el mirador (Other Keyword)
1-4 (4 Records)
El Mirador (Peten, Guatemala) is among the largest Preclassic settlements in the Maya lowlands. The site has attracted attention due to its size and antiquity, but also for its location within a region containing few permanent or perennial water sources. This study presents a preliminary analysis of the site’s faunal remains to assess diet, ritual, habitat use and exchange. Comparison of the El Mirador data with other Preclassic faunal assemblages allows us to assess the degree to which animal...
Central Plaza Excavations at El Mirador (2015)
The Great Central Plaza of the West Complex at El Mirador lies on an early and important alignment for the entire city. Excavations of two small altar platforms, and test units of structures on the boundaries of the plaza and the Leon Plaza suggest that this was probably among the earliest areas of the city, and continued to have symbolic and ritual importance throughout the Middle and Late Preclassic periods at El Mirador. The Central Acropolis creates the southern boundary, the east and west...
The Ceramics of the El Mirador Region: An Update (2015)
Investigations in the Mirador Basin over the last thirty or so years have demonstrated that the region was one of intense occupation over a long period of time, particularly during the period that has come to be known as Preclassic. This period was marked by evidence of changes in the complexity and increasing uniformity in various cultural characteristics such as architecture, sculpture and iconography. In a similar manner the development of the ceramic industry provides evidence of a process...
Non-mounded Architecture, Invisible Housemounds, and the Problem of Settlement Identification and Demographics in the Mirador Basin (2015)
In a landscape distinguished archaeologically by elite-dominated, often massive architecture, the small and unobtrusive is easily overlooked. Since its inception as a discipline, Maya archaeology’s principal focus has been cities and the buildings that comprise them. These buildings, often of extraordinary scale, are typically represented in the archaeological record by mounds. This phenomenon of architectural "moundedness" has conditioned Mayanists’ perception of settlement as a whole. Indeed,...