
Large-Scale, Upland, Landscape Modification and the Implications for Classic Maya Population Density and Land Tenure in Northwestern Belize (2023)
This is an abstract from the "2023 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of Timothy Beach Part I" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Lidar data from the 2016 survey and subsequent ground truthing and fieldwork in the settlement zone of the site of Xnoha have revealed a complex system of Linear Stone Boundary Markers surrounding house lots in residential areas surrounding the central precinct of the site. These are located on the tops of hills...
A Lithic Approach to Economic Organization at Piedras Negras, Guatemala (2018)
Analysis of the production of imported lithic artifacts, especially obsidian and jade, has been important to recent research on the economic organization of the lowland Maya. However, the data for lithic production has come from a few key sites with clear evidence of workshops devoted to the working of such materials. Less attention has been dedicated to the diversity of obsidian and jade working within individual sites, much less across a given kingdom. This paper presents preliminary evidence...
Long-Distance Contacts along the Coast of Greater Chiriquí (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Coastal Connections: Pacific Coastal Links from Mexico to Ecuador" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The location of the Greater Chiriquí archeological region in southern Central America and the available and valuable resources in it (gold, coastal resources) were favorable for the emergence of a complex society that interacted with long-distance contacts for the acquisition of exotic goods. I highlight several places...
Long-Distance Exchange of Emeralds in the Istmo-Colombian Area (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A group of translucent green stones have recently been found in the archaeological site of El Caño, Panama. It is not the first time that these types of stones have been found in the region. Stones with similar characteristics were found at Sitio Conte in the 1930s. The analyses carried out with pXRF in combination with spectroscopic techniques (FTIR,...
Long-Term White-Tailed Deer and Human Relationships in Parita Bay, Panama (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Unraveling the Mysteries of the Isthmo-Colombian Area’s Past: A Symposium in Honor of Archaeologist Richard Cooke and His Contributions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A long history of human groups interacting with white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) can be traced to Parita Bay in Panama. Archaeological evidence supports deer consumption since the Middle Holocene, and modern deer are continuously abundant on...
Los Recursos Culturales del Pasado en la Zona del Oriente: Represa Hidroeléctrica Patuca III (2018)
En el marco de los estudios necesarios para obtener la licencia ambiental del Proyecto Hidroeléctrico Represa Patuca III se llevó a cabo el estudio arqueológico del área en donde se iban a realizar actividades de construcción de infraestructura. Se desarrolló el reconocimiento y prospección arqueológica sin pozos de prueba en 2007 y 2012 en la zona de embalse del proyecto hasta la cuota de 287 metros de altitud y el trayecto de la línea de trasmisión. Éste se realizó por secciones en la primera...
Mapping Human Migrations, Past and Present: Developing Environmental Isotope and Trace Element Maps of Mexico and Central America (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Intersection of Archaeological Science and Forensic Science" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Thousands of clandestine migrants die every year while traversing the hostile terrain of the United States/Mexico border. Most of these individuals go unidentified, leaving families in a desperate search for answers regarding their loved one’s whereabouts. Rural counties along the South Texas Borderlands lack resources for...
Mapping of Ancient Managua, Nicaragua using GIS (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Reconstructing the Political Organization of Pre-Columbian Nicaragua" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Settlement patterns within Central America can lead to a better understanding of the political and social complexity of the region. Although this method has been extensively used across archaeological regions, Nicaraguan archaeology can benefit from this settlement analysis because of the inclusion of a GIS-based...
Materialización de las nuevas interacciones en la zona fronteriza entre Mesoamérica y el Área Istmo-colombiana durante el Postclásico Temprano: Un acercamiento desde Los Naranjos, noroeste de Honduras (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Materials in Movement in the Isthmo-Colombian Area" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. En los territorios considerados como los márgenes fronterizos entre Mesoamérica y el Área Istmo-colombiana, la transición entre el Clásico y Postclásico (siglos IX-XII dC) corresponde a un periodo de reorganización de sus sociedades. Particularmente en el noroeste de Honduras se caracterizaron notables evoluciones en los centros...
The Maya, the Nahua, and Lower Central America (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Postclassic Mesoamerica: The View from the Southern Frontier" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic, Mesoamerican cultures underwent not only political turmoil but also a general renaissance in terms of material culture, including urban planning, architectural forms, ceramics (such as Tohil Plumbate), and the growth of truly international cults such as those of Tlaloc and Xipe...
The Mexican Pantheon in Postclassic Pacific Nicaragua (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Postclassic Mesoamerica: The View from the Southern Frontier" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Colonial sources describe interaction between central Mexican groups and Central American cultures, including possible migration and colonization, during the Postclassic period (900–1520 CE). Linguistic and art historical evidence has been used to support and reify this connection. A 20-plus year archaeological program by the...
The Mixteca-Puebla International Style as a Mesoamerican Marker in Postclassic Greater Nicoya: A Reevaluation (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Postclassic Mesoamerica: The View from the Southern Frontier" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The beautiful polychrome ceramics of Pacific Nicaragua’s Sapoá period (800–1300 CE) have long been touted as the southernmost manifestation of the Mixteca-Puebla phenomenon in lower Central America. Traditionally, these ceramics have been treated as de facto cultural markers of two independent migrant groups of Mesoamerican...
Mobility and Pre-Columbian Censers (2018)
Mobility, as it relates to censers, can be discussed on both large and small scales; it includes the movement of iconographic concepts, the physical objects, and the material or organics burned inside the censer. Censers styles fluctuate across pre-Columbian time due to a wide variety of reasons, though the purpose remains the same, which is to burn incense. The singular function of censers makes it an exemplary artefact class for the discussion of mobility across geographical and cultural...
Modeling Hazard Risk, Vulnerability, Recovery, and Adaptation in Tilarán-Arenal, Costa Rica: An Integrative Approach to Disaster Studies (2018)
The Tilarán -Arenal region of Costa Rica is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world. Despite the inherent hazard, people have occupied this region since the Paleo-Indian period (7000 B.C.). Numerous studies have explored volcanic eruptions as forcing mechanism that lead to culture; however, starting with the advent of sedentary villages during the Tronodora phase (2000-500 B.C.) until the arrival of Spanish in the 16th century, people maintained relatively small-scale,...
Modeling Mobility in Inland Waters (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Modeling Mobility across Waterbodies" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. While rivers, lakes, lagoons, and estuaries were commonly navigated in prehistory, the only well-established methods for modeling aquatic human movement are restricted to the open sea. A small handful of researchers have proposed methods and/or attempted to simulate travel in rivers and lakes, but these methods have not been consolidated into a...
Monumentality in Sites with Stone Spheres, Diquis Delta, Southern Central America (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Problem of the Monument: Widening Perspectives on Monumentality in the Archaeology of the Isthmo-Colombian Area" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Several sites in the Diquis delta, an extensive alluvial plan in southeastern Costa Rica, present architectural ensembles consisting of artificial mounds up to 30 m diameter and a height between 1.1 and 1.4 m with cobblestone walls and ramp accesses, with stone spheres of...
Mortuary Feasting at Sitio Drago, Panama and Elsewhere in Lower Central America (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The archaeological materials recovered from a central burial mound at Sitio Drago, Panama are diverse and include many well-preserved vertebrate and invertebrate faunal remains. I examine these materials in context with the artifacts recovered in direct association with four coral slab tombs located at the heart of the site and then compare the observed...