Intermediate Area (Other Keyword)
126-150 (182 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper provides a micro-scale consideration of the broader social processes under way during the Early Classic to the Postclassic periods in the Río Verde drainage basin of Oaxaca, Mexico. Through a detailed bioarchaeological analysis, we examine individuals from Río Viejo for evidence of occupational stress, with an emphasis on select individuals who...
Out of Mexico: An Archaeological Evaluation of the Migration Legends of Greater Nicoya (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. Ethnohistoric documents pertaining to the Greater Nicoya archaeological subarea document legends in which the inhabitants of western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica traced their ancestry to migrations from the north, presumably in Mexico. Linguistic data indicate that speakers of Chorotega, an Oto-Manguean language, and...
Overcoming Centralization in the Ancient Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta: Toward a Novel Model of Indigenous Low-Density Urbanism in Northern Colombia (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Theorizing Prehistoric Large Low-Density Settlements beyond Urbanism and Other Conventional Classificatory Conventions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper develops a novel model to understand the social organization of landscapes and urban settlements in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. This region's history mainly stems from the imposition of European categories to interpret the sociopolitical organization of...
Overland Travel Routes and Exchange Spheres of Pacific Nicaragua Using Obsidian and Ceramic Data from Chiquilistagua (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Centralizing Central America: New Evidence, Fresh Perspectives, and Working on New Paradigms" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The emergence of social complexity often incorporates social, political, and economic inter- and intra-regional interactions. In this paper we examine the emerging social spheres and exchange networks that developed during the Tempisque period (500 BC–AD 300) among small prehistoric agrarian...
O’odham Travel in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands: Identifying Travel Routes on Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Transcending Boundaries and Exploring Pasts: Current Archaeological Investigations of the Arizona-Sonora Borderlands" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The land encompassing Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument has long been a travel corridor for O’odham groups journeying across the Sonoran Desert to destinations throughout the modern Mexican state of Sonora and the Sea of Cortez. The National Park Service sponsored...
Panama Archaeology’s Paradigm Shift: A History of Cerro Juan Díaz, Its Excavations, and Ongoing Research (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. In the late 1980s, the Panama authorities became aware of extensive looting outside the modern city of La Villa de Los Santos. By the time archaeologists had been called to investigate, the area around the hill known locally as Cerro Juan Díaz resembled...
Patterns of Migration at Paquimé: Insights from Isotopic and Demographic Data (2019)
This is an abstract from the "25 Years in the Casas Grandes Region: Celebrating Mexico–U.S. Collaboration in the Gran Chichimeca" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Interregional interaction has factored prominently in debates about the origin and cultural trajectory of Paquimé since the site was first excavated six decades ago. In this paper, we use a bioarchaeological approach to reconstruct the structure and scale of migration at Paquimé to better...
The Piedras Rayadas of El Tigre, Honduras: Brokering Place and Cultural Memory (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. Grooved boulders seem to be an archaeological feature unique to El Tigre island in Honduras. Distributed around the small island, they are known locally as piedras rayadas, and feature in local oral histories. As durable traces, their meaning is everchanging, yet...
The Pipil/Nicarao Migration from the Perspective of Pacific Nicaragua: An Archaeological Critique of Mythstorical Mobility (2018)
Ethnoshitorical sources describe migrations from central Mexico of Nahuat and Mangue speakers, known as the Pipil/Nicarao and the Chorotega, who settled along the Pacific Coast of Central America in the centuries prior to European contact. According to these accounts the new groups introduced cultural and religious traits into settlements in El Salvador, the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, and northwestern Costa Rica. Beginning in 2000, archaeologists from the University of Calgary have investigated...
Politics along the Rivers: An Example from the Gulf of Fonseca, Honduras (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 relationship between environment, politics, and economies has often been observed in the archaeological record. In the Gulf of Fonseca, where archaeological sites concentrate around mangrove swamps, rivers and estuaries; politics were intricately tied to the affordances of riverine systems. Based on the ceramic...
Pottery Rituals and Ritual Pottery: Ceramic Production, Use, and Disposal among the Guancavilca of Coastal Ecuador (AD 800–1532) (2018)
The Colonche Valley of coastal Ecuador represents an east-west corridor as well as the apex of north-south interconnected valleys. Hilltop sites of the Manteno-Guancavilca (AD 800-1532) have been reported across the high flat ridgetops of these valleys since the early 20th century. Recent comparative analysis of surface vessels at newly discovered sites in the eastern Colonche Valley demonstrates the coalescence of examples of all types found at sites throughout the valleys. Mineralogical and...
Poultry in Motion: The Translocation of Turkeys (Meleagris spp.) in Ancient Greater Nicoya, Costa Rica (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. The trade and movement of animals and animal-derived artifacts was widespread and varied significantly throughout the ancient Americas, often requiring substantial efforts comparable to that employed in acquiring other material resources or prestige items. Originally native to parts of modern-day Mexico and the United States, turkeys...
Praying to the Predator: Symbols of Insect Animism on Luna Polychrome (2018)
Pacific Nicaragua has long been noted as a cultural crossroads, especially featuring historically documented migrants from central Mexico. Following ethnohistorical accounts, Nahuat speaking groups colonized the Rivas area in the Late Postclassic Ometepe period. The most prominent diagnostic ceramic of this time was Luna Polychrome, often found in mortuary contexts. This paper presents a detailed analysis of over 50 Luna vessels from the Mi Museo collection. The overarching theme of the painted...
Pre-Columbian Adaptation to Fluvial Environments, Chontales, Central Nicaragua: 2018 PRISMA Results. (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. Alluvial valleys are dynamic environments that continuously change under the influences of flooding and erosive processes caused by climatic and tectonic events. The Roberto Amador site is situated on alluvial deposits, surrounded by a meander of the Mayales River, in the proximity of the city of Juigalpa, Chontales,...
Pre-Columbian Conflict and Early Social Complexity in Java, Southern Costa Rica (2018)
Based on the Spanish chronicles from the Contact period (Sixteenth century), we know that the inhabitants of what is now Southern Costa Rica were in constant violent conflict, at least during the last pre-Columbian years. On the other side, warriors, captives and trophy heads are a recurrent theme in the sculptures and other artistic representations from this archaeological area. Although the importance of warfare and conflict during the pre-Columbian period has been considered in archaeological...
Pre-Columbian Pottery Production in Greater Nicoya: A Cross-Regional Analysis (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Cross-Cultural Petrographic Studies of Ceramic Traditions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Spanning northwest Costa Rica and the Isthmus of Rivas in Pacific Nicaragua, the Greater Nicoya archaeological region has been historically interpreted as a cohesive language and culture area (‘primordially’ Chibchan but shifting to Mesoamerican post-AD 800). Since the 1980s, however, researchers have begun to increasingly...
The Preceramic Occupation of Greater Chiriqui: An Assessment of our Current Understanding (2018)
The first substantial evidence of a preceramic occupation of Greater Chiriqui resulted from the 1970 excavations of upland rockshelters in the watershed of the Chiriqui River in Western Panama. Results from these excavations were reported in a 1972 dissertation and the 1980 publication Adaptive Radiations in Prehistoric Panama. Our current understanding of the preceramic period occupations in Greater Chiriqui owes more to subsequent innovations in research methods – phytolith and starch grain...
Prehistoric Fishing Practices in Bocas del Toro, Panama (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The pre-European population of the Bocas Del Toro Archipelago was more numerous and diverse than previously thought. Fish were a primary source of vertebrate protein throughout the region. Recent findings illustrate that the inhabitants of Sitio Drago consumed both maize and beans, not just root and tree crops as previously assumed. This presentation...
A Preliminary Multi-isotope Assessment of Precolumbian Humans from Panama (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Advances and New Perspectives in the Isthmo-Colombian Area" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This study presents data on the first multi-isotope analysis of precolombian humans in Panama. We use carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N), oxygen (δ18O), and strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isotopes to determine the diets and mobility patterns of individuals from seven archaeological sites: Cerro Mangote, Sitio Sierra, and Cerro Juan Díaz in...
Preliminary Results of Archaeological Survey in the Zapatera Archipelago, Granada, 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. Although archaeology within the Zapatera Archipelago was initially documented in the 19th century due to the islands’ exceptional stone statuary and petroglyph panels, little scientific archaeology or environmental work has taken place there. This paper presents the results from the first season of the Proyecto...
Preliminary Results of the Physico-Chemical Analysis and Manufacturing Traces of the Tesserae Mirrors from El Caño, Gran Coclé Archaeological Tradition (750–1020 CE) (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The study presented below aims to determine whether the mirrors of pyrite tesserae and iron ore tesserae not associated with bases, found at El Caño, are of local production or, on the contrary, came from Mesoamerica given their formal and material resemblance to those from that area. In order to achieve this objective, firstly, a formal typological...
Puruwá Polity under Inka Rule in Colta, Chimborazo Province (Ecuador) (2018)
The Inka incorporated the territory of today's Ecuador to the Tawantinsuyu around 1420. This conquest is well documented from South to North by recording the expansion of monumental features such as pukaras, tambos, bridges, terraces, collkas, wakas, patios and plazas, built in traditional Inka style. The political transformation of northern Andes landscape by the Inka was very profound in the Loja and Azuay provinces of southern Ecuador. While it was a milder transformative factor around Quito...
The Question of Monumentality in the Sacred Spaces and Features of Ometepe Island, Nicaragua (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. Ometepe is the largest island in Lake Coçibolca (Lake Nicaragua), itself the largest body of freshwater between Lake Titicapa in South America and the Great Lakes of North America. Its topography is unique, composed of two volcanoes—one active (Concepción) and one ancient...
Raised Field Nutrient Cycling: Implications for Hydrologic Controls and Landesque Capital (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Barbacoan World: Recognizing and Preserving the Unique Indigenous Cultural Developments of the Northern Andes" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Beginning around AD 600, the Barbacoan speaking peoples of the northern Ecuadorian highlands began building alternating ridge and canal raised field systems. One of the leading hypothesized functions of these raised fields is their role in nutrient cycling. In this scenario,...
Re-Contextualizing Pre-Columbian Gold and Resin Artifacts from Panama in the National Museum of the American Indian (2018)
Until recent years the study of Pre-Columbian gold and resin objects from Panama was slow to progress due to the relative scarcity of archaeological projects excavating these materials. While the original contexts of many museum objects have been lost, the collection of Panamanian gold and resin in the National Museum of the American Indian was re-evaluated for its potential to answer key questions about the ancient craftspeople of this region. To ensure accurate provenience information was...