Mesoamerica (Other Keyword)
76-93 (93 Records)
In The Shape of Time (1962) George Kubler suggested that formal change results from a chain of solutions to problems that alter as the solutions accumulate. While this concept has been influential in studies on formal change, his notion of “problem” remains underdeveloped. This paper takes Kubler’s formulation of “problem” as a starting point for abducing meaning in works for which texts are lacking. By attending to the “problem” as the locus of dynamic change and the link to other social...
Producing an Empire: Household Production and Market Expansion at Postclassic and Colonial Xaltocan, Mexico (2016)
Archaeologists have long been interested in household production and consumption, regional economic interactions, and the development and expansion of trade networks, particularly with the rise of states and empires. This research, however, has often focused on top-down political-economic processes in which state-level elite actors condition economic activity. Put simply, “states”—and by extension, their leaders—intensify household craft production, facilitate exchange, and redirect the flow of...
Profane Illuminations: Molded Maya Figurines in Comparative Context (2017)
In many ways, simple molded Maya figurines during the Late Classic period become ordinary objects, aided in part by the technological capability of reproduction through molds. Nonetheless, molds do not automatically create ordinary, accessible, everyday objects, and, in turn, ordinary objects are not without their ability to delight and affect the senses. This paper draws on newly collected ceramic production evidence from the site of Ucanal, Guatemala, as well as a compilation of research on...
Provenance Analysis of Tempering Materials using Quantitative Petrography in the Formative Basin of Mexico (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. Ceramics sourcing studies in the Basin of Mexico suffer from the interior drainage problem. Sediment erodes from the mountains and mixes as it drains inward toward the lake at the center. Material composition, and the ceramics made from them, grades subtly over space as a result, making provenance analysis difficult. In a prior...
Proyecto Salinas de los Nueve Cerros
Archaeology, ethnohistory, ethnography, geology, and community development at the largest Precolumbian saltworks in the Maya world. Salinas de los Nueve Cerros was a Maya city located at the highland-lowland transition along the Chixoy River that produced up to 24,000 tons of salt/year during the Late Classic period (AD 600-850). It was occupied from at least 800 BC through the Classic collapse, and continued to be occupied throughout the Postclassic and colonial periods, with salt production...
Pushing the Limits of Power: Copan Expansionist Strategies in the El Paraíso Valley, Western Honduras (2017)
The reign of K’ahk’ Uti’ Witz’ K’awiil, Copan Ruler 12, has been rightly hailed as a pivotal time in Copan's political history. Given that no monumental constructions on the Copan Acropolis have as yet been securely attributed to his patronage, this long-lived ruler appears to have turned his focus outward, expanding the Copan kingdom into a multi-ethnic polity with a long geographic reach. In this paper we explore Ruler 12's administrative strategy in one region of the Copan kingdom, the El...
Representations of the Devil and the Demonic in Sixteenth-Century Mexico (2016)
As the influence of the Spanish Inquisition increased in the decades following the Spanish conquest of Mexico, it became increasingly common for indigenous artist-scribes, or tlacuiloque, to substitute pictographic images of pre-Hispanic deities with iconography related to the Christian devil. Drawing on examples from Mesoamerican painted manuscripts and murals produced in the sixteenth-century, this paper explores the nature of those representations. Distinctions occur between representations...
Revisiting Bird Jaguar and the Sajal of the Yaxchilan Kingdom (2015)
In "A Forest of Kings," Linda Schele and David Freidel painted a vivid picture of the lives and relationships of kings, queens and courtiers expressed in images and texts from the Yaxchilan kingdom during the 7th and 8th centuries AD. In the 25 years since that volume’s publication, refinements in epigraphic readings and archaeological research in the rural hinterlands surrounding Yaxchilan and neighboring capitals have greatly enriched our understanding of the political world of the Western...
Situating the narrative style and legacy of A Forest of Kings (2015)
In this paper, we situate A Forest of Kings, which combined archaeological and art historical data, within the genre of ethnographic fiction. We consider its waxing and waning throughout time as a popular narrative form and its legacy that continues to this day. A Forest of Kings was conceived and written at a significant moment within the history of ethnographic fiction. While it is strongly grounded in the reflexive and representational practices of the late 1980s and early 90s, A Forest of...
Sketching in the Shadows: Re-illustration of the Olmec Paintings of Oxtotitlán, Mexico (2016)
Re-illustration of the well-known cave paintings at Oxtotitlán, Guerrero, Mexico has revealed important new iconographic details. The use of multispectral imaging, as well as direct observation following recent conservation work, contributed to re-visioning the artworks with increased clarity and accuracy to the originals. This paper will present new renderings of the Olmec-period paintings and summarize observations on artistic practice and iconographic significance that resulted from this...
The Social Archaeology of Politics (2016)
In this paper, we consider how social archaeology can inform the study of political organization and power, and provide insight into the tumultuous events taking place today. Social archaeology has long made significant contribution towards understanding the conflicts the occur between different classes, ethnicities, and factions. However, social archaeology is equally capable of making important insights into top down processes and address broader topics of state organization and politics....
Sport and Ritual as Social Bonding: The Communal Nature of Mesoamerican Ballgames (2015)
For over a century, the Mesoamerican ballgame has received copious attention in the academic literature. Much of this attention, however, has focused on either the control and promulgation of the game by elite actors, or the game’s interconnections with indigenous cosmogonies. Because of this intense focus on the game as elite and/or ritual practice, we often lose sight of the communal role it may have held. Anthropological research into the cultural role of sport suggests that while sport...
Stephen Kowalewski, su vida y obra: a life of regional survey and looking at the big picture (2015)
In this opening paper for the session in honor of Stephen Kowalewski we talk about Steve’s life and background, his experience in Southwestern and Mesoamerican archaeology, and about a life of teaching and mentoring in the classroom and in the field. We discuss Stephen Kowalewski’s work in archaeology and the rich regional datasets that we now enjoy as a result of his teachings and labors. This presentation also reflects on the theoretical and methodological approaches that Steve has employed...
Systemic Interdependencies in the Mesoamerican World System (2015)
The Mesoamerican world system was characterized by diverse kinds of interdependencies since the Preclassic to the Postclassic periods. Interdependencies generate sources of power such as economic and ideological which affect social structures well beyond cultural boundaries. This paper contends that in a highly complex exchange network that dominated the Mesoamerican landscape power was negotiated at the local and supralocal networks, and resulted in interdependencies of various levels and among...
Using Archaeology to Pursue Social Justice at Punta Laguna, Mexico (2016)
Over the last several decades, the citizens of Punta Laguna, Mexico have developed a successful ecotourism venture in the spider monkey preserve in which they live. However, recent challenges to the usufruct agreement through which the preserve operates have jeopardized the future of the community's business. At present, the archaeological site of Punta Laguna, which lies within the preserve's boundaries, is little more than a passive backdrop to other tourist activities. We propose developing...
Volcanic Glass and Iron Nails: Shifting Networks of Exchange at Postclassic and Colonial Achiutla, Oaxaca, Mexico (2016)
In this paper I present data from recent excavations at the highland Mixtec site of Achiutla, Oaxaca, Mexico, to shed light on how indigenous residents there negotiated changes and continuities in exchange relationships from the Postclassic (AD 900-1521) to Early Colonial (AD 1521-1650) periods. Various lines of evidence demonstrate that Achiutla had significant economic ties to both the Basin of Mexico and the Oaxaca coast, and that the site was an important locus along trade routes between the...
"What’s in a Name?": Questioning the Idea of Olmec Origins for Jade Spoons (2017)
Jade has been long recognized by archaeologists as an important trade item among ancient Mesoamerican cultures. This is particularly true for ancient Olmec and Maya cultures where it also is seen as an indicator of social status. Unfortunately, the precocious development of Olmec society, lead many early archaeologists to an over-emphasis of Olmec influence on the Maya during the Formative Period (ca. 1000-400 BC). This is particularly noteworthy in the attribution of jade "spoons" to the...
The Workings of Classic Maya Marketplace Exchange from the Perspective of the Buenavista del Cayo Marketplace (2016)
Marketplace exchange among the Classic Maya is frequently inferred from the degree of homogeneity in consumption practices among households of differing statuses. The actual presence of marketplaces among the Classic Maya has been a point of debate, but recent empirically based investigations at a few Lowland sites have provided evidence for their existence. The Late Classic marketplace located in the East Plaza of Buenavista del Cayo, Belize is such an example. Examination of marketplace...