Classic Period (Other Keyword)
1-15 (15 Records)
The Northern Peten is composed by a complex network of monumental sites that proliferated in the Preclassic during a time period that witnessed the maximal centralization of power in the area. Afterward, during the Classic period, this region experimented a cultural shift and a reoccupation forming a different political panorama. However, little is still known about the Classic Maya settlements of Northern Peten especially about their households. Recent archaeological investigations at Naachtun...
Classic Period Architectural Variation and Interregional Interaction: A View from the Tres Zapotes Hinterland (2017)
During the Protoclassic (A.D. 1-300) and Early Classic (A.D. 300-600) periods, the Eastern Lower Papaloapan Basin (ELPB) experienced an important reorganization. The political influence of the large center at Tres Zapotes began to wane and a series of new centers were established across an increasingly independent, but fragmented political landscape. Eschewing the architectural cannons of the Tres Zapotes polity, these new centers are characterized by diverse configurations revealed by...
Classic Period Settlement Patterns along the Middle Gila River (2017)
This paper summarizes archaeological data that show a substantial decrease in population occurred between the Sedentary (ca. 950-1150AD) and Classic Periods (ca. 1150-1500) along the middle Gila River in the Phoenix Basin. This decrease coincides with well documented increases along the lower Salt River. Extensive data suggest this pattern subsequently reversed in the Historic period, when people were again concentrated along the middle Gila, and the lower Salt River was extensively depopulated....
From A Forest of Kings to the Forests of Petén: The Mirador Group at El Perú-Waka’ (2015)
More than 10 years of research at El Perú-Waka’, carried out under the co-direction of David Freidel and several Guatemalan collaborators, has resulted in a wealth of information about this ancient city and the role its rulers and residents played in the Classic Maya world. Enhanced through his work with Linda Schele, Freidel’s persistent focus on the interplay between ancient history and archaeology—on stelae, buildings, and people—has shaped research at Waka’, located in Guatemala’s Laguna del...
An Intracoastal Waterway and Port System in Classic Period Northwest Yucatán, Mexico (2015)
Archaeological and historical research along the northwest coast of the Yucatán peninsula during the last half century have led to a preliminary reconstruction of a 200 km-long navigable intracoastal waterway between the Celestun estuary and Dzilám de Bravo during the Classic period. Along this waterway are remains of settlements, ports, and port complexes that supported an extensive trade network that connected northern Yucatan to more distant trade networks to the south, via the coast of...
La vida alrededor del Río Holmul: Patrón de Asentamiento de Cival y la Región de Holmul (2015)
La investigaciones sobre el patrón de asentamiento en la región arqueológica de Holmul, analiza el relieve terrestre y los cambios en el paisaje observados en el registro arqueológico, a través de la comparación de los emplazamientos, de los distintos tipos de grupos arquitectónicos y la relación entre sus distintos componentes naturales y culturales. La topografía de la región es de naturaleza caliza con abundancia de fenómenos kársticos, localizada en un amplio terreno de bajos rodeada por...
Matacanela in Its Regional and Cultural Context (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Olmec Manifestations and Ongoing Societal Transformations in the Tuxtlas Uplands: A View from Matacanela" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this presentation I synthesize recent studies that the Matacanela Archaeological Project has produced as a way of situating the presentations in this session within their broader temporal and spatial contexts, both with the Tuxtlas and the broader Gulf lowlands. One notable aspect...
New but Classic: An examination of Hohokam Canal System 1 during the Classic Period (2017)
Canal System 1, the largest of the four major systems along the lower Salt River, brought water to fields associated with some of the most well-known Hohokam villages, including Mesa Grande, Los Hornos, and Los Muertos. Previously, it was thought that the system reached its maximum extent prior to the Sedentary Period. Recent data and reconstructions of the development of Canal System 1, however, indicate that the system may not have reached its full extent until the Preclassic/Classic...
Not so Strange Strangers in a Strange Land? (2017)
Ceramic evidence combined with obsidian and sculptural data from the archaeological site of Matacanela are beginning to paint an unexpected picture of intra- and inter-regional dynamics in the Early and Middle Classic Tuxtlas region of the southern Gulf lowlands. These data point to an unexpectedly independent political-economic relationship with the nearby center Matacapan, but one that may have been created through elite-alliance networks that differently incorporated Teotihuacan-style symbols...
Patrones de movilidad como reflejo de la concepción del diseño urbano: Un caso del Centro Sur de Veracruz en el Clásico (2021)
This is an abstract from the "The Urban Question: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Investigating the Ancient Mesoamerican City" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. En la actualidad, la visita a las zonas arqueológicas está determinada por un recorrido establecido por cuestiones de conservación y disfrute. Sin embargo, la movilidad dentro de las ciudades prehispánicas estuvo organizada por el diseño urbano, y su desarrollo a través del tiempo,...
Testing Alternative Settlement Models at Las Colinas with Polychrome Dating (2017)
An understanding of the nature of late Classic period settlement at Las Colinas is an important element in understanding the broader social changes that took place across the Phoenix Basin during this time. One perspective on settlement at Las Colinas figures prominently in the recent "core decay" model proposed for the Phoenix Basin Hohokam. In response to this model, we propose new alternative scenarios for late Classic period settlement at Las Colinas. We test these alternative settlement...
Tucson Platform Mounds in the Context of Classic Period Variability (2017)
The variability among Hohokam platform mounds and their related architectural complexes, the predominant form of public architecture during the Classic period, has now been well documented through ongoing field studies and archival research. Recognition of that variability encompasses multiple dimensions linked to perceptions of leadership, social structure, territorial configurations, civic and ritual affairs, and external relationships. The Tucson regional sector in southern Arizona is no...
Variations in Late and Terminal Classic Ceramic Firing Facilities within Southeastern Mesoamerica. (2015)
Research conducted in the adjoining Naco and Middle Chamelecon and Cacaulapa River (MCC) valleys of northwestern Honduras has revealed a wide array of ceramic firing facilities and implements used in fabricating pottery vessels during the Late (AD 600-800) and Terminal Classic (AD 800-1000). The diversity of manufacturing processes is especially well represented at two major workshops, one located at the Naco valley center of La Sierra and the other at the site of Las Canoas in the MCC. The...
Visiting a "Villagescape": The Early Classic Period Marana Mound Site (2017)
We explore Early Classic Period Hohokam society through the medium of inhabitants’ lives in the center with a platform mound and over 40 residential compounds in the northern Tucson Basin. We approach the topic as a retrospective based on 30 years of intermittent mapping and excavation at the Marana Mound Site, coupled with insights from advancing Hohokam studies. We ask how the spatial and architectural configuration or "villagescape" of this center reflected and embodied the principles of...
When Do You Stop and Why? Site Boundary Definitions at University Indian Ruin, Pima County, Arizona (2015)
Not much is found in the scholarly literature regarding site boundary definitions: boundaries defined for management purposes may be different from pre-Columbian geographical boundaries. This is the case at University Indian Ruin (UIR), a 13-acre parcel listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and owned by the University of Arizona. Homeowners in the neighboring community, also listed on the National Register as Indian Ridge, routinely retrieve sherds while performing yard...