Monumental Architecture (Other Keyword)
1-19 (19 Records)
Costly signaling theory indicates that highly visible acts of public generosity and display, which exact costs not easily recouped, however, can provide social benefits to those engaged in such acts. Such signaling is associated with the strength or fitness of the provider. Analyzing slipped and fineware ceramics in display contexts, and obsidian use and architecture, this presentation explores how Maya elites and rural sub-elites engaged in costly signaling and modified their actions by cost...
Evaluating Mobility, Monumentality, and Feasting at the Sapelo Island Shell Ring Complex (2011)
Two of the most salient anthropological questions regarding southeastern shell ring sites are related to the season(s) that they were occupied and whether or not the deposits represent monumental constructions and/or feasting remains. This paper addresses these questions through the analysis of growth band of clams (Mercenaria spp.) (N = 620) and stable oxygen isotope ratios of clam and oyster shells (Crassostrea virginica) (N = 58) at the Sapelo Island Shell Ring complex located on the Georgia...
Geoarchaeology at La Milpa, Belize: An Ancient Maya Community and Its Temple (2016)
This paper discusses the preliminary results of geochemical and micromorphological analysis of sediments at Structure 3, a monumental temple structure at the site of La Milpa, northwest Belize. This analysis forms part of a project that aims to examine the impact of a community in shaping the functions of monumental architecture. Artifact and architectural evidence gathered at Structure 3 have indicated that the Late Classic period (550-850 CE) constituted a time of intense access and use of the...
Identification of an Iroquoian Unit of Measurement: Architectural and Social / Cultural Implications for the Longhouse (1993)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us at comments@tdar.org.
The Inca occupation at Pampa de Flores: Continuity, changes and abandonment of public architecture in the Lurin Valley during the Late Horizon (2015)
The Inca conquest of the Peruvian central coast brought a series of changes to the political and social landscape of the Lurin valley. At Pachacamac, the main religious center of this area, radical changes included, not only the resurgence of this sanctuary and expansion of its cult, but also a series of transformation in its architectural setting. In other settlements of the valley associated to the Ychsma polity, changes were less obvious, probably due to the different strategies followed by...
La Florida/Namaan: Investigating a Loci of Politico-Economic Influence in the Classic Maya World (2016)
Located on one of the central embankments of El Rio San Pedro Martir, the Classic Maya polity of La Florida (Namaan) is situated between prominent polities of this period (250-909 A.D.). These polities include Piedras Negras, Pomona, and El Peru (Waka), all of which La Florida seems to have had positive trade relations with. During the 2015 field season as part of El Proyecto Arqueologíco La Florida, directed by Dr. Joanne Baron, I preliminarily investigated the view sheds between structures...
Monumental Architecture and Power in Polynesian Chiefdoms: a Comparison of Tonga and Hawai`i (1990)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us at comments@tdar.org.
Monuments for the Living, Monuments for the Dead: A Stone-by-Stone Guide to Mycenaean State Formation (2016)
Prior to the appearance of the first palaces at Mycenae in the 15th century B.C., the most impressive architectural manifestation of elite authority in the Argolid was not the palace or the house, but rather the tomb, specifically the shaft grave and the tholos tomb. While the funerary data supplied by these burials have long served as the primary means by which the study of Early Mycenaean state formation has been approached, such studies focus almost exclusively on the grave goods themselves,...
Monuments, boundaries, and chiefly competition in the development of the Tongan state (2017)
The principal Tongan island of Tongatapu was the epicentre of a hierarchical and geographically integrated society which some archaeologists contend reached the level of archaic state by AD 1300–1400. Dynastic chiefs affirmed their power and rights to land through monumental construction and a dispersed settlement pattern that fully occupied their inherited territories with lower-ranking members of their kin-based corporate groups. Recent archaeological survey, aided by LiDAR, reveals the...
Preclassic Monumental Architecture at Xunantunich, Belize: Implications for Ritual Performance (2016)
Recent investigations in the Preclassic site core at the site of Xunantunich have revealed new evidence for ritual activity at the site’s earliest monumental structures. This ceremonial core, recently designated Early Xunantunich, is composed of three plazas, an E-Group, and several large, flat-topped platforms. The largest of these platforms forms the northern boundary of the site, measuring 100-115 meters wide and over 10 meters tall. Recent excavations of this platform revealed at least three...
Preclassic Roots of Well-Trodden Routes in the Central Maya Lowlands of Belize (2015)
Traditional approaches to ancient Maya territories focus on site hierarchies, which are defined by a capital with monumental architecture and an elite body that controls a hinterland population. In the central lowlands, E-Groups are among the earliest monumental architecture found and are almost always associated with sites that later develop into large Classic Maya capitals, such as Tikal and Naranjo. Thus, scholars suggest that E-Groups are in some way connected to early forms of Maya...
Quantifying Energy Investment in Monuments (Ahu) on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Using Structure from Motion Mapping (2018)
Pre-European contact Rapa Nui (Easter Island) society is well-known for its substantial investment in monumental architecture, including over 300 platforms (ahu) and almost 1000 statues (moai). Recent theoretical and empirical research on the island suggests that ahu and moai were focal points for competitive and cooperative signaling by relatively small-scale communities dispersed across on the island. Evaluation of this hypothesis, however, requires the measurement of the amount of energy...
Quintessential Queen of Kaanul: K’abel of Waka’ in the age of empire. (2017)
Classic Maya civilization witnessed the reigns of many great queens, but the greatest in the southern lowlands was Kaloomte’ K’abel of Waka’. She presided over the routes of conquest in western Peten during the seventh century wars of Yuknoom Ch’een the Great. During her lifetime she and her consort King K’inich Bahlam turned the power of the ancient Wite’ Naah Fire Shrine, it’s Moon Goddess, its Death God Akan, and its other gods to the conquest and subjugation of Tikal. She and her city knew...
Re-Evaluating the Case for America’s First Cities: evidence from the Norte Chico region of Peru (2017)
The Late Archaic Period (3000-1800 B.C.) was a time of dramatic cultural transformations in the Central Andes. At the beginning of the 3rd millennium B.C., at least 30 large, sedentary agricultural settlements with monumental architecture appeared between the Huaura and Fortaleza river valleys in a region known locally as the "Norte Chico" ("Little North"). Given the quantity, size, and complexity of monumental architecture at these sites, as well as the unique settlement patterns, some have...
Renaissance Florentine Palaces, Costly Signaling, and Lineage Survival (2015)
The elites of Florence, Italy built a huge number of palaces during the city state’s period of republican government between 1282 and 1532. Intuitively, these palaces seem like a perfect fit with the predictions of costly signaling theory: they were expensive, highly visible, and vast, and the families that commissioned their construction viewed them as ways of reflecting and producing status. But were these structures costly signals, or did elites spend money on lavish houses simply because...
Results of an Inventory Survey on the Tafuna Plain, Tualauta County, Tutuila Island, American Samoa. July-August 1996 (2002)
This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R) and updated. Most NADB-R records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us at comments@tdar.org.
Settlement, Economy, and Society at Mayapán, Yucatan, Mexico/Asentamiento, Economía y Sociedad en Mayapán, Yucatán, México (2021)
An edited compilation of contributions by members of the Mayapan archaeological team from the U.S. and Mexico, pertaining to research from 2001-2009. Survey, household archaeology, monumental archaeology, and analyses of various artifact classes (more developed research than available in the informes). Book is open access, online, and it is bilingual (English and Spanish).
Towards a historical archaeology of heiau: Hawaiian traditions, colonialism, and religious transformation in the recent past (2015)
Hawai‘i occupies a somewhat unique position as one of two Polynesian archipelagos thought to have been the location of "primary" or "archaic" states in the time before European contact (the other possible example being Tonga). Hawaiian people created an elaborate ritual hierarchy that accompanied the emergence of state religion, which was associated with the construction of monumental stone temple complexes known as heiau. Heiau have long been a staple of archaeological investigation in the...
Xunantunich Reloaded:Examining the Socio-Political Significance of Structure A9 (2017)
Recent excavation of Structure A9 at the site of Xunantunich, Belize, confirmed that the mound represents the remains of a medium-size temple dating to the Late Classic period. Sub-surface excavations along the central axis of the mound revealed a large, vaulted chamber containing the remains of an elite individual. Two hieroglyphic panels flanking the building’s front staircase identify a link between Xunantunich and three other Classic Maya polities: Caracol, Naranjo, and Calakmul. Exploration...