Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Broad and diverse recent research projects yield new perspectives on Mesoamerica’s fundamental evolutionary trends, social stratification, craft production, ideologies, subsistence, and, in general, ancient lifeways. New findings and legacy data contribute to our ongoing knowledge of ancestral Mesoamericans who lived in varied environments and managed landscapes ranging from neotropical forests to mountain habitats. Updated interpretations, novel insights, revised methodologies, and new technologies are presented by contributors. Participants expand our knowledge of materials studies (metallurgy, pigments, pottery analysis), bioarchaeology (dietary isotopes and skeletal analyses), rural and urban comparisons, social organization (through lidar and traditional methods), ritual, ideology, sports, cultural ecological perspectives, and royal palace scandals. Contributions highlight central Mexico, Michoacán, the Maya Lowlands, the Guatemalan highlands, and eastern and western Honduras through various time periods.
Other Keywords
Highland Mesoamerica: Classic •
Highland Mesoamerica: Postclassic •
Household Archaeology •
Bioarchaeology/Skeletal Analysis •
Maya: Classic •
Ethnohistory/History •
Material Culture and Technology •
Lithic Analysis •
Political economy •
Chronology
Geographic Keywords
United Mexican States (Country) •
North America (Continent) •
Belize (Country) •
Colima (State / Territory) •
Michoacan (State / Territory) •
Jalisco (State / Territory) •
Nayarit (State / Territory) •
Aguascalientes (State / Territory) •
Guanajuato (State / Territory) •
Hidalgo (State / Territory)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-12 of 12)
- Documents (12)
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Analysis of Human Skeletal Remains from Late Postclassic Iximché, Guatemala (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Analysis of human skeletal remains from the Postclassic Kaqchikel Maya capital of Iximché, Guatemala, supports the interpretation that many of the partial skeletal remains were trophies taken in war or were from war captives sacrificed at the site. Other, more complete, remains...
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Comparing the Megalopolises of New and Old Worlds: Examining the Urban Infrastructure of Teotihuacan and Imperial Rome (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Two of the ancient world’s largest cities were Teotihuacan in Mexico and Rome in Italy. Although their estimated population sizes are wildly divergent—the first of many features to be examined—the actual infrastructure, and thus the possibilities for the enhancement of social...
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An Evaluation of Obsidian Projectile Point Chronology and Possible Sourcing in the Tehuacan Valley, Mexico (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Obsidian, a volcanic glass, was widely used in Mesoamerica for cutting tools, weapons, jewelry, and ritual objects since the Paleoindian period (ca. 9000 BC). Because its sources have unique chemical signatures, obsidian provides a durable and measurable index of interactions...
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Forgery of the Past: The Scientific Analysis of the Codex Cardona and the Assumed Lost Relaciones Geográficas of Coyoacán and other Villas of Mexico City during the First Half of the Seventeenth Century (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Multiple fragments of the so-called Codex Cardona began to circulate among street markets, boutique bookstores, and art galleries of Mexico City, the USA, and Europe between 1970 and 1980. It is estimated that this large format manuscript has 800 pages and 300 colorful plates...
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Getting to the Point: Evidence for the Bow at Epiclassic Xochicalco, Mexico (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Conventional wisdom suggests that the bow was not present in Mesoamerica until the Postclassic period (AD 900–1519). This date is chronologically convenient because it is consistent with the notion that the bow diffused from North America after AD 700. New evidence from the...
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House of the Boxer, House of the Fire God: Sport and Religion in a Humble Hinterland Household of the Copan Classic Maya, Honduras (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A Classic Maya rural household, Site 34C-4-2, yielded two artifacts considered unusual for this nonurban context: a manopla (a 15-pound tuff ball with a handle used in a sport similar to boxing) and a miniature sculpture of a house or altar that resembles those found in Copan’s...
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New Methods, Old Data: Reanalysis of Diets of the Copán Classic Maya Using Stable Isotope Mixing Models (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Sex and age factor into ancient diets. This poster revisits the largest single Maya polity paleodiet study using approaches that have been developed since the original data were collected, and to incorporate newer knowledge of Maya foodways in developing a better reconstruction of...
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An NSF Broader Impact Story in the Teotihuacan Valley of Mexico: 60 Years in the Making (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. For many, the “broader impact” of a grant proposal frequently involves outcomes that will happen somewhere between immediately and the next five years. Yet, the scope of the broader impact is often unexpected, unknown, and/or will take place many decades later. In 1960, when Eric...
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Parallel Lives: Aztec and European Elite Marriage Patterns in the Late Postclassic/Renaissance (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The European conquest of the Aztec Empire was eased by strong parallels in Aztec and European courtly behavior in their respective (and contemporaneous) chronological periods, the Late Postclassic (1430–1521) and Renaissance (various dates, 1300s to about 1600). Elite marital...
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Reconstructing Synchronous Ritual Events in a Central Honduran Chiefdom: An Analysis of Conjoined Artifacts (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Reconstructing past ritual events is always a challenge under the best of archaeological conditions. Between cal AD 238 and 352 the ancient residents of the site of Salitrón Viejo accumulated an assemblage of carved jade and marble artifacts that were used in a series of ritual...
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Remote Sensing of Constructed Landscapes in Northern Guatemala (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Maya sites of San Bartolo and Xultun, Guatemala, provide compelling evidence for ancient Maya agricultural interventions and shifting perspectives about the regional ecological landscape. The first line of evidence is visual: murals there catalog political and religious...
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A Technological Reconstruction of Preindustrial Copper Smelting in Central Michoacan, Mexico (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The earliest evidence for copper metallurgy in Mesoamerica comes from West Mexico, dating to ca. AD 800. Over a period of approximately 700 years, a wide variety of artifacts was manufactured, typically decorations and other valuable non-utilitarian items from several contexts....